05 — The Life by Ioane Sabanisdze

The Martyrdom of Abo, written c. 786–790 by Ioane Sabanisdze at the commission of the Catholicos Samuel of Kartli, is at once a masterpiece of early Georgian literature and a near-contemporary, near-eyewitness source. This section treats both faces of the text: its literary and theological artistry, and its exceptional value as evidence — the favorable pole of the repository’s spectrum of hagiographic sources.

Tradition: Georgian Orthodox

The first file treats the Life as literature and theology: one of the earliest dated original works of Georgian prose, composed by a learned churchman at the request of the head of the Georgian Church, and a work of real artistry and scriptural depth. The second file treats the Life as a source in the terms of the repository methodology (§3.5): its near-contemporary date, its author’s claim to have known Abo and witnessed events, what it can therefore reliably attest, and where — the miraculous lights, the northern itinerary, the reported speeches — the ordinary cautions still apply. Abo is the repository’s favorable case, and this section says exactly why.

Files

File Description
a-masterpiece-of-georgian-literature.md The Martyrdom of Abo — author, date c. 786–790, commission by Catholicos Samuel; its literary and theological artistry; one of the earliest dated original Georgian works
the-life-as-a-source.md The near-contemporary, near-eyewitness character of the source; the repository’s favorable pole opposite the thin-source cases; what it reliably attests

See Also