View source for Ilia Chavchavadze

{{Short description|Georgian poet and politician; Georgian Orthodox Church saint (1837-1907)}}
{{expand language|langcode=ka|ილია ჭავჭავაძე|langcode2=ru|Чавчавадзе, Илья Григорьевич|date=August 2025}}
{{More footnotes needed|date=May 2021}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2020}}
{{Infobox writer
| honorific_prefix = [[Tavadi]]
| name             = Ilia Chavchavadze
| native_name      = Ilia Chavchavadze
| image            = Ilia Tchavtchavadze.jpg
| imagesize        = 
| caption          = 
| birth_date       = {{Birth date|df=yes|1837|10|27}}
| birth_place      = [[Kvareli]], [[Georgia Governorate]], Russian Empire (present-day [[Kakheti]], Georgia)
| death_date       = {{death date and age|df=yes|1907|9|12|1837|10|27}}
| death_place      = [[Tsitsamuri]], [[Tiflis Governorate]], Russian Empire
| resting_place    = [[Mtatsminda Pantheon]], Tbilisi
| occupation       = [[jurist]], poet, novelist, [[Humanism|humanist]], publisher, philosopher
| nationality      = [[Georgians|Georgian]]
| movement         = {{Cslist|[[Literary realism|Realism]]|[[Historical fiction]]}}
| signature        = Ilia Chavchavadze signature.svg
}}

[[Tavadi|Tavadi (Prince)]] '''Ilia Chavchavadze''' ({{langx|ka|ილია ჭავჭავაძე}}; 27 October 1837 – 12 September 1907) was a [[Georgians|Georgian]] journalist, publisher, writer and poet who spearheaded the revival of [[Georgian nationalism]] during the second half of the 19th century in the period of [[Georgia within the Russian Empire|Tsarist rule]]. He has been called Georgia's "most universally revered hero"<ref name="Kinzer"/> and the "Father of the Nation."<ref>{{cite book|last1=Kekelia|first1=Tatia|editor1-last=Agadjanian|editor1-first=Alexander|editor2-last=Jödicke|editor2-first=Ansgar|editor3-last=van der Zweerde|editor3-first=Evert|title=Religion, Nation and Democracy in the South Caucasus|contribution=Building Georgian national identity|date=2015|publisher=Routledge|page=123}}</ref>

He was a leader of contemporary youth intellectual movement named "Tergdaleulebi" which spread modern and European [[Classical Liberalism|liberal]] ideals in [[Georgia (country)|Georgia]]. Chavchavadze founded two modern newspapers: ''Sakartvelos Moambe'' and ''[[Iveria (newspaper)|Iveria]]''.

He coined the phrase "Ena, Mamuli, Sartsmunoeba" ("Language, Homeland, Faith"), a slogan of [[Georgian nationalism]].{{sfn|Chkhartishvili|2013|p=192|ps=: "The main designer and contributor to the Georgian nationalist project was the eminent Georgian writer and public worker Ilia Chachcavadze (1837-1907)."}}{{sfn|Chkhartishvili|2013|p=195|ps=: "In 1860-1880ss the premature Georgian political nationalism was replaced by fully developed Georgian cultural nationalism. As it was already mentioned, its main author was Ilia Chavchavadze who, with his co-workers, was an active part of the societal life of the 1860s."}}

During the [[1905 Russian Revolution]] Chavchavadze was elected as a representative of the [[Georgian nobility]] to the imperial [[State Council (Russian Empire)|State Council]].{{cn|date=March 2025}}

Chavchavadze was killed in [[Tsitsamuri]], near [[Mtskheta]], by a gang of assassins. In 1907 he was [[Canonization|canonized]] as '''Saint Ilia the Righteous''' ({{lang|ka|წმინდა ილია მართალი}}, ''tsminda ilia martali'') by the [[Georgian Orthodox Church]].

== Biography ==

=== Ancestry and early life ===
[[File:Ilia Chavchavadze as a first year student in St. Petersburg, 1858.jpg|left|thumb|upright|Chavchavadze as a 1st year gymnasium student]]
Chavchavadze was born in Qvareli, a village in [[Kvareli]],<ref name="oca.org"/> located in the [[Alazani]] Valley, in the [[Kakheti]] province of Georgia, which was part of the Russian Empire at that time.

His mother, Mariam, died on 4 May 1848, when he was ten years old, and his father asked his sister, Makrine, to help bring up the children. After 1852, when his father Grigol died she was the only remaining caretaker of the family.<ref name="oca.org"/>

In 1848, after the death of his mother, he was sent to Tbilisi by his father to begin his secondary education.<ref name="oca.org"/>

=== Student years ===
[[File:Georgian public figure Ilia Chavchavadze in his youth, mid 19th century.jpg|upright|thumb|Chavchavadze as a student]]
After graduating from the academy, Chavchavadze attended [[Saint Petersburg State University|University of St. Petersburg, Russia]].{{citation needed|date=October 2023}}

=== Political life ===
[[File:Iveria 1888 N2 Page 1.jpg|upright|thumb|[[Iveria (newspaper)|''Iveria'']] newspaper, founded and edited by Chavchavadze.]]

In the 1860s, "Tergdaleulebi", the new generation of Georgian intellectuals, educated at Russian universities and exposed to European ideas, promoted national culture against assimilation by the Imperial center. Led by Chavchavadze, their program attained more nationalist colors as the nobility declined and capitalism progressed, further stimulated by the rule of the Russian bureaucracy and economic and demographic dominance of the Armenian bourgeoisie in the capital city of [[Tbilisi]]. Chavchavadze prominently founded "The Bank of the Nobility" of Tbilisi, to keep Georgian land from being sold off by poor Georgian nobles to Armenian bourgeoisie. In his work ''Outcrying Stones'', Chavchavadze said Armenians falsified Georgian history, buying up Georgian land and appropriating Georgian churches, as well as indebting poor Georgian peasant families. Chavchavadze said in his newspaper ''Iveria'' they were "eating the bread baked by someone else or drinking that which is created by another's sweat", and "sly moneylenders and unscrupulous traders".<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Jones |first1=Stephen F. |author-link1=Stephen F. Jones |title=Georgian- Armenian Relations in 1918-20 and 1991-94: A Comparison |journal=[[Armenian Review]] |date=1993 |volume=46 |issue=1–4 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/ArmeniaGeorgiaRelations/page/n1 57]–77 |url=https://archive.org/details/ArmeniaGeorgiaRelations}}</ref> He also created slogan "Language, Homeland, Religion", which was a motto of Georgian nationalism. Chavchavadze and his associates called for the unity of all Georgians and put national interests above class and provincial divisions. They did not envisage an outright revolt for independence, demanding autonomy within the reformed Russian Empire, with greater cultural freedom, promotion of the Georgian language, and support for Georgian educational institutions and the [[Georgian Orthodox Church|national church]], whose independence had been suppressed by the Russian government.<ref>{{cite book |last=Sabanadze |first=Natalie |chapter=Chapter 4. Globalization and Georgian Nationalism |chapter-url=http://books.openedition.org/ceup/573?lang=en#bodyftn5 |title=Globalization and Nationalism: The Cases of Georgia and the Basque Country |date=2010 |location=Budapest |publisher=Central European University Press |isbn=9789633860069}}</ref>

Chavchavadze knew [[Joseph Stalin]] when Stalin was an Orthodox [[seminarian]] in Tbilisi.{{citation needed|date=October 2023}} According to historian [[Simon Sebag Montefiore]]: "The Prince was sufficiently impressed to show the teenager's work to his editors. He admired Stalin's verse, choosing five poems to publish – quite an achievement. Prince Chavchavadze called Stalin the 'young man with the burning eyes.'"<ref>Simon Sebag Montefiore, "Young Stalin," page 57.</ref>

== Death ==
[[File:Ilia chav funeral.jpg|upright|thumb|Chavchavadze's funeral in Tbilisi]]
After serving as a member of the Upper House in the first [[Russian Duma]], Ilia decided to return to Georgia in 1907. On 28 August 1907, while travelling with his wife Olga from [[Tbilisi]] to [[Saguramo]], Chavchavadze was ambushed and murdered by a crew of six assassins in the small village of [[Tsitsamuri]], near [[Mtskheta]].{{citation needed|date=October 2023}}

His murder was seen as a national tragedy and was mourned by all classes of Georgian society. Prince [[Akaki Tsereteli]], who was suffering from serious health problems at the time, said at the funeral: "Ilia's inestimable contribution to the revival of the Georgian nation is an example for future generations".<ref>David Marshal Lang, History of Modern Georgia, p. 176.</ref>

The news coverage of the assassination was primarily limited to a single newspaper called Isari (ისარი).<ref>{{cite web | url=https://kvirispalitra.ge/article/9369-qras-schadikharthq-es-sityvebi-mthel-saqarthvelos-ekuthvnoda | title="რას სჩადიხართ!"- ეს სიტყვები მთელ საქართველოს ეკუთვნოდა | date=12 September 2011 }}</ref>

===Investigation===

In 1907, the Tsarist authorities launched investigation into Chavchavadze's death and arrested four suspects: Giorgi Khizanishvili, Ivane Inashvili, Gigola Modzghvrishvili and Tedo Labauri. One suspect (Gigla Berbichashvili, the head of the crew) went into hiding in Iran, while another one (Pavle Aptsiauri) died during clashes with the police. According to investigation, during the incident Chavchavadze appealed to the crew: "Do not shoot, I am Ilia", while Gigla replied: "That's why we have to shoot you". In 1909, according to the decision of the Stolypin tribunal, the entire gang was sentenced to capital punishment. Following the [[October Revolution]], Gigla Berbichashvili returned to Georgia in 1921 and worked in the various positions within the [[Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic|Soviet Georgian government]]. In 1936, the investigation was launched against him for participating the murder of Ilia Chavchavadze. In December 1941, he was tried in the court, which sentenced him to capital punishment in January 1942. However, this was later changed to 10 years imprisonment.{{fact|date=August 2025}}

===Theories===
The assassination of Ilia Chavchavadze remains controversial today. The Tsarist investigation concluded that the murderers were part of Bolshevik "Red Squad", while the Soviet investigation blamed the Tsarist secret police and administration for being involved in the assassination. The unofficial versions mostly blame Bolsheviks as well as Mensheviks for orchestrating the murder.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Jones|first1=Stephen F.|author-link1=Stephen F. Jones|title=Socialism in Georgian Colors: The European Road to Social Democracy, 1883-1917|date=2005|publisher=Harvard University Press|isbn=9780674019027|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=srEzMdMN-z0C&pg=PA221&dq=Chavchavadze 221]|quote=Bolshevik unpopularity in Georgia was in part due to the widely held suspicion that they had been behind the murder of Ilia Chavchavadze in August 1907.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Conquest|first1=Robert|author-link1=Robert Conquest|title=Stalin: breaker of nations|date=1991|publisher=Viking|isbn=9780670840892|page=[https://archive.org/details/stalinbreakerofn00conq/page/42 42]|quote=...the Bolsheviks were suspects in the (still obscure) murder of Prince Chavchavadze, father of the Georgian cultural renaissance, on 28 August 1907: he had spoken out strongly against the revolutionary left.|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/stalinbreakerofn00conq/page/42}}</ref><ref name="Geifman">{{cite book|last=Geifman|first=Anna|author-link=Anna Geifman|title=Thou Shalt Kill: Revolutionary Terrorism in Russia, 1894-1917|date=1995|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=9780691025490|pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=U_SU7fxj9BMC&pg=PA96&dq=Chavchavadze 95–96]}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Radu|first1=Michael|title=Dilemmas of Democracy and Dictatorship: Place, Time and Ideology in Global Perspective|date=2006|publisher=Transaction Publishers|isbn=9781412821711|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=rWp5F3T6a-8C&pg=PA42&dq=Chavchavadze 42]|quote=...Ilia Chavchavadze, murdered by the Bolsheviks in 1907.}}</ref> Chavchavadze had publicly and very successfully undermined the growth of both Bolshevik and Menshevik factions of the Social Democratic Labour Party.<ref name="Geifman"/>

According to Montefiore: "The Bolshevik position in Georgia was undermined by the assassination of the hugely popular Prince Ilya Chavchavadze, in August 1907. The Bolsheviks had attacked his patriarchal vision of [[Culture of Georgia (country)|Georgian culture]] and, it was widely believed, had decided to kill him. There is some evidence that Stalin's friends [[Sergo Ordzhonikidze]] and [[Filipp Makharadze]] organized or took part in the assassination. It may be that the [[Mensheviks|SDs]] took no part in the murder at all. Stalin always praised Chavchavadze's poetry in his old age and there is no evidence that he ordered the hit, but he was very close to Sergo and he was certainly more than capable of separating literary merit from cruel necessity: politics always came first."<ref>Simon Sebag Montefiore, "Young Stalin," page 179.</ref>

== Legacy ==
[[File:Tschawtschawadse - Zereteli Monument Tbilissi.jpg|thumb|upright|Monument to Chavchavadze (left) and [[Akaki Tsereteli]] in [[Tbilisi]]]]
[[File:Ilia Chavchavadze grave (5).jpg|thumb|upright|Chavchavadze's tomb at Mtatsminda Pantheon.]]

In 1987 Chavchavadze was formally [[canonized]] by the [[Georgian Orthodox and Apostolic Church]], as "Saint Ilia the Righteous."<ref name="oca.org">{{cite web|title=Martyr Ilia Chavchavadze of Georgia|url=https://oca.org/saints/lives/2009/07/20/103867-martyr-ilia-chavchavadze-of-georgia|publisher=[[Orthodox Church in America]]}}</ref>

In 1998 [[Stephen Kinzer]] wrote: "Today leftists in Georgia embrace Chavchavadze for his hatred of injustice, centrists love him for his nonviolent humanism, and right-wing nationalists have adopted his slogan ''Motherland, Language, Faith.''"<ref name="Kinzer">{{cite news |last = Kinzer |first = Stephen |author-link = Stephen Kinzer |title = Saguramo Journal; On the Tallest Pedestal, a Man for All Georgians |url = https://www.nytimes.com/1998/05/07/world/saguramo-journal-on-the-tallest-pedestal-a-man-for-all-georgians.html |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=7 May 1998 }}</ref> Faith, in this context, exclusively means [[Georgian Orthodoxy]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Tonoyan |first=Artyom |date=2010-09-22 |title=Rising Armenian-Georgian tensions and the possibility of a new ethnic conflict in the South Caucasus |url=https://go.gale.com/ps/i.do?p=AONE&sw=w&issn=10746846&v=2.1&it=r&id=GALE%7CA242015616&sid=googleScholar&linkaccess=abs |journal=Demokratizatsiya |language=English |volume=18 |issue=4 |pages=287–309}}</ref>

In 2006, [[Ilia State University]] was named after Ilia Chavchavadze.<ref name="auto">{{Cite web|url=https://iliauni.edu.ge/en/siaxleebi-8/axali-ambebi-36/iliauni-is-the-best-research-institution-in-caucasus.page|title=ILIAUNI IS THE BEST RESEARCH INSTITUTION IN CAUCASUS|website=ILIA STATE UNIVERSITY|access-date=2020-01-06}}</ref> Streets and avenues named after him include [[Tbilisi]]'s central avenue, [[Ilia Chavchavadze Avenue]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tbilisi.gov.ge/streets_new/index.php |title=Ilia Chavchavadze Avenue |work=Tbilisi Street Name Database |publisher=Tbilisi City Hall |access-date=28 January 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110725071407/http://www.tbilisi.gov.ge/streets_new/index.php |archive-date=25 July 2011 }}</ref>

== Published works ==
* ''Georgian Poetry: Rustaveli to Galaktion: A Bilingual Anthology''. Translations by [[Lyn Coffin]], with the assistance of Gia Jokhadze, featuring an introduction by Dodona Kiziria. Slavica, [[Bloomington, Indiana]], 2013.
* ''Georgische Dichter''. Translated and compiled by [[Arthur Leist]], Dresden-Leipzig, 1887 (Poems of Ilia Chavchavadze and other Georgian poets, in German)
* ''[https://dspace.nplg.gov.ge/bitstream/1234/331240/1/The_Hermit_1895.pdf The Hermit]'' by Chavchavadze. Translated from the Georgian by [[Marjory Wardrop]], London: Bernard Quaritch, 1895

== See also ==
{{Portal|Biography|Georgia (country)|Poetry}}
* [[Chavchavadze]]
* [[List of Georgian writers]]
* [[Ilia State University]]

{{clear}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== Sources ==
* {{Cite book |last=de Baye |first=Joseph |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dLlBAQAAMAAJ |title=Au Nord de la chaîne du Caucase: Souvenir d'une mission |date=1899 |publisher=Nilsson |language=fr|location=Paris}}
* {{Cite book |last=de Baye |first=Joseph |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EIM-OQAACAAJ |title=Tiflis: souvenirs d'une mission |date=1900 |publisher=Nilsson |language=fr|location=Paris}}
* {{cite journal |last =Chkhartishvili |first = Mariam |title=Georgian nationalism and the idea of Georgian nation |url = http://atlas.usv.ro/www/codru_net/CC19/2/georgian.pdf |website=Codrul Cosminului |publisher=[[Ștefan cel Mare University of Suceava]] |issue=2 |volume=19 |pages=189–206 |year=2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140821012945/http://atlas.usv.ro/www/codru_net/CC19/2/georgian.pdf |archive-date = 21 August 2014 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Leist |first=Arthur |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UMRXQwAACAAJ |title=Das georgische Volk, geschildert von Arthur Leist |date=1903 |publisher=E. Pierson |language=de|location=Dresden}}
* {{Cite book |last=Lehmann-Haupt |first=Ferdinand Friedrich Carl |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nkhQAQAAMAAJ |title=Armenien, einst und jetzt: reisen und forschungen von C.F. Lehmann-Haupt; hrsg. mit unterstützung des Königlich preussischen kultusministeriums, der Averhoffstiftung und der Bürgermeister Kellinghusen-stiftung zu hamburg, der Rudolf-Virchow-stiftung zu befreundeter förderer ... |date=1910 |publisher=B. Behr |language=de|pages=106–111|location=Berlin}}
* Reisner, Oliver: ''The Tergdaleulebi: Founders of Georgian National Identity''. In: Ladislaus Löb, István Petrovics, György E. Szonyi (eds.): ''Forms of Identity: Definitions and Changes''. Attila Jozsef University, Szeged 1994, pp.&nbsp;125–37
* {{Cite book |last=Wardrop |first=John Oliver |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tNUnbGOGWV4C |title=The Kingdom of Georgia: Notes of Travel in a Land of Women, Wine, and Song; to which are Appended Historical, Literary and Political Sketches, Specimens of the National Music, and a Compendious Bibliography |date=1888 |publisher=S. Low, Marston, Searle & Rivington |location=London|language=en|pages=150–152}}

== External links ==
{{Wikiquote|Ilya chavchavadze}}
{{Commons category|Ilia Chavchavadze}}
* [[Guram Sharadze|Sharadze, Guram]] (ed., 1987).''Ilia Chavchavadze works, translated by Marjory and Oliver Wardrops''. Tbilisi: Ganatleba, 1987. [https://web.archive.org/web/20120223231724/http://www.nplg.gov.ge/dlibrary/collect/0001/000099/Ilia%20works.pdf Online version] at [[National Parliamentary Library of Georgia|NPLG]].

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chavchavadze Ilia}}
[[Category:1837 births]]
[[Category:1907 deaths]]
[[Category:19th-century writers from the Russian Empire]]
[[Category:19th-century novelists]]
[[Category:19th-century poets from Georgia (country)]]
[[Category:20th-century Christian saints]]
[[Category:20th-century writers from Georgia (country)]]
[[Category:Assassinated activists]]
[[Category:Assassinated politicians from Georgia (country)]]
[[Category:Burials at Mtatsminda Pantheon]]
[[Category:Christian poets]]
[[Category:Historical novelists from Georgia (country)]]
[[Category:Male poets from Georgia (country)]]
[[Category:Nationalists from Georgia (country)]]
[[Category:Nobility of Georgia (country)]]
[[Category:Nobility from the Russian Empire]]
[[Category:People murdered in Georgia (country)]]
[[Category:Politicians from Georgia (country)]]
[[Category:Politicians from the Russian Empire]]
[[Category:Christian saints from Georgia (country)]]
[[Category:Unsolved murders in the Russian Empire]]
[[Category:People murdered in 1907]]
[[Category:Politicians assassinated in the 1900s]]
[[Category:19th-century writers from Georgia (country)]]
[[Category:People murdered in the Russian Empire]]