Ladies and Gentlemen2

The Opening Speech delivered by Mrs. Neli Makharadze. Doctor. Head of the Department of Byzantine Studies of Acad. G. Tsereteli Institute of Oriental Studies. Chair of the Organizing Committee of the III International Conference in Byzantine Studies in Georgia.

 

.Ladies and Gentlemen, Dear colleagues, Your Excellency Mr. Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Hellenic Republic in the Republic of Georgia, guests, the attending persons! I greet you and express my gratitude in the name of the Organizing Committee of the III International Conference in the Byzantine Studies in Georgia, to everyone that responded to our desire to assemble together and interchange views among us. First and foremost I express my deepest gratitude to the Embassy of the Hellenic Republic in the Republic of Georgia, especially-personally to His Excellency the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Hellenic Republic in the Republic of Georgia Mr. Georgios Chatsimichellakis, for financing our conference and for support; this enabled us to incarnate the desired aim even in our modern situation and circumstances.

All of you are well aware that the Byzantine studies- a branch of science that investigates the history of the culture and of the social life of those countries that are in permanent contact with Georgia, is the history of our country Georgia at the same time, is her past. This was a history of both the friendship and of the feud.  It brought many losses but it brought many gains as well. The fact is one, science enhances contacts among countries and peoples,  just as much as life does it. Hence there is no place for being estranged and only mutual interests and the tendency to work together and understand each other are important.

Apparently few are spheres of science that, like ours, embraces many branches and is multilateral. That is the reason that at the conferences, meetings, phorums  held on the Byzantine problems, be it large- or small-scale ones, assemble and unite for talks persons that study and investigate language and literature, the Arts, theology-phylosophy, history proper and archaeology, architecture, hymnology, anthropology and other spheres of science. Byzantinology//Byzantine studies encompass everything.

We study, investigate the Byzantine sources concerning Georgia, at the same time we study, investigate the Georgian sources concerning Byzantium. The fascination of science is just the fact that whatever made a gap among us in the past, it is just that same things that bring us nearer to each other, unite us and make us friends nowadays. We witness the third large-scale event in the Byzantine studies held in recent years here in Georgia today. Life has posed such intricate problems before science lately that it is absolutely necessary to act united, to consolidate the scientists’ intellectual powers and to work with the utmost efforts to cope with those problems. Investigation of the past serves the deeds of the Future. Every nation ought to know what this nation is, from whence it came//what is its history and in this case only it will be able to define properly in what direction it ought to go on its way…

              Time is incessant. Great is the contribution of the former generations that handed us the true witnesses of the past in the form of the praying centers, monasteries, hymns, manuscripts, frescos, inscriptions, religious and national traditional festivities, choreography, suns and moons carved on stone or wood and in the form of the mute gravestones as well.

              This conference will proceed its work and move after Tbilisi to the town Akhaltsikhe ; it is in the indigenous ancient Georgian region called Samtskhe-Javakheti. It has been and will remain the keeper and saver of the Georgian cultural traditions.

              We are very glad that besides scientists living in Georgia, foreign scientists that have arrived from various countries take part in this Conference. Our greetings to:

1. Mrs. Annegret Plontke Luning from Germany;
2. Mrs. Andrea Schmidt-from Belgium;
3. Mr. Rolf Schrade-from Berlin, Germany;
4. Mr. Abdo Badwy from Lebanon. He is a Professor, Head of the Religious Arts at Saint Esprit de Kasrik University, a painter-iconographer, the investigator of the Syrian traditions and of their link to the Byzantine world, -with the Caucasian area especially.
5. Mr. Marcus Bogusch from Denmark, a Professor at the Copenhagen University.
6. Mr. Paruyr Muradyan-from Armenia, our colleague. I do not consider him to be entirely a foreigner in a way. He is the Main Specialist of the Oriental Institute of the Armenian Academy of Sciences.
7. Mr. Irfan Chagathai Aleksishi. He is from Istanbul in Turkey. He is Laz and studies in Tbilisi to learn more.
8. Mr. Mustafa Shenel and Mr. Cem Tuysuz are from the Caucasus University in Kars in Turkey

I thank you all cordially for coming to Georgia and being with us here.

 

And now allow me to give the floor to Acad. Thomas Gamkrelidze. He is the President of the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Georgia.

 

Now I give the floor for greetings to His Excellency the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenitentionary of the Hellenic Republic in the Republic of Georgia Mr. Georgios Khatzimikhellikis.

Now I give the floor to Prof. Rismag Gordeziani. He is the Director of the Institute of Classical Philology, Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies of Iv. Javakhishvili Tbilisi State Univesity.