History of Georgian Orthodox Church

Сегодня Всехсвятский храм возле метро Сокол является одним из самых доходных в Москве. При это о том, что в XVIII-XIX вв. он служил усыпальницей грузинской аристократии, ныне почти не помнят из-за неоднократных изменений его интерьера и произошедшего в 1981-м сноса прилегающего погоста. Анализ сохранившихся описаний и характеристики нескольких уцелевших надгробий позволяют составить – пускай дискретное – представление о том, каким был облик некрополя внутри храма и возле его стен. Данные же из метрических записей дают дополнительную информацию о социальном составе погребённых, а систематизация эпитафий позволяет понять, каким было их функциональное предназначение.
Nowadays the church of All Saints near subway station Sokol is one of if not the most profitable in Moscow. Due to the numerous changes of its interior and the demolition (partly removal) of the churchyard in 1981, the fact that this church located in XVIII-XIX centuries in the namesake village of Moscow county, had been also the necropolis for Georgian nobility, was deleted from the public memory. An analyze of archival descriptions and features of a very few remained tombstones enables to create – even discretely – the perception of how the cemetery looked like inside the church and around its walls. The data from the metric books of the parish provides us with an additional information about social accessory of the buried people, while the systematization of epitaphs shows its functional purpose.

Vaxt’ang I Gorgasali († 502), re di Kartli (Georgia orientale e meridionale) – la Iberìa delle fonti greco-latine – nella seconda metà del V secolo, ha informato di sé la storia della Georgia e del Caucaso meridionale in generale. È stata indelebile l'impronta da lui lasciata sulla successiva evoluzione sociopolitica e culturale del Paese. Eppure, la sua vita e l'opera, molto celebrate nella storiografia in georgiano, ancora dopo un secolo e mezzo di studi presentano enigmi irrisolti. Nella presente monografia è vagliato, in tutta la sua complessità, il suo operato, con particolare attenzione alla riforma ecclesiastica che, attuata in seguito ad un conflitto sorto tra il re e il vescovo Michele, capo della Chiesa di Kartli, comportò l'istituzione del katholikosato, venendo così a costituire una tappa fondamentale nella storia della Chiesa ortodossa di Georgia. Un'approfondita disamina delle fonti e delle teorie formulate in tempi diversi in merito alla questione porta ad una nuova interpretazione degli avvenimenti. Al tempo stesso essa scaturisce anche, e forse soprattutto, da un approccio diverso alla lettura delle fonti, in particolare, basato sulla contestualizzazione delle fonti locali nel contesto eurasiatico di quel periodo e sulla lettura costantemente parallela dei dati tramandati dagli storici georgiani con la storia delle istituzioni ecclesiastiche. Questa ricerca originale, complessa ed interdisciplinare, propone nuove soluzioni di molte questioni finora oscure non solo della storia politica ed ecclesiastica della Georgia, ma anche della storia dello stesso impero romano d'Oriente della seconda metà del V secolo e della Chiesa siro-orientale, specificamente del titolo gerarchico del suo presule, ossia katholikos.

Tomos of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, signed on 25 January, 1990 recognizing and adopting the Autocephalous status of the Orthodox Church of Georgia.

Translated into English from the official source:
მიტროპოლიტი ანანია ჯაფარიძე, საქართველოს საეკლესიო კანონთა კრებული, თბილისი, 2010, 622-624
[Metropolitan Anania Japaridze, the Corpus of the Ecclesiastical Canons of Georgia, Tbilisi, 2010, 622-624] in Georgian

George the Hagiorite (+1065) had a huge influence on the Orthodox Church of Georgia. He contributed enormously to the enrichment of the Georgian Church and its spiritual writings. The New Testament as translated by St George remains the standard in church services to the present day. This outstanding monk was also a great reformer of the Orthodox Church of Georgia. The present article deals with the attitude of the Saint towards the Roman Catholic Church and its doctrine and religious practice. Though there is not much information on the question, ​what we have based on it, we can conclude from his Life that this Eastern Saint had a quite loyal attitude to the Latin Church.

The work represents historical research about relationship between Western Europeans and Georgians in high middle Ages (XI-XIII). The goal is to investigate an independent character of Georgian identity in this period. The viewpoint in Georgian historiography according to which Georgia as a part of Byzantine commonwealth shared the Empires political and religious course, especially anti-Latin position of Constantinople during a Great Schism, is not persuasive. Our work is a radical revision of this kind of approaches.
Attitude of Georgians towards Latins had more open and cordial character than those of other Christians in East (First of all, Greeks). Besides we try to keep a balance in order not to exaggerate these close and cordial relations. For instance we do not share views about participation of Georgian army in First Crusade and the visit of the king Baldwin in Georgia.
After so called great schism (1054) between Rome and the capital city of Byzantium - Constantinople, Georgian Orthodox church has not automatically ceased its contacts with Rome or revealed any sign of hostility regarding Western Christians like Greeks which she shared common faith with. There are clear signs of respect and benevolence towards Western Europeans including of planning military support for Crusaders.
The research also deals with relationship between Crusaders and Georgians which is insufficiently investigated in the medieval studies. Authors of the publications, directly or indirectly touch upon this question, are predominantly Georgian scholars. Unfortunately, many of these publications contain various shortcomings. Thus the aim of the present work is also to deal with the military relations between Latin crusaders and Georgians more systematically and objectively. Wrong views of Georgian historians are critically analyzed.
The comparative approach is used in the research: while reconstructing a historical picture we rely both Georgian as well as Latin sources. Relevant Armenian and Byzantine sources are also used in the work which pays especial attention to several questions.
Through the dissertation scholarly audience will receive maximally reliable historical picture of the relations between Franks and Georgians in XI-XIII centuries.

Key words: Georgia, Iberia, Western Europe, Latins, Franks, Crusades, David the Builder (king of Georgia), Rome, Pope, Jerusalem, Antioch, Mount Athos.

The text deals with the issue of the current role and place of the Georgian Orthodox Church over the centuries of its history, with special consideration of the issue of the restoration of autocephaly at the beginning of the 20th century and the place currently occupied by the Orthodox Church in Georgian society.
A separate thematic topic is the perception of its identity by the inhabitants of this country in connection with the Orthodox religion, as well as contemporary trends prevailing in the Georgian Church, including the trend of secularization as well as the phenomenon of the politicization of Orthodox institutions in Georgia. A separate theme is the issue of discrimination against non-Orthodox religious associations in Georgia in relation to the law.

Article devoted to the bilingual coins of Bayar, Christian ruler (nutsal) of Avaria (south-western Daghestan).
This copper coins were struck in the middle of the thirteenth century.
On the side with Georgian Asomt'avruli inscriptions there is letter "B" (i.e. the name of Bayar) in the central circle, surrounded with phrase "saxelit'a γvt'isayt'a" (in the name of God) around letter B. On the other side placed highly distorted Arabic inscription: "malik / Bayār bin / Suraqa / al-masīḥī" (King Bayar, son of Suraqa, the Christian).

A fourth unit will be about the origins of the traditional methods of the thesis of the melos, and their books. One concern of this lecture is the cathedral rite, the surviving Greek and Slavonic manuscripts of kontakarion and asmatikon will be regarded as a reception outside Constantinople, although the Slavonic one seems somehow between the original books, their notation and their tonal system (of sixteen echoi) and their transcription into the monastic oktoechos notation, they also have traces of a very original local style. There are two focuses on this secular tradition, the genre kontakion and the cherouvikon. The history of the kontakion will treat Romanos’ propaganda role during the Justinian era, when the Hagia Sophia was constructed and inaugurated, but also how the genre has changed until the 14th century. The cherouvikon is the very heart of the divine liturgy, it was introduced by the end of the 6th century, since a change in sacred architecture caused, that there must be a procession at the beginning of the second part of the liturgy, reserved for the baptised. For each formular of a divine liturgy there is only one offertory, known as the cherouvikon for the one ascribed to John Chrysostom. According to the Byzantine rite, it existed only in the devteros echos. Only by the end of the Byzantine empire, Manuel Chrysaphes replaced the cherouvikon asmatikon with a papadic oktoechos cycle, so that the cherouvikon could be sung according to the echos of the week.

The other concern is the development of a monastic hymn repertoire composed as oktoechos melodies. Today it is simply regarded as the creation by Ioannes of Damascus and his step brother Kosmas during the 8th century. Recent papyrus studies gave evidence, that the oldest Greek tropologia which preceded the notated chant books of the 10th century (sticheraria, heirmologia, great oktoechos, oktoich) are related with other redactions which were older than the Christian Byzantine empire, such as the Syriac tropligin, the Georgian iadgari, and the Armenian šaraknoc’. The first Greek tropologion was created by Syrian hymnographers in Jerusalem, but it has only survived in Syriac translation since the 6th century. When Ioannes and Kosmas entered Mar Saba, a monastery of this Patriarchate whose territory was outside the Byzantine empire, a synodal reform had already established an oktoechos reform which was opposed against the Constantinopolitan rite.

Today their particular role is regarded as their contribution to the heirmoi and to more complex unique melodies of the sticheraric repertoire known as idiomela which we do only know by the “unnotated” tropologia. The whole repertoire as it is known today was completed by many hymnographers (also female hymnographers in Constantinople) until the 11th century. They were either mainly based in Mar Saba at Jerusalem and St Catherine’s at Sinai (Coislin types of Old Byzantine notation), or in many metochia associated with the Mone Stoudiou in Constantinople (Chartres types of Old Byzantine notation). The Slavonic translation at Ohrid conservated the complex system of hymn melodies organised between idiomela, avtomela, and prosomoia, or kanones composed according to the heirmoi, they did not care so much about the literal meaning of the Greek hymns. Later new literal re-translations in Kiev and Novgorod provoked an entire recomposition of its melodies, in peripheral regions it was mastered by an oral tradition based on simple oktoechos recitations (sometimes in multipart forms of recitation).

Die Orthodoxe Apostolische Kirche Georgiens gehört zu den ältesten Kirchen der Welt. Während der Sowjetzeit erlebte sie jedoch einen beträchtlichen Bedeutungsverlust in der georgischen Gesellschaft, was zum Teil auf Repressionen durch den Sowjetstaat, zum Teil aber auch auf ihre Kooptation durch ihn zurückzuführen war. Parallel zum Bedeutungsverlust der Kirche als gesellschaftliche Institution spielte die christlich-orthodoxe Religion in der georgischen Bevölkerung eine zunehmend wichtige Rolle -allerdings weniger als Ausdruck tiefer Gläubigkeit als vielmehr als Mittel zur Bewahrung der nationalen Identität innerhalb des Sowjetsystems. Trotz oder gerade wegen dieser wechselvollen Vergangenheit gewann die Orthodoxe Kirche Georgiens seit der Unabhängigkeit 1991 und insbesondere in den letzten Jahren wieder an wachsender gesellschaftlicher und politischer Relevanz. Dabei wird besonders deutlich, dass die Bedeutung der Kirche in Georgien von der Verschmelzung zwischen Nationalismus und Religion geprägt ist.

This paper was prepared for the conference "Language and Territory 2"  that took place from August 30 to September 04, 2015, in Tbilisi (Georgia) by Iliya State University. It covers the topic of gradual decrease of Georgian ethno-linguistic and cultural realm that was taking place within the last 200 years as a result of a series of dramatic political events that took place in the South Caucasus and around it during the specified period (1801-2008). Those processes include but are not limited to the incorporation of Georgian states into the Russian Empire, the crisis of Georgian Orthodox church, the two world wars, the incorporation of Georgia into the USSR after the short period of independence in 1918-1921as well as the Russian-sponsored wars and ethnic cleansings of 1991-2008 following the demise of the Soviet Union.

The paper covers military, political and cultural aspects of the process under research, names the parties that gain from it and describes its consequences that are of both national, regional and to some extent – international importance. The author also suggests a few possible ways and methods that could put the process of Georgia’s “melting” under control and prevent its further development.

The work presented here has profound implications for future studies of Georgian and, in general, South Caucasian cultural and political history and may help solve the problem of the diminishing importance of Georgia as a regional centre in the sensitive East Mediterranean region that includes the South Caucasus and its neighbor countries.

This chapter analyses the specific development of civil society in Georgia from the Tsarist Empire in the 19 th century until today. I will try to answer the question what was and is its specific function and role configured during its modernisation path, which significantly differs from Western ones. After one successful, but almost forgotten precedent of adapting Marxism to the needs of local communities in the beginning of the 20 th century under Georgian Menshevik Social-Democracy, today still requires an indigenization based on citizenship and less on ethno-cultural traits inherited from the Soviet nationality policy in order to de-politicize the nation.

Wie kam es zu einer Entfremdung zwischen Russland und Georgien, zweier Länder desselben chalkedonensisch-orthodoxen Glaubensbekenntnisses, deren kulturelle Verbindungen bis ins Frühmittelalter zurückreichen? Georgische Einflüsse lassen sich bereits am glagolitischen Alphabet der Slawenapostel (9. Jh.) und der altrussischen Nestorchronik (12. Jh.) ablesen. Ebenso alt ist die russische Sehnsucht nach dem georgischen Paradiesgarten, dem Vyrïj-sad, dem Wohnsitz der Seelen der Verstorbenen, wohin die Vögel alljährlich zum Überwintern ziehen, welcher erstmals in der Belehrung Vladimir Monomachs (vermutlich 1117) Erwähnung findet. “Indeed, we began to believe that most Russians hope that if they live good and virtuos lives, they will not go to heaven, but to Georgia, when they die”, schreibt John Steinbeck 1948 in seinem Russian Journal von seiner Russlandreise mit Robert Capa.
Bei seiner Kirchenreform schwebt dem russischen Patriarchen Nikon (1605-81) die georgische Kirchenverfassung mit ihrem Ehrenvorrang der geistlichen Macht als sakrale Utopie vor. Nach der petrinischen „Enthauptung“ der Kirche übernimmt im 19. Jh. die russische Literatur die Rolle des geistigen Gegengewichts zur weltlichen Macht und säkularisiert das Sehnsuchtsbild des großen Patriarchen zum arkadischen Traum. Pathetisch gesprochen, ließe sich die russische Hinwendung zu Georgien ähnlich der deutschen Liebe zu Italien als „Sehnsucht der Mitternacht nach dem Licht“ bezeichnen.
Nach dem Fall Konstantinopels ersuchten georgische Könige erstmals 1483 das „weiße Russland des großen Nordens“ um Schutz, welchem nach der geschichtstheologischen Überhö-hung des Pleskauer Mönchs Philotheos zum „Dritten Rom“ (um 1500) die Rolle zufällt, das Böse der Welt in Schach zu halten und die Schutzherrschaft über die orthodoxe Christenheit wahrzunehmen. Als Alexander II. von Kachetien 1586 angesichts der türkischen Bedrohung den Sohn Ivans des Schrecklichen Fëdor um Schutz für sich und sein Volk bittet, kann dieser die Zusage seines militärischen Beistands zwar nicht einhalten, doch führen er und seine Nachfolger fortan den Titel „Herrscher des iberischen Landes und der georgischen Könige“. Für die Georgier beginnt „die Sonne im Norden aufzugehen“, wie es der Dichter Mamuk´a Barat´ašvili (18. Jh.) formuliert. Gänzlich entgeht den Georgiern die Säkularisierung Russlands seit Peter dem Großen. An die Stelle der „Heiligen Rus´“ tritt die „Große Rus´“, welche sich nicht mehr von eschatologischem Sendungsbewusstsein und religiöser Affinität, sondern von strategischen Interessen und der Staatsräson leiten lässt. Das Missverständnis bedingt eine Entfremdung und eine Tragödie, die bis heute währt.

В третьей части исследования речь идёт о том, как обустраивались могилы известных общественных и политических деятелей. На примере могилы Александра Грибоедова показано, как попытки обустроить одно погребение могли привести к перестраиванию церкви. Существование кладбищенских участков, которые можно рассматривать как сословные и конфессиональные, дополняется для полноты картины данными о том, из кого подбирались кладбищенские сторожа и с какими обязанностями и конфликтами была сопряжена их ежедневная служба.
The 3d part of the research shows how the graves of known public and pilitical figures had been getting developed.  The example of Alexander Griboedov’s grave showcases how an efforts to equip/develop his burial place might had caused the reshaping of the church, he was buried near. An existence of confessional and social/class parts of cemeteries adds some colour for the pucture along with an information about people, cemeteries’ guards had been recruited from, and some stories from their dayly duties and conflicts. (In Russian)

Эта книга - об истоках  одного из конфликтов, дестабилизирующих ситуацию в стратегически важном регионе, которым является Кавказ. Она предлагает детальное описание военной, политической и дипломатической борьбы между Россией и Грузией за Абхазию и Сочи в 1918-1921 гг., а также анализ процессов, способствовавших эскалации межэтнической ненависти в этом уголке планеты.
Автором проводится параллель между империалистическими амбициями послереволюционной России (как коммунистической, так и антикоммунистической) и современным гегемонизмом Кремля.
Недавние российско-грузинские войны 1992 – 93-го и 2008-го гг. привели к массовым убийствам и изгнанию большинства населения Абхазии. Это служит мрачным напоминанием о том, как важно понять природу взрывоопасных сил, способных дестабилизировать не только отдельно взятый регион, но и весь мир.

The eastern Georgian kingdom of Iberia was converted to Christianity at the beginning of the fourth century. One of the most important questions regarding the Christianization of Georgia was the relation of the Church of Iberia with other neighboring churches. The canonical status of the Georgian church is one of the major problems in this context.
What was the canonical status of the eastern Georgian Church of Iberia during late antique and medieval periods? What was the place of the Iberian Church in the ecclesiastical system of the Christian East? There was a great variety of scholarly opinions about this vexed issue. According to one of the most widespread theories, after the conversion to Christianity of Georgia, the Church of Iberia fell under the jurisdiction of Antioch. Another theory claimed that the Iberian Church was under the jurisdiction of the Armenian Church. However, as it appears, both these theories lack any compelling evidence.
In my study I argue that the most important ecclesiastical centers for the Church of Iberia were Constantinople and Seleucia-Ctesiphon. Only in the context of the relation with the Byzantine and the Persian churches we can clearly understand the place of the Georgian Church among other eastern Christian communities during late antiquity and early middle ages.

В статье предпринята попытка обобщить данные о сельском погосте, ставшем со временем небольшим городским кладбищем, и обозначить основные хронологические этапы его функционирования. Перечислены некоторые категории людей, которые там были похоронены, даже если не являлись прихожанами Всехсвятской церкви. При сопоставлении статистических данных первой трети XIX в. и периода с 1951 по 1981 гг. становится понятно, что, вопреки расхожему мнению, при ликвидации погоста на современное кладбище было перенесено заведомо меньшее количество могил, нежели на протяжении нескольких столетий находилось во Всехсвятском. Воспроизводятся и обстоятельства, при которых было принято решение снести погост, но не предпринято необходимых мер для сохранения хотя бы некоторых надгробий, представлявших безусловный исторический интерес.
The article contains information about rural churchyard, which turned into small municipal cemetery. The main chronological stages of the necropolis’ existence are combined with an information about some categories of the deceased people who had been buried around the church of All Saints (Vsekhsvyatskoe), even if they were not members of the parish. By comparing statistics of the 1st third of XIX century and the final period of its functioning (1951–1981), it is getting obvious that despite the common opinion, a lot of graves hadn’t been removed to the modern cemetery when the churchyard was destroyed in 1981. The story lists circumstances not only of how the managerial decision to destroy the graveyard was made, but also of the lacking efforts to save at least most historically important tombstones.

The life and works of the King of Kartli, Vakhtang I Gorgasali (c. 440-502), a dominant figure in Georgian history and historiography of the second half of the fifth century, still present unresolved enigmas even after more than 150 years of research. The same is true of his ecclesiastical reform which introduced the katholikosate. The present study provides an overall view on this issue, and, by means of a new interpretative reading of events passed on to us by Georgian, Byzantine, Armenian and Syriac historiography, we can conclude that the reform was preceded by a confessional conflict between King Vakhtang, a pro-monophysite, and Bishop Michael of Kartli, a Chalcedonian. Implemented between April 475 and February-March 476, the reform resulted in a substantial political and ecclesiastical reorganization of the Church of Kartli, crowned by the establishment of its autocephaly and the appointment of the katholikos as the sovereign leader of the Church in a State that lay beyond its imperial borders.

My paper discusses the issue of gender, politics and asceticism in fifth century Georgian hagiographical work Martyrdom of Šušanik. The composition describes the torture of fifth century Armeno-Georgian queen Šušanik at the hands of her apostate husband - Varsk‘en - who converted from Christianity to Zoroastrianism. The author of composition – Jacob of C‘urtavi - gives us a valuable information about gender and ethno-political borders in Late Antique Georgia. The Martyrdom illuminates how the different kind of ascetic practices crossed the borders and spread over all Late Antique Christian oicumene.

სტატიაში განხილულია რუსეთის ანტიდასავლური ორიენტაციის განმაპირობებელი ფაქტორები და მოკლედაა აღწერილი აღმოსავლელი სლავების დასავლეთთან ურთიერთობის საკვანძო მომენტები და ძირითადი ეტაპები. ორსაუკუნოვანმა მონღოლურმა ბატონობამ თავისი კვალი დააჩნია რუსულ საერო და საეკლესიო მმართველობის სტილს. თუმცა რუსეთის ანტიევროპული შემართება მხოლოდ მონღოლური გავლენით არ ყოფილა ნასაზრდოები. ამ მხრივ, სხვა ფაქტორებს შორის კათოლიკეების “სხვებად” და “მტრებად” აღქმის სურვილიც იყო, რაც მნიშვნელოვან სტიმულს იძლეოდა დასავლური საქრისტიანოს წინააღმდეგ ბრძოლის საწარმოებლად. ამას გარდა, ცარისტული რუსეთი თავისი ანტიკათოლიკური პოზიციით ცდილობდა ბიზანტიის მემკვიდრეობითობის იდეა განემტკიცებინა. ევროპასთან დაპირისპირების თვალსაზრისით, მეცხრამეტე საუკუნემდე რუსეთის ცივილიზაციური ჩაკეტილობა და კულტურული ჩამორჩენილობაც თავის უარყოფით როლს ასრულებდა.

სტატიის მეორე ნაწილში გაანალიზებულია რუსეთის იმპერიაში არსებული ანტიკათოლიკური პოლიტიკის ასახვა საქართველოში. ამგვარი ანტიდასავლურობის შემოჭრა მეცხრამეტე საუკუნის საქართველოსთვის საკმაოდ მტკივნეული იყო, რადგან ის თავისი ბუნებრივი განვითარებით სწორედ ევროპისკენ მიისწრაფვოდა, რასაც მოწმობს ამ დროის მეინსტრიმული ქართული პრესის ანალიზიც. რუსული კოლონიალური პოლიტიკა არა მხოლოდ ქართველი მართლმადიდებლების რუსიფიკაციას გულისხმობდა, არამედ საქართველოში მცხოვრები კათოლიკეების დევნასაც. რუსეთი კათოლიკე მისიონერებს ევროპის პოლიტიკურ აგენტებად აცხადებს და 1845 წელს საქართველოდან საბოლოოდ აძევებს. ქართველი კათოლიკეების ნაწილი ახალციხეში იწყებს კონცენტრირებას, რადგან ქვეყნის ამ რეგიონში რუსეთის კონტროლი ნაკლები იყო, ნაწილი კი ემიგრაციაში მიდის და სხვადასხვა ქვეყანაში თავის კულტურულ ცენტრებს აარსებენ (სტამბული, მონტობანი და სხვა). საქართველოში რუსული კოლონიური პოლიტიკის ნაწილი იყო აგრეთვე განათლებისა და კულტურის გავრცელებისთვის დაბრკოლების შექმნა. როგორც საერო, ისე საეკლესიო სფეროებში ქართველებისთვის ქართული ენის გამოყენების აკრძალვის ერთ-ერთი მთავარი მიზანი სწორედ ეს იყო.

წინამდებარე ნაშრომი ასახავს საქართველოს უძველესი ავტოკეფალური ეკლესიასა და მსოფლიო საპატრიარქოს შორის ურთიერთობებს იმ მცირე ინფორმაციაზე დაყრდნობით, რაც ამ მომენტში ჩვენს ხელთ არსებობს. მსოფლიო საპატრიარქოსთან საქართველოს ეკლესიის ურთიერთობებმა გამოაჩინა, რომ  მიუხედავად რუსეთის ეკლესიის წმინდა სინოდის მიერ  საქართველოში წამოწყებული ავტოკეფალისტური მოძრაობის დაგმობისა, რომელიც დაიწყო და ისტორიული ავტოკეფალიის აღდგენით დაგვირგვინდა, რის შემდეგაც სქიზმატურ და უმადლო ეკლესიად გამოაცხადა. აქედან გამომდინარე, ევქარისტიული კავშირიც გაწყვეტილი იყო მანამ, სანამ მოსკოვის ეკლესიამ კვლავ სინოდალურად არ აღიარა ივერიის უძველესი საყდარი. ივერიაში ავტოკეფალისტურმა მოძრაობამ მსოფლიო საპატრიარქო განსაკუთრებულად დააინტერესა და გადაწყვიტა ქართველებთან კანონიკური ურთიერთიერთობები დაეწყო. მიუხედავად იმისა, რომ მოსკოვმა არაკანონიერად, სქიზმატებად გამოაცხადა ივერიის ეკლესია მსოფლიო საპატრიარქოს არათუ გაუზიარებია ეს გადაწყვეტილება, არამედ განსაკუთრებული ურთიერთობები დაიწყო და ევქარისტიულ ერთობაშიც იყო, რაც იმას ნიშნავს, რომ კანონიკურ ავტოკეფალურ ეკლესიად აღიარებდა.

Throughout history, the Georgian people have often dealt with outside threats, and Orthodox Christianity was one of the main factors which preserved a sense of distinctiveness among Georgians during times like these. The OCG has naturally been cast in the role of a guardian of the Georgian identity and independence. In the last decades the church has been able to claim as such a privileged position in society and in the political sphere.

Geographically outside of Europe and rarely making headlines in the West, Georgia is usually out of sight and thus out of mind. Yet for those with an interest in Orthodox Christianity, for its intersection with the political sphere and specific positions with regard to ecumenism, the Orthodox Church of Georgia represents a fascinating case. The present text explores the role of Georgian Orthodoxy in relation to society, the state, and other Christian churches in the context of Georgia’s Soviet history. (http://www.ru.nl/ivoc/english/publications/reports/)

Giorgi Macharashvili, ''This will be for you as the law of Orthodoxy'' (the question of procession of the Holy Spirit in the Georgian ecclesiastical literature of the Great Schism period) - III scientific conference dedicated to Ilia Abuladze, National Centre of Manuscripts, Tbilisi, 25-26 November 2013. (abstracts in Georgian language)

Георгий Маджарашвили, ''Это будет тебе правилом Православия'' (вопрос исхождения Святого Духа в грузинской духовной литературе периода Великой Схизмы) - III научная конференция посвящена памяти Ильи Абуладзе, Национальный Центр Рукописей, Тбилиси, 25-26 Ноябрь 2013. (тезисы на грузинском языке).

გიორგი მაჭარაშვილი, ''ესე იყავნ შენდა კანონ მართლმადიდებლობისა'' (სულიწმიდის გამომავლობის საკითხი დიდი სქიზმის ეპოქის ქართულ სასულიერო მწერლობაში) – ილია აბულაძისადმი მიძღვნილი მესამე სამეცნიერო კონფერენცია, ხელნაწერთა ეროვნული ცენტრი, თბილისი, 25–26 ნოემბერი, 2013.

The conference is organized by the Department of Church History and Patristic Theology of the Faculty of Theology at Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń. The Christian Orient is a specific space of the encounter of different liturgical and theological traditions as well as languages. This mosaic is created, among others, by the Maronite Church, the Melkite Church, the Syriac Orthodox Church, the Assyrian Church of the East, the Coptic Church and the Ethiopian Church. The platform of the encounter and the themes of the undertaken study are history, theology, liturgy, exegesis, philosophy, philology and interreligious dialogue. The important aspect which accompanies our reflection is the existential dimension of presented research and the attempt at presenting the link between history, modern times and the future of the Christian Orient. Full-length papers are invited that address the history, specific character and present situation of Christian communities of the East; problems of cultural, political and theological nature of Christian communities, the Churches in their specific historical, geographical, doctrinal and liturgical contexts; the Churches that belong to the Syrian, Alexandrian tradition as well as Armenian and Georgian Christianity, Byzantine Churches; Catholic – Orthodox controversy; the problem of Catholics belonging to Eastern rite (Europe) and contemporary political and social challenges (the Middle East); the specifics of the Eastern Churches: monastic movement (hesychasm), the cult of icons, liturgy and spirituality; Oriental studies, today and in the past. The aim of this meeting of researchers specializing in various fields is to provide a vital stimulus for the development of studies on the Christian Orient both in Poland and in other countries. The theme of the conference The Christian Orient. History, Heritage and Modern Times is very broad in order to enable the participation of not only highly specialized experts of this aspect of Christianity but also those researchers whose studies might be crucial for understanding and promoting knowledge on the diversity and significance of different traditions of the Christian Orient in the modern world.

This book is about the roots of one of the conflicts in what is now a strategically important area of the world – the Caucasus. It provides detailed analysis of the military, political and diplomatic struggle for Abkhazia and Sochi in 1918-1921 between Russia and Georgia (temporarily sovietised in 1921-91) and examines the major processes that fuelled the ethnic hatred in the region. It also draws parallels between the post-World War I imperialist ambitions of Russia (both communist and anticommunist) and the modern hegemonism of the Kremlin.

The recent atrocities in Abkhazia, which resulted in the annihilation or expulsion of about a half of its population, is a grim reminder of how important it is to understand the volcanic forces that may explode the region with dire consequences for the whole world.

All Saint Church, built by Georgian duchess Darejan in early 1730s on the basis of smaller one, previously constructed by boyars Miloslavskiye, had been surrounded by the churchyard which was officially liquidated in 1981. Since more than 1.000 graves, listed as de-jure removed to the modern cemetery, were in their vast majority the final resting place for those who passed away in late XIX-XX cc., and the rest of the necropolis was literally levelled, it is obvious that it survived as an archaeological object, which is waiting for future research. Even though its history has not been properly researched until recent times, even after 1981 its territory had been getting changed due to developing activities of the very parish. Therefore, it is important to list the main stages of the destruction of the churchyard’s archaeological layers and comprehend what might have survived for future excavations.