Berta Gospels
Berta Gospels is an important Georgian manuscript. It was transcribed in the 10th century, namely, during the lifetime of Sumbat III “eristavt-eristavi” (duke of dukes) (d. 941) and his sons — David (d. 992) and Bagrat (d. 988), which means it happened before 988 in Klarjeti, Berta Monastery. It was written in Mrgvlovani (Georgian script) on a parchment in two columns, contains 257 sheets. Four different handwritings can be distinguished, although the main scribes are someone named Gabriel and his wife.
The inscriptions show that the manuscript was kept in Guria for a long time, then it ended up in the Cathedral of Kars, from where American missionaries Smith and Dwight took it to America in 1830, along with other Armenian and Georgian manuscripts. In the report of their expedition, which was published in two volumes in 1833, Berta Gospels are not mentioned, thus, it was unknown to the scientific community for a century.
In 1939, R. Pierce, the curator of the Theological Museum of Newton (Massachusetts), discovered the Berta Gospels in the collection of oriental manuscripts of this museum. In 1940, Pierce invited R. Blake, American orientalist, a professor of Harvard University, Kartvelologist, who studied this manuscript and published an extensive work about it in 1944. Then the Berta Gospels was transferred to the Harvard Library, from where the Central Library of the Georgian Academy of Sciences received its microfilm in 1959.
The second Berta Gospels transcribed in Berta monastery (Q-906 of the Georgian National Center of Manuscripts) is also known. Its gilded book-cover is attributed to the 12th-century Beshken Opizari.
Literature: ამერიკაში აღმოჩენილია ძველი ქართული ხელნაწერი, «ლიტერატურა და ხელოვნება», 1944, 24 ნოემბ., № 39; ა მ ი რ ა ნ ა შ ვ ი ლ ი შ., ბერთის ოთხთავის მინიატიურებისა და მხატვრული მორთულობის დათარიღებისათვის, კრ.: „ორიონი“ (აკ. შანიძე), თბ., 1967; მეათე საუკუნის ქართული ხელნაწერი, «კომუნისტი», 1959, 17 მაისი; ტ უ რ ა შ ვ ი ლ ი ი., ბერთის ოთხთავის მინიატიურებისა და მხატვრული მორთულობის დათარიღებისათვის, «ცისკარი», 1977, № 4; მისივე, ბერთის ოთხთავის მინაწერები «მნათობი», 1979, № 7; B l a k e R., T e r n e r s e s s i a n s., The gospel of Berthay. An old-Georgian manuscript of the tenth century «Bizantion», v. 16, f. 1, Boston, 1944.
K. Danelia
