Mtatsmideli Eqvtime

Mtatsmideli Eqvtime ( 955-1028), Theologian and translator, Dean of the Iberian Monastery on Mount Athos. His father Ioane Varzvache Chordvaneli (alias Ioane Mtatsmideli) was the founder of Georgian monastic colony on Mt. Athos. When Ioane Mtatsmideli took the monastic vows, Ioane’s father-in-law and brothers-in-law undertook to bring up infant Eqvtime. As the fate would have it, Eqvtime found himself among the children of Georgian noblemen, who were sent to the Emperor of Byzantine Empire as hostages. Ioane solicited the Emperor for his son’s freedom and took him to the Mount Olymp. In 965, Eqvtime and his father settled down in the Monastery of Great Lavra. After the death of his father, in 1005-19, Eqvtime Mtatsmideli served as the Dean of the Iberian Monastery on Mount Athos. In 975-77 he took up literary activity. Being well-versed in Greek language, he made perfect translations from Greek into Georgian and vice versa. His literary works could be termed as samples of adequate translation: he treated the texts freely, rendering the gist of the original into the language of translation. He provided his translations with essential remarks and comments. Thanks to his literary works Eqvtime Mtatsmideli contributed to the promotion of Byzantine culture. He translated the books of Old and New Testament, essays and hagiographic compositions by Andrew of Crete, Basil of Caesarea, Gregory of Nyssa, John Chrysostom, John of Damascus and others. He wrote the monastic rule for the Iberian Monastery on Mount Athos.

Eqvtime Mtatsmideli is believed to have translated the novel of Barlaam And Josaphat (Balavariani) from Georgian into Greek; the subsequent Latin translation of the novel became the basis of European medieval secular literature.