Defense of a Master’s Degree Thesis
On
June 10, Shota Razmadze, a student of the
Master’s
program of
Theology
at Tbilisi Theological Academy and Seminary, defended his
master’s
degree
thesis on the topic,
titled:
Liturgy of Saint Basil the Great and
the Liturgical
Tradition
of the Orthodox Church
of
Georgia.
Doctor
of Philology and Theology, Professor, Academician of Gelati Academy
of Sciences, Archpriest Bidzina Gunia was the supervisor of the
work. The
reviewer
was Doctor of Theology, Professor, Archpriest Alexi Kshutashvili.
Dean of the Academy, Archpriest Ioane Kvanchiani addressed the
audience with his welcome speech and introduced the agenda.
The
session was chaired by the Rector of Tbilisi Theological Academy
and Seminary, Doctor of Theology, Philology and Political Sciences,
Professor, Protopresbyter Giorgi Zviadadze.
The
Master’s program student introduced the main propositions of his
thesis to the Committee and the attending public. He noted that the
qualification paper Liturgy of Basil the Great and the
Liturgical Tradition of the Church of Georgia discusses the
following issues:
The history of the origin and development of the Eucharist from the first to the fourth centuries; Saint Basil the Great’s great contribution; The original system of the Eucharist and later additions are shown in a table form; history of the establishment of the Eucharistic Canon of Basil the Great in the Orthodox Church of Georgia; three ancient Eucharistic texts published by Doctor of Philological Sciences Nino Qajaia are given in the form of a table, and are compared with the modern liturgical Contakion. Additionally, four contakion manuscripts (K 32-XVII c.; K 678-XVIII c.; K 12-XVII c.; K 125-XVIII c.) have been studied and discussed; the observed difference between them is presented in the comparative analysis of the table.
The
study of the sources, material and the Eucharistic service of Saint
Basil the Great clearly showed that the development of liturgy took
place step by step, from its simple form to its complex one;
Liturgical texts directly connected with the name of Saint Basil
the Great were identified.
The
supervisor of the Master’s degree thesis, Archpriest Bidzina Gunia
and the reviewer, Archpriest Alexi Kshutashvili positively assessed
the thesis. Shota
Razmadze exhaustively answered the questions asked by the Chairman
of the Committee, Protopresbyter Giorgi Zviadadze and the members
of the Committee.
Significant
opinions and positive evaluations regarding the work were expressed
by:
the Head
of the Department
of Liturgy and Pastoral Theology, Doctor of Theology, Archdeacon
Demetre Davitashvili, the Head of the Department of Patristics and
Dogmatics, Academician of the Gelati Academy of Sciences, Doctor of
Theology, Doctor of Philological Sciences, Professor Edisher
Chelidze, Doctor of Philological Sciences Gvantsa Koplatadze, Head
of the Department of Georgian Language and Literature, Doctor of
Philological Sciences Lela Khachidze, Director of the Publishing
House of Theological Academy and Seminary, Doctor of Philological
Sciences, Professor Nino Melikishvili, the Head of the Department
of Church Architecture, Doctor of Philological Sciences, Professor,
Archpriest Besarion Menabde;
The Committee of Master’s Theses Defense, under the chairmanship of the Rector of TTAS, Protopresbyter Giorgi Zviadadze, evaluated Shota Razmadze’s thesis with the highest score and unanimously awarded him the degree of Master of Theology.
