The unique manuscript of Ioane Zosime, recently acquired by Bidzina Ivanishvili, will arrive in Tbilisi tomorrow at 09:30, where it will be gifted to the state.

Ivanishvili acquired the manuscript for 1 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 V to the XIII centuries, its remnants are preserved in only a few inscriptions, palimpsests, and manuscripts.