Efrem Mtsire

Born circa 1025; died circa 1100. Georgian ecclesiastical writer, Scholastic philosopher, and historian.

Educated in Greece, Efrem Mtsire lived mainly in the Georgian monastic colony of Black Mountain. He wrote works on the rise and propagation of Christianity in Georgia, notably On the Circumstances of the Conversion of Kartli and On Simeon Metaphrastes. Efrem Mtsire helped establish the literary-grammatical school, which played art important role in the history of Georgian literature, and translated into Georgian the Source of Knowledge of John Damascene, the so-called Areopagite books, and other philosophical works. He set forth his own ideas in glosses on these works. Efrem Mtsire introduced Aristotelianism and Neoplatonism into Georgia.