Leonti Mroveli ( ka, ლეონტი მროველი) was the 11th-century

Georgian Georgian may refer to: Common meanings * Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country) ** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group ** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians **Georgian scripts, three scrip ...

chronicler, presumably an ecclesiastic. ''Mroveli'' is not his last name, but the adjective for the diocese of Ruisi, whose

bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

he probably was.

Rayfield, Donald Patrick Donald Rayfield OBE (born 12 February 1942, Oxford) is an English academic and Emeritus Professor of Russian and Georgian at Queen Mary University of London. He is an author of books about Russian and Georgian literature, and about Josep ...

(2000), '' The Literature of Georgia: A History'', pp. 59, 63.

Routledge Routledge () is a British multinational publisher. It was founded in 1836 by George Routledge, and specialises in providing academic books, journals and online resources in the fields of the humanities, behavioural science, education, law, and ...

, . Hence, another modern

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

transliteration of his name is Leontius of Ruisi.Rapp, Stephen H. (2003), ''Studies In Medieval Georgian Historiography: Early Texts And Eurasian Contexts'', pp. 156-163. Peeters Publishers, Apart from late annotations to the manuscripts of ''

The Georgian Chronicles ''The Georgian Chronicles'' is a conventional English name for the principal compendium of medieval Georgian historical texts, natively known as ''Kartlis Tskhovreba'' ( ka, ქართლის ცხოვრება), literally "Life of Kar ...

'', an archbishop of Ruisi named Leonti is mentioned only thrice: once in an 11th-century manuscript from

Mount Athos Mount Athos (; el, Ἄθως, ) is a mountain in the distal part of the eponymous Athos peninsula and site of an important centre of Eastern Orthodox monasticism in northeastern Greece. The mountain along with the respective part of the penins ...

; once in

Euthymius of Athos Euthymius the Athonite ( ka, ექვთიმე ათონელი ''Ekvtime Atoneli''; 955–1024) was a Georgian monk, philosopher and scholar, who is venerated as a saint. His feast day in the Orthodox Church is May 13. Euthymius was a ...

’s translation of

Chrysostom John Chrysostom (; gr, Ἰωάννης ὁ Χρυσόστομος; 14 September 407) was an important Early Church Father who served as archbishop of Constantinople. He is known for his preaching and public speaking, his denunciation of ab ...

’s commentary to

St. Matthew Matthew the Apostle,, shortened to ''Matti'' (whence ar, مَتَّى, Mattā), meaning "Gift of YHWH"; arc, , Mattai; grc-koi, Μαθθαῖος, ''Maththaîos'' or , ''Matthaîos''; cop, ⲙⲁⲧⲑⲉⲟⲥ, Mattheos; la, Matthaeus a ...

; and, most specifically, on a 1066 inscription from the Trekhvi caves in central Georgia. Assumptions that Leonti Mroveli belonged to the eighth or early tenth century now seem implausible. This Mroveli no longer occupied the post in 1103, for he is not attested in the act of the Georgian ecclesiastic synod convened at Ruisi and the neighboring cathedral of

Urbnisi Urbnisi ( ka, ურბნისი) is a village in Georgia’s Shida Kartli region, in the district of Kareli. Situated on a high left bank of the Mtkvari river, it was an important city in ancient and early medieval Iberia as Georgia was know ...

by King

David IV David IV, also known as David the Builder ( ka, დავით აღმაშენებელი, ') (1073–1125), of the Bagrationi dynasty, was the 5th king of United Georgia from 1089 until his death in 1125. Popularly considered to be ...

. Leonti is credited by some historians with having written several pieces of the medieval compendium of Georgian chronicles, while others consider him only a

compiler In computing, a compiler is a computer program that translates computer code written in one programming language (the ''source'' language) into another language (the ''target'' language). The name "compiler" is primarily used for programs that ...

of earlier texts. In any case, Leonti Mroveli as chronicler shifted the balance of Georgian literature from the ecclesiastic to the secular.

References

11th-century historians from Georgia (country) Chroniclers {{Georgia-historian-stub