Shurgaia Gaga

Studies:
1986 to 1991: Faculty of Philology at Tbilisi State University.
December of 1990-June of 1991: Courses of specialisation in the history of Christianity, of Old Christian literature and Contemporary Italian literature at “Ca’ Foscari” University of Venice; Certificates in Italian language and literature at the Faculty of Foreign Languages and Literature at the above mentioned University and the Dante Alighieri Society.
1991: Degree (summa cum laude) in Philology, Georgian language and literature. Dissertation topic: Aesthetic-literary traits in the «Martyrdom of saint Abo of Tbilisi» by John Sabanisdze.
1991 to 1994: Studies in Oriental Ecclesiastic Sciences at the Pontifical Oriental Institute in Rome.
1994: Licence (magna cum laude) in Oriental Ecclesiastic Sciences at the Pontifical Oriental Institute in Rome with a dissertation on: The Literary sources of the liturgy of Jerusalem and the ordo of Palm Sunday (4th-8th centuries) (dissertation director: Prof. M. Arranz SJ); admission to the doctoral program at the same Institute.
1996: Doctorate (summa cum laude) in Oriental Ecclesiastic Sciences at the Pontifical Oriental Institute in Rome with a dissertation on: The Liturgical tradition of the Lazarus Saturday and Palm Sunday according to Byzantine manuscripts of the 11th-12th centuries (dissertation director: Prof. M. Arranz SJ).

Languages spoken:
Georgian, Russian, Italian, English, French.

Languages written:
Georgian, Russian, Italian, English, French, Classical Greek, Latin, Classical Armenian.

Positions:
1988 to 1991: Teaching intermediate level courses in Georgian language and literature at the School of Philology by the Faculty of Philology at Tbilisi State University.
20th to 22nd May 1997: Teaching course in the History of the Georgian Church, as supplementary lectures of the course of Prof. Vincenzo Poggi SJ on: Orthodox and Catholic Churches in the Near East at the Pontifical Oriental Institute in Rome.
15th to 30th May 1998: Teaching course in Oriental Liturgies at the Orthodox Institute «Saint Tikhon» of Moscow Patriarchate (the course was given in Russian).
1997 to 1998: Teaching course in Georgian alphabet, as supplementary lectures of the course in Caucasology included in the university degree course in Oriental Languages and Culture at the Faculty of Foreign Languages and Literature at “Ca’ Foscari” University of Venice.
1999 to 2000: Teaching course in the Evolution of Russian in the 20th century, as supplementary lectures of the course in Russian language included in the university degree course in Oriental Languages and Culture at the Faculty of Foreign Languages and Literature at “Ca’ Foscari” University of Venice.
1999 to 2001: Visiting professor of Caucasology at the Faculty of Preservation of the Cultural Heritage at the University of Bologna, in Ravenna.
1999 to 2003: Visiting professor of Georgian language and literature at the Faculty of Humanities at “La Sapienza” University of Rome.
21st August to 8th September 2000: Teacher of Russian at the International Seminar of Russian language and culture, organized by the Slavonic section of the Department of Comparative Language, Literature and Culture at the University of Bergamo.
2001 to 2006: Visiting professor of History of Christian Religion at the “S. Bernardino” Institute of Ecumenical studies, in Venice.
2001 to 2002: Teaching course in Georgian language, as supplementary lectures of the course in Caucasology included in the university degree course in Oriental Languages and Culture at the Faculty of Foreign Languages and Literature at “Ca’ Foscari” University of Venice.
2002 to 2003: Teaching course in Georgian language and culture, included in the university degree courses in Languages and Culture of Eurasia and the Mediterranean, and in Euro-American Modern Languages and Literatures at the Faculty of Foreign Languages and Literature at “Ca’ Foscari” University of Venice.
From 2002: Visiting professor of Old Georgian at the Pontifical Oriental Institute in Rome.
From 2003: Visiting professor of Old Georgian liturgical literature at the Faculty of Philology at «Ivane Javakhishvili» State University in Tbilisi.
From 2005: Researcher at the Faculty of Foreign Languages and Literature at “Ca’ Foscari” University of Venice.

Scholarships and research grants:
1991 to 1995: Grant-holder at the Centre for Kartvelian Studies at Tbilisi State University.
2001 to 2003: Research grant for the project Old Iadgari and the Origins of Byzantine Hymnography at the Department of Histories and Methods for the Conservation of Cultural Heritage at the Faculty of Preservation of the Cultural Heritage at the University of Bologna, in Ravenna.

Collaboration with scientific reviews
- «The Kartvelologist», Journal of Georgian Studies («Ivane Javakhishvili» State University, Tbilisi) – referee;
- «Lit’erat’uruli ʒiebani» = «Literary Researches» (Shota Rustaveli Institute of Georgian Literature, Tbilisi) – member of editorial board (from 2014);
- Texte und Studien zur Literatur des Griechisch-Orientalischen Kulturraums (Würzburg, Ed. Königshausen & Neumann) – member of editorial board (from 2014);
- «Colloquia Mediterranea» (Review of John Paul II Foundation, Florence) – member of editorial board (from 2011).

Congresses, conferences:
April 27th 1996: Conference on: "The Liturgical tradition of the Lazarus Saturday and Palm Sunday according to Byzantine manuscripts of the 11th-12th centuries: problems, results and prospects", read at the 13th interdisciplinary seminar on ‘Liturgy and spirituality in the Christian East: a dialogue with Miguel Arranz S.I.’, organized by the Pontifical Faculty of Theology in Southern Italy (San Luigi, Naples).
10th to 13th October 1996: Lecture on: "The Gymnosophists in Old Georgian literature: the state of the question", read at the 3rd International Colloquium ‘The Romance and Oriental Middle Ages. The Voyage of the Texts’, organized by the Institute of Byzantine and Post-Byzantine Studies in Venice.
June 6th 1998: Lecture on: "Literary sources of the history of the Georgian Church", read at the Faculty of Preservation of the Cultural Heritage at the University of Bologna, in Ravenna.
January 30th 1999: Lecture on: "Mtskheta – the capital re-founded. For an interpretation of the symbolic and aesthetic message of the Life of Saint Nino", read at the 1st International Convention of Georgian Studies, organized by the Georgian Embassy in Rome.
July 4th 1999: Lecture on: "Constantine the Great in Old Georgian Literature", read at the 4th International Seminar of Historical and Juridical Studies ‘Religious Powers and Institutions: the Cult of the Holy Emperor Constantine Between East and West’, organized by the Institute of Studies and Programmes for the Mediterranean in Sassari-Sedilo-Oristano (Italy).
October 26th 2000: Lecture on: "The Saints in old liturgical and literary sources of Jerusalem. Synchrony and diachrony", read at the 4th A.I.S.S.C.A. International Convention ‘The Age of the Saints' Between East and West. Liturgy and hagiography from late Antiquity to the Council of Trent’, organized by the Italian Association for the Study of Sanctity, Cults and Hagiography in Florence.
26th to 29th October 2000: Lecture on: "The Man in the Panther's Skin – the contribution of Shota Rustaveli to the definition of mediaeval macrotext", read at the 4th International Colloquium ‘Macrotexts Between East and West’ (Vico Equense, Italy).
5th to 8th April 2001: Lecture on: "The Holy Emperor. Constantine the Great in the Liturgical Tradition of Jerusalem", read at the International Convention of Studies ‘Constantine the Great in the Byzantine Age’, organized by the Faculty of Preservation of the Cultural Heritage at the University of Bologna, in Ravenna.
1st March 2002: Lecture on: "The Orthodox Church of Georgia. Historical and Cultural Dimensions", read at the meeting organized by the Val d'Aosta Delegation of the Italian Association of Classical Culture in Aosta.
14th to 18th October 2003: Lecture on: "Kartli – between the fortified city and the totem of the wolf. From Iranian and Caucasian Parallelisms", read at the International Convention ‘Persia and the Byzantium’, organized by the Lincei Academy in Rome.
January 30th 2005: Lecture on: Some important étapes of Georgian Mediaeval Culture, read at the congress, round table and photographic exhibition ‘Georgia in the past and present’, organized by the Milan Seat of the Club Alpino Italiano in Milan.
2nd March 2005: Lecture on: "The Theology of the Eucharist in the Orthodox Church", read at the Symposium ‘The Eucharist and the Christian confessions’, organized by the Diocesan Delegation of Ecumenism and Inter Religious Relations of the Arch-Episcopate of Barcelona in Barcelona from the 1st to 4th of March 2005.
1st December 2005: Lecture on: The Kartvelology in Italy, read at the congress organized by the Italian Association for the Study of Middle Asia and Caucasus in Ravenna from the 1st to 3rd of December 2005.
March 25th 2006: Lecture on: Some important étapes of Georgian Mediaeval Culture, read at Bassano del Grappa (Italy).
May 2006: Lecture on: The Exaltation of the Holy Cross in Old Iadgari, read at the Fifth International Symposium on Kartvelian Studies, organized by «Ivane Javakhishvili» State University in Tbilisi.
January 29th 2007: Lecture on: Nino comes from Jerusalem, read at Milan.
March 28th 2007: Lecture on: “Ancient Oriantal Churches” by Paolo Siniscalco, read at the presentation of the book by Paolo Siniscalco at the Luigi Sturzo Institute in Rome.
July 10th 2007: Lecture on: Ioane Sabanisdze between The Philosophy and Theology of Late Antiquity, read at the International Convention ‘Byzantine-Georgian Relations: The Formation of Georgian Cultural Identity’, organized by the National Centre of Manuscripts (Tbilisi) and the Catholic University of Leuven from the 10th to 11th of July 2007 in Tbilisi.
January 31st 2008: Lecture on: Thinking again about Georgian Poetry…, read at the presentation of the book of poetry Salve by Davit Magradze at the Pontifical Gregorian University.
March 27th 2008: Participation with a conference at the presentation of the book Slavica biblioteconomica by Gabriele Mazzitelli (Florence: FUP, 2007) at the Round Table “Slavonic funds in libraries of Rome: how to oversee diversity”, organized by the Libera Università Maria ss. Assunta in Rome.
April 3rd 2008: Lecture on: The Life of Kartli in Caucasian historical and cultural context, read at the II Symposium of Armenian and Caucasian Studies, organized by the Padus-Araxes Association, the Department of Eurasian Studies of “Ca’ Foscari” University of Venice and the Italian Association for the Study of Middle Asia and Caucasus in Venice.
May 19th 2008: Lecture on: Peoples and languages in the Soviet Union: scriptures and identity, read at the VI Symposium of Cyrillo-Methiodian Studies “Questions of language, questions of alphabets – questions of identity”, organized by the Slavonic Association, the Pontifical Oriental Institute and the Italian Association of Slavonic Studies at the Pontifical Oriental Institute in Rome.