In 1918, on behalf of the Saint Petersburg State University, he arrived in Georgia to update the conflicting catalogues of the Tbilisi manuscripts and then to investigate various texts of the Bible. He became a Professor of Tbilisi State University when it was founded early in 1918. He remained there and taught the Greek language and the Byzantine history until Sovietization of Georgian Democratic Republic. As a volunteer he fought Russian invaders near Tbilisi at Tabakhmela in February 1921.