The time of Jon Petritsi – old and new views

Abstract

Medieval Georgian Neoplatonist Jon (Ioane, Iohannes) Petritsi was persecuted all his life for his progressive ideas. Hidden for centuries, his name became known to the Georgian public in the XVIII century, and the scientific study of philosophical theological heritage began in the first years of the XX century.
Studies in the field of petritsology are mainly conducted in the philosophical and philological directions. Our aim is to study the problem from a historiographical point of view.
According to the established conditions, Jon Petritsi was a contemporary of David the Builder (XI - XII centuries). It was recently suggested that he was living a century later (XII-XIII centuries);However, the modern research hasshown further references and artifacts that might reinforce the previous traditional view.
This work is the third in a series of articles published in this journal dedicated to the life and work of Jon Petritsi. This time, we look at the part of the current study that deals with the Petritsi work time problem. To do this, we review the old, modern and recent versions of the case; We refer to the main conclusions and hypotheses of the previous two publications; In order to present the new facts obtained as a result of the current research.
The main results of the research are presented in the paper for deeper discussion and further scientific processing: educational symbols of Petritsoni (1083) and Gelati monasteries (1106-1110); Comparative analysis of Georgian historical information and Rhodope rock artefact; First Epistle of Theophylact Bulgarian (“to the Divine Jon”); The recently researched epistle of Theophylact Bulgarian (“Jon the Philosopher”) and the problem of the dialectician “Someone Jon.”
The chronology of the listed issues and the information presented in them correspond to the theological-philosophical concepts of Jon Petritsi and the previously accepted time of his activity (XI - XII centuries). We believe that new information and hypotheses related to the biography of Jon Petritsi need further scientific elaboration, a different understanding of specific issues, and a revision of the problem of the working time of the great philosopher and theologian.