Studio of Scientific-Documentary and Ethnohistoric Chronicles presents

Exactly 1100 years ago, maybe precisely in 924, was born a man, who was destined to be the author of the most mysterious piece of Georgian writing. Throughout 10 centuries his eschatological text about the Georgian language and alphabet was kept in this dessert. He moved here from Palestine, as well as living and resting on this holly place. This is the great monk John Zosimus of the Saint Sabbas and Sinai Mountain. And this is the Mount Sinai, the Saint Catherine's monastery. My name is Guram Nikolashvili and in this film I will be telling the story of John Zosimus' life, his creations, his exceptional manuscripts and the return to Georgia.

And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded. And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech.  So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth.  Genesis, 11, 5-8

This is the text in which John Chrysostom speaks on the division of language and assesses what the changing of the languages following the Tower of Babel meant, what it meant in a theological sense, what it was, whether it was a punishment or reward.

John Chrysostom said: "then were the people given the languages, the people of the Tower of Babylon, for the sins they schemed and did" and "hereafter, be it for aid".
 
This is the north wall of the Saint Catherine's monastery. On top of the wall there is a chapel built by Georgians in the name of Saint George. On November 30th, 1971, the chapel caught on fire. The fire was put out, later the cleaning of the damaged wall started. The work was led by archimandrite Sophronius of Sinai. The process was laborious. During the cleaning, some of the burnt spackle from the wall fell out, revealing a big piece of stone not incorporated in the wall structure. On May 26th, 1975, the stone was taken out of the wall, later over a thousand exemplars of manuscripts found in the earth-filled storage. An important focus of attention fell on this legacy, cared by many generations of Georgian's.    
This was huge for us, Sinai, imagine, a figure as big as David IV the builder, interested in strengthening this center. Generally, this ruling establishment of Georgia, was always, how do I say this, held a very correct position. This is not just literature, this is not just "I read this", this is a governmental status. In the 11th century, Bagrat IV initiated the building of the Monastery of the Cross in Jerusalem. All the big literary centers in Tao-Klarjeti was initiated by the Bagrations. Big feudal houses- this is politics, let's say. 

Georgian manusripts are scattered throughout the world: there's some in Jerusalem, on Mount Sinai, in Greece, todays Turkey, France, England, Russia and obviously the biggest collection of the Georgian manuscripts are in Georgia. In Georgia there are many important manuscripts, be it the National Archive or the National Museum, the National Museum of Kutaisi, Svaneti Museum. The biggest storage of Georgian manuscripts is obviously the Institute of Manuscripts, which was founded by the Base of Manuscripts Department which existed sine 1928. 

The source regarding the sensational discovery of 1975 only reached Soviet Georgia in 1981. In a private letter to Akaki Shanidze by Julius Assfalg, the German scientist writes to him that he had listened to the nun Philothea at the Assyriology congress where there was mention of 4 Georgian and 56 Armenian manuscripts. In the letter, Assfalg expressed his opinion stating his suspicion that the manuscripts deemed Armenian were probably Georgian ones written in the Nuskhuri alphabet. Akaki Shanidze proceeded to immediately publish two newspaper articles about the newly discovered Sinai manuscripts.  Later, the origins of the manuscripts were found out. As it turns out, 250 years prior, in 1734 archbishop Nikephoros moved the manuscripts picked out by the library to Saint Catherine's Monastery. Those manuscripts deemed unfit and faulty were moved separately.  According to Pilgrim Donatius, who went to Sinai in 1761, on the topic of the collection, the defective manuscripts were moved to a different storage and quickly forgotten about. 

Later it turns out that the texts in the Sinai manuscripts were generally the most important documents of the history of Christian writing. Because it was saved by the Georgian language, it gained serious interest and Blake and Garritt, who led that project by Library of the Congress, got the collection. 
These relations between Georgia and the Holy Land take root from an early period, on the grounds of Georgian monks having been there and wanting to acquire everything developing in the Christian East, which then would be brought to Georgia, then step by step make a shift to Constantinople traditions. This is the tradition Georgia should follow. 

The then newly consecrated Patriarch Illia II found out exactly through Akaki Shanidze's newspaper publications about the discovery on Mount Sinai. Soon after, in 1984, by the invitation of the Archbishop Damian of Mount Sinai the Patriarch visited the St. Catherine Monastery. He became the first Georgian to have seen the newly discovered manuscripts in person. The manuscripts of unknown content were introduced to the Patriarch. Holly father looks carefully on each of them da shouts: Georgian, Georgian, Georgian..  There is a last piece left, Georgian Patriarch checks it and reads out: "By the name of God, This book is crafted by the hand of John the sinful Zosimos, on the year of 974"


"My visit to the library of St. Catherine's monastery on Mount Sinai. This library is famous for its unique manuscripts."
 
The whole terminology is made also, in fact, in Georgian and it shows the competition against the language that considers you barbaric. Considers us underdeveloped,  

In the context of theological literature, based on what was being created in the Byzantine Empire, it shows that other nations and languages were not ready to have had the Holy Book. Everyone else along with our ancestors had to express this ambition to prove that Georgian was no less deserving of carrying that weight. According to John Chrysostom's preaching "the languages that come into the house of life, are those which share this culture".

There is such a big colony of Georgians, monks, they have their own chapel, not just one, multiple. David IV's historian also describes the substantial donations the king was making, with a mention of his generosity towards Sinai. So, Sinai was always a figure in Georgian history. Sinai was not as active during David IV's time, due to the different political orientation of the time, the Holy Land remained in the spotlight. 
Because there were so many Georgians there, obviously the mass and prayers were being held in Georgian, could it be any other way? Our language, the Gospel translated by us and the Holy Letter are all able to contain the divine wisdom present in the Gospel.  Manuscripts made by John Zosimos, for example Sin-34, Sin-35, has some characteristics of traditionalism and innovation.

Information on John Zosimus is scarce. The biographies on Georgian figures of the 10th century are largely lacking. Despite this, the manuscripts written and created by them managed to keep many authors' names alive. The Georgian theological literature was not only brought to a peak because of their hard work but was the cause behind the Georgian Renaissance.

 - ?? ??????? ??????  
 Michael Modrekili, Makarios Leteteli, John Berai, John Minchkhi, George Merchule, those and dozens of other famous names shines the name of John_Zosimos,   

We've got the Biographic information about John-Zosimos from the Will texts of manuscrips. We only know for sure that John-Zosimos lived in St. Saba near Jerusalem and was moved to mount Sinai with his fellows at a second half of tenth century.  St. Catherine was the place he worked, made his manuscripts, passed away and was buried. 


This is a regular, how do I say, a deeply educated ascetic monk, who at the same time possesses deep knowledge, obviously, having spoken Greek and Arabic as well, because of the relations with the Arabic-Christian world, because of the territory. That is how John Zosimus is portrayed as a scholar.

This man was - he never showed himself, that he translated, compiled collections, was a writer, as they say. He compiles a book, adds something, then adds a comment. He makes the cover himself, he engrains the cover himself, paints the crosses himself. Now, the cross is not a regular decoration for the manuscript, right? What we call the Bolnuri cross and a regular cross shape, the one in historical Palestine, was widespread and that's the kind of cross he adorns the manuscripts with. He also has a signature, on top of all four of the crosses' wings he writes the first letters of "they have prayers" - L, TS, Q', T. and if we see this signature, we know it's John Zosimus's.

The study of the newly discovered manuscripts was laborious and took years. By the wishes of the Catholicos-Patriarch Illia II, Zaza Aleksidze led 3 expeditions on Mount Sinai in the 90's. In 2005, a catalog of the new collection was published in Greek, Georgian and English based on the agreement with the archbishop of Sinai. The catalog lists descriptions of 99 parchments, 33 paper manuscripts and 10 other pieces. The catalog is a new part of the Georgian inheritance containing 221 exemplars from Mount Sinai.

On Mount Sinai, the first expeditions began in the 90s, later, in early 2000's, which were first led by Mzekala Shanidze, then Zaza Aleksidze, who make many discoveries, including on Albanian manuscripts. Practically, all these expeditions, as well as materials gathered during them, which were important for us and our scientists, was all in the merit of Catholicos-Patriarch Illia II. Exactly due to his initiative and blessing did the study of these Sinai manuscripts begin, along with the chance of traveling there. Illia II deserves all credit since he was in contact with the Patriarch of Jerusalem, later exchanging letters with the Archbishop of Sinai, later having visited Mount Sinai himself. 

- ?? ??????? ?????? 
 "Take away the stone," Jesus said.
"But, Lord," said Martha, the sister of the dead man, "by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days."
When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out!"

The fate of the older Georgian collection is rather dramatic. In 1883, it was a chilly and windy month of February. Aleksandre Tsagareli, the recently appointed professor at a university in Saint Petersburg, visited St. Catherine's Monastery for three days and made descriptions of Georgian manuscripts. After the references received from Porphir Uspensky and Constantin Von Tischendorf in the in the 1850's, the catalog published by Tsagareli in 1888 is the first treatment of Georgian manuscripts. 92 descriptions made it into the catalog, but one of the texts caught a scientist's eye, so Tsagareli rewrote it entirely and added comments to it. This text was John Zosimus' "Praise and glory of the Georgian language".

The inheritance of John Zosimus, in any aspect, in any manuscripts carries a significant meaning for us. So, of the author, who wrote this in the 10th century, specifically, during the early rise of the Artanujian Bagrations. Once Georgia managed to gather belief of itself, the future became more hopeful and imagine what was before. Before that was the Arab rule, and before that - a no less of a horrible empire, the Zoroastrian empire of Iran, which cancelled the kingship in Kartli altogether, a similar event happening during the Arab rule as well.

In 1902, Niko Mar and Ivane Javakhishvili visited the St. Catherine's monastery. Their expedition lasted almost half a year, stretching from April to November. The scientists discovered only 87 Georgian manuscripts in the archive, less than what Tsagareli had described twenty years earlier. They split the collection into two and began processing them. Ivane Javakhishvili found David IV's facsimile. The imprinted hand in the photograph taken by Niko Mar belongs to Ivane Javakhishvili. The future founder of the Georgian University writes particularly important monuments with his own hand, first, the greatest work of John Zosimus - "Krebai Ttuetai Tselitsadisatai". Niko Mari devoted a lot of time to the study of many Sinic chapters. The monument in the Holy Lavra of Saint Sabbas was copied in 864 and donated to the Sinai Monastery immediately after completion. This is the oldest dated Georgian manuscript. At the end of both collections, scholars see the same text written by the same hand, John Zosimus' "Praise and glory of the Georgian Language" published by Tsagareli.

Georgian manuscripts are characterized by another thing, the trendsetter of which was John Zosimus - they preserve the traditional texts that were known, translated and he rewrites and compiles from the manuscripts. At the same time, finding new manuscripts, new texts, hymnographic, hagiographic, humiletic and puts them together, creating a whole. This is a scientific approach, it is not a mechanical process, it is a thoughtful process, so John Zosimus, in this sense, is a scientist.

The manuscripts of Mount Sinai are very important to us, and the history of Georgian manuscripts in Georgia is unimaginable without Mount Sinai.

However, it also has a meaningful historical significance, it belongs to the era during which our self-identity was being formed. Ivane Javakhishvili emphasizes that it is exactly the 9th-11th century, during which, he uses the word, "self-knowledge" was being established and it is related to the knowledge spread by the monks at that time.

In the 20th century, Kartvelian studies and the study of manuscripts rose to a new height. 25 years after the journey of Niko Mari and Ivane Javakhishvili, in 1927, the famous American Byzantine scholar Robert Blake got acquainted with the Georgian collection on Mount Sinai. According to his report, 12 of the manuscripts in the catalog of Tsagareli were no longer in the library of the monastery. One of the missing manuscripts belongs to John Zosimus, catalog number Sina-81. In the same period, Grigol Peradze also describes and studies Georgian manuscripts on behalf of the Austrian Museum. It is because of his work that history has preserved information about the Georgian monuments in Europe. While working in Vienna, Grigol Peradze comes across the Sina-81 manuscript in a private collection owned by Friedrich Grot's widow, which disappeared 40 years ago. Grigol Peradze, distinguished by his scientific work, died as a martyr in a fascist concentration camp on December 6, 1942, and the manuscript of John Zosimus, which he saw, still has a century-long road ahead of it.


In addition to this manuscript being very important to our history, I would argue that it is also a tool to tell future generations how our ancestors lived and what their core values ??were. And what has always been our foundation is the unity of knowledge and belief. I think that this manuscript and its resurface will allow us to once again show our society how important our history is for our future. So, this manuscript is a very big event.

On April 11, 1945, Ekvtime Takaishvili returns to Georgia.  He brought back intact the 39 boxes with which the emigrants of 1921 took away the Georgian treasure. After the Great patriotic war, a new stage of antiquities search and research began in Georgia. The interest in Georgian studies and Georgian history increased even more. One of the outstanding popularizers of Georgian culture and history was Rezo Tabukashvili, who devoted the last decade of his life to making documentary films. In 1985, the director made the film "The Royal Treasurer of Georgia", which tells about the Georgian treasure and Ekvtime Takaishvili. In the following year, the film "On the trail of the loot" is released. Although the film is about Georgian enamels scattered in different parts of the world, in one of the episodes, Rezo tells us about a Georgian manuscript found in New York and describes with great detail the way the parchment passed hand to hand. 
- ?? ??????? ??????  
It's easy to imagine the excitement of any Georgian, when finding the store sign in the downtown of New York and read out "H. P. Kraus" and already knew that this is an antique book collector Hans Kraus, who acquired our manuscript from Fischer. 

This manuscript is the Sina-81 manuscript described by Alexander Tsagareli and belonging to John 

The main thing is that this man is not only a hymnographer, and not only a creator of manuscripts, but first he is a publisher. No one pays attention to this. This is one of the oldest publishers, we have such a limited amount of both writers and publishers. For example, nobody notices that Nikoloz Baratashvili is also a publisher.

Along with Georgian manuscripts, John Zosimus, who moved to Mount Sinai in the second half of the 10th century, brought old Aramaic-Palestinian parchments. Georgian copyists often created new manuscripts using them. Sinai-81 belonging to John Zosimus is a palimpsest manuscript known today as "the Codex Sinaiticus Rescriptus". In the nineteenth century, part of the manuscript was found in St. Petersburg, and the other part was in the possession of the famous collector Friedrich Grote, which Grigol Peradze found in 1929. After changing several owners, the book was bought at a Sotheby's auction in 1954 by a Detroit collector, Fisher. After 14 years, he presented the manuscript to the New York antiquarian Hans Kraus. It is here that in 1984 the director following the footsteps of the Georgian treasure finds the manuscript of John Zosimus.

John Zosimus' manuscript is a complete manuscript, it looks like it's over 200 pages long, and it's probably complete, so it's going to fill that collection. The fact that it will come to Georgia is a huge historical fact, because we don't have the manuscript of John Zosimus in Georgia and the Georgian manuscript of such antiquity, created on Mount Sinai, abroad, it's kept in the "hash collection", and it's going to be the second one, but with significant meaning, because it's dated, it's authored, it's complete. All the parameters that a manuscript can fulfill, it has it.

In 56, Gerard Garritt published a description of the Sin manuscripts. It has a list behind it, so to speak, and on some manuscripts, it says"lost". And it doesn't say "lost", it says "taken out", that is, you must look for it somewhere else. On some of them it is written that it is "lost",  

- ?? ??????? ??????
"To the angel of the church in Philadelphia write:
These are the words of him who is holy and true, who holds the key of David. What he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open. - Rev. 3, 7-8



In 1959, Akaki Shanidze prints a complete edition of Sinai multi-chapters. The preparation of the text was made possible by the microfilms made by the 1950 expedition to Mount Sinai organized by the Library of Congress in Washington. The expedition was led by Gerard Garrit, a famous Belgian orientalist of that time. Garrit studied Georgian monuments and found correspondences between the manuscripts described by Niko Mar and Ivane Javakhishvili with the Tsagareli catalog. He himself compiled a description of 36 non-liturgical manuscripts. Thanks to his microfilms, the largest part of the Georgian manuscripts of Sinai has been studied. All but a few parchments studied by Tsagareli that disappeared, including Sina-81. Nevertheless, the microfilms showed us the invisible world of the spiritual heritage of Georgia and the work done with the Bible in the past.
 
- ?? ??????? ??????  The first full in folio of Bibles old testament was inscribed in Tao-Klarjeti, south of Georgia in 978 year.  And why the Georgians are working on Bible?
954 pages are preserved today and it is lacking. Do you realize the amount of money this is? I don't know what amount to tell you. 954 No, reused, that is, a palimpsest, but - it would take 60 cows to copy one small book, can you imagine? There are 954 pages. They are financed by Chorchans, do you know why? The canon, the canon of the Bible, I have in full, therefore my church is absolutely equal, equal and no one can look down on me, this motive is a serious motive.

Exactly one hundred years ago, in 1924, Pavle Ingoroqva publishes the editorials of John Zosimus' "Praise and glory of the Georgian Language" in the "Kavkasioni" magazine and includes extensive research. This is where the interest in this mystical literary monument begins, which has attracted the attention of many authors and made it the subject of research. Zviad Gamsakhurdia touched on the issue in the most profound and original way.

This story has been circulating since 1924, when it was printed, it was printed in "Kavkasioni" by Pavle Ingoroqva, and Pavle created something that set fire to this story, that this is the anthem of the Georgian language. I believe that this was the time, it was the 20s, then there was Robakidze, then there was the Tsisperqantselebi (The Blue Horns), there was a certain direction of Georgian culture that burned. Glory to the anthem of the Georgian language, therefore, I believe that it is possible that this manuscript was also lost.

In 981, John Zosimus works on the Sinaic codex composed in 864 for the third time. When indicating the date in the will, it is specified that the year is indicated according to the Georgian calendar. The Georgian counting of years counts exactly 5604 years from the creation of the world to the birth of Christ, which differs from Greek, Syrian and other traditions. Such concreteness seems to be an important circumstance for the monk, who knew calendars and Paschals in the tenth century.

Of course, this Eastern knowledge from the Christian period, from the conversion system of this early Christian period, dating, calculations, - all that theological scientific knowledge did not exist then. how surprising is it that John Zosimus is also aware of it and he believes that it should exist, it should be in the collection, and he even writes that he had compiled this collection for educated men, for scientists, a scientist means an expert, right?

After the testament, John-Zosime uses another last empty page of the Sinai codex to write the text of "Praise and Glory to the Georgian Language". In the last line of the text, he writes: "Christ, have mercy on the searcher John". What does the term searcher mean? Is it meant to find the text of the "Praise and Glory of the Georgian Language" and put it into multiple chapters or is it meant to discover and describe the symbolism embedded in the text? In general, what does the content of "Praise and Glory of the Georgian Language" tell us, what secret is hidden in it?

John Zosimus must be the author of this letter, because John Zosimus was a translator, he was a hermeneutic, a Christian hermeneutic, he was an interpreter of texts, based on the theological knowledge he possessed, and he himself wrote certain theological texts. And this is one of the texts, this enigmatic text, which is still with us today, and so much has been written about it, although there is still no such definitive explanation of this text. We are talking now about the interpretation of Zviad Gamsakhurdia, which is probably one of the most interesting and the most comprehensive, relatively comprehensive attempt to interpret this text and to apply to the context of theological understandings, which is verbally held by the Orthodox church. 
38:30
About 300 copies of Georgian manuscripts are stored in this repository. Each of them is invaluable to our small country. No one has touched them for centuries. These manuscripts kept in the library of the monastery were waiting for those who valued the Georgian spirit, Georgian language and the Georgian state.

In the process of working on the film, after listening to many facts and stories, we also tried to understand the works of John Zosimus. The key to the text through which we begin the study of this truly mystical work is given in its middle section. "And in the Georgian Gospel, last of Matthew's chapter, there is a share, which letter it is." And he will say a total of four thousand stocks". Which letter is there - the author specifies to exclude any ambiguity that "share" is the letter "TS". Thus, the first letter of the Gospel is "TS", with a numerical value of four thousand. According to John Zosimus, this circumstance is of special importance. "The book of the birth of Jesus Christ..." - with this phrase begins the Gospel of Matthew and, accordingly, the entire New Testament. In the "Praise and Glory of the Georgian Language" text, we also read a quote from David's Psalm: "A thousand years - like one day." Thus, according to John Zosimus, four thousand is the same as four, the letter "TS" is equal to the letter D, and four in turn directly refers to four days, the four days to Lazarus who was dead and resurrected by the Savior. That the author attaches special importance to the letter D, it can be seen from the "Praise and Glory of the Georgian Language" text itself, each line begins with an alliteration and, which adds a corresponding poetic dynamic to the work. The first word of the whole work begins with the level: "The Georgian language is buried." It's clear that the text is composed in such a way on purpose.

What should be emphasized from his work is that there are clergymen who do not pay much attention, so to speak, to calendrical or numerical mysticism and John Zosimus seems to be very interested in this. He has several such collections, such as: "Georgian Eyeglasses", which concern the relevance of the dates of this year to the Greek and Georgian reality and the expressions of the thinking of that time, etc. These are indicated, and now this is also to be emphasized, that in this "Praise and Glory of the Georgian Language " if he is the author, he really refers to certain mysticism of numbers, it is completely obvious, because it has a symbolic expression.

Its peculiarity is that it is very easy to derive a number from a word, but it is much more difficult to find the corresponding word for a number. Most attempts to find a name for the number are related to the number six hundred and sixty-six mentioned in the Apocalypse, which according to the Revelation of John is the mark of the beast. The practice of assigning numerical correspondences to letter-symbols is called gematria. This practice was widely used in Hebrew, Greek and other languages, including, of course, Georgian. is a sign "Every secret is buried in this language" - we read in the "Praise and Glory of the Georgian Language" text. The phrase reveals that there are secrets of its own that the Georgian language keeps. This does not mean that the Georgian language itself is mysterious, inexplicable and the bearer of some unknown knowledge, but that it contains generally existing secrets.

There are not only some mathematical calculations here, and in many articles or letters dedicated to this topic, we see mathematical calculations, mainly about the alphabet, and it is said that the Georgian language, which is mentioned here, this Georgian language is primarily a "lingua". That is, a tool of communication, and of course, about the alphabet, and then calculations are made there, these calculations come mainly from Ramaz Pataridze's famous research on the Georgian alphabet, where the numerical value of the letters is taken into account, and the alphabet is also considered as a kind of calendar.

44:05:7- 44:37:1 ????? ??????
 This calls for wisdom. Let the person who has insight calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man.[e] That number is 666.  Then I looked, and there before me was the Lamb, standing on Mount Zion, and with him 144,000 who had his name and his Father's name written on their foreheads.  REV. 13-14

The most mysterious, mystical and eschatological text in the entire Bible is the Revelation of John. When talking about secrets, the hidden and the buried, the text of the Apocalypse first comes to mind. Imagine the impact this text has had on readers, interpreters, and scholars over the centuries. One of the central issues in Christian doctrine as a whole is the hidden mystery of the Second Coming after the Resurrection. It's a secret. Revelation of John describes the second coming, its anticipation, previous events and trials. During the period of John-Zosimos' life, when the 1000th anniversary of Christ's birth is just a little bit away, the entire Christian world is surrounded by apocalyptic expectations. That is why to understand the text, it is important to imagine the atmosphere and cultural environment of the end of the tenth century.
 
This time of the second coming during of John Zosimus' life and in the time of any Christian, Grigol Khandzteli, was viewed the same way we view him today. As soon as something worsened, they saw the signs of it, it is obvious. 
 
Therefore, this perception of the 10th century, it is the end of the first millennium of the Christian era, from there we have to move three thousand years, the third millennium to our era, and where is this from? As represented by Zviad Gamsakhurdia, the disintegration of the proto-Georgian unity, which happened serially on the scene of Asia, unfortunately, this is history.

Thus, we can say with certainty about John Zosimus that he used the gematria of the alphabet, that he owns works related to the calendar, i.e. calculations, he works at a multinational theological-scientific center and knows practically all languages ??and alphabets. As a patriotic Georgian, he defends his country, praises and glorifies his native language and alphabet. Thorough knowledge of his work and deep education will find evidence of superiority of the Georgian language to the zealous monk.


 47:06:7-48:25:1- ??????? ?????? ???????? ??? ???? ??????? ??????? ?????? ???????? ?????? ???????????, ????? ??????? ????? ???????? ??????? ???? ?????.
?? ??? ???? ??????? ??? ?????????? ?? ?????????? ???? ???? ????? ?????? ???????
"Buried is Georgian Language to the day of second coming of Him to witness, exposing all other languages by god with this language.  And this language is sleeping till today and Lazarus is given name of this language in Gospel. 

John Zosimus, the searcher and solver of the texts, using the alphabetic gematria, calculates that in the Georgian language alone, the numerical sum of the name Lazarus is 144. This is his main conclusion and discovery. 144 multiplied by a thousand is one hundred and forty-four thousand. This number represents Lazarus, the friend of Christ and the one who rose from the dead on the fourth day, resurrected. The number 144 thousand is the second apocalyptic number, symbolizing the number of people saved at the second coming. The one hundred and forty-four thousand anointed, named in the Revelation of John, are represented in the Gospel by the name Lazarus.

John Zosimus finds a connection between the story of the resurrection of Lazarus in the Gospel of John and the one hundred and forty-four thousand anointed ones named in the Apocalypse. He knows that this connection can be found and viewed only in the Georgian language. Therefore, the content and mystery on which the glorifying text of the Georgian language was built is related to the greatest Christian expectation of the second coming, and this mystery is found only in the Georgian language.

49:08:5-49:20:3 - ??????? ??????   After he had said this, he went on to tell them, "Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up." John - 11, 11

There are simply other semantics, other senses that need to be interpreted. What we are talking about here is that seeing actually means not seeing, as in say a judge or a prosecutor exposing someone to a crime, not in any case, it is is identified with Lazarus the restoration and revival of the virtues and good things of the nation, and this is a revelation, nothing more, it is actually a demonstration. "He will be resurrected like Lazarus", just as Lazarus resurrected the dead for four days, this is the content of this text. Here it is, (...) connecting 4,000 and 4 together, there could be symbolism involved or a messianic meaning, both could exist, right? This can be said symbolically as well. However, as Ramaz Pataridze explains, he was a brilliant philologist and a brilliant scientist, so his research and understanding of this text, in this case, is more convincing when you listen. However, there may be an opposite opinion, as read by Pavle Ingoroqva and Edisher Chelidze, who published this text for the second time and added research.

Let's go back to 1984. Upon returning to Georgia, Rezo Tabukashvili brought the news about the Georgian manuscript. The price quoted by the bookie, 285 thousand US dollars, is more than 860 thousand according to today's conversion. As the tearful director took the painstaking manuscript page by page and used up the entire roll of film, Hans Krauss would tell him about the other samples in the collection and One of the oldest manuscripts that have survived to this day. It turned out that the oldest book ever found in a private collection was placed next to the manuscript of John Zosimus. The book, written in the Coptic language in the third and fourth centuries, is part of a discovery known as the Bodmer Papyri in the 1950s. It is the oldest Christian liturgical book in which the two earliest books of the Bible, the Easter treatise and other texts are fully preserved. In the same year, the 1000th anniversary of the foundation of the Georgian monastery of Iveron on Mount Athos was fulfilled. This date was celebrated by the Georgian emigration in Georgia and abroad with a few publications dedicated to the anniversary. The then Institute of Manuscripts was at the epicenter of current scientific and cultural activities.

National Center of Manuscripts have a very deep and long traditions and I believe that lot of foreign museums would wish to hold the collections they keep, therefore, it is obvious to feel the natural desire of its preservation and display.  So, the manuscript, I want to emphasize that, holds lot of scientific layers and therefore, a lot of things should be discovered. 
So, the manuscript, I want to emphasize that, there is a scientific infrastructure, any scientific infrastructure must be developed, at the same time, science should be introduced to people, and there should always be a very accurate dissemination of scientific knowledge, and I think that the manuscript is one of the best opportunities for that.

The foot of the Georgian director turned out to be lucky for New York antiquarian Kraus. In 1984, Kraus sold both manuscripts. The manuscript of John Zosimus was bought by the Norwegian bibliophile Martin Schøyen. The path to the Coptic Bible turned out to be much more difficult. Kraus sold it in two parts to different foundations. During the following years, the work of collecting, collating and binding the broken Bible into a single book was again undertaken by Martin Schøyen. The Coptic Bible was eventually called the Crosby-Schøyen Codex. Manuscript known as John Zosimus Sinai-81 Later, it was called "Codex Sinaiticus Rescriptus" and remained in the Oslo repository for 40 years.

What is it for and what does this manuscript tell us, it must be said that it allows us to talk about the era. On an era that is very special for our history. And the fact that Georgians, in this case, scribes, were doing business outside the country is a very important fact. There were centers of Georgian culture not only in Georgia, but we also know that in this case on Mount Sinai, in other places, in Palestine, on Mount Athos - this shows the very important cultural identity of our nation, which is probably already the basis for further development, the peak of which is probably the Gelati Academy.

On May 20, 2024, the website of the Martin Schøyen Collection officially announced the auction of the best part of the entire collection, the most important manuscripts. A full list and description of all sixty-two exhibitors has appeared on the Christie's London auction website. Among those put up for sale are a third-century Coptic Bible and a manuscript written on the Aramaic-Palestinian palimpsest of John Zosimus, which were sold side by side in the shop of the famous New York book dealer Hans Krauss 40 years ago.  The auction was scheduled for June 11, 2024.

56:29:1-57:47:2- ??????? ??????
?? ???? ?????? ????????????? ?????????, ????????? ?????
??????? ??????????, ???? ???? ??????, ??? ??????????,
????????? ?? ??? ?????? ??????????? ??????????? ?????????????,
???? ??????? ????? ?????????? ????????? ????????? ??????
????? ?? ??? ?????? ????????? ???????? ??????,
??? ??????? ??? ??????????? ?????????? ??????? ??????????
??????? ???????, ??????? ??????? ????????? ?????? ???????.

This is a very important parchment, moreover it's an autograph of John-Zosimos, with colophonies, sidewritings.  It turns out in a very interesting manner. We do have a lot of dated manuscripts in our vault and we are so proud keeping such a priceless treasure, especially in a National Center of Manuscripts, which bears the name of Cornelius Kekelidze.
 Now the day on which Jesus had made the mud and opened the man's eyes was a Sabbath. They brought to the Pharisees the man who had been blind.  Some of the Pharisees said, "This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath."
But others asked, "How can a sinner perform such signs?" So they were divided.  John 9, 13-16
??? ??????, ????
??? ????? ?????? ???? ?? ???????? ?????? ?????,
????????? ??? ?????????????????, ?????? ??? ???????? ????? ???,
??????? ????? ????????????????, ??? ???? ?? ??? ???????????,
?????? ??????? ?? ?????????, ?????? ???????, ????? ???????????
????? ???????? ??? ???????? ?????????? ?????? ?? ??????
??? ??? ?????.
?????? ????????, ???? ?????? ??????????? 

This year, I think on May 22, I received information that this very important Georgian manuscript belonging to John Zosimus is being auctioned at Christie's, and its importance was further increased by the fact that part of it is a palimpsest and the first layer is in Aramaic. Therefore, we felt obliged to inform the authorities that the loss of such a manuscript would be a crime and it was our honor to have this manuscript in Georgia. It is also mentioned in the letter that I sent separately to the Minister of Culture, separately to the Minister of Education and separately to the Prime Minister of Georgia, that I am obliged to inform you that it is a matter of our honor, that this most important manuscript is found in Georgia and that Georgia can purchase it.

As fate would have it, the twinned manuscripts were sold separately. The buyer of the Coptic Bible remained incognito, so it is not known where and for how long the ancient papyri will be kept. After 11 centuries, the long-cherished manuscript of John Zosimus was lucky enough to return to its true homeland, this time, forever. Copyist, profiteer, calligrapher, embroiderer and searcher, clothed with versatile talents, abilities and merits, John Zosimus starts a new life after another millennium, in an independent, sovereign, free homeland. And who knows, to what extent the study of its text and calligraphy will help the main mystery of the past millennium, the deciphering of "Praise and Glory of the Georgian Language" 

Happy is the person who endured so many centuries and today in the 21st century, when the country already lives with completely different definitions, this country is happy to bring his manuscript to Georgia, and John Zosimus returned. I'm not a man of faith, but he probably prophesied himself to bring this manuscript, because in the second coming it is possible to consider and consider this his second coming. Because the manuscript is written in Aramaic, Christ will speak in this Georgian language, perhaps he also considered it, and I also think this to be a story of some kind of prophecy.

This lost manuscript was in fact lost, it had gone from Mount Sinai to a private collection, and it was in that private collection, but no one knew where it would disappear, and it is something symptomatic that this manuscript was returned after this one millennium. Millennium again, returned to the homeland, this is very important. I experienced something like that, admiration because it seems that the Lord is indicating something, and especially the soul of that suffering person, John Zosimus, what does it mean that that manuscript will already take its place in Georgia. very important.

The Georgian language, that is, the Georgian ethnos, ethno-cultural unity, let's say, will survive until the second coming, and many nations, including the strongest empires, may not arrive before the second coming. The Georgian language will surely reach that point, and it will reach like Lazarus, laid in a grave, dead, who will be resurrected, who will be resurrected by the second coming Lord with his word. "Lazarus come out."

As you know, the 10th century is a turning point in the history of Georgia, not only the history of Georgia, when the countries under Byzantine influence, which joined this single cultural and political space, which was called Byzantium. From the Jerusalem style of worship, it is already transferred to the Constantinople tradition. Nations who accepted Christianity and had their own chapels on the Holy Land, including Georgians, a certain part, not Syrians, Copts, they stayed on the eastern or other direction and the Georgians  

John Chrysostom writes: "The Greeks are not the only ones who are equal, we and the Greeks are equal, like Martha and Mary." In "Praise"'s text, it is also that, like Martha and Mary, we are equal, because we, throughout our existence, need to prove that "I am equal, I am not smarter than you - I will learn many things, but I am not to be scolded and put in the corner.".

Titles:

On June 11, 2024, lost manuscript of John-Zosimos from mount Sinai was sold on Christies by price of 1,25 million pounds. It was acquired by Georgian philanthropist Bidzina Ivanishvili.
Since the gaining independence by Georgia in 1991, total value of charity made by Ivanishvili equals 3 billion USD.
Returning the parchment of John-Zosimos cost the Ivanishvili family only 0,055% of its total charity.