The manuscripts preserved in Svaneti are a very important source for studying the history of the old Georgian translation of the Gospels. A big part of the manuscripts is preserved in the Svaneti Museum of History and Ethnography (SMHE) in Mestia. Some of them are kept in various churches of the villages.

Several codices from the  manuscripts of the Gospels preserved in the Svaneti Museum consist of the text of the Gospels almost in its entirety. Among these codices are: the ancient dated list of the Gospels  -  the Adishi Gospels transcribed in Shatberdi in 897 (SMHE N478 (K-82); the Mestia Gospels (also dated) transcribed in Oshki in 1033 (SMHE N1 (K-70); richly decorated the Lapskaldi Gospels dated to the 12th-13th  centuries (SMHE N482 (K-71); relatively late the Ienashi Gospels, which is considered as the list of the 13th  century  (SMHE N483 (K-72); the Gospel transcribed in the 14th  century in the Church of the Resurrection in Jerusalem and donated to the Church of Lahili (the Lahili Gospels, SMHE N620, K-75). Among the manuscripts of the Gospels preserved in the Svaneti Museum, there are two lists  missing initial and conclusive parts: the eleventh-century manuscript of the Tviberi Gospels (SMHE N548 (K-73) and one manuscript of the Gospel dated to the 13th  century, whose only 76 pages have been preserved (SMHE N 3381 (K-64).  Several fragments of the manuscripts of the Gospel are also preserved in the museum: SMHE N8 (k-37); SMHE N491 (k-8); SMHE N13 (1) (k-4); SMHE N13 (2) (k-4) [Tvaltvadze… 2018:41-55].

It seems that in Svaneti there were more manuscripts of the Gospels than there are today. This is evidenced by the publications describing the results of the expeditions carried out in Svaneti in the second half of the 19th  century and in the beginning of the 20th  century. Some of the manuscripts of the Gospels mentioned in the publications are no longer preserved in Svaneti. Some of them are in Tbilisi, in various collections of the Georgian manuscripts.  Their connection with Svaneti is indicated in the description (though not always). The identification of the manuscripts previously preserved in Svaneti is complicated by the fact that the information (manuscript dimensions, number of pages, composition, name of the place of storage, etc.) provided by the researchers of the 19th-20th  centuries about the manuscripts are not always uniform. It should also be taken into account that some manuscripts might be more damaged over time, while others might be lost.

A few years ago, within the framework of one of the projects, my colleagues and I visited  the Svaneti Museum of History and Ethnography (in Mestia) to familiarize with the  manuscripts of the Gospels. Our attention was attracted by  the four-page fragment called the Chvabiani Gospels, which was preserved in the museum (SMHE N491, K-8) and dated back to the 12th century in accordance with the palaeographic signs. While studying the preserved fragments, we determined that the Chvabiani fragment consisted of several verses of the 16th, the 17th and the 18th Chapters of the Gospel of John and the text presented in it was of Giorgi Mtatsmideli’s redaction (Tvaltvadze..., 2018:41-55). However, the  primary codex of the fragment could not  be identified.

While researching the handwritten Gospels preserved in Svaneti and brought from Svaneti, our attention was attracted by the article "The Svan Handwritten Gospels" ("Сванскiя рукописныя Евангелiя") published by Aleksandre Khakhanashvili in the 10th  issue of the Journal "Материалы по археологии Кавказа" in 1904. In this article, the author more or less fully described and reviewed 10 handwritten Gospels preserved in different villages of Svaneti [Хаханов, 1904:1-21]. Along with the Adishi, Mestia, Lapskaldi, Lakhamuli, Latali, Lashkhveri and  Uvali Gospels, Aleksandre Khakhanashvili named three manuscripts found in village Muzhali and called them "The Muzhali Gospels" ("Мужалскiя Евангелiя") [Хаханов 1904:18-19].

Nowadays, the manuscripts described by Aleksandre Khakhanashvili cannot be found among the codices of the Gospels preserved in Svaneti. As we found out, two of them are currently preserved in Tbilisi, in the Fund H (H-1870 and H-1871) of Korneli Kekelidze National Center of Manuscripts (the former collection of manuscripts of the Museum of Historical and Ethnographic Society). They were brought by Akaki Shanidze from Svaneti in 1921 [Fund H ... 1950:256]. The fate of the handwritten Gospel, written on the parchment and called the Muzhali First Gospels by Khakhanashvili, is unclear.

According to Aleksandre Khakhanashvili, this manuscript, which was found in the Church of the Savior in Muzhali, was written in two columns on the parchment and contained 151 pages (Matthew’s,  Mark’s, Luke’s and John's Gospels cover 22, 42, 68 and 20 pages respectively). The researcher indicated the dimensions of the handwritten page (20x15 cm) and the number of lines per page (22 lines). Aleksandre Khakhanashvili cited the notes presented at the end of the Gospels. They contained information about the details related to the writing of the Gospels, the number of verses and chapters. Aleksandre Khakhanashvili published several wills and noted that some of them had been incorrectly read by Dimitri Bakradze, who had seen this manuscript before him (1860) [Бакрадзе, 1864:108].

In Aleksandre Khakhanashvili's publication, the text of the will written at the end of the Gospel of Luke is cited. It determines the time of writing of the manuscript: "At the time, when these Gospels were written, Antioch was taken by the Armenians. Pray for monk Giorgi" [Хаханов, 1904:18]. It is known that the Armenians of Cilicia invaded Antioch twice  -   in 1213 and in 1216. Probably, the manuscript was copied during these years (1213-1216). Monk Giorgi named there was also  mentioned in another will: "St. Mark the evangelist, take care of sinner monk Giorgi" [Хаханов, 1904:18].

Aleksandre Khakhanashvili writes that the manuscript missed the page seen by Dimitri Bakradze and another will was written on it: “Pray for monk Giorgi. It was written in St. Svimeon’s dwelling, on Miraculous Mountain. May God forgive Deacon Basil, who worked hard. Bless him" [Бакрадзе, 1864:108].

Aleksandre Khakhanashvili notes that monk Giorgi's will (who should be the scribe of the manuscript  D. T.) was accompanied by another text, written by the scribe. It was written on the last page of the codex and missed the ending: "Grace and glory, honour and worship to the Holy Trinity, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, who, with the great humanity, granted humans with innumerable kindness and gifts and appeared before the believers with religion, which we believed and acknowledge. The truth of the Holy Trinity was revealed to us by the apostles, the evangelists and this book described by the Holy Spirit" [Хаханов, 1904:18].

Nowadays, this manuscript ("The Muzhali First  Gospels") described by Aleksandre Khakhanashvili is not among the codices of the Gospels preserved in Svaneti. As we mentioned above, before Khakhanashvili, this manuscript was seen by Dimitri Bakradze [Бакрадзе, 1864:108) and according to Ekvtime Takaishvili, by monk Aleksi Bakradze [Takaishvili, 1937:249]. In the report of the archaeological expedition to Lechkhum-Svaneti in 1910, Ekvtime Takaishvili wrote that in Muzhali community "there is not, during Bakradze’s time, there was the Gospel written on the parchment" [Takaishvili, 1937:249].

What happened to the manuscript called the Muzhali First Gospels by Aleksandre Khakhanashvili?

Our attention was attracted by the connection of the codex with Antioch and the text preserved on its last page (see above: "Grace and glory, honor and worship..."), which is also found in several other manuscripts of the Gospels (five manuscripts were identified). All these manuscripts contain the text of the Gospel of Giorgi Mtatsmideli’s redaction and are related to Antioch scribal school. The text is a paratextual appendix to the Gospels. It is a panegyric homily (with the conditional title "The Praise of the Gospels") and emphasizes the specialness and outstanding importance of the Gospels called "the supreme book of the heavens and the earth". The author of the mentioned text is considered to be Georgian scribe Basili Torelkopili, who worked on the Black Mountain, namely, in the Kalipos Monastery, in the second half of the 11th  century. He copied Giorgi Mtatsmideli's "The Newly Translated Gospel" (K-76) in 1060 and added to it the text of the Gospels as well as  the scribe's will [Silogava, 1989; Tvaltvadze, 2010].

Besides the Kalipos Gospels (K-76, 151v-153r), "The Praise of the Gospels" is attached to the Vatican Gospels copied on the Black Mountain (Vat.Iber.1:574-567). Its slightly abbreviated version is added to the Kvatakhevi  Gospels dating from the 14th -15th  centuries (A-357, 251r-155r). "The Praise of the Gospels" is fragmentarily preserved in one of the Gospels of the 13th century A-37 (308r-309v) and is also added to the manuscript H-1791 of the Antiochian origin (153r), which dates back to 1213-1216. The comparison of the text of "The Praise of the Gospels" preserved in these manuscripts with the fragment of the text presented on the last page of the Muzhali First Gospels shows that it is the beginning of Basili Torelkopili’s "The Praise". It is interesting that the text published by Aleksandre Khakhanashvili and the text preserved in H-1791 stop at the same place:

There is no doubt that we are dealing with one and the same manuscript here: the manuscript called the Muzhali First Gospels by Aleksandre Khakhanashvili is the codex of the Gospels, which is kept today in Tbilisi, in the collection of the former Historical-Ethnographic Society (Fund H) under the number 1791.

Although today the manuscript H-1791 has 153 pages instead of 151 [Fund H...1950:218] and its size (21X15 cm) is slightly different from  the dimensions specified by Aleksandre Khakhanashvili (20X15 cm), many other characteristics clearly indicate that the manuscript H-1791 is the Gospels that  Aleksandre Khakhanashvili describes as the Muzhali First Gospels:

1. The manuscript H-1791  is also written on the parchment in Nuskhuri, in two columns and there are 22 lines per column;

2. Its copyist is monk Giorgi ("The reader, pray for sinner monk Giorgi, for God's sake" (H-1791, 153r);

3. The place and time of copying is the same. This is confirmed by the will, which was  cited  by Dimitri Bakradze, Aleksi Bakradze and Aleksandre Khakhanashvili (based on Dimitri Bakaradze) and is presented in H-1791 on 151v: "… were written, Antioch was taken by the Armenians ". According to this will, the period 1213-1216 is defined as the date of the manuscript;

4. The composition and condition of the handwritten book are identical: it contains the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John incompletely. The manuscript is disjointed and has not got a cover;

5. Identical are the colophons of H-1791 and the Gospels published by Aleksandre Khakhanashvili (Giorgi Mtatsmideli’s redaction);

6. As we have seen, the paratext of the Gospel presented in H-1791 (the co-called “The Praise of the Gospels") is identical to the text quoted by Aleksandre Khakhanashvili for continuation of the will while describing the Muzhali First Gospels. They stop at the same place (H-1791, 153r).

The above-mentioned gives us the reason to consider the manuscript described and called the Muzhali First Gospels by Khakhanashvili as the manuscript number 1791 protected in the Fund H.

It is not known when and who brought this manuscript to Tbilisi (nothing is indicated about its origin in the description of the manuscript), but it is a fact that in the beginning of the 20th  century it was still the property of the Church of the Savior of Muzhali community in village Chvabiani [Takaishvili, 1937:249].

The manuscript H-1791 is incomplete. It has not got a cover and the papers are fallen out of the disjointed codex. Since the connection of the manuscript with Svaneti, in particular, with the community of Muzhali, has been established, the search for its lost pages should be started from the fragments related to this village of Svaneti. Firstly, attention is drawn to the four-page fragment called the Chvabiani Gospels preserved in the Mestia Museum (SMHE N 491 (K-8). It was brought to the museum from the Church of the Savior of Muzhali community in village Chvabiani. This manuscript, like H-1791, is written on the parchment, in two columns and 22 lines per column. Like H-1791, it is copied in calligraphic Nuskhuri, in black ink and the superscripts are  painted with cinnabar. Some of them are especially beautifully painted. In the mentioned manuscript as well as in H-1791, we come across  Christ’s monogram written with cinnabar and the traces of ruling are clearly visible. In both of them, the number of Eusebius' Canons and the number of Ammonian Sections are written on the left margins as well as between the columns. It should be noted that in both manuscripts there are the cross references (the so-called “gantesulebi”) in which the names of the evangelists are written with cinnabar and the numbers indicating the verses are written in the black ink.

The Chvabiani fragment presents those verses of the Gospel that are missing from H-1791 (several verses of the 16th, the 17th  and the 18th  Chapters of the Gospel of John) and are of Giorgi Mtatsmideli’s redaction. The paleographical-codicological analysis of the fragment and the manuscript H-1791 convinced us that the fragment preserved in Mestia and called the Chvabiani Gospels is a part of the manuscript H-1791, which was described in 1904 by Khakhanashvili as the Muzhali First Gospels. Later it appeared in the Museum of the Historical-Ethnographic Society (Fund H) in Tbilisi.