Ecclesiastical Historical Documents as Sources: The Collections of the Confessions by the Parish of St. John the Baptist’s Church in the Village Bakhtrioni

Abstract

In Korneli Kekelidze Georgian National Centre of Manuscripts are kept confessions by the perish of the St. John the Baptist’s Church in the Bakhtrioni village located in Kakheti, in Telavi municipality, near the confluence of the Alazani and Ilto rivers. Above mentioned documents are originals, which were mistakenly attached to the collection of the confessions of St. George church in Chartali. The collections of confessions differ greatly from the other types of historical documents. They contain graphs, information about perish, priests. The chronological data is also provided. In the columns of graphs are indicated confessional identity of the members of the perish, their social status, surnames, first names, father's names, age and sex of the family members. The number of families is also given. The age of family members is written in letters. The graphs also show who confessed and who received the Eucharist and who did not, who was not able to confess and for what reason: due to illness, infancy or currently not being at home. The author of the paper demonstrates the evidences of the several documents (Qd 12010, Qd 12 011, Qd 12 012.) and discusses the importance of this information for the historical research.