The unique manuscript of John Zosimus, recently acquired by Bidzina Ivanishvili and his family, is set to arrive in Tbilisi on October 9 at 09:30, where it will be gifted to the state.

Ivanishvili acquired the manuscript for one million pounds at a Christie’s auction on June 11. This remarkable manuscript is part of the Mount Sinai collection, which dates back to the 5th to 7th centuries and features text in both Aramaic and Georgian. The monk John Zosimus copied a portion of the manuscript that valued between £1,000,000 and £1,500,000.

This manuscript holds particular significance, as it includes some of the earliest Gospel texts written in a dialect of Western Aramaic, closely related to the language spoken by Jesus. The dialect was utilized by the Melkite Christian community in Palestine and Transjordan from the 5th to the 13th centuries, and its remnants are preserved in only a few inscriptions, palimpsests, and manuscripts.

The palimpsest was transcribed by the renowned calligrapher, author, translator, and bookbinder, the monk John Zosimus, and originally housed at St. Catherine’s Monastery in Sinai, dating back to the 10th century.