Georgia, Patriarchal Orthodox Church of

TAMARA GRDZELIDZE

The Church of Georgia has historically existed on territory situated between modern Turkey in the West, Armenia and Azerbaijan in the Southeast, and small Caucasian ethnic groups of the Russian Federation in the North. It is a church of a small nation and its land has long known hardship, yet also benefits from fellow Christians across its borders. Neighboring Byzantium once guaranteed its security, though not uncondi­tionally nor unfailingly. Georgia was Byzantium’s old ally in consolidating Chris­tian forces against Islam in the East, and at certain moments of history it served benefi­cially in Georgian ecclesiastical and political matters. Georgia’s relations with the Church of Armenia became problematic in the light of the theological tension in the aftermath of the Council of Chalcedon (451), and in spite of a significant attempt to find a compromise solution at the Council of Dvin (506) a lasting ecclesiastical division resulted after 609. Georgia’s immediate neighbor, the Christian state of Russia, actively began seeking influ­ence over the Caucasus after the fall of Con­stantinople (1453) and spread out powerfully, resulting in the gradual annexation of the Georgian kingdoms after 1801, and in the abolition of the longstanding autocephaly of the Church of Georgia in 1811. In 1921 Geor­gia was made one of the republics of the Soviet Union and the Orthodox Church of Georgia exercised a form of quasi-independence vis­a-vis other Orthodox churches, as well as within the ecumenical movement, but it was also seriously challenged and threat­ened by the Soviet ideology and anti-church repressions. It has been exercising its inde­pendence once more since 1991.

LANGUAGE AND ALPHABET

The 5th-century Georgian language (Kartuli) preserved in the oldest manuscripts is not entirely alien to contemporary Georgians. Together with Megrelian, Svan, and Laz, it forms part of the Kartvelian group of south­ern Caucasian languages. The Georgian lan­guage has been one of the most important factors in the self-understanding and defi­nition of Christians who spoke Georgian/ Kartuli. In the 10th century, George the Canonist, author of The Life of St. Gregory of Khandzta, expressed it graphically: “The lands where church services are proclaimed in the Georgian (Kartuli) language consti­tute [the state of] Georgia (Kartli).” He thus stated the link between territorial integrity and the development of national identity, which has always defined the Georgian Church’s sense of itself. In the surviving manuscripts scholars recognize three stages of development of the original script: Asomtavruli, Nuskhuri (from the 9th cen­tury), and Mkhedruli (used today but orig­inating from as early as the 12th century). The most commonly accepted theory of the development of the language is to connect the creation of the Asomtavruli script with the process of the first Christianization of Georgia under Byzantine influence.

KARTLI/IBERIA AND EGRISI/

COLKHETI

When Christianity began to spread throughout Georgia, different principalities and regions accepted it in different degrees and under different circumstances. The leading role in the Christianization process was assigned to Kartli (or Iberia, as it was referred to in the Greek sources) in the east of the country. West Georgia, or Egrisi (otherwise named Colkheti or Lazika – the ancient goal of the Greek Argonauts who came to take the Golden Fleece), also received the gospel in the 4th century. Bishop Stratophilos of Bichvinta/Pitiunt (in Abkhazeti) was present at the Council of Nicea (325). Until the 9th century, western Georgia was under the jurisdiction of the patriarchate of Constantinople and deeply influenced by Byzantium. Some of the mountainous parts of Georgia received Christianity considerably later than the valley settlements between the Caucasian gorges. Written sources relating the conver­sion of Georgia are preserved in collections from the 10th century onwards.

ST. ANDREW’S VISITATION

In the 11th-century Kartlis Tskhovreba (Life of Kartli) it is said that:

The holy Apostle Andrew set off and reached Atskhuri, earlier called Sosangeti, which lies opposite Sakrisi. He stopped to rest at a place that was a sanctuary of idols, and is now called the Old Church. The icon of the Holy Virgin lay in the fortress and great radiance could be seen there.... A great many people filled the valley of Sakrisi.... There was a sanctuary of idols in the town where their evil gods were worshipped.... But the great icon of the All Holy Virgin of Atskveri lay at a little church. (Licheli 1998)

This source refers to the arrival of the apostle Andrew in Samtskhe, southeastern Georgia, bringing with him the holy icon of the Mother of God. The archeological investigations carried out in the area between 1988 and 1991 gave support to the tradition witnessed in the text that in Samtskhe, at a very early time, the first Christian center was established on Geor­gian territory. The traditions of Georgia that focus on the preaching there of the Apostle Andrew also mention the preaching of the apostles Simon the Canaanite, Bartholomew, and Matthias.

THE LIFE OF ST. NINO

St. Nino, known as the illuminator of Georgia, is one among a handful of women in the Orthodox tradition who are given the title of “Equal to the Apos­tles.” Her mother Susanna served in the house of an Armenian woman, Miapar, in Jerusalem and married Zabulon, a famous Cappadocian general. When Nino turned 12 years old, the parents divorced, selling all their belongings and returning to settle in Jerusalem. Nino first served an Armenian woman in Dvin, then an Armenian of royal descent, and fled together with 50 other women to Arme­nia. Surviving the persecution of the Armenian King Trdat, Nino, following divine inspiration, turned towards Georgia and accepted the mission of evangelizing the people. After reaching Mtskheta, the capital of Iberia, Nino discovered that the local population worshipped the idols Armazi, Gatsi, and Gaim. Her Vita says that by the grace of her prayers Nino caused a great storm that destroyed the idols. She settled in the royal garden of King Mirian (today, this is the site of the Svetitskhoveli cathedral in Mtskheta), then moved near the bramble bush (today, the site of the Samtavro monastery), made a cross from the vine branches and preached the faith of Christ and performed miracles, one of which was the healing of Queen Nana. By this means Nana was turned to the faith of Christ and spoke about it to her husband, who remained an idol-worshipper until converted by a wonder: one day, while out hunting, the king was startled by a total eclipse of the sun. He prayed to the god of Nino and the light returned, and by this means he was convinced and accepted Christian faith. By this admission to the royal court, Christianity thereafter became the official religion of Iberia and the first church was constructed within the royal gardens.

Emperor Constantine the Great (ca. 337) sent priests to baptize the royal family, the nobility, and the common people, and to establish political alliances. Three crosses were erected: on the hill where today the monastery of the Holy Cross (5th-6th centuries) is situated; on the mountain of Tkhoti, where King Mirian was converted; and in the town of Ujarma. The Iberian population of the lowlands took to the new religion quickly, though the mountain dwellers resisted for a longer time.

CONVERSION OF KARTLI (MOQCEVAI KARTLISAI) AND LIFE OF KARTLI (KARTLIS TSKHOVREBA)

Although known from written sources of the 10th to 13th centuries (the Conversion of Kartli and the Life of Kartli), the three earliest layers of the Life of St. Nino prob­ably derive from the 4th-5th centuries, from the end of the 5th century, and from the 7th century, respectively. At the cusp of the 4th and 5th centuries there existed a version of the Life of St. Nino which was known in Palestine. This version is reflected in the church history of Rufinus, who says: “At the time of Athanasius and Frumentius’ mission to India, the Georgians who dwell in the region of Pontus accepted the word of God.... The cause of this was a woman captive who lived among them.” Rufinus had lived for 24 years both in Egypt and Jerusalem, where he may well have come in contact with Iberians. Rufinus’ version of the Conversion of Kartli was later copied by the Greek historians Socrates, Sozomen, and Theodoret. Recent scholarship has also traced links between Rufinus’ Greek version and Gelasius of Caesarea. The versions of the Life of St. Nino as recorded in the sources of the 10th to 13th centuries show some distinctive if incompatible facts about her life; the common elements of the differ­ent versions include the healing activity of St. Nino, the vision of King Mirian, and the miracle of the pillar.

The texts of the Conversion of Kartli and a version of the Life of St. Nino by Leonti Mroveli contained in the Life of Kartli both connect the establishment of Christianity in Kartli with the Jewish communities already resident there. When Christianity was established as a state religion in Kartli, it was introduced in its Hellenistic form, but significant Judeo-Christian traditions remain in the written sources (see Mgaloblishvili and Gagoshidze 1998) and speak eloquently of Semitic origins as also significant for the Georgian Church. In the 4th century Kartli was a constant ally of Byzantium in its ongoing struggle with Persia for influence in the Caucasus. The Truce of Nisibis made with the Persians in 298 had enabled Emperor Diocletian to benefit from forty years of peace in the eastern regions, including Armenia and

Iberia. It was precisely during this period that Iberia declared Christianity an official state religion (326/330). According to her Life, Nino approached Kartli from the mountains of the southern province of Javakheti and stopped at Lake Paravani. Following the River Mtkvari, she is said to have arrived at Urbnisi, where she stayed a month with local Jewish inhabitants. It is also recorded that the very first Christian converts in Georgia were Jews: Abiatar, his daughter Sidonia, and her friends, who first recorded Nino’s missionary activities. In this missionary environment Nino would probably have used Aramaic, the language of the local Jews, and from this basis may have learned some Georgian. The Prayer of St. Nino, some scholars think, reflects church practice prior to the Council of Ephesus (431). Also, the symbolism of the Feast of the Holy Cross as celebrated in Mtskheta reflects the liturgical rites of the ancient Jerusalem festival. Although the first bishops, priests, and deacons were sent as a mission to Iberia by Constantine the Great, the Life of Nino shows much affinity with the Church of Jerusalem. Geor­gian church tradition recounts that Elioz, a Jewish merchant from Mtskheta, brought with him from Jerusalem the robe of Christ, which was buried with his sister. The first church in Mtskheta, Svetitskhoveli, was built over her grave. In Kartli the first missionaries were linked to the Church of Palestine, and again reminiscences remain in the text of the Vita. All the significant points of the earthly life of Christ were subsequently to be used in topographi­cally naming the area of Mtskheta: Bethlehem, Thabor, Bithynia, Gethsemane, and Golgotha. Liturgical linkages between Georgia and the Jerusalem Church seemed to be very strong until later times, when new associations with Byzantium in western and southeastern parts of Georgia became remarkably close and overlaid them.

GEORGIAN-ARMENIAN CHURCH CONFLICT

The confessional conflict between the two churches followed the adherence of the Church of Georgia to the Council of Chalcedon and the rejection of the latter by the Church of Armenia. At the council of Dvin in 506 the Georgians, Armenians, and Albanians accepted the Henoticon of Zeno (476–91), which attempted to set aside the divisive terms of the Chalcedonian council; but in 609, at the time of Catho- licos Kirion I (ca. 614), the Georgians rejected their adherence to the non- Chalcedonian Christology (which they had formerly accepted under the pressure of political exigency, since they were under threat from the Persians, and King Vakhtang Gorgasali (ca. 502/3) tried all means at his disposal to show loyalty to the Byzantine emperor), accordingly ac­cepting the Henoticon in 482. The churches in Armenia and Georgia became estranged after the 7th century. Territorial proximity between the two nations added extra ten­sion to the confessional conflict, and after this era a level of intolerance, sometimes amounting to open hostility, can be traced in Georgian sources dealing with their neighbors. A number of tractates against the anti-Chalcedonian Christology began to appear in Georgian, some of them com­pilations of extracts from writings of the church fathers, while others are original works. The celebrated treatise On the Division between Iberia and Armenia was composed in the 9th century by Arsenios of Sapara. Confessional disputes between the two churches took place at the Council of Grtila in 1046 and again at the time of King David IV (1089–1125), with a number of Armenian and Georgian hierarchs involved in what were heated discussions. Such public disputes occurred again in the 18th century when the Armenian non-Chalcedonian influence reemerged. This confessional, inter-Christian struggle against the church of the adjacent country was undoubtedly a factor that weakened the political life of Georgia throughout the Byzantine era.

MONASTICISM

The earliest origins of monastic life in Georgia are traditionally connected with the Syrian ascetic fathers who fled their own land in the face of a purge of non-Chalcedonians (540–2) and settled in Georgia. Before that time there are isolated mentions of Georgians living in monasteries outside the country. In Kartli the Syrians found confessional tolerance. Monastic foundations of the Syrian ascetics have survived to the present time and are scattered throughout East Georgia. The Lives of the Syrian Fathers have been preserved in shorter and longer versions, notably by Ioane of Zedazeni, Shio of Mgvime, Abibos of Nekresi, David of Gareja, Anthony of Martkopi, Ise of Tsilkani, and Joseph of Alaverdi. The earli­est surviving ascetical literature in Georgian dates from the 7th century: notably the treatise On Repentance and Humility by the monk Martyrios. Between the 9th and 11th centuries monasticism in Georgia enjoyed its golden age.

ST. GREGORY OF KHANDZTA

There are few figures in the life of the Church of Georgia whose activities can match those of Gregory of Khandzta. His life and work had a huge influence over the political and cultural development of the nation. Gregory revived monasticism in southeastern Georgia, especially in Tao- Klarjeti. Born in the 8th century into the family of one of the rulers of Kartli, Gregory was ordained priest at an early age and was prepared for episcopacy. However, he pre­ferred the life of a hermit monk and fled from Iberia, going to Klarjeti with three disciples. The first place they founded was the monastery of Opiza, and after two years Gregory built a new monastery at Khandzta. During the difficult times of the Arab invasion of Iberia by Caliph Alf- Mamun (813–33), the Georgian ruler Ashot Bagrationi (ca. 830) moved his court to Klarjeti. Ashot was to be supported by the Byzantines and was given the high title of Kouropalates. The proximity of the royal court contributed greatly to the monastic revival in this region. Most of the existing monasteries were built during the reign of the son of Ashot, Bagrat (826–78). Shatberdi, Opiza, Daba, Bana, Parekhi, Doliskana, Jmerki, Berta, Tskarostavi, Baretelta, Mere, and Khandtza itself all became centers of spiritual revival at the time when Tbilisi, the capital of Iberia, lay under Arab siege. Today, a number of these churches lie within the territory of modern Turkey. Known as the “Georgian Sinai,” they comprised an organizational matrix supervised by Gregory of Khandzta. From the 830s onwards he was named archimandrite of the twelve deserts. As his Vita poetically describes it: “By the rivers of his wisdom all the deserts of Klarjeti were irrigated.” In the monasteries under his supervision Gregory introduced a Typikon based on those of St. Sabas in Palestine and the Studion at Constantinople. It was because of Gregory’s efforts that after the 9th century the holy chrism was prepared in Georgia instead of importing it from Antioch (a sign of mature autocephaly of the Christians there). It was from their base in Tao-Klarjeti that the Georgian royal family of Bagrationis made strides towards the unification of the different Georgian lands. The nobility in Tao-Klarjeti fully supported the Georgian community on

Mount Athos and funded the establishment of the Georgian monastery of Iviron (Greek for “Of the Iberians”). The 10th-century text of the Life of St. Gregory of Khandzta was rediscovered only in 1911 and remark­ably amplified the history of the Church of Georgia in the 9th century.

GEORGIANS OUTSIDE OF GEORGIA

Christian Georgians are known to have been present in Palestine from the 5th century. The oldest inscription in Georgian is actually found in mosaics at Jerusalem (433). The will of St. Sabas (ca. 532), foun­der of the Lavra in Palestine, states: “The Iberians and the Syrians cannot celebrate the liturgy in their own languages but should only read the Hours, the Typika, the Epistle and the Gospel in those tongues.” Between the 8th and 10th centu­ries Iberian monks were actively involved in the life of St. Sabas monastery; as a result a special handwriting called Sabatsmiduri was created. Later, they were also present in the Lavra of St. Chariton, the so-called “Palailavra.” In the 6th to 7th centuries Georgians possessed the monastery of St. Theodore the Tyro in Bethlehem. Their monastery of the Holy Cross was built in the 11th century by Prochorios in Jerusalem itself. After the 9th century Georgian ascetics were also present on Mount Sinai; once again their literary activities resulted in a special handwriting, named Sinaite. Georgian monks were present on the Black Mountain in Antioch at the time of St. Symeon the Stylite (ca. 596) living in his monastery. In the 11th century there were purely Georgian monasteries on the Black Mountain (Romana, Kalipos, one in the desert, and at least two sketes of George the Recluse and his disciple Theodore) where George the Hagiorite stayed after resigning as the higoumen of

Iviron, and where he gathered together a number of talented Georgian monks who left behind them a large collection of translations and other original writings. The most distinguished among this band were Ephrem the Younger and Arsenios of Ikalto. After the 13th century there are no more references to a Georgian presence on the Black Mountain. Two Georgian monasteries founded in Byzantine territory can be connected with Hilarion the Iberian: one on Mount Olympus in Bithynia (Asia Minor) where Hilarion arrived in 864, the other in Romana. In 1083 Gregory Bakuriansidze built the monastery now located in modern-day Bachkovo in Bulgaria.

IVIRON ON MOUNT ATHOS

The “Monastery of the Iberians,” as it was then called, Iviron as it is now known, has long been a powerful symbol of the Georgian Church and culture. Although it remained in the full possession of Georgians only until the 1340s, Iviron both initiated and epitomized many precious things in Georgian history, not least the translation into Georgian and the correction (according to the Byzantine model) of liturgical and other spiritual texts. Through the exercise of Byzantine imperial patronage over the Holy Mountain, the Iberian ascetics and aristocrats maintained active links with the imperial capital. John the Iberian (ca. 1002) was with St. Athanasius, the founder of the Great Lavra (ca. 1000), at the time that the solitary monks on the peninsula started to accept large coenobitic settlements among them. Athanasius was a welcome patron to a small Georgian community and provided whatever they needed to live first in Kellia and then to establish their own monastery. The main patron for the building of Iviron was Tornike, a retired general from the family of the

Chordvaneli in Tao, who was seeking peace for his soul and thus joined the Georgian monks on Mount Athos. Shortly after initi­ating his attempt to become an ascetic he was summoned back by his Georgian prince, David Kouropalates (ca. 1000/1), to lead an army in support of the young emperors Basil (ca. 1025) and Constantine (ca. 1028) in their fight against the revolt of Bardas Skleros. After consultation with Prince David and St. Athanasius of the Great Lavra, a new settlement for the Georgian community was inaugurated. The most remarkable higou- meni of Iviron were Euthymios (ca. 1028) the son of John the Iberian, and George (ca. 1066). Both contributed enormously to the enrichment of the Georgian Church and its spiritual writings. The world-renowned, and miraculous, icon of the Mother of God called Portaitissa (“Door-keeper”) is one of the best-known treasures of Iviron. Today, it is a Greek monastery, but the library still preserves a number of ancient Georgian manuscripts.

LITURGICAL TRADITIONS

Liturgical texts were translated into Georgian from as early as the 5th century. The major influence on liturgical practice in the Church ofGeorgia, at least until the 10th century, was Palestinian, the rite of the Church of Jerusa­lem. At Iviron, the Georgian community in the midst of the Athonite Greeks, the Typikon of the great cathedral of Hagia Sophia in Constantinople (known as the Synaxarion) was translated twice in the 11th century: a shorter version by Euthymios the Hagiorite and later a complete edition by George the Hagiorite. The Typikon of Iviron monastery also shows liturgical traces of the ritual practice of the Stoudion monastery in Constantinople. In the 12th century at the time of David IV, the Pales­tinian monastic Typikon of Mar Sabas was introduced and became widely used in Georgia. Gradually, the Typikon of Mar Sabas was enriched by elements introduced from the Athonite Typikon and the synthe­sis remained as common practice until the mid 18th century, when it was corrected after the model of the Slav Typikon by Catholicos Anthony, during his stay in Russia. There are also Georgian Typika surviving from the ancient founders (Ktetors) such as Gregory of Khandzta (9th century) in the monastery of Tao- Klarjeti, Euthymios the Athonite (11th cen­tury) at Iviron, from Gregory Bakurianisdze (11th century) in the Petritsoni monastery in Bachkovo, Bulgaria, and the Typikon of the Vahani Caves (13th century) in south Georgia. Until the 10th century, Georgian lectionaries had a particular style of arrang­ing their readings of Holy Scripture. The style is illustrated in the 7th-century Typikon from Jerusalem. Since the Church of Georgia generally followed Jerusalemite practice until after the 10th century, the most widely used liturgy was that of the Holy Apostle James, which was gradually replaced by the liturgies of St. Basil the Great and St. John Chrysostom. St James’ Liturgy has been preserved in four Georgian versions (9th-11th centuries), all of them based on the Greek text composed between the sixth and seventh ecumenical councils. Euthymios the Hagiorite commented:

The Liturgy of St. James is indeed the true one which was first used in Greece and also in our churches. When St. Basil and blessed John Chrysostom composed liturgies, people chose them because they were short and thus forgot St. James. Now all celebrate the Liturgy of St. Chrysostom, and the Liturgy of St. Basil dur­ing the Great Lent, but all those who wish to celebrate the liturgies of St. James and St. Peter are completely right to do so.

In the 11th century, therefore, the great Athonite authority still found it acceptable for the Georgians to celebrate the distinctive liturgies of St. James and St. Peter.

GEORGIAN LITERATURE AND ARTS

The Church of Georgia is proud of its numerous witnesses who have been canon­ized by the church across the centuries. The Lives of many of them were composed for following generations to learn about their faith in Christ. The oldest original hagiog­raphy is considered to be the Martyrdom of St. Shushaniki (Susanna). In 466 Varsqen, the ruler of Kartli/Iberia, visited the Persian Shah Peroz and was received into Zoroas­trianism, renouncing his Christian faith. On his return home he found that his wife Shushaniki, daughter of the renowned Armenian General Vardan Mamikonian, had abandoned the palace in order to make her protest. Many representatives of Kartli society respected her stand, but they could not prevent her martyrdom. The Georgians ever afterwards accepted Shushaniki, an Armenian-born woman, as their own national witness. The church canonized her and her martyrdom was described by Jacob, a local priest and her spiritual guide in Tsurtavi. Shushaniki as a saint is shared with the Armenian Apostolic Church.

Also from the earliest literary period, the 6th century, there survives the Martyrdom of St. Eustathios, as described by an eyewit­ness of the events recorded in the text. At the end of the 8th century the Martyrdom of Abo of Tbilisi was written. He was an Arab by birth who came to Kartli, received Christianity, and openly confessed his faith at a time when Tbilisi was under Islamic rule. He was martyred in 786, and his mar­tyrdom was described by Ioane Sabanisdze, one of his close friends.

From the first millennium there also survive the Life of St. Gobroni, the Life of St. Serapion of Zarzma, and the Life of St. Gregory of Khandzta. The 11th century witnessed the composition of the Lives of famous Georgian Athonites, notably John the Iberian, Euthymios, and George the Hagiorite. The longer versions of the Lives of the Syrian fathers were also composed in this same period. The second major period of Georgian hagiography occurred in the 18th century. At this time the Lives of the Georgian king martyrs Archil and Luarsab, and the Martyrdom of Queen Ketevan, were composed.

GEORGIAN CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHY: IOANE PETRITSI

Ioane Petritsi is the only Georgian philoso­pher in the authentic sense of that term whose works have been preserved from medieval times. While never questioning his Christian faith, he declared himself to be a follower of Aristotle; meaning that he strove to follow an empirical process for searching out new ideas. He was educated either at the philosophical academy founded by Emperor Constantine Monomachos in the brief period between 1045 and 1084, or by the immediate followers of this school, which roughly places his life somewhere between the second half of the 11th century and the early 13th century. Three authentic works survive under his name: a Georgian transla­tion of the 4th-century text of Nemesius of Emesa, On the Nature of Human Being, an introduction to his translation of the Psalter; and a translation of, and commen­taries on, the Elements of Theology by the 5th-century Neo-Platonist philosopher Proclus. Petritsi attempted to simplify the hierarchy of Proclus and cut through the disputes of the inner circles of Neo­Platonism, so as to present a homogenized overview that by and large adheres to Pro- clus more than Plotinus. Believing in the truth of Christ but also believing in the truths of Neo-Platonism, Petritsi tried to synthesize Christian faith and philosophical speculation. His approach is bold and crea­tive. He was persecuted in his day, but still managed to leave behind students of his philosophical theology.

GEORGIAN CHRISTIAN ART

A number of churches in Georgia are consid­ered among the finest examples of Christian architecture in the world, notably Bolnisi Sioni (5th century), Holy Cross in Mtskheta (6th-7th centuries), Tsromi and Bana (7th century), Gurjaani and Vachnadziani All Saints (8th-9th centuries), Oshki, Khakhuli, Kumurdo, and Mokvi (10th century), and the cathedrals of Bagrati in Kutaisi, Svetitskhoveli in Mtskheta, and Alaverdi in Kakheti (11th century). The earliest surviving Christian buildings are 4th-century martyr shrines in Bodbe and Nekresi, which set out elements that would be reproduced in the most of the 5th-6th century churches in Georgia, as well as in those of Armenia, Mesopotamia, and the High Plateau of Asia Minor. This was a style that remained alien to Constantinople. The so-called Antiokia (Antioch) Church in Mtskheta is a simple vaulted, single-nave structure with two wide openings on the south side, and was built around 420. It provides the earliest example of horseshoe-shaped arches made of smoothly hewn stone blocks. Bolnisi Cathedral, a basilica of considerable size, with five pairs of piers and a projecting apse, was built between 478 and 493. From the second half of the 6th century the domed church structure became the most common type of church building. The Svetitskhoveli Cathedral has ancient roots in Georgian church life, and is today dedicated to the twelve apostles. It is the descendant of the church that was built over Nino’s first place of residence in the royal gardens of King Mirian, and was even­tually replaced by a large domed church in the 11th century. Its title of “life-giving pillar” refers to the tradition that one of its wooden pillars was made out of the wood of a cedar that once grew over the shrine of the robe of Christ. Other aspects of Chris­tian art were also developed from early times in Georgia: iconography, monumen­tal painting, magnificent manuscript illu­minations, the art of enameling, stone­carving, and polyphonic church singing.

THE AUTOCEPHALY OF THE GEORGIAN CHURCH

Christianity in Iberia was first formally orga­nized as part of the jurisdictional remit of the great church of Antioch and of All the East. The Antiochian bishop Eustathius conse­crated the first bishop in Iberia and until the 480s all Georgian bishops were consecrated in Antioch and sent to Iberia. Ecclesiastical reforms were carried out by King Vakhtang Gorgasali in the 5th century, who petitioned Byzantine Emperor Zeno (476–91) and Patri­arch of Constantinople Akakios (471–89) to appoint a Greek priest, Peter, as catholicos in Iberia. The patriarch of Antioch, through the mediation of the patriarch of Constan­tinople, consecrated the first catholicos of Kartli together with a body of 13 bishops. The catholicos resided in Mtskheta. By this means, the Church of Georgia was granted partial independence, comparable to what is now called autonomous status (though this term was introduced to make a distinc­tion from autocephaly only after the 19th century). The number of eparchies increased and a local synod was established with the catholicos as its head. According to the Antiochene canonist and patriarch Theodore Balsamon (1140–95), “When the Lord Peter was the Holy Patriarch of the great and godly city of Antioch, the Synod decided to make the Church of Iberia auto­cephalous.” The patriarch he refers to must be Peter the Fuller (ca. 488). Even so, the church in Iberia did not gain complete independence from the mother church of Antioch. Until the 740s the Antiochian patriarch was commemorated at the liturgy and a locally elected catholicos of Mtskheta had to be confirmed by the synod of the Church of Antioch. Annual payment of 1,000 drahkanis was made to the Church of Antioch even after the 8th century and the holy chrism was imported from Antioch until the 9th century.

This situation of continuing canonical dependence was altered after the 11th century, when the catholicos of Mtskheta spread out his jurisdiction over western Georgia. Since then, the head of the Auto­cephalous Church of Georgia has been the catholicos-patriarch of all Georgia, and the church has been fully independent in its domestic and foreign affairs, with the excep­tion of the period between 1811 and 1917. Melchisedek I (1010–33) was the first catholicos-patriarch of all Georgia. In 1811, following the annexation (in 1801) of the Kartl-Kakheti and Imereti kingdoms by the Russian Empire, the autocephaly of the Orthodox Church of Georgia was abolished little by little by political pressure until it became merely an exarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church. In 1811, after the Russian annexations, the autocephaly of the Church of Georgia was dissolved, and it was made subject to the holy synod of the Russian Orthodox Church – in violation of the eighth canon of the third ecumenical council. The administrative system of the church in the Russian Empire differed fundamentally from that of the church in Georgia. Following the reforms of Emperor Peter I (1689–1725), the patriarchal office was abolished in 1721 and collegial management was introduced through a governmental synod which, after 1722, was led by a layman called the over­procurator. In 1784 Empress Catherine II subordinated the church to the state appara­tus on an even larger scale than before. Under her rule all church and monastic property was confiscated. As a result the state inherited thousands of peasants and vast estates. Similar changes were planned to be implemented in Georgia.

By contrast, the Georgian Church resem­bled a large-scale feudal organization. It was regulated by the catholicos-patriarch, or occasionally by a member of the royal dynasty of the Bagrationis who had unlim­ited rights. The Orthodox Church of Georgia owned large arable lands and pas­tures, forests, mills, fishing areas, candle factories, and other property, which gave it a significant independence. Besides, the secular authorities almost never interfered in the management of the church; it was the catholicos-patriarch who controlled all affairs at his own discretion. In the 1900s, when Georgian clergy and historians renewed the struggle to restore Georgia’s autocephaly, the matter was raised in St. Petersburg before the Russian Church and the secular authorities. Certain Russian hierarchs at that time attempted to prove that up until 1811 the Orthodox Church of Georgia was subordinate to the Antiochian patriarchate and had never been autoceph­alous. Within the Russian Church, however, there existed an alternative opinion on its history. Professor I. Berdnikov, the noted canon lawyer, wrote: “Whatever the civil government be – whether secular or Christian – it has no right to interfere with Church affairs. Above all it must not pass any laws or make other governmental deci­sions on any aspect of Church life including its administration.” In March 1917, in the aftermath of the Russian October Revolu­tion, the Georgian hierarchs convoked an assembly in which secular persons parti­cipated along with the clergy. The assem­bly declared the autocephaly restored.

However, the Russian Orthodox Church did not recognize the autocephaly of the Church of Georgia until 1943; the ecumen­ical patriarchate not until 1990. On January 23, 1990 the synod of the Church of Con­stantinople made a decision to recognize the autocephaly of the Georgian church and to rank its head as the catholicos- patriarch of all Georgia. The issue of Geor­gian autocephaly has now been resolved among the Orthodox, but the issue of diptychs still remains unclear. According to 13th-century Georgian documents, and the diptychs used at the Council of Flor- ence-Ferrara in 1438, the see of Mtskheta was ranked in sixth place of historical honor among the Orthodox churches. After the recognition of its autocephaly by the Russian Orthodox Church, the Church of Georgia was reinstated in the sixth rank of honor among the churches, although this has not been recognized universally in the Orthodox family today.

PRESENT CIRCUMSTANCES

In 1921, when Bolshevik Soviet rule was applied in Georgia, the church had 2,455 parishes. Soon they were systematically silenced and suppressed until the church was in a terrible condition. Christian prac­tice has dramatically increased since 1977, when Ilya II became catholicos-patriarch of Georgia. He encouraged a revival of daily devotion by writing a popular prayer book, and he instituted reforms to enable the Georgian Orthodox Church to regain its role in social life and recapture its prestige in society. These reforms, which began with a confrontation with Soviet ideology, led to a revival of monastic life. In 1977 there were four Georgian monasteries with a complement of 20 monks and nuns; in 1988 that rose to seven monasteries and 55 monks and nuns; and in 2003, 65 monasteries with 250 monks and nuns. A great number of churches were reopened. In 1977 there were 25 parishes with 50 clergy; in 1988, 200 parishes with 180 clergy; and in 2003, 550 parishes with 1,100 clergy. Today, the church owns its own newspapers, journals, a publishing house and radio sta­tion, a TV channel, and a university. The Constitution of Georgia written in 1995 reaffirmed freedom of religion (including rights for Roman Catholics, Baptists, Muslims, and Jews), yet specifically men­tions “the special role of the Orthodox Church in the history of Georgia» In a 2002 agreement between the church and the state, the Church of Georgia received the status of primus inter pares. The church is now governed according to the Statutes of Governance (1995) of the Orthodox Autocephalous Church of Georgia.

Since the middle of the 1980s the church has canonized a number of martyrs from the 19th and 20th centuries, such as Ilya the Righteous (Chavchavadze), a writer and public figure assassinated in 1907, who con­tributed to many spheres of Georgian life, especially to the national-liberation move­ment and the restoration of the autocephaly of the Georgian church. Among the new martyrs of Georgia are the 19th-century hierarchs Gabriel (Kikodze, 1896) and Alexander (Okropiridze, 1907). The pri­mates of the church who restored autoceph- aly (March 1917) for only a few years before the Russian Red Army took over the coun­try (1921) also rank as martyrs: the cathol- icos-patriarchs Kirion (Sadzaglishvili, 1921), Leonide (Okropirisdze, 1921), and Ambrosi (Khelaia, 1927). Many priests were canonized who had witnessed to their faith even at the cost of death; notable among them was Archimandrite Grigol (Peradze, 1942). The primate of the Georgian Orthodox Church today is Ilya II (Shiolashvili) catholicos-patriarch of all Georgia, archbishop of Mtskheta and Tbilisi. The holy synod of the church con­sists of 16 metropolitans, 10 archbishops, 10 bishops, and 37 dioceses. The overall pop­ulation of Georgia is approximately 4.6 million, of whom 83.9 percent are Ortho­dox, 3.9 percent Armenian-Georgian, 0.8 percent Roman Catholic, 0.3 percent Baptist, 0.25 percent other forms of Protestant, 9.9 percent Muslim, 0.25 percent Jews, and 0.7 percent self-describing as non-religious.

SEE ALSO: Armenian Christianity; Russia, Patriarchal Orthodox Church of

REFERENCES AND SUGGESTED READINGS

Gigineishvili, L. (2007) The Platonic Theology of Ioane Petritsi. Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias Press. Kekelidze, K. (1960) History of Georgian Literature, vol. 1. Tbilisi: Sabchota Sakartvelo.

Lerner, C. (trans.) (2004) The Wellspring of Georgian Historiography: The Early Medieval Historical Chronicle, The Conversion of Kartli and the Life of St. Nino. London: Bennet and Bloom.

Licheli, V. (1998) “St. Andrew in Samtskhe – Archaeological Proof?” in T. Mgaloblishvili (ed.) Ancient Christianity in the Caucasus, Iberica Caucasia, vol. 1. Richmond, UK: Curzon. Mgaloblishvili, T. and Gagoshidze, I. (1998) “The Jewish Diaspora and Early Christianity in Georgia,” in T. Mgaloblishvili (ed.) Ancient Chri­stianity in the Caucasus, Iberica Caucasia, vol. 1. Richmond, UK: Curzon.