Epistles of Basil the Great in Georgian translations of XVIII-XIX centuries (Gaios the Rector and anonymous translator)

Abstract

Basil the Great's epistles were translated into Georgian twice during the 18th-19th cc. In 1798-1799, an almost complete corpus of letters, 356 epistles (ep. 1-38, 42-359), was rendered by Gaios the Rector. Thereafter, in the first quarter of the 19th c., an anonymous translator rendered two epistles of the same author (ep. 1, 2.1-3). The rendition of Gaios the Rector is preserved in the manuscripts of Ioane Bagrationi’s collection N 274 (1798; part I) and N 95 (1799; part II, ep. 150.2-359), both being autographs. The manuscripts are maintained in Saint Petersburg’s National Library of Russia. A copy of the second part of the epistle collection is preserved in the National Centre of Manuscripts of Georgia N S 381 (1846, ep. 151-359). The translation of Gaios the Rector represents word-by-word rendition of the Russian edition (Василий Великий, 1787), though the Russian source is estimated as being “obscure and not always correct” (Попов, 1902, 197). The obscurity, to some extent, is found also in the Georgian translation. The rendition of the anonymous translator, ep. 1, 2.1-3, is preserved in the autograph manuscript N A 820 (first quarter of the 19th c.) of the National Centre of Manuscripts of Georgia. The anonymous translator used the same Russian edition and the Greek source of the latter (Sancti Patris Nostri Basilii, 1730). Comparing the rendition to the deed of Gaios the Rector, it is evident that the translation is also literal, however, more elaborated on account of the nature of the Georgian language, while in Gaios’ rendition even the word order of the source is mostly maintained. Both translations follow the literary style of Anton I, Catholicos of Georgia. Both of them, especially the corpus of epistles fully rendered by Gaios the Rector, had a great importance for the intellectual society of his time.