Georgian Orthodox Church

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The modern Sameba Cathedral in Tbilisi, seat of the Catholicos Patriarch of Georgia
Coat of arms of the Georgian Orthodox Church

The Orthodox Church of Georgia ( Georgian ქართული მართლმადიდებელი და სამოციქულო ეკლესია, Kartuli Martlmadidebeli da Samotsikulo Eklesia , i.e. "Orthodox and Apostolic Church of Georgia") is the autocephalous Orthodox Church of Georgia . About 83% of Georgians belong to it. In history, she played an important role in the formation of the Georgian nation.

history

Archaeological research suggests that there were Christian communities in Georgia as early as the 1st to 3rd centuries. Irenaeus of Lyon mentioned Christian groups in the southern Caucasus in the 2nd century . According to the traditional view of the Orthodox Church in Georgia, they can be traced back to the missionary work of the Apostles Andreas , Simon Zelotes and Matthias in Kolchis (West Georgia) and Iberia (East Georgia). In fact, Bishop Stratophilos of Pityounta (today Pizunda , Abkhazia / Georgia ), who was active in western Georgia, already took part in the First Council of Nicaea in 325 .

Supported by the work of an anonymous Christian woman, later called Nino , Christianity was declared the state religion of the east Georgian kingdom of Kartli (= Iberia) in the middle of the 4th century. King Mirian III made contact with Constantinople and invited Christian priests to come into the country. Iberia's first bishop is said to have been a John (335–363). The Byzantine historian Prokopios of Caesarea stated in the 6th century that the Iberians were "Christians and they obey the rules of faith much better than anyone we know."

Depiction of the birth of Christ in a Georgian Gospel manuscript, 12th century

Since the 4th century the Church of Iberia has been under the Patriarchate of Antioch . In the centuries that followed, the Iberian Church gained the right of self-government, autocephaly . The bishop of Iberia's capital, Mtskheta , assumed the title of Catholic . At the beginning of the 11th century, when Georgia became a state, the title of patriarch was added. The Georgian head of the church calls himself today "Archbishop of Mtskheta and Tbilisi, Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia".

During the centuries-long occupation of Georgia by Persians , Arabs , Turkish Seljuks , Khorezmians and Mongols in the Middle Ages , the Christian faith and the Orthodox Church developed into the symbol of the unified Georgian nation among the people . The struggle for independence in one's own country became identical to defending Orthodoxy. In 1226, the Choresm Shah Jalal ad-Din allegedly beheaded 100,000 Georgians in Tbilisi because they refused to trample and spit on their icons .

First council of the re-established Georgian Orthodox Church in 1917
Communist activists with looted church bells in Tbilisi

In 1811 the Russian government abolished autocephaly and patriarchy from the Georgian Church. It was the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church assumed the number of dioceses greatly reduced and instead of the Catholicos - Patriarch , a native of Russia Exarch of Georgia used. The growing Russification was particularly opposed to Mikhail Sabinin , who in the 1870s and 1880s presented the history of the Georgian Church and the biographies of its saints with a national accent. With effect from 12 jul. / 25. greg. In March 1917 the Georgian Church declared itself independent again and broke with the Russian Church. On September 17th (28th) 1917 another Catholicos Patriarch of All Georgia was elected: Kyrion II († 1918). The restored autocephaly of the Georgian Orthodox Church remained controversial within Orthodoxy for decades; It was not until 1943 that the Moscow Patriarchate recognized the independence of the Georgian Church. The Ecumenical Patriarchate confirmed the autocephaly retrospectively in 1989.

After the invasion of the Bolsheviks and the occupation of Georgia by the Red Army in 1921 , clergymen were immediately attacked, churches looted and expropriated. The Georgian Church became a spokesperson for the resistance in Transcaucasia . In February 1922 she protested in a memorandum to the international conference in Genoa against the repression and demanded the withdrawal of Soviet troops. The head of the church, Ambrosius I , was arrested in 1923, charged with conspiracy with the West and sentenced to several years in prison in a show trial , of which he died in 1927. In 1921 the Georgian Church had 1,591 priests, in 1935 391 priests, in 1977 only about 50.

The Soviet dictator Josef Stalin , a native Georgian, is said to have turned to the Georgian Orthodox Church again in old age. It is reported that between 1941 and 1948 he confessed four times to a Georgian Orthodox priest .

present

Georgian priest with priestly stole (Epitrachelion)
Georgian Orthodox Baptism

The Orthodox Church in Georgia enjoys constitutional status and is tax-free, and also receives state subsidies. The Catholicos Patriarch is the Archbishop of Mtskheta-Tbilisi, currently Ilia II. His bishopric is the Sameba Cathedral in Tbilisi. On Independence Day, the Patriarch stands on the podium with the government and blesses Parliament at the beginning of the legislative period . The Georgian Orthodox Church currently has around 35 dioceses, around 700 active churches and monasteries, and around 1700 priests.

The Church of Georgia adheres to the Julian calendar . The seven most important Georgian Orthodox celebrations are also public holidays . These include (here dated according to the Gregorian calendar ) the feast of Christmas (January 7th), the feast of the Epiphany (January 19), Easter (movable), the feast of the Apostle Andrew (May 12th), the feast of the Dormition the Mother of God (August 28), the Georgian Orthodox festival of Mzchetoba (October 14) and the feast day of St. George (November 23).

The social aid organization Lazarus has been affiliated with the Georgian Orthodox Church since April 1994 . It maintains soup kitchens, offers accommodation for street children and distributes food and clothing donations to the needy. Lazarus cooperates with Caritas and World Vision .

Eparchies

The dioceses (eparchies) of the Georgian Orthodox Church

The Orthodox Church of Georgia includes the following eparchies :

See also

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. LIPortal - the country information portal Society & Culture. Retrieved May 23, 2019 .
  2. admin: Without a church, but with God. In: MedienLabor MeLab. Retrieved on May 23, 2019 (German).
  3. Grigol Peradze: The intellectual life in today's Soviet Georgia in the mirror of beautiful literature . In: Bolko Frhr. von Richthofen: Bolshevik Science and "Cultural Policy" . Königsberg– Berlin 1938. p. 285.
  4. Tina Egnataschwili, after: n-tv: Stalin - face of terror .  ( Page no longer available , search in web archivesInfo: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Documentary, August 18, 2007@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.prisma-online.de  
  5. Orthodoxia 2016-2017 . Aschendorff, Münster 2016, 111–119.