Misplaced Pages

#983016

46-536: The Holy Trinity Cathedral of Tbilisi ( Georgian : თბილისის წმინდა სამების საკათედრო ტაძარი Tbilisis tsminda samebis sakatedro tadzari ), commonly known as Sameba ( Georgian : სამების ლავრა for Trinity ), is the main cathedral of the Georgian Orthodox Church located in Tbilisi , the capital of Georgia . Constructed between 1995 and 2004, it is the third-tallest Eastern Orthodox cathedral in

92-451: A vigesimal numeric system like Basque and (partially) French . Numbers greater than 20 and less than 100 are described as the sum of the greatest possible multiple of 20 plus the remainder. For example, "93" literally translates as 'four times twenty plus thirteen' ( ოთხმოცდაცამეტი , otkhmotsdatsamet’i ). One of the most important Georgian dictionaries is the Explanatory dictionary of

138-552: A Roman grammarian from the 2nd century AD. The first direct attestations of the language are inscriptions and palimpsests dating to the 5th century, and the oldest surviving literary work is the 5th century Martyrdom of the Holy Queen Shushanik by Iakob Tsurtaveli . The emergence of Georgian as a written language appears to have been the result of the Christianization of Georgia in the mid-4th century, which led to

184-409: A broken arm. In English the narthex is now the porch outside the church at the west end ; formerly it was a part of the church building itself, albeit not considered part of the church proper, used as the place for penitents . The purpose of the narthex was to allow those not eligible for admittance into the general congregation (particularly catechumens and penitents ) to hear and partake of

230-488: A building. The original meaning of the Classical Greek word narthex νάρθηξ was " giant fennel ". Derived meanings are from the use of the fennel stalk as thyrsus , as a schoolmaster's cane, as a singlestick for military exercise, or as a splint for a broken limb. The term was also used for a casket for unguents, and hence as the title of a number of medical works. Use for the architectural feature of church building

276-665: A capital-like effect called Mtavruli for titles and inscriptions. Georgian is an agglutinative language with a complex verb structure that can include up to eight morphemes , exhibiting polypersonalism . The language has seven noun cases and employs a left-branching structure with adjectives preceding nouns and postpositions instead of prepositions. Georgian lacks grammatical gender and articles, with definite meanings established through context. Georgian's rich derivation system allows for extensive noun and verb formation from roots, with many words featuring initial consonant clusters. The Georgian writing system has evolved from ancient scripts to

322-639: A crucial year for the national awakening of the then- Soviet republic of Georgia . In May 1989, the Georgian Orthodox Patriarchate and the authorities of Tbilisi announced an international contest for the "Holy Trinity Cathedral" project. No winner was chosen at the first round of the contest when more than a hundred projects were submitted. Finally the design by architect Archil Mindiashvili won. The subsequent turbulent years of civil unrest in Georgia deferred this grandiose plan for six years, and it

368-454: A large, underground compartment. The overall area of the cathedral, including its large narthex , is 3,000 square meters and the volume it occupies is 137,000 cubic meters. The interior of the church (nave) measures 56 metres by 44 metres, with an interior area of 2,380 square metres. The height of the cathedral from the ground to the top of the cross is 87.1 metres (height of stairs 1 metre). The underground chapel occupies 35,550 cubic metres and

414-490: A ri means 'friend'; megobrebi ( megob Ø rebi ) means 'friends', with the loss of a in the last syllable of the word stem. Georgian has seven noun cases: nominative , ergative , dative , genitive , instrumental , adverbial and vocative . An interesting feature of Georgian is that, while the subject of a sentence is generally in the nominative case and the object is in the accusative case (or dative), one can find this reversed in many situations (this depends mainly on

460-399: A row, as may be seen in words like გვფრცქვნ ი gvprtskvni 'you peel us' and მწვრთნ ელი mts’vrtneli 'trainer'. Vicenik has observed that Georgian vowels following ejective stops have creaky voice and suggests this may be one cue distinguishing ejectives from their aspirated and voiced counterparts. Georgian has been written in a variety of scripts over its history. Currently

506-589: A word. Georgian vowels in non-initial syllables are pronounced with a shorter duration compared to vowels in initial syllables. long polysyllabic words may have a secondary stress on their third or fourth syllable. Georgian contains many "harmonic clusters" involving two consonants of a similar type (voiced, aspirated, or ejective) that are pronounced with only a single release; e.g. ბგ ერა bgera 'sound', ცხ ოვრება tskhovreba 'life', and წყ ალი ts’q’ali 'water'. There are also frequent consonant clusters , sometimes involving more than six consonants in

SECTION 10

#1732855404984

552-466: Is architecturally part of the nave structure) or a porch (if it is a distinct, external structure). Some traditions still call this area the narthex as it represents the point of entry into the church, even if everyone is admitted to the nave itself. In the Eastern Orthodox Church , the esonarthex and exonarthex had, and still have, distinct liturgical functions. For instance, the procession at

598-474: Is because syllables in the language often begin with two consonants. Recordings are available on the relevant Wiktionary entries, linked to below. Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights : Narthex The narthex is an architectural element typical of early Christian and Byzantine basilicas and churches consisting of the entrance or vestibule , located at the west end of

644-576: Is erected on the Elia Hill, which rises above the left bank of the Kura River (Mtkvari) in the historic neighborhood of Avlabari in Old Tbilisi . Designed in a traditional Georgian style but with a greater vertical emphasis, and "regarded as an eyesore by many people, it is equally venerated by as many others". The cathedral has a cruciform plan with a dome over a crossing resting on eight columns. At

690-418: Is medieval ( Byzantine Greek ), in use by the 12th century ( Etymologicum Magnum ). English use dates from the 1670s. It isn't clear how this meaning was derived, allegedly from a resemblance of the entrance area of the church to a hollow stem. In Modern Greek narthekas (νάρθηκας) no longer has the classical meaning and is either the porch of a church, as English, or the brace of a sprained wrist or sling of

736-998: Is rather light, and in fact Georgian transliterates the tenuis stops in foreign words and names with the ejectives. The coronal occlusives ( /tʰ tʼ d n/ , not necessarily affricates) are variously described as apical dental, laminal alveolar, and "dental". Per Canepari, the main realizations of the vowels are [ i ], [ e̞ ], [ ä ], [ o̞ ], [ u ]. Aronson describes their realizations as [ i̞ ], [ e̞ ], [ ä ] (but "slightly fronted"), [ o̞ ], [ u̞ ]. Shosted transcribed one speaker's pronunciation more-or-less consistently with [ i ], [ ɛ ], [ ɑ ], [ ɔ ], [ u ]. Allophonically, [ ə ] may be inserted to break up consonant clusters, as in /dɡas/ [dəɡäs] . In casual speech, /iV, Vi/ sequences can be realized phonetically as [jV~i̯V, Vj~Vi̯]. Phrase-final unstressed vowels may sometimes be partially reduced. Prosody in Georgian involves stress, intonation, and rhythm. Stress

782-401: Is very weak, and linguists disagree as to where stress occurs in words. Jun, Vicenik, and Lofstedt have proposed that Georgian stress and intonation are the result of pitch accents on the first syllable of a word and near the end of a phrase. According to Borise, Georgian has fixed initial word-level stress cued primarily by greater syllable duration and intensity of the initial syllable of

828-452: The Dittionario giorgiano e italiano . These were meant to help western Catholic missionaries learn Georgian for evangelical purposes. On the left are IPA symbols, and on the right are the corresponding letters of the modern Georgian alphabet, which is essentially phonemic. Former /qʰ/ ( ჴ ) has merged with /x/ ( ხ ), leaving only the latter. The glottalization of the ejectives

874-494: The Mkhedruli script is almost completely dominant; the others are used mostly in religious documents and architecture. Mkhedruli has 33 letters in common use; a half dozen more are obsolete in Georgian, though still used in other alphabets, like Mingrelian, Laz, and Svan. The letters of Mkhedruli correspond closely to the phonemes of the Georgian language. According to the traditional account written down by Leonti Mroveli in

920-440: The Georgian Orthodox Church and together are called Khutsuri 'priest alphabet'. In Mkhedruli , there is no case. Sometimes, however, a capital-like effect, called Mtavruli ('title' or 'heading'), is achieved by modifying the letters so that their vertical sizes are identical and they rest on the baseline with no descenders. These capital-like letters are often used in page headings, chapter titles, monumental inscriptions, and

966-452: The Kartlian dialect. Over the centuries, it has exerted a strong influence on the other dialects. As a result, they are all, generally, mutually intelligible with standard Georgian, and with one another. The history of the Georgian language is conventionally divided into the following phases: The earliest extant references to Georgian are found in the writings of Marcus Cornelius Fronto ,

SECTION 20

#1732855404984

1012-582: The Paschal Vigil will end up at the exonarthex for the reading of the Resurrection Gospel , while certain penitential services are traditionally chanted in the esonarthex. In some Eastern Orthodox temples , the narthex will be referred to as the trapeza (refectory), because in ancient times, tables would be set up there after the Divine Liturgy for the faithful to eat a common meal, similar to

1058-452: The agape feast of the early church . To this day, this is where the faithful will bring their baskets at Pascha (Easter) for the priest to bless the Paschal foods which they will then take back to their homes for the festive break-fast . Traditionally, the narthex is where candles and prosphora will be sold for offering during Divine Services . The doorway leading from the narthex to

1104-449: The nave , opposite the church's main altar . Traditionally the narthex was a part of the church building, but was not considered part of the church proper. In early Christian churches the narthex was often divided into two distinct parts: an esonarthex (inner narthex) between the west wall and the body of the church proper, separated from the nave and aisles by a wall, arcade , colonnade , screen, or rail, and an external closed space,

1150-452: The 11th century, the first Georgian script was created by the first ruler of the Kingdom of Iberia , Pharnavaz , in the 3rd century BC. The first examples of a Georgian script date from the 5th century AD. There are now three Georgian scripts, called Asomtavruli 'capitals', Nuskhuri 'small letters', and Mkhedruli . The first two are used together as upper and lower case in the writings of

1196-568: The Georgian language ( ქართული ენის განმარტებითი ლექსიკონი ). It consists of eight volumes and about 115,000 words. It was produced between 1950 and 1964, by a team of linguists under the direction of Arnold Chikobava . Georgian has a word derivation system, which allows the derivation of nouns from verb roots both with prefixes and suffixes, for example: It is also possible to derive verbs from nouns: Likewise, verbs can be derived from adjectives, for example: In Georgian many nouns and adjectives begin with two or more contiguous consonants. This

1242-851: The Kartlian dialect, and all dialects are mutually intelligible. The history of Georgian spans from Early Old Georgian in the 5th century, to Modern Georgian today. Its development as a written language began with the Christianization of Georgia in the 4th century. Georgian phonology features a rich consonant system, including aspirated, voiced, and ejective stops , affricates , and fricatives . Its vowel system consists of five vowels with varying realizations. Georgian prosody involves weak stress, with disagreements among linguists on its placement. The language's phonotactics include complex consonant clusters and harmonic clusters. The Mkhedruli script , dominant in modern usage, corresponds closely to Georgian phonemes and has no case distinction, though it employs

1288-474: The Patriarch, a monastery, a clerical seminary and theological academy, several workshops, places for rest, etc. In early January 2024, the discovery of Joseph Stalin on an icon drew national and international attention. The presence of Stalin on an icon has been described as unusual by theologians. The icon featuring Stalin has been donated by members of the conservative Alliance of Patriots party. On 10 January,

1334-467: The cemetery's gravestones and monuments were also destroyed and the cemetery turned into a recreational park. However, the cemetery still contained many of its graves when construction of the Sameba Cathedral commenced. The cemetery was treated with a "scandalous lack of respect" according to one author, after bones and gravestones appeared scattered all over the construction site. The Sameba Cathedral

1380-403: The character of the verb). This is called the dative construction . In the past tense of the transitive verbs, and in the present tense of the verb "to know", the subject is in the ergative case. Georgian has a rich word-derivation system. By using a root, and adding some definite prefixes and suffixes, one can derive many nouns and adjectives from the root. For example, from the root - kart -,

1426-452: The current Mkhedruli, used for most purposes. The language has a robust grammatical framework with unique features such as syncope in morphophonology and a left-branching syntax. Georgian's vocabulary is highly derivational, allowing for diverse word formations, while its numeric system is vigesimal. No claimed genetic links between the Kartvelian languages and any other language family in

Holy Trinity Cathedral of Tbilisi - Misplaced Pages Continue

1472-619: The exonarthex (outer narthex), a court in front of the church façade delimited on all sides by a colonnade as in the first St. Peter's Basilica in Rome or in the Basilica of Sant'Ambrogio in Milan . The exonarthex may have been either open or enclosed with a door leading to the outside, as in the Byzantine Chora Church . By extension, the narthex can also denote a covered porch or entrance to

1518-498: The following words can be derived: Kart veli ('a Georgian person'), Kart uli ('the Georgian language') and Sa kart velo ('the country of Georgia'). Most Georgian surnames end in - dze 'son' (Western Georgia), - shvili 'child' (Eastern Georgia), - ia (Western Georgia, Samegrelo ), - ani (Western Georgia, Svaneti ), - uri (Eastern Georgia), etc. The ending - eli is a particle of nobility, comparable to French de , Dutch van , German von or Polish - ski . Georgian has

1564-411: The height is 13.1 metres. Natural materials are used for construction. The floor is made of marble tiles and the altar will also be decorated with mosaic . The painting of the murals is being executed by a group of artists guided by Amiran Goglidze . The Sameba complex, the construction of which is already completed, consists of the main cathedral church, a free-standing bell-tower, the residence of

1610-482: The icon featuring Stalin was defaced with blue paint, in an incident that drew press attention, and subsequent protests. 41°41′51″N 44°49′0″E  /  41.69750°N 44.81667°E  / 41.69750; 44.81667 Georgian language Georgian is most closely related to the Zan languages ( Megrelian and Laz ) and more distantly to Svan . Georgian has various dialects , with standard Georgian based on

1656-498: The like. This is the Georgian standard keyboard layout. The standard Windows keyboard is essentially that of manual typewriters . Georgian is an agglutinative language . Certain prefixes and suffixes can be joined in order to build a verb. In some cases, one verb can have up to eight different morphemes in it at the same time. An example is ageshenebinat ('you [all] should've built [it]'). The verb can be broken down to parts: a-g-e-shen-eb-in-a-t . Each morpheme here contributes to

1702-483: The main body of the church. In the Russian Orthodox Church funerals are traditionally held in the narthex. Later reforms removed the requirement to exclude people from services who were not full members of the congregation, which in some traditions obviated the narthex. Church architects continued, however, to build a room before the entrance of the nave. This room could be called an inside vestibule (if it

1748-472: The meaning of the verb tense or the person who has performed the verb. The verb conjugation also exhibits polypersonalism ; a verb may potentially include morphemes representing both the subject and the object. In Georgian morphophonology , syncope is a common phenomenon. When a suffix (especially the plural suffix - eb -) is attached to a word that has either of the vowels a or e in the last syllable, this vowel is, in most words, lost. For example, megob

1794-502: The nave is sometimes referred to as the "Royal Doors", because in major cathedrals ( catholica ) there were several sets of doors leading into the nave, the central one being reserved only for the use of the Byzantine emperor . On feast days there will be a procession to the narthex, followed by intercessory prayers, called the Litiy . In Armenia the local style of narthex is known as

1840-617: The replacement of Aramaic as the literary language . By the 11th century, Old Georgian had developed into Middle Georgian. The most famous work of this period is the epic poem The Knight in the Panther's Skin , written by Shota Rustaveli in the 12th century. In 1629, a certain Nikoloz Cholokashvili authored the first printed books written (partially) in Georgian, the Alphabetum Ibericum sive Georgianum cum Oratione and

1886-579: The same time, the parameters of the dome is independent from the apses , imparting a more monumental look to the dome and the church in general. The dome is surmounted by a 7.5 meter tall gilded gold cross. The cathedral consists of nine chapels (chapels of the Archangels , John the Baptist , Saint Nino , Saint George , Saint Nicholas , the Twelve Apostles , and All Saints ); five of them are situated in

Holy Trinity Cathedral of Tbilisi - Misplaced Pages Continue

1932-528: The service. The narthex would often include a baptismal font so that infants or adults could be baptized there before entering the nave, and to remind other believers of their baptisms as they gathered to worship. The narthex is thus traditionally a place of penitence, and in Eastern Christianity some penitential services, such as the Little Hours during Holy Week are celebrated there, rather than in

1978-418: The world and one of the largest religious buildings in the world by total area. Sameba is a synthesis of traditional styles dominating the Georgian church architecture at various stages in history and has some Byzantine undertones . The idea to build a new cathedral to commemorate 1,500 years of autocephaly of the Georgian Orthodox Church and 2,000 years from the birth of Jesus emerged as early as 1989,

2024-399: The world are accepted in mainstream linguistics. Among the Kartvelian languages, Georgian is most closely related to the so-called Zan languages ( Megrelian and Laz ); glottochronological studies indicate that it split from the latter approximately 2700 years ago. Svan is a more distant relative that split off much earlier, perhaps 4000 years ago. Standard Georgian is largely based on

2070-462: The world. The ceremony was also attended by leaders of other religious and confessional communities in Georgia as well as by political leaders. At least part of the site chosen for the new cathedral complex included land within what had once been an old Armenian cemetery called Khojavank . The cemetery once had an Armenian church destroyed during the Soviet period by the orders of Lavrenti Beria . Most of

2116-470: Was not until 23 November 1995, that the foundation of the new cathedral was laid. The construction of the church was proclaimed as a "symbol of the Georgian national and spiritual revival" and was sponsored mostly by anonymous donations from several businessmen and common citizens. On 23 November 2004, on St. George's Day , the cathedral was consecrated by Catholicos Patriarch of Georgia Ilia II and high-ranking representatives of fellow Orthodox Churches of

#983016