Cultural-Religious Context of Translation Style. On Euthymius Atoneli’s Translations
Cultural-Religious Context of Translation Style. On Euthymius Atoneli’s Translations

Summary/Abstract: This article discusses the original translation style of St. Euthymius the Athonite (10th11th centuries), a great Georgian monk working in the Iviron Monastery of Athos (Greece), which was called an ‘omission-addition style’ in the scientific literature, and was entirely conditioned not by linguistic but by cultural-religious context. The main goal of the article is to examine that unique phenomenon we are dealing with in the form of his translations, that sheds light on how a translator may turn linguistic tools into cultural vectors of a society, a country, determining the main path for spiritual and intellectual development of the nation in a particular historical epoch and along the centuries. From the rich Greek theological literature, Euthymius the Athonite selected for translation those works that would best reflect the knowledge accumulated in that field at the time, and presented them to Georgian readers, still less knowledgeable in theological matters, in such a way that would best suit them and strengthen their Christian faith, on the one hand, and introduce them to the advanced Western thought, on the other. Research focus is on the translations of theological content. Based on the comparative analysis of the Greek-Georgian texts, I examine those methods and means that Euthymius the Athonite used to keep the Georgian nation from possible religious threats, misunderstandings, and difficulties that accompanied the misinterpretation of religious texts in the Middle Ages. Euthymius the Athonite laid a solid foundation for the process of Europeanization of Georgian literature and culture, which his descendants continued with dignity.

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