Tbilisi, 1951 - Toronto, today
also known asTeofile Malakia
Advancing education in the Georgian-speaking world
Art historian, teacher and translator. He has been teaching for four decades - first in the lecture halls of Tbilisi, today on the internet, in daily lectures heard by thousands of Georgian speakers around the world.
The path
From art college and the Academy to a university chair, from there across five countries to Canada, and back to teaching again. One vocation that no border interrupted.
Tbilisi
Rezo (Revaz) Bakradze was born on 10 September 1951 in Tbilisi.
Tbilisi
His first formal training in the fine arts.
Tbilisi
Higher education in art history.
Georgian Technical University
Taught in the second faculty; in parallel, lectured on the history of religion in several schools.
State University of Theatre and Film
His years lecturing at the Shota Rustaveli university.
Georgia → Turkey → Argentina → Russia → Canada
He left Georgia with his wife, his niece and 28 young people close to him. Seven years and five countries before Canada became the final address.
Canada
Bringing biblical Christianity and advancing education in the Georgian-speaking world - translation, publishing, audio, teaching.
Online
Regular online gatherings, out of which a full lecture course was built. Material is published on his YouTube channel 365 days a year.
1994 - 2001
Reaching Canada was never a single journey. It took seven years, during which the group split apart and came back together more than once.
Georgia
to 1994
Born, educated, teaching. Departure in the summer of 1994.
Turkey
1994 - 1999
Istanbul. Five years of languages, work and preparation. Roughly half the group reaches Canada.
Argentina
≈ 6 months
Buenos Aires, with those who stayed behind.
Russia
≈ 1 year
Saint Petersburg.
Turkey
Return
Istanbul again - waiting for the final crossing to Canada.
Canada
since 2001
With help from Rosdale Church the second group arrives. A new chapter begins.
The work
Moving to Canada did not change his vocation - it gave it room. Teaching, translation and publishing all serve one aim: to make available in Georgian what was not available before.
Since 2008 he has held online lectures regularly, often daily. Dozens attend each gathering, sometimes more than fifty. The edited course is published on his YouTube channel 365 days a year, and each lecture reaches roughly 1,500 to 6,000 listeners a day.
Art, literature, religion, theatre, philosophy, culture, and public and political affairs. Years of recorded lectures have grown into a large video archive - today a documentary record of decades of teaching.
Under his direction many significant books have been translated from English into Georgian - from theology to philosophy to media criticism. The translations are printed at the group’s own expense and given free of charge to Georgian-speaking readers.
Audio editions of the Bible - Old and New Testament - and of books already translated into Georgian. The material is published on the YouTube channel, Facebook pages and TikTok.
A website created under his direction carrying the complete text of the Bible together with Matthew Henry’s commentary.
Together with Natalia Kutsia he holds online biblical lectures. The course is nearly complete and the lectures are published online as well.
Archive
A few frames from the road that began in 1994 - Istanbul, airports, and the first days after arriving in Canada.
Where it is published
Lectures, audiobooks and biblical material, published openly - every day.
