Page 180 - Vinkler, Jonatan, Ana Beguš and Marcello Potocco. Eds. 2019. Ideology in the 20th Century: Studies of literary and social discourses and practices. Koper: University of Primorska Press
P. 180
Ideology in the 20th Century: studies of literary and social discourses and practices
To show but a few parallels, I draw on Nozadze’s interpretation of
Stanza 842 of The Knight in the Panther’s Skin. In the text, one reads:
He said, “Divine sun, said to be the image of the Sunny Night,
Image of the Three-in-One, Timeless Time, Everlasting in might,
Whom the heavenly bodies obey to the second, as is right,
Turn not away, I pray, till she and I have each other in sight” (Rustaveli 2015,
183).
Nozadze resorts to the view of the holy fathers concerning the similari-
ty of the Holy Trinity and the sun. Thus, according to Nozadze (Noza-
dze 1966, 95–96), Saint Basil the Great (330–379) proposes the follow-
ing analogy in explaining the mystery of the Trinity: “And One is Three,
180 who is Divinity, as three suns set one into another, one radiation of light”;
furthermore Saint Gregory of Nazianzus (330–391) declares: “Light is the
divine light ... This is one and the same Divinity with three hypostases,
as three suns, totally unified, radiate only one and the same light ... We
must worship the Trinity in one and the One”. Saint Athanasius (295–
373) also defines the binding of the Trinity in terms of sun: “The Trinity
is one sun and its light ... The Father is brilliance, the Son light, the Holy
Spirit enlightening power”; and Saint John Chrysostom (344–407) refers
to a sunlight image in describing the relation of the Father and the Son:
“The Son (Jesus) is inalienable from the Father, as light from the sun”.
The main idea of The Knight in the Panther’s Skin is the victory of
good over evil, which is expressed by several aphorisms: “Why would he,
who created good, create evil by its side?” (Rustaveli 2015, 35); “Evil is de-
feated by Good. Good will forever be our aid” (Rustaveli 290); “God cre-
ates only good; He lets no evil in the world arrive” (Rustaveli 318). In the
romance, the source of this idea is named: “Dionysus, the wise”; that is,
Dionysius the Areopagite. Nozadze draws a direct parallel between the
quoted aphorisms of The Knight in the Panther’s Skin and the teaching
of Dionysius the Areopagite, who states: “Every essence derives from gra-
ciousness: good is the basis of every essence, whereas evil is nonexistent”
(Nozadze 1963, 179).
The study of the issue from this viewpoint led Nozadze to conclude
that in The Knight in the Panther’s Skin God is the ‘Creator of the Uni-
verse,’ ‘the Providence’; in short, he is the almighty God (Nozadze 1963,
624–625), and thus Rustaveli’s Supreme Being refers to the God of the
Christian religion and that is why Rustaveli’s world outlook has nothing
in common with atheism, pantheism, pantheist materialism, or any ‘isms’
To show but a few parallels, I draw on Nozadze’s interpretation of
Stanza 842 of The Knight in the Panther’s Skin. In the text, one reads:
He said, “Divine sun, said to be the image of the Sunny Night,
Image of the Three-in-One, Timeless Time, Everlasting in might,
Whom the heavenly bodies obey to the second, as is right,
Turn not away, I pray, till she and I have each other in sight” (Rustaveli 2015,
183).
Nozadze resorts to the view of the holy fathers concerning the similari-
ty of the Holy Trinity and the sun. Thus, according to Nozadze (Noza-
dze 1966, 95–96), Saint Basil the Great (330–379) proposes the follow-
ing analogy in explaining the mystery of the Trinity: “And One is Three,
180 who is Divinity, as three suns set one into another, one radiation of light”;
furthermore Saint Gregory of Nazianzus (330–391) declares: “Light is the
divine light ... This is one and the same Divinity with three hypostases,
as three suns, totally unified, radiate only one and the same light ... We
must worship the Trinity in one and the One”. Saint Athanasius (295–
373) also defines the binding of the Trinity in terms of sun: “The Trinity
is one sun and its light ... The Father is brilliance, the Son light, the Holy
Spirit enlightening power”; and Saint John Chrysostom (344–407) refers
to a sunlight image in describing the relation of the Father and the Son:
“The Son (Jesus) is inalienable from the Father, as light from the sun”.
The main idea of The Knight in the Panther’s Skin is the victory of
good over evil, which is expressed by several aphorisms: “Why would he,
who created good, create evil by its side?” (Rustaveli 2015, 35); “Evil is de-
feated by Good. Good will forever be our aid” (Rustaveli 290); “God cre-
ates only good; He lets no evil in the world arrive” (Rustaveli 318). In the
romance, the source of this idea is named: “Dionysus, the wise”; that is,
Dionysius the Areopagite. Nozadze draws a direct parallel between the
quoted aphorisms of The Knight in the Panther’s Skin and the teaching
of Dionysius the Areopagite, who states: “Every essence derives from gra-
ciousness: good is the basis of every essence, whereas evil is nonexistent”
(Nozadze 1963, 179).
The study of the issue from this viewpoint led Nozadze to conclude
that in The Knight in the Panther’s Skin God is the ‘Creator of the Uni-
verse,’ ‘the Providence’; in short, he is the almighty God (Nozadze 1963,
624–625), and thus Rustaveli’s Supreme Being refers to the God of the
Christian religion and that is why Rustaveli’s world outlook has nothing
in common with atheism, pantheism, pantheist materialism, or any ‘isms’
