The Way of Commemoration of the Primate of Church according to the 1710 Hieratikon of King Vakhtang VI

Abstract

The Charter of the Georgian Apostolic Orthodox Church, Chapter IV, Para 20, describes the way of liturgical commemoration of the Primate of Church as follows: “all the clergymen during the services have to commemorate the name of the CatholicosPatriarch of All Georgia in all the churches under the jurisdiction of the Church of Georgia, both in Georgia and abroad, using the following wording: “His Holiness and Beatitude, Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia and Archbishop of Mtskheta-Tbilisi,

Great Master and Our father (name)” ¹ 

This wording, namely “Great Master and Our father” derives from ChurchSlavonic, better to say Russian liturgical practices as a Georgian translation of “Ѻ великомъ господинѣ и ѻтцѣ нашемъ, свѧтѣйшемъ Патрїархѣ (имѧрекъ) Московскомъ и всеѩ Руси”²

Naturally, aforementioned arises the zeal to study the old liturgical books in order to restore the original way of commemoration of the Primate of Church in Georgia. Obviously, the study of the old liturgical texts is the sphere of relevant specialists, but in this case we will touch solely the title of the primate of the church, since the issue is connected with the canon law.