Maya Barnaveli

The Meaning of the Words “mkali (locusts) and “veluri tapli (wild honey)”

 Mentioned in the Gospel

(mkali, that is danakiskudi, tapli veluri – melagria)

Regarding John the Baptist we read in the Gospel that “his food was locusts and wild honey”[15, Matthew 3:4,]//“ἡ δε τροφὴ ην αυτοῦ ἀκριδες και μελι αγριον”. MT “he ate locusts and wild honey [15, Mark 1:6]//”...ἐσθιων ἀκρίδας και μελι αγριον MK.

ἀκρὶς, gen. ἀκρίδος is an insect̶locust, and/ἄκρις, ἄκριος (ἡ) is the peak, upper part of the top). In Biblical en­cyclopedias or dictionaries this word is univocally defined as a grasshopper, insect. However, this definition is sometimes follow­ed by the explanation that there is a tradition and some scholars still share the idea that this word denoted not an insect but a plant. There is a similar situation about the collocation wild honey, often in the works of ancient exe­geticians; for example, in the works of Theophilactus Bulgarian, the above-mentioned term is interpreted as honey prepared by the wild bees, but some authors still hold the view, according to which this term also denoted a plant.

Based on the linguistic analysis on the one hand, and the etymology of these words (both Georgian and Greek), on the other, we argue that John the Baptist’s food the locust and wild honey both denote plants. Regarding this issue we will employ the materials preserved in old Georgian manuscripts, writings of Sulkhan-Saba Orbeliani as well as in Modern stu­dies.

Already in the first century AD, the definition of these words was commented on. Because Jesus Christ said that John the Baptist neither ate nor drank [15, Matthew 11:18, “John came neither eating nor drinking..”], that among those born of women there has risen no one greater than John the Baptist. .…he was the Mighty One, the second Elijah, the greater than the Prophets, that from the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence. [15, Matthew, 11:12] So it was hard to imagine that he ate non-vegetarian food. The Holy Fathers explained the meaning of the words locusts and wild honey. In the early centuries, in translated (from Greek) as well as in original Georgian manuscripts – such as lives, homilies, exegetical and metaph­ras­tical writings - the meaning of the above-mentioned words was often explained and specifically interpreted.

In a Georgian original hagiographical text “Life of Peter Kartveli (Georgian)”[1], one of the disciples says that he ap­proached, together with other disciples, father Isaiah’s cell, and overheard the conversation. However, when they came closer, they saw no one there besides Father himself. When asked about the person he was talking to, Father Isaia replied: “The great John the Baptist came and said: ‘After three days we’ll come and take forth your soul'. And I asked the Great John, “What was your food while living in the desert?” And he said to me, “Herbs, vegetable, and hay was the food of mine” [18, pp. 253-254].

Εἰ οἱ θεοῖ χρησμοὶ σημαίνουσι τὴν ἀκριδειαν, περιττὴ ἡ περίεργος ζήτησις τοῖς νουνεχῶς τουτους ἀναγινώσκουσιν. Εἰ τοίνυν καὶ βρώματα καὶ ἐσθήματα τῆς κατὰ θεὸν τελείας ἀσκήσεως ἐν Ἰωάννῃ τῷ βαπτιστῇ ἐπαιδεύζημεν, Φριξὶ μὲν, εἰ οἶον τε, πρὸς σκέπην ἀρκέσθησόμεθα, ἀκρέμοσι δὲ βοτανῶν καὶ φύλλων πρὸς ὀλίγην τροφὴν καὶ ἀπέρριττον. Εἰ δὲ ταῦτα, δι’ ἀσθένειαν μείζονα, τύπος ἡμῖν ἔστω χρείας ἀπάσης καὶ τελεώσεως, ἡ τοῦ προεστῶτος δοκιμασία καὶ κέλευσις [27, col. 183, 184] Τί εἰσιν αἰ ακρίδες, καὶ τὸ μέλι τὸ ἄγριον, οἷς ὁ Βαπτιστὴς Ἰωάννης ἐτρέφετο.

Ἁι ακρίδες, αἷς Ἰωάννης ἐτρέφετο, οὐ ζωά εἰσιν ὥς τινες ἀμαζῶς, κανθάροις ἀπεοικότα. Μὴ γένοιτο. Ἄλλ’ ἀκρέμονες βοτανων ἤ φυτῶν. Οὔτε δὲ πόα τίς ἐστι πάλιν τὸ μέλι (τὸ) ἄγριον. Δι’ ὧν τήν ὑπερβαλλουσαν κάκωσιν ἐπεδείκνυτο Ἰωάννης, οὐκ ἐνδείᾳ μόνη, ἀλλὰ καὶ τραχύτητι πᾶσαν ὄρεξιν πικραίνων τοῦ σωματος». [27, col. 270].

Blessed Theophilactus Bulgarian (+1107) explains the meaning of these terms in the following way: “His food was locusts and wild honey”. Some sources say, that locust is also called melagria, which is a kind of grass, some mean it is walnut or wild fruit. Wild honey is produced by some bees and can be found in trees and rocks [6, p. 32]//«Ἡ δέ τροφὴ αυτοῦ ἦν ἀκρίδες, καὶ μέλι αγριον». Τινές λέγουσι βοτανας εἶναι τὰς ἀκρίδας, ἅς καὶ μελαγρα καλουσι τινές δὲ, τὰ ἀκρόδρυα ἤτοι ὀπώρας ἀγρίας• μέλι δὲ ἄγριον, τὸ ὑπὸ ἀγρίων μελισσῶν γεωργουμενον, ἐν δένδροις εὐρισκομενον καὶ πέτραις [6, col. 173].

The Greek ἀκρὶς, ἀκρίδος in old Georgian translations[2] is transposed as mkali, danakiskudi (date palm), mtsuervali mdeloisa (top of a field) mtsvanili mdeloisa (wild herbs­//­herbs of the fields//meadows), or these words are followed after mkali (locust)  ̶  as an explanation. And words μέλι ἄγριον­ – is translated as wild honey//honey o field­//­melagria//source of a water plant, as on a barren place was grown such a sweetness (a sweet plant) that's why it has been called wild honey.

Each of these terms will be discussed separately be­low:

The homily dedicated to Baptism, the author of which was first considered to be John Chrysostom [9, pp. 79-82; 11, pp. 50-51], but later, it was confirmed to be written by Pseudochrysostom [19, p. 51], mentions the man [John the Baptist] eating herbs of fields and wild honey and,” by spiritual preaching motivating the Church of God//«ἐνταῦθα ὁ ἐν ἀκρίσι καὶ μὲλιτι τραφεὶς Ἴωάννης, τοῖς ἐρημικοῖς κηρύγμασι, μάλλον δὲ πνευματικοῖς, τὰς Ἐκκλησίας κινήσας.» [26, col. 489-492].

In the metaphrasis “Silence of Zachariah” [17, p. 395] we read: “In all things we find John in the likeness of Eliah, because he lived in the mountain, but John- in the deserts; the fowls gave food to Eliah, but Jonh ate tops of a field”//«ἐκεῖνον κόρακες ἔτρεφον, καὶ οὗτος ἀκριδας βοτανῶν ἤσθιεν» [25, col. 786-787].

In the “Sinuri Mravaltavi” [11, p. 208] the following is mentioned: “[John] eating locusts (mkali) and the wild honey”//«ὁ ἀκρίδας εκ βοτανῶν ἠσθιῶν καὶ μέλι ἄγριον» [26, col. 761-76].

In one of the reedings of “Klarjuri Mravaltavi” (XIc.) [9, p. 358], it is clarified that Mkali (locust) that is (date palm) - danakiskudi, and wild honey is the source of water from the spring, as on this barren place was grown such a sweetness, that's why it has been called wild honey”. In another text of the Klarjuli Mravaltavi, Jesus Christ says: “I say unto thee, danakiskudo [locust], incline your head with fruit down and feed my father and mother. And the tree bent immediately. It is interesting to know what happened to this lo­cust tree – danakiskudi- after Jesus said to it: “And you have to be food for the men who are living isolated in the mountains and the deserts! Now you, danakiskudo (locust), go back to the first place you moved from! “Then the tree raised up, moved to heaven” [9, pp. 423-425].

In the text of the “Lives of Holy Fathers” (XIc.) it is written: “our food was wild field hay, which is the mane of horse, [10, p. 168]; “...and as they couldn’t find the bottom of melagria in the wilderness//desert, then they asked God to give them some edible food for men [10, p. 247]; “...There was a field nearby and some locusts – danakiskudoanni — were raised there” [10, 33]; …and they had a bit of locust – da­na­kis­kudoanta — to eat [10, 34]; “…there was some edible grass there [10, 33]; they had some locusts-danakiskudi- to eat[8, 34]; And his food was herbs…he used to eat nothing but bread and locust  ̶  danakiskudi  ̶  and drink some water” [10, p. 312]; “He went out to pick some herbs” [10, 278]; “And he [Gerasim] founded the monks in the cave and instituted the rules for them: five days a week not to eat anything but bread, locust-danakiskudi — and drink water” [10, p. 312]; and “...they (monks) had nothing else to eat, but the bottom of wild honey and the heart of the reed. And the monks living iso­lated did eat and drink enough” [10, p. 63]; “There was some herb for them to eat” [10, p. 151]; “the herb – mkhali-became sweet and pleasant immediately” [10, p. 247]; “And he [saint Kviriyakos] ate the bottom of the melagria and core of reed [10, p. 248].

The Gelati manuscript reads: “he [st. John the Baptist] didn’t work on land, he didn’t care for harvest, nor where to li­ve, nor about the bed for himself, he didn’t work to get his own daily bread, but his food was the top of trees” [16, 563v]//5: «οὐ κλίνης, οὐ τραπέζης, οὐκ ἄλλου τῶν τοιύτων οὐδενὸς ἐδειτο, οὐ γῆν ἤροσεν, οὐκ αὔλακα ἔτεμεν, οὐκ ἐκ ἱδρωτι προσωπον, ἄρτον ἔφαγεν, ἀλλὰ δενδρων μὲν ἀκρίδες αὐτῷ ἡ τροφή» [22, pp. 384-400].

“As they had nothing to eat, they needed to be com­forted by food found in nature, but there was nothing edible in­ the desert, even wild honey (//in greek text: melagria), that would be enough to feed them..” [17, p. 461]//­«Ἀπορούμενοι τοίνυν παραμυθήσονται οὐδὲ γὰρ [οὐδὲ] μελάγρια κατὰ τὴν ἔρημον πεφύκει» [28, col. 929]; “…he grew up eating bottoms of wild honey (melagria) and tips of reed... [17, p. 462]//«καὶ πέντα παρ 'αὐτῇ διαγαγῶν ἕτη, ῥίζας τε μελαγρίων καὶ ἀκρέμονας [ἀκρεμόνας2] καλάμων προσίετο» [28, col. 932]; “Bishop John used to get out of his cave and wandered in the (wilderness//) desert and pick up melagria - food of monks living in deserts” [10, p. 278]

It is interesting to mention that the “Treasure Cave” (Gandzta Qvabi”) gives us the same explanation of the term wild honey: “And John was in the wilderness all the days of his life. And his food was locust (mkali) and wild honey, lo­cust (mkali) which is the core of the plant referred to as a pine palm, which, like an animate thing grows on the top of a tree, and the honey, which is the mane of the horse, called in Greek melagrio” [4, p. 163].

As we can see, in the two latter examples is mentioned honey of a field (//valley), in Georg. veluri), but not wild ho­ney. This shows that in the Georgian language the valley and wild were used synonymously and derived from the word field by adding the suffix “ur”. (The word mindori (//veli) means a valley, a woodless place). The great Georgian lexi­cographer Sulkhan-Saba Orbeliani (1658-1725) in his ex­plana­tory dictionary defined the word in this way: mindori  ̶ (a field – little valley, small valley, a woodless place” [12]; The word veluri(wild) in Modern Georgian is the name of a wild or non-cultivated plant (veluri//wild animal refers to non-domestic animals, that live in forests). The following words have the same meaning: “wild /growing in a valley, field//habitant of a forest, wood, wild nature”. Etymolo­gically, the Greek word agros, that means a village, a garden is related to the word agrios ̶ wild, habitant of a valley, habitant of the wild (or non-domestic) nature”.

The name of the plant is confirmed in old Georgian as a wild olive, velis-khrdeli(plant), shroshanni velisani [15, Matthew, 6, 28]//τὰ κρίνα τοῦ ἀγροῦ//lilies of the field: the heath in the desert, (griki, mtis jholo)//mountain raspberries [2,­ Ieremiah, 17, 6 p. 2612], (Saba explains mountain raspberries[12])// ̶  ἀγριομυρίκη ἡ. “every beast of the forest is mine” [2, p. 49//50, 10, p. 1897]//: «...ἐμά...πάντα τὰ θηρία τοῦ ἀγροῦ»; they plant wild figs (during six days) [1, p. 52] in greek: «τὰς ἀγρίας συκᾶς παραφυτεύουσι» [20, p. 55]; A wild donkey (viri veluri)  ̶  Kanjari, as explained by Saba [12].

As we see from these examples, ἀγρός, ὁ  ̶  if it stands in the genetive case  ̶  and the word ἄγριος, α, ον  ̶  are trans­lated into Georgian as the habitant of wild nature, field, valley, forest; for example, veli shuenieri̶ (beautiful valley) [14, p. 342]; nadirni velisani̶  (beasts living in wilderness) [14, p. 342] (Certianly, in this case nadirni velisani - animals liv­ing in wilderness ̶ mean beasts, non-domestic animals, liv­ing in nature, as well as mtzenare veluri (wild plants) mean plants that grow in wilderness, valley, forest non-domestic plant//flower), for example: “the Khazarians are wild people” [14, p. 342]; But: “You, wild olive tree, the Christ has accepted you” [14, p. 342].

In Sulkhan-Saba's dictionary [12] we also have a definition of wild honey: “This is the tree that is called “Erika” in latin, it’s like a …urtkhli [a yew tree]. The fruit of this tree and the tree itself have honeylike sweetness coming out of it. Some people call it manna(in Georgian: manana). So, this is called wild honey. The word urtkhli, is explained by the great Georgian lexicographer in this way: “The tree, the non- rot­ting wood, the yew, the sage”//dzeli ulpolveli, utxovari, saji [12]. As we have seen above, wild honey is uniquely identified as a plant by Sulkhan-Saba.

Rehav Rubin considers the melagria as a plant and specifies it in the article “The Melagria: On Anchorites and Edible Roots in the Judean Desert” [30, pp. 347-352]. He con­ciders this word uniquely to describe the plant and offers his own arguments, what plant must have been the food as des­cribed in the “Lives” of the ancient monks living in deserts. He believes this word denoted an asphodel (Latin aspodelus), which is still abundant in the wilderness of Judea.

Regarding the definition of a word mkali, in the ear­liest manuscripts (manuscripts of Georgian dictionary, indi­ca­ted with the letter - E), Sulkhan-Saba Orbeliani wrote that it was the top, upper part of herbs//mtsuervali mdelota. In addition, closeby Saba wrote the words “the Baptist”, which refers to the fact that in the context of John the Baptist the word was interpreted as a plant. However, in the manuscripts written in a later period (ZA), this definition was altered and Sulkhan-Saba defined the word in the following way: “mkali ̶ (Mark, 1:6) that was eaten by John the Baptist, some say, was tops of herbs, but it is a lie; in reality the word meant “locusts-grasshoppers”, still used as food by the Arabs; it has an elongated shape and can fly. In addition, in some earlier manuscripts of Georgian Dictionary by Sulkhan-Saba Or­be­liani (Cab) the following is added: “The Hellenistic and Latin vocabulary has proved that this word means grasshopper, not the top of grass//herb//valley.

It is interesting to see how Saba defined the word dana­kiskudi, for Georgian translators and theological figures frequently translated the word akris/locust into Georgian as danakiskudi, or the word mkali was followed by the definition of this kind: mkali, that is danakiskudi. On the other hand, Sulkhan-Saba gives such an explanation of the word: “in the Greek language danakiskudi is a tree  ̶  a date palm, (ἀκρις), in Georgian it is called danakiskudi, valanos [12]. Indeed, in the Bible, in the book of Exodus the Greek φοίνιξ, ικος, ὁ is translated into Georgian as danakiskudi: “There were twelve springs of water and seventy trees of danakiskudi” [2, p. 226]; where there were twelve springs and seventy palm trees. [Exodus, 15, 27]. The parallel Greek text runs in this way: «καὶ ἦσαν ἐκεῖ δώδεκα πηγαὶ ὑδάτων καὶ ἑβδομήκοντα στελέχη φοινίκων παρενέβαλον δὲ ἐκεῖ παρὰ τὰ ὕδατα» [20, Exodus, 15, 27].

The etymology of the word danakis kudi//(danakis­ku­di) was discussed by M. Ivanishvili in her article “Danakis Kudi”(the Palm Tree), “Bza” (Boxux) and “Bzoba” (Palm Sun­day) in the Kartvelian languages.” [6, p. 149-159]. She suggests the etymology of the word danakis kudi, as derived by merging the words danaki (a little knife) and kudi (a tail), as the leaves of the date palm look like the tip of a knife. As this palm is not an endemic plant for the Caucasus, according to the researcher, the shape of the palm leaves was taken into consideration while transposing the name for this tree in Georgian.

The issue about the names of plants in the Georgian New Testment has been discussed by A. Khintibidze in his article about no-endemic species. The scholar agrees the word (danakiskudi) was originated by merging two Georgian words: danaki and kudi [7, 23/2015].

In order to better understand the case, we also looked up the materials in the Greek-Georgian documented dic­tionary [1, p. 461], and we found that the Greek word φοίνιξ, ικος, ὁ – (date palm) is transposed into Georgian as piniki, danakiskudi, which means that, as πόλιν φοινίκων ἕως Σηγώρ /shown above, these two words are synonymous: Φοινίκη, ης, ἡ ̶ פניין, danakiskudovani (kvekana-country)//land of Canaan//εἰς μέρος τῆς Φοινίκης [2, I Ezra, 2, 13] πόλιν φοινίκων ἕως Σηγώρ//the city of palm ̶ trees, to Segor [2, Deuteronomy, 34:3] 2, r., 16, 35); φοίνιξ, ικος, ὁ ̶  [date-palm]- piniki, danakiskudi.; φοίνικες – trees of the date palm, palm trees,- kheni danakiskudisani [2, Ezek. 40, 26, p. 281].

This explanation by Saba is supported by one extract from “the Lives of the Fathers”, which mentions that holy Fathers used to weave baskets with the leaves of danakiskudi – (the date palm). Indeed, the date palm has got leaves that are suitable for weaving baskets: “...(the monk) lay on the reed-woven bed, the Governor of the Lavra used to give him the leaves of danakiskudi, he weaved fifty bags and gave them to the Head of Accomodation”; Here the words date palm and danakiskudi are used in parallel, as well as the date palm is translated as “danakiskudi”: “They get their food for Sunday: some bread and dates [piniki] and water..” [10, p. 313]//«τῃ Κυριακῇ δείλης τὸ ἀνάλωμα τῆς ἐβδομάδος λαμβάνων, ἄρτους καὶ φοίνικας καὶ ἐν κιλικήσιον ὕδατος.» [23, p. 177]; “They didn’t eat anything but bread and dates (danakiskudi), and water” [10, p. 312]//«μεδενὸς ἐτέρου μεταλαμβάνοντα, πλὴν ἄρτου καὶ ὕδατος καὶ φοινίκων» [23, p. 176]. In order to strengthen the proposition that John the Baptist was believed to be a vegetarian, we could use an example of holy Fathers, living later, who used only vegetarian food: we know well and the literature describes that monks following each other in a way of life, fasting, and, of course, most likely they should have followed the way of John The Baptist.

None of the “Lives” or works that we know of describe that the monks ever recieved non-vegetarian food. We’ll in­tro­duce some extracts from the Georgian original hagiog­raphy of early centuries: In the “Life” of the great Georgian theological figure Grigol Khandzteli (IXc.) it reads: “The Father Grigol lived the life of the hermit, because he had heard about the angel-like lives of the holy Fathers living alone in the wilderness, who, like the grazers ate herbs, fruit and some of them a little bit of bread” [18, p. 253]

Great Georgian theological father, Giorgi Mtatsmideli (XIc.) refused to drink wine and to eat hay” [18, p. 199]. He walked along the road, refusing to get wine or hay (tsveli), as he ate once a day some bread and drank water [18, p. 188]. Sulkhan-Saba explains: tsveli (herb) is the part of herbs from the bottom the top (Matthew 7:4); “kanis chala monamkali” (part of the hay after the wheat has been reaped). In our opinion, the word monamkali - is related with the word mkali that means the upper part, top of herbs, and the word mkali is related with word mka, which means harvesting, reaping of wheat field; possibly John the Baptist ate the upper part of the plant, the top of the meadows, as while harvest­ing//reaping wheat field, upper parts of the herbs are cut off.

I believe that the old Georgian word mkali had a double meaning: 1. Grass, herb, that is cut when harvesting, or­ reaping; 2. Locust, grasshopper. However, later, in course of time, it is likely that second meaning, that of the grass­hopper remained whilst the first meaning (that of the har­vesting) disappeared. On the other hand, kaliya (grasspoper, comes from the old Georgian word mkali), has a double meaning in Modern Georgian too: besides the insect (locust), it means a plant, which is described by Niko Ketskhoveli and is included in the Botanic dictionary of Al. Makhashvili “Kaliya-Salsola crassa” [3].

In addition, in the German-Georgian and Georgian-German Botanical Dictionary [5] this word is defined as “Kaliya  ̶  n 1. Salsola cali Kalisalzkraut, n. Zalzkraut, n. and the dictionary in the German-Georgian section of Zalzcraut ̶  1. Salsola cali-Kaliya, 2. Glaux maritima-peak”.

The above examples prove that as well as the word mkali is often transposed as danakiskudi, the upper part of grass, herbs of the meadows, or is followed by these words as its definition, ̶ sometimes by the Greek authors of homilies and Lives of Saints, and, therefore, by Georgian Holy fathers - the translators of these works, the collocation wild honey – is defined as melagria. The word Melagra itself derives from the merging of two Greek words: μέλι ἄγριον [meli agrion].

The dictionary by Lampe presents the word μελάγριον as a definition of the grass (a herb found in the desert) [22, p. 840], the Greek Dictionary of the Roman and the Byzantine age of Sophocles offers the definition of this word in the following way: μέλι, ιτο, τα-αγριον ̶ honey-dew, upon the leaves of certain trees[21, p. 742].

Our opinion is strengtherened by the fact that Greek melagria denotes the same in Georgian ̶ melagria, and this word unequivocally means a plant and has never had a meaning of honey made by wild bees.

Based on the above examples and relying on the analysis, it is possible to conclude that the food of John the Baptist was the tops of grass and plants, therefore, the locusts and wild honey mentioned in the Gospel mean plants.

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8. Blessed Theophylact Archbishop of Ochrid and Bulgaria, Explanation of the Holy Gospel According to St. Matthew, “Publisher of Georgian Patriarchate”, Tb. 2005 / ნეტარი თეო­ფი­­ლაქტე ბულგარელი, მათესსახარებისკომენტარები, თბ. 2005

9. “Klardjuli Mravaltavi” [The Klardjeti Polycephalon](multi-chapter – the manuscript from Klarjeti (Georgia), “Science”, Tb. 1991 /კლარჯულიმრავალთავი, „მეცნიერება“, თბ. 1991

10. “Lives of Holy Fathers” (Georgian manuscript of the British Museum XIc., prepared and published by V. Imna­ishvili), “Tbilisi University Press”, Tb. 1975 /მამათაცხორე­ბა­ნი(ბრი­ტანეთის მუზეუმის XI ს-ის ქართული ხელნა­წერი), „თბი­ლისის უნივერსიტეტის გამომცემლობა“, თბ. 1975

11. “Sinuri Mravaltavi 864 tslisa.” The multi-chapter from Sinai, dated manuscript of 864 AD, Tb. 1959 / სინურიმრავალთავი 864 წლისა, თბ. 1959

12. Sulkhan-Saba Orbeliani, Georgian Dictionary, two volumes, “Merani”, Tb. 1991 / სულხან-საბა ორბელიანი, ლექსიკონიქარ­თული, ორ ტომად, „მერანი“, თბ. 1991

13. “Udabnos Mravaltavi” the multi-chapter from the monastery in Georgia’s Guria region, “TSU Publishing”, 1994 / უდაბნოსმრა­ვალთავი, „თსუ გამომცემლობა“, 1994

14. Concordance-Glossary of Old Georgian Hagiographic Literature, T. I, “Artanuji publishing”, Tb. 2007 / ქართულიაგიოგრაფიულილიტერატურისძეგლებისსიმფონია-ლექსი­კონი, ტ. I,„არტანუჯი“ თბ. 2007

15. Last Two Redactions of the Georgian Gospel, Tb. 1979 / ქარ­თულიოთხთავისორიბოლორედაქცია, თბ. 1979

16. Qut. 1 (manuscript), Niko Berdzenishvili Kutaisi State Historical Museum. / ქუთ. 1 (ხელნაწერი), ნიკო ბერძენიშ­ვი­ლის სახელობის ქუთაისის სახელმწიფო ისტორიული მუ­ზე­უმი

17. Old Metaphased Collections, September Issues (Old Georgian Writings, VII), “Metsniereba”, Tb. 1886 / ძველიმეტაფრასულიკრებულები, სექტემბრის საკითხავები, (ძვე­ლ­იქართულიმწერ­­ლობისძეგლები VII), „მეცნიერება“, თბ. 1886

18. Monuments of Old Georgian Hagiographic Literature, T. I, 1965, t. II, Tb. 1967 / ძველიქართულიაგიოგრაფიულილიტე­რატურისძეგლები, ტ. I, ტ. II, თბ. 1965, 1967

19 Aldama, A., Repertorium Pseudochrysostomicum, Paris, 1965, n. 289

20. Bible, Exodus, 15, 27. https://www.academic-bible.com/en/online-bibles/septuagint-lxx/read-the-bible-text

21. Greek Lexicon of The Roman and Byzantine Periods, vol.II, (From BC. 146 to A.D. 1100) By E. A. Sophocles, “Charles Scriber’s sons”, New York 1900

22. Basilius Latysev, “Menologii Anonimi Byzantini saeculi X’, Petropoli 1911

23 Παπαδοπούλου-Κεραμέως, Α., Ανάλεκτα Ιεροσολυμιτικής σταχυολογίας, ή, συλλογή ανεκδότων και σπανίων ελληνικών συγγραφών περί των κατά την Εώαν ορθοδόξων εκκλησιών και μάλιστα της των Παλαιστινών, Τομος Δ, 1897

24. Patristic Greek Lexicon, ed. by G.W. H. Lampe, D. D., “Clarendon Press”, Oxford 1961

25. PG. t. 50 (ed. by J.P.Migne), Paris 1862

26. PG. t. 59 (ed. by J.P.Migne), Paris 1862

27. PG. t. 78 (ed. by J.P.Migne), Paris 1864

28. PG. t. 115 (ed. by J.P.Migne), Paris 1899

29. PG. t.123 (ed. by J.P.Migne), Paris 1864

30. Rehav Rubin, Liber Annuus, “Brepols Publishrs Online”, 2002, pp. 347-352