The Cornerstone of the Ecumene: on the question of the medieval Church center of Zichia

Kostanenko Leonid Andreevich ORCID: 0000-0003-1489-3922 Senior Lecturer at the Department of Church History of the Ekaterinodar Theological Seminary 353245, Russia, Krasnodar Territory, Azovskaya station, Gornaya str., 5 likabetos@mail.ru

The Christianization of the Black Sea coast of the Western Caucasus in the VI- beginning. X centuries. The first Christian communities appeared in the Western Caucasus already in the first half of the XV century, but the active missionary activity of the Church began here in the VI century, in connection with the proselytizing policy of Emperor Justinian the Great. During this period, new church centers were emerging on the Black Sea coast of the Western Caucasus, and a large number of Christian churches were being built.

In 523, Christianity was declared the state religion in Lazica, to which Apsilia and Misinia were also vassals. During this period, an independent episcopal chair appeared in Abasgia, and a cathedral church in the name of the Most Holy Theotokos was being built. ^[19] Presumably, this temple is the basilica in Tsandripsha, which has survived to our time. ^[27]

The name of the first bishop of Abazgov has not been preserved. However, among the bishops of the Council of Constantinople in 536, the bishop whose chair was located on the Black Sea coast of the Western Caucasus, Bishop Dometian, is known: "<...> the only one <...> who was represented as the bishop of the people." ^{[16, pp. 308-310]} Some researchers associate the "bishop of the Zikh people" Dometian with the well–known from the middle of VI v. – Nicopsia. ^{[16, pp.308-310]}

In the following centuries, church life in the Western Caucasus has been steadily developing. In the late XVII – early VIII centuries, in the lists of church administrative units of the Patriarchate of Constantinople - "Notitiae Epicopatuum", the Abaza Archdiocese in Sebastopolis appeared, as well as the Zikh Archdiocese of Nicopsia.

In the "Notitiae..." No. 1,2,4,5, the Abaza and Zikh archbishoprics are mentioned separately, but in the middle of the VIII century the "Notitiae No. 3" is interrupted, where the autocephalous archdiocese of Nicopsia is called "Abaza". ^{[18, P.232-233]} Byzantine sources stop mentioning the Zikh Archdiocese of Nicopsia in the early tenth century, when the Western Caucasus appears The new center of the Orthodox mission to the Sikhs is Tamatarch. ^[15] The disappearance of the autocephalous Greek archdiocese of Abazgia in Sebastopolis, associated with the expansion of the Abkhazian Catholicosate, belongs to the same period. ^{[18, p.273-277.]}

The problem of localization of Biopsy. It is obvious that Nikopsia of Zikhi occupies a special place among the ethnopolitical and religious-cultural centers of the Western Caucasus, due to the key importance that it had for the Christianization of the region in the early Middle Ages. In written sources, Nicopsia first appears in the so-called "Periple of an Anonymous author", dating from the V- VI centuries. and sometimes called, according to the number of coincidences with the Black Sea lot of the ancient Roman author Flavius Arrian (II century.), the periple of Pseudo-Arrian. Anonymous mentions Nicopsis: "<...> near which is a river, now called Psachapsis...". ^[25]

Nicopsia of Zikhi, in the work "The Life of the Apostle Andrew the First-Called", was mentioned in the middle of the IX century by Epiphanius the Monk. The same author reports that the Apostle Andrew: "<...> having come to Sevastopol the Great <...> leaving Simon and his disciples there, he himself ascended to Zikhiya." ^{[10, pp.311-312]} Undoubtedly, the Byzantine church writer is well aware of the geography of the Black Sea coast of the Western Caucasus, mentioning Zikhiya as a territory located in the immediate vicinity of Sevastopol the Great.

In the middle of the tenth century, referring to the issue of the southeastern border of Zikhiya, near which the apostolic route and the earthly path of the holy Apostle Simon Kananit ended, Emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus wrote: "<...> from Ukrukh to the Nikopsis River, on which the fortress of the same name river is located, the country of Zikhiya stretches. Its length is 300 miles..." ^{[2, pp.175-176]}

It is obvious that, compared with the data of the Anonymous Periplus, the location of Nicopsia at Constantine Porphyrogenitus is shifted significantly further to the southeast, and behind the mention of the city, in connection with the name of the river, there is an attempt to etymologize its name. F. Dubois de Monperet wrote: "<...> the authors who commented on Constantine <...> assumed that what does he say about the Psirst river (Psyrtskha is a river in modern New Athos), which in the Middle Ages was called Nikofi [fiume de Nicofi], borrowed from the fortress of Anakopi, leaning over its banks." ^[28] At the same time, F. himself Dubois de Monpere believed that Nikopsia of Zikhi was located much to the northwest, on the territory of the modern Tuapse region: "<...> between the mouths of the Shapsuhu and Nigepsuhu rivers <...> the remains of the fortress of Nikopsis, which Emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus places on the banks of the river of the same name..." ^[28]

Interestingly, in the area indicated by F. Dubois de Montpellier, as the place of the most probable existence of Nicopsia of Zichia, the author of the Anonymous Peripla places the Holy Harbor, in another name "consonant" with Nicopsia – In no way.^[25] Scientific research conducted in the twentieth century confirmed the presence of archaeological material dating back to the VI century on the territory of the Duzu-Kale fortress, identified by a Swiss traveler with Nicopsia. The excavation data indicate the possible existence of a significant religious Christian building here earlier. ^[23]

In the 80s of the twentieth century, Yu. N. Voronov, based on the data of Konstantin Porphyrogenitus, criticized the opinion of F. Dubois de Montpellier. This famous Soviet and Abkhazian archaeologist suggested that "Nikopsia of Zikhi" should be searched in the area of the modern village of Tsandripsh. ^[8] However, and more than that, today there are six different points of view on the location of this most important church pulpit. ^{[9, c.92]}

Zikhi and the territory of their settlement. The territory on which it was located in the VI century. The Nicopsia of Pseudo-Arrian belonged to the Sikhs, who, according to his information, bordered on the Sanigs along the Akheunt River (R. Shahe).The Zikhi became known starting from the 1st century AD, when Strabo mentions them. ^{[25, p.135]} However, a certain territory, officially called "Zikhiya", did not exist in the system of Roman and, later, Byzantine administrative structure – various authors defined its borders differently.

Judging by the ancient and medieval geographical descriptions of the Western Caucasus, many of them attempt to demarcate the border of the civilized world, separating it from poorly studied or completely unknown "barbarians". Therefore, the key problem in the study of the Zikh is the difficulty of distinguishing them from other related Adyghe tribes: "<...> it is difficult to understand where the sources actually mention the Zikh, and where their related peoples or, conversely, their neighbors are called Zikh ...". ^[20]

A special position on the ethnogenesis of the Zikh arises in the Abkhazian scientific school, the most prominent representative of which, Sh. D. Inal–ipa (1916-1995), believed that the Zikh should be considered as a "large ethnic conglomerate" on the northwestern coast of the Caucasus, which served as the basis for the formation of the Adyghe, Ubykh and Abkhazian peoples. ^{[3, c.109]}

The Byzantines' idea of tribal boundaries in this territory is being clarified as local peoples become involved in the sphere of international politics and culture. It is obvious that in ancient times Abazgia was divided: in the east sources indicate abazgov, in the west – zikhov or sanigov. But if in the II century. Flavius Arrian draws the border of the empire south of Dioscuriades-Sebastopol, which at that time belonged to the Sanigs, ^{[25, p.222]} then already in the VI century.  The western abazgs – sanigs bordered the eastern abazgs, which had previously entered the sphere of influence of the empire, in the area of the Bzyb River. This is exactly what the Anonymous periplus testifies to: "<...> The Pontic kingdom extends to this place, <...> and the neighboring regions belong to autonomous barbarians..." ^{[25, p.227]}

In contrast to the information of Pseudo-Arrian, other sources of the Justinian period indicate that the Sanigs no longer border on the Abazgs: "<...> Beyond the abasgs <...> along the shore of the Euxine Pontus, the Zehs established themselves <...> Behind them live the Sagins (sanigs – L.K.) ..." ^{[25, 305]}. When comparing the reports of ancient sources, it becomes obvious that the territory of the Sanigs of Pliny and Arrian in the I-II centuries coincides with the territory of the Zich settlement of Procopius in the VI century. Based on this, some researchers had the impression that by this time there had been an exchange of territories between the Sanigs and the Sikhs. ^[19]

Procopius of Caesarea points out that the territory of the Abazgs was divided into two parts: "<...> the Abasgs have been subjects of the Laz since ancient times, and they had two of their tribesmen as chiefs from time immemorial: one of them ruled over the western part of their country, the other occupied the eastern one." ^[4] The boundaries of the settlement of the "Zikhov" and "Sanigov", according to reports from a number of sources, periodically, completely or partially coincides with the territory on which the early feudal state of the Abazgs was created during the VI-VIII centuries. The Sanigs are always mentioned as a tribe that lived in the neighborhood of the Abasgians, sources confirm the stability of the Sanig habitat on the territory of western Abazgia: "<...> The Sanigs of Arrian and, in particular, Pseudo– Arrian are localized near the same places where, since late medieval times, Sadzov is celebrated." ^{[3, p.19]}

In modern science, the ethnonym "dzhigety", "jiki" (cargo), "jihy" (ubykh) has firmly established itself behind sadzami. ^{[3, pp. 96-111]} It is also known that under the names "jikov", "zikhov" and "sanigov", at different times the same one is mentioned the same people. ^[17] It is the Sadzis who are identified by a number of modern researchers with the Sanigs, who were later called jigs by the Georgians: "<...> and their country is Dzhigeti..." ^{[22, p. 43]}. Sadzami – a separate Abkhazian subethnos, until 1864, was inhabited by the territory on which the Abkhazian village of Tsandripsh is currently located.

The explicit character of the Zikh element in the Roman ethnopolitical system can also be indicated by the ancient Abkhazian hydronym Zikhea, which acts as an equivalent of the modern name of the Kyalasur River. Translated as "a fortress surrounded by high walls" (from Greek. klisura). ^[10] The modern name of the river not only emphasizes its historical significance, but also reflects the stages of the advance of the empire's borders to the northwest, along the coast of the Western Caucasus. The river served as the limit of the ecumene – a barrier blocking the way to the barbarian peoples, which, in various periods, for the Greeks and Romans were Abazgi, Sanigi and Zikhi. Flowing into the Black Sea south of Dioscuriades (Sebastopolis), Kyalasur represented a natural border: "<...> the final point of Roman rule on the right side of the entrance to Pontus." ^{[25, p.223]}

Since the beginning of the 9th century, the border of the Christian ecumene has been the northwestern borders of the Abkhazian kingdom, beyond which stretches the space of hostile Zikhiya. About the zichs, Epiphanius the Monk writes: "<...> the people are cruel and barbaric, still half unbelieving."^[6]

The church center in Nikopsia of Zikhi. There is no direct news about the life of the autocephalous archdiocese of Nicopsia of Zikhi in the period from the end of the VII – beginning of the IX centuries, when it was mentioned in the Notitia Episcopatuum. In the second half of the XVIII century. Nicopsia is mentioned as an area free from iconoclasm in the "Life of Stephen the New": "<...> three areas that did not take part in this unholy heresy <...> the northern slopes of the Euxine Pontus, its coastal areas lying towards the diocese of Zikhi, and the spaces from Bosporus, Kherson, Nicopsis towards Gothia lowland..." ^{[30, pp.324-325]}

Despite the fact that the Notitia Episcopatuum stops mentioning the archdiocese of Nicopsia of Zikhi, it is obvious that the department existed here in the middle of the IX century. ^{[11, p.48]} The mention of Nicopsia in the work of Epiphanius the Monk – "The Life of the Apostle Andrew the First-Called" refers to this period. The author reports that: "<...> there is <...> a tomb in Nikopsia of Zikhi with the inscription "Simon the Canaanite" and there are relics in it." ^{[10, pp.311-312]}

According to the tradition that existed between the "Abkhazians and Georgians" ^{[1, c.184]}, the tomb of the Apostle Simon Kananit was located in a small temple located at the foot of the Anakopian Mountain on the banks of the Psyrtskha. It is not known exactly when the veneration of St. Simon the Canaanite began in this area: "<...> such a tradition can be assumed for Vosporus (at the latest from the IV century.) and for Sevastopol the Great (from the VI century.)" ^{[1, p.184]}

Reverence for the burial place of the Holy Apostle Simon Kananit, expressed in an annual visit to his temple, interrupted by the final decline of Christianity in Abkhazia, continued to hold among Christians for more than a thousand years. In the middle of the XVII century . it is recorded here by Pavel Allepsky: "<...> The city of Anakovi and near the city on the shore of the Black Sea, a church is found, and they say according to the tradition of the fathers, and that the holy apostle Kananit is buried there. And all the people there have a great honor for the church." ^[12]

The antiquity of the Christian tradition of worshiping the relics of St. Simon the Cananite in Nikopsia is the most important evidence of the special status of this place in the history of the Church in the Western Caucasus, which is also confirmed by the presence of an authentic tradition among the Abkhazians about the preaching and death of the apostle in Abkhazia. ^{[9, p.92]} At the same time, the veneration of St. Simon the Cananite in "Nicopsias", of a different localization, in the IX century, when it was recorded in Abkhazia by Epiphanius the Monk, has no confirmation in the ethnographic material relating to the "zikh", if we mean by this concept modern times. adygov, not in any other sources. ^{[9, c.92]}

Vinogradov suggests that adapting the Greek tradition dating back to Epiphanius the Monk, which did not mention the preaching of the Apostle Andrew until the tenth century, the Georgian script: "<...> in search of an authoritative founder makes him the enlightener of Western Georgia, and Simon – Abkhazia." ^[21] However, it should be noted that fixing in the X-XI centuries the geographical location associated with the veneration of the Apostle Simon Nicopsia of Zikhi, as previously testified by Epiphanius the Monk, the chronicle tradition does not arbitrarily choose the most suitable point on the territory of the Georgian Bagratid state, but relies on existing historical realities, emphasizing the borderline position of Nicopsia between Zikhi and Abkhazia.

Presumably, the designation "Zikhii" in the titulature of the Archdiocese of Nicopsia remained until the beginning of the tenth century. This may be evidenced by one of the readings of a Greek inscription on a stone mounted in the wall above the southern entrance to the temple of Simon the Canaanite in Anakopia, built in the late IX – early X centuries^[17]. Six letters ^[22] with titles above them: "Mother of God, Save George the Most Honorable (Metropolitan – T.K.) of Zikhi" ^{[13, p.20]} (?(n) ?(), ?() ?() ?() ?(i)).

Anacopy. In the first half of the tenth century, the Department of Nicopsia of Zikhi changed its name. This is evidenced by a Greek inscription found on the top of the Anakopian mountain in the late XIX-early XX centuries, dated 929, mentions "<...> his Holiness <...> Archbishop of Anakopia..." ^{[14, p.146]}

 It is obvious that during this period, the chair of the Sebastopol Archbishops of Abazgia, which gradually fell into disrepair, was moved to Anakopia. ^{[29, p.25]} It is quite possible that a similar transfer of the chair of the Abaza archbishops to Nicopsia took place in the middle of the VIII century, during the period of the desolation of Sebastopolis after the Arab invasion of 738, as indicated by the information of Notitia No. 3, where Nicopsia of Abaza is mentioned. ^{[4, pp.232-233]} Nevertheless, the restoration of the "Zikh" title of the bishops of Nicopsia, noted in Notitia No. 4 and Notitia No. 5, indicates that the department of the Sebastopol archbishops continued to function independently until the beginning of the tenth century, when mentions of it ceased after Notitia No. 7. ^{[29, c.25]}

It is quite possible that due to the complete devastation of the city by the Arabs, the Sebastopol department, in the period of the late VIII- early X centuries, was located in Dranda, where there was a magnificent domed temple and where, starting from the first half of the XI century, the existence of a separate diocese of the Abkhazian Catholicosate is recorded. ^[7] Having been formed in the process of political transformations of the Abkhazian tsar Leon III, the diocese of Dranda, along with the Moscow diocese founded in the third quarter of the tenth century, represented a new territorial area of proselytizing claims of the Abkhazian Catholicosate, which was constantly expanding its influence. The territory of the Diocese of Dranda covered the area from Kodor to Anakopia. ^[24]

In turn, the transfer of the Greek "Abaza" chair to Anakopia, during the reign of George II, characterized the desire of the Abkhazian kings to preserve the political balance in a state divided into two ecclesiastical jurisdictions. The new title of the "Anakopian" bishops "demarcated" this ethno-confessional border. 

The fragile ethno-confessional balance was disrupted in 1033, when the Byzantines, using dynastic contradictions in the Abkhazian kingdom, captured Anakopia. ^{[26, p.425]} During this period, Leontius Mroveli mentions Nikopsia, which is located: "<...> on the borders of Greece." ^{[5, p.33]} From here it becomes clear that by "Nicopsia" the author means precisely Anacopia, which really became Byzantine during this period. ^{[9, c. 92]}

It is necessary to emphasize the consistent identification of Nicopsia and Anakopia in the medieval Georgian written tradition, fully agreeing with the opinion of modern researchers, who note that when reading these sources, it seems that they, when talking about Nicopsia, and even about Nikopsia of Zikh: "<...> actually meant Anakopia."^{[9, c. 92]}

According to medieval Georgian chroniclers, Nikopsia and Anakopia are one and the same city. Anacopia is depicted on Italian portolans of the XIV-XVI centuries and is known as Nichoffa, Nicoffa, Nicofia, as well as in the forms: Nicosia, Nichola, Nicola, Nicolla, etc. ^{[10, p. 433]} In this case, there is also a characteristic identification of Anacopia and Nicopsia for this period.

The value of the Byzantine mile, which was revealed as a result of historical and geographical studies in the tenth century, corresponding to a value of about 1.389 km, ^{[8, p. 122]} helps to clarify the conclusions of Yu. N. Voronov (1941-1995), who previously assumed on the basis of geographical calculations that Nikopsia Zikhi could be located in Tsandripsha.^{[8, p. 122]} The distance of 300 miles from the river Ukrukh (modern the old riverbed of the Kuban River) to the border of Zikhiya and Abkhazia, according to the information of the work of Emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus, with a small error, indicates Anacopia (modern New Athos).^{[2, pp. 172-176]} Other variants of the localization of Biopsy reveal a significant discrepancy with these data. (The margin of error in other variants will be: for the village of Novomikhailovsky (the mouth of Nechepsukho) about 183 miles (254 km.), for the microdistrict on Chemitokvadzh in Sochi (fortress Godlik) – about 137.5 miles (191 km.), which is 61% and 46%, respectively.)

Conclusions: The history of the Christianization of the peoples who inhabited the Black Sea coast of the Western Caucasus in the early Middle Ages is inextricably linked with the existence of the largest church center of the region in this historical period – Nikopsia of Zikhi. However, the scarcity of narrative and archaeological sources so far does not allow us to form an objective idea of the role and activities of the Nicopsian Department in the process of spreading Christianity in the region. In this context, the problem of localization of Zikhian Nicopsia is of crucial importance for future research on this topic.

It is quite obvious that Nicopsia, known from the Anonymous Peripla in the sixth century. and Nicopsia of Zikhi, which was a major ecclesiastical and political center, mentions of which are contained in sources of the late seventh and eleventh centuries, cannot be localized at one point. These are various points on the coast of the Western Caucasus.

Based on information from medieval Georgian and other sources, as well as the presence of an ancient Orthodox tradition of veneration of the Apostle Simon the Canaanite in the temple named after him, Nikopsia of Zikhi can be identified with the well–known medieval cultural and political center of Abkhazia - Anakopia. This identification is also confirmed by geographical calculations in the translation of the Byzantine mile into kilometers.

Table 1.

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