Theophilus the Hieromonk
Theophilus the Hieromonk, a writer and translator of the second half of the 11th century and the beginning of the 12th century. He pursued monastic life in Constantinople, at the Monastery of the Virgin Mary. He considered George the Hagiorite to be his mentor and teacher. He began his literary activity no earlier than 1073, at the behest of King George II. According to the epigraph to Queen Mariam's edition of The Georgian Chronicles, in 1114, he arrived in Georgia together with Ephrem Mtsire, Arsen of Ikalto, and Ioane Tarichisdze. Theophilus the Hieromonk worked productively in many fields of sacred writing. He made a great contribution to the development of metaphrastic writing. He translated hagiographic and homiletic works of a metaphrastic nature, among which the readings of Symeon the Metaphrast (for the months of September, November and December) are noteworthy, as well as the works of Epiphanius of Salamis, Anastasius Sinaita, Cyril of Alexandria, and John Chrysostom. He also translated the dogmatic works of Theodoret of Cyrus and Epiphanius of Salamis. Among the exegetical works, he translated the commentaries on the John Chrysostom's editions of books of the Old Testament. The translation work of Theophilus the Hieromonk is of great importance for the history of Georgian-Byzantine literary relations. The Greek originals of some of his translated works have not been preserved, among which Theodoret of Cyrus's Confession of the True Faith and the metaphrased edition of Hilarion the Georgian's Life should be noted.
Literature: კეკელიძე კ., ქართული ლიტერატურის ისტორია, ტ. 1, თბ., 1960.
R. Miminoshvili
