At the initiative of the Rectorate of Tbilisi Theological Academy and Seminary and with the support of the Office of Public Relations, on December 11, a Students’ Week of survey of their scholarly activities, dedicated to the 91st birthday and the 46th anniversary of the Enthronement of the Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia, Archbishop of Mtskheta and Tbilisi and Metropolitan of Bitchvinta and Tskhum-Abkhazeti, His Holiness and Beatitude Ilia II, was solemnly opened at Tbilisi Theological Academy and Seminary.
The Rector of Tbilisi Theological Academy and Seminary, Doctor of Theology, Philology and Political Sciences, Protopresbyter Giorgi Zviadadze gave a welcome speech at the event. He spoke about the merits of the Patriarch and noted that, from the day of its foundation, the Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia Ilia II had set a plan for the theological academy, the objective of which was to integrate the saving knowledge and the saving faith within its walls. The educational system of the first theological school is based on the unity of faith and knowledge, and today is the day of its clear confirmation, - said Protopresbyter Giorgi Zviadadze. The work of the Students’ Week was opened by the Head of the Department of Georgian Language and Literature of Tbilisi Theological Academy and Seminary, Doctor of Philology, Professor Lela Khachidze. On the first day of the Students’ Week, the topics - Mount Athos and Pre- Athonian Ecclesiastical Poetry - prepared by the students of the faculties of Academy and Seminary under the supervision of Professor Lela Khachidze, were presented.
1. Pre-Athonian Ecclesiastical Poetry - the moderator of the working groups was Irakli Esebua, a third-year student of the Faculty of the Academy. The Speakers were the first-year students of the Faculty of Seminary and the second-year students of the Faculty of Psychology:
1. Kakhaber Abulidze – Saint Romanoz Melodist and His Work,
2. Guram Tsitsava – The Earliest Book of the Year and Its Differentiation,
3. Father Emanuel Kekelia – Ioane Minchkhi - the Great Georgian Hymnographer of the 10th Century,
4. Luka Khvedelidze – Demetre-Damiane and His ‘You Are the Vine’,
5. Irine Chukhtiashvili – The Merits of Saint Euthymius the Athonite (the supervisor - Doctor of Philology Ketevan Mamasakhlisi).
2. Mount Athos, the Theological and Educational Center - the moderator was Irakli Esebua, a third-year student of the Faculty of Academy. The Speakers are the second- year students of the Faculty of Academy:
1. Zurab Gvelesiani – The Commemoration Prayers Included in the Lives of SS Ioane and Euthymius the Athonites,
2. Giorgi Torchinava – Saint Ioane-Tornike According to the Writing of Saint Giorgi the Athonite and ‘The Acts of Iviron’,
3. Amiran Khvedelidze – Saint Giorgi the Athonite’s Controversy with the Patriarch of Antioch,
4. Irakli Esebua – Hymns Dedicated to Euthymius the Athonite.
The presented papers were provided with visual materials by the first-year student of the Faculty of Seminary, Gabriel Mdinaradze.
