Page 50 - Holyland Magazine - 2009 Edition

Christian king of A view of the grand A visit to the monastery
Georgia, Mirian III, septum, the partition takes us back in time
following his conversion between the church and history, providing
to Christianity in 327 hall and the main
CE. The Georgian king altar; it is the holiest
then built the monastery. site in the church.
Photo: Hanan
King Mirian became the Isachar
first Christian monarch
of the eastern Georgian an insight into traditions
Kingdom of Iberia and
established Christianity and artifacts unfamiliar
as the official state
religion, as it still is today. to Western eyes. From

The Georgian people afar it looks more like a
were influenced by
Christianity as far back fortress than a holy
as the first century.
According to the story, place. The massive walls
the Apostles decided to
which country each of offered defense and
them would go to
preach, and Mary protection during the
mother of Jesus was
chosen to go to hostile Middle Ages.
Georgia. It is therefore
considered to be a A low doorway leads
country allotted to the
“Most Holy Mother of into an extensive
God,” who is the patron
of Georgia. Other complex of courtyards,
traditions claim that one
of the Roman centurions present at the crucifixion of Jesus took terraces and a maze
his robe and brought it to Georgia.
of rooms that served
During the 5th century CE, Georgians were instrumental in setting
up churches and monasteries in Jerusalem. Although it was the monks. At its
destroyed during the Persian invasion of 614 CE, together with
many other Christian sites in the Holy Land, the Monastery of peak, the monastery
the Cross was rebuilt in the 11th century by a Georgian monk
and enjoyed better times during the Crusader era. The site was accommodated hundreds
a large religious and cultural center in the 13th and 14th centuries,
hosting scores of Georgian monks, scholars and poets. Among of pilgrims and residents.
them was Georgia's national poet, Shota Rustaveli, who was sent
to the monastery as a monk by Queen Tamara (1184-1211) and Their number has
wrote his epic work “The Knight in the Panther’s Skin” while
residing here in 1187. plummeted over the

As the strength of the Georgian kingdom declined, support to years and today a few
their community in Jerusalem ceased and their properties were
sold to the Greek and Armenian churches. The monastery site resident monks keep the
was the last bastion of the Georgian past until it was sold to the
Greek Orthodox Church in the 18th century. site open to the public,

mainly visiting Georgian

and Greek Orthodox

Christian pilgrims.

High above the rooftops

is a 19th-century square

bell tower with beautiful

Baroque decorative features and a clock on each side.

A church dating from at least as far back as the 12th century is
located in the courtyard. A door leads through a long hall to the
basilica.

On the wall, inscriptions in Greek and Georgian script tell about
renovations that took place here in 1644, sponsored by the heads
of the monastery. Wall paintings of Georgian kings and saints are
found throughout the church as well as biblical scenes, such as
Lot escaping the destruction of Sodom, Abraham giving Lot the
triplet seedling or Elijah on a chariot of fire, while his pupil the
prophet Elisha is observing from the Jordan River and picking up
his mantle (2 Kings 8). Many of the paintings have been restored
but are not well-preserved.

As in all Orthodox churches, a chair is reserved for the Greek
Patriarch next to a partition separating the main nave of the
basilica and the altar behind it, which is the holiest place in the
entire complex. This round opening framed in silver marks the
position of the tree (whose stump is still visible) that is thought to
have yielded the wood for the Cross.

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