Sulchan-Saba Orbeliani

Sulchan-Saba Orbeliani ( Georgian სულხან-საბა ორბელიანი ; born November 4, 1658 in Tandsia, Niederkartlien , Georgia ; † January 26, 1725 in Vsechswjatskoje near Moscow ) was a Georgian prince, monk, diplomat and writer. He tried to connect Georgia with Western Europe, to enforce Catholicism in Georgia and founded the New Georgian literary language.

Life

Sulchan Orbeliani came from a Georgian princely family. His father was a brother of the Queen of Kartlien and a royal judge. King Wachtang V was his uncle. Orbeliani received the best possible training in writing, language, history and geography in the Georgian royal family. His tutor was the future King Giorgi XI. The princes Artschil and Lewan are said to have been Orbeliani's best friends.

In his first marriage Sulkhan Orbeliani was the 1683 deceased Daredschan from the Bagratids - Dynasty married his second wife, Tamara, a daughter of Prince Athabag from the south Georgian province of Samtskhe .

On March 18, 1689 he became a monk in the Georgian Orthodox Dawit-Gareja monastery and took the name Saba. He stayed there until 1713 and wrote writings for the renewal of the Christian faith. Between 1687 and 1709, the exact time is disputed, he converted together with King Giorgi XI. and his brother Lewan to the Catholic Church. At first he practiced his faith in secret, in a close circle of confidants. In 1709 he publicly confessed in a letter to Pope Clement XI. to the catholic faith.

In 1703 Orbeliani was adviser to the Cartlian King Watchtang VI. Equipped with diplomatic status, he tried to enforce Catholicism in Georgia. He made contact with the Franciscans in Eastern Georgia. In 1709 the king founded Georgia's first printing company with Franciscan support .

Between 1713 and 1716 he visited Pope Clement XI on behalf of the Georgian King . in Rome and the French King Louis XIV in Versailles . Orbeliani asked the French king for assistance in liberating Georgia and Transcaucasia from Persian occupation. Georgia wants to become an ally and trading partner of France, as well as promote the Catholic Church in Georgia. The mission was supported by the Georgian Orthodox Patriarch Grigol II, who was willing to tolerate Catholic missionaries in the country. Louis XIV promised to try diplomatically around Georgia and to support the missionary work of Transcaucasia financially. However, the project was never implemented because of the death of Louis XIV.

After returning to Georgia, Orbeliani was boycotted by the Georgian nobility. Due to a generation change in the Georgian royal house and the Georgian Orthodox Apostle Church , he lost his political status and the support of the clergy. The new Orthodox Patriarch Domenti considered him a traitor. In 1719 an Orthodox church assembly demanded that he renounce heresy . Orbeliani refused. He was not punished, but he was finally isolated.

1722 he was by King Wachtang VI. again asked for diplomatic mediation. He should Pope Innocent XIII. and the Roman-German Emperor Charles VI. win as an ally against Persia and the Ottoman Empire . After the occupation of Georgia by the Turks in 1724 , Orbeliani, King Wachtang and the Georgian royal court went into exile in Saint Petersburg .

Services

In his lively literary activity he became a linguistic and stylistic innovator of Georgian literature and the founder of the New Georgian literary language. He wrote the first dictionary of meanings for the Georgian language with detailed explanations of astronomy , logic and psychology , using approaches from etymology and the history of science . Orbeliani edited a large part of the Georgian Bible in 1710 and 1711 . The previously handwritten translations of parts of the Georgian Bible were then printed for the first time as a single book. Only one copy of Georgia's first printed Bible has survived today.

The Sulchan Saba Museum dedicated to him is located in his birthplace Tandsia.

Works

Georgian

• Lexiconi Kartuli. Edited with introduction and commentary by I. Abuladze. 2 volumes. Merani, Tbilisi 1991/1993
• ["Works"]. 5 volumes. Tbilisi 1959/1966

German translations

• The wisdom of lies . Translation by Michael von Tseretheli. Berlin 1933
• The wisdom of lies . Translation by Heinz Fähnrich . Berlin 1973, Frankfurt am M. 1974
• Wisdom of fiction. Ganatleba-Verlag, Tbilisi 1984

literature

• A. Baramidse: Sulxan-Saba Orbeliani: c'xovreba da literaturli mogvaceoba, nark'vevi. Tbilisi: Sabchota Saqartvelo 1959.
• M. Tarchnisvili, J. Assfalg: History of the ecclesiastical Georgian literature: On the basis of the first volume of the Georgian literary history by K. Kekelidze. Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Città del Vaticano 1955.
• M. Tamarashvili: History of Catholicism among the Georgians. Tbilisi 1902, passim.
• Georg Koridze:  Orbeliani, Sulchan-Saba. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 28, Bautz, Nordhausen 2007, ISBN 978-3-88309-413-7 , Sp. 1193-1204.

Web links

Commons : Sulchan-Saba Orbeliani  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Literature by and about Sulchan-Saba Orbeliani in the catalog of the German National Library