Travels to Jerusalem and Mount Athos 9781463204181, 2014027264, 1463204183

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Travels to Jerusalem and Mount Athos

Gorgias Ottoman Travelers

3

This series explores the experiences of travelers in Greece, Turkey, Mesopotamia, the Levant, and Egypt as reflected in their personal writings and memoirs. Analyzed by present-day scholars, these materials span the past two centuries and include historical studies as well as first-hand descriptions.

Travels to Jerusalem and Mount Athos

By

Petre Konchoshvili Translated by

Mzia Ebanoidze John Wilkinson

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34 2014

Gorgias Press LLC, 954 River Road, Piscataway, NJ, 08854, USA www.gorgiaspress.com Copyright © 2014 by Gorgias Press LLC

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise without the prior written permission of Gorgias Press LLC. 2014

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ISBN 978-1-4632-0418-1

ISSN 1946-2212

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Koncošvili, Petre, 1836-1909. [Mogzauroba Cm. K’alak’is Ierusalimsa da Cm. At’onis Mt’aze. English] Travels to Jerusalem and Mount Athos / by Petre Konchoshvili ; translated by John Wilkinson ; translated by Mzia Ebanoidze. pages cm. -- (Gorgias Ottoman travelers, ISSN 1946-2212 ; 3) In English; translated from Georgian. Includes index. ISBN 978-1-4632-0418-1 1. Koncošvili, Petre, 1836-1909--Travel. 2. Jerusalem--Description and travel. 3. Athos (Greece)--Description and travel. 4. Georgia (Republic)--Description and travel. I. Wilkinson, John, 1929- II. Ebanoidze, Mzia. III. Title. BX669.K66M613 2014 281.9092--dc23 2014027264

Printed in the United States of America

TABLE OF CONTENTS Table of Contents ................................................................................... vii Acknowledgments ................................................................................... xi Maps and Illustrations .......................................................................... xiii Preface ...................................................................................................... xv Politics in 1899 ............................................................................... xv Early life ......................................................................................... xvi Work in Tbilisi ............................................................................xviii Pilgrimage ...................................................................................... xix Petre’s route................................................................................... xxi The Holy Land ............................................................................. xxii Petre in Jerusalem .......................................................................xxiv Petre on Mount Athos ..............................................................xxvii Publications ...............................................................................xxviii Remainder of life ........................................................................xxxi His Episcopacy .........................................................................xxxiii Measures ..............................................................................................xxxv Introduction .............................................................................................. 1 From Tiflis to Istambul ........................................................................... 7 The Church of Agia Sophia in Constantinople ................................. 11 In Istambul Again................................................................................... 15 Georgian Monasteries outside Georgia .............................................. 17 From Istambul to Jerusalem ................................................................. 21 The City of Jerusalem and its Holy Places ......................................... 29 Celebration of the Appearing of the Holy Fire ................................. 39 The World Commemoration of Parents: Differences between our Services and those of the Greeks......................... 55 Liturgy Conducted by His Holiness the Patriarch of Jerusalem ......................................................................................... 59 The Place of the Last Supper................................................................ 63 Bethlehem ................................................................................................ 69 The Mother of God’s Milk Cave ................................................ 71 vii

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The Valley of the Shepherds........................................................ 71 The City of Hebron and the Oak of Mamre: their Meaning ........... 75 The Georgians’ Splendid Monastery of the Cross ............................ 77 Lot’s Sea or the Dead Sea ..................................................................... 85 The River Jordan and the Settlement of Jericho ............................... 89 The Hill Country of John the Baptist’s Birth ..................................... 95 The Monastery of the Apostle St James Zebedee ............................. 97 Nazareth .................................................................................................103 Tabor ......................................................................................................105 The Sea of Tiberias...............................................................................107 Saint Saba’s Lavra .................................................................................111 The Founding of the Greek Brethren in the Holy Sepulchre Church in Jerusalem and their Activities .................................115 Holy Mount Sinai .................................................................................119 Cities: Port Said, Alexandria, Cairo...........................................119 The Monastery of Sinai...............................................................121 The Holy Places around Sinai....................................................123 Differences in Performing Religious Rites in the Jerusalem and the Russian Churches ..........................................................127 Return from Palestine ..........................................................................133 A Monk from Tusheti on Athos ........................................................135 The Holy Mount of Athos ..................................................................139 St Panteleimon’s Russian Monastery and other Russian Monasteries on Holy Mount Athos ..........................................143 The Ancient Iveria Monastery on Athos and the New Cloister of the Georgians of the Holy Apostle and Herald John the Theologian: their relations with each other ...............................................................................................153 Inscription on the Icon of Portaitis of Iveria Monastery ............................................................................159 An Icon of the Founder of Iveria Monastery Tornike Eristavi, Venerable Father Ioane, and its Elimination by the Greeks ................................................167 Purchase of Land on Mount Athos by the Georgian Brethren and their Lawsuit with Iveria Monastery .......169 Concerning the Georgian Bible in Iveria Monastery on Athos ....................................................................................170 Georgian Ecclesiastical Singing on Athos ...............................171 Bulgarian Scete of the Venerable Father John of Rile ...........172

TABLE OF CONTENTS

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The Greek Monastery of Vatoped ............................................172 The Monastery of Chelandariou ...............................................177 The Monastery of Zographou on Athos .................................181 A Georgian Village, Ierissos ......................................................181 Return to the Cloister of the Georgians, Saying Farewell to them, and Return to St Panteleimon’s Russian Monastery .............................................................182 Voyage from Istambul to Odessa ......................................................183 Continuing the Voyage from Odessa to Sokhumi .................184 The Present-day Religious and Moral Conditions of the Georgians Living in Sokhumi ....................................................187 The Basis, Power, and Importance of Conducting and Listening to the Service and the Preaching of the Gospel in the Vernacular ...........................................................191 Today’s Religious and Moral State of the Georgians Inhabiting Chorokhi Gorge from Early Times ......................195 Return to the Homeland .....................................................................203 It is Time to Put an End to This! (The State of Affairs of the Brethren of the Georgian Cloister on Athos) ...................................................................................203 Some Impressions of a Russian General during his Visit to Georgian Holy Monasteries in Palestine and on Holy Mount Athos ................................................................................209 A letter from the Brethren of the Georgian Cloister on Athos .............................................................................................211 Index of Names and Places ................................................................213

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS We are extremely grateful for the assistance received from Professor Vazha Kiknadze, the Director of the Institute of History in Tiblisi. As a relative of Petre Konchoshvili, and as a historian who studied his life, he was able to clarify some ambiguities in the original text and also arrange a visit for us to the village of Sabue, where Petre had lived before moving to Tbilisi. This visit would not have been possible without the skills of our driver, Giorgi Khizanishvili, another ardent admirer of ‘Father Petre’, as he is still remembered in the village. Our special thanks to Mr Luarsab Togonidze, a collector of old historic photographs, who kindly supplied us with a portrait of Petre Konchoshvili for this publication. The discovery of this rare photograph enabled us to put a face to the author of the book. We would like to thank our many friends, both in England and in Georgia, for their personal support throughout the project. Amongst them we wish to mention, in particular, Dr Judith McKenzie, of St Hugh’s College, Oxford, who not only helped us find a publisher, almost a decade after the translation was completed, but was able thereafter to offer us advice on the technical aspects of the publication. Our special gratitude goes to Canon Hugh Wybrew who kindly gave his time and expertise by reading our translation. Many thanks go to our publisher, Gorgias Press, for responding so promptly to our enquiry and for publishing the book, and especially Dr Melonie Schmierer-Lee for her assistance, patience, and understanding through the production stages.

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MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS Map I. Map II. Map III. Map IV. Map V. Map VI. Map VII. Figure 1. Figure 2. Figure 3. Figure 4. Figure 5. Figure 6. Figure 7a-b. Figure 8. Figure 9. Figure 10. Figure 11. Figure 12. Figure 13. Figure 14. Figure 15.

Georgia under Russian Administration Georgia in 1899 Russia Voyage from Batumi to Jaffa Jerusalem Places Described by Anisimov, but which Konchoshvili did not Visit Petre Konchoshvili on Mount Athos

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Railway Station in Jerusalem Christ the Saviour’s Resurrection Church in Jerusalem Christ the Saviour’s Tomb View of the Holy City of Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives Where the Holy Cross was Found The Monastery of the Russians in Jerusalem The Russian Church in Gethsemane and the Russian Church of Christ’s Ascension on the Mount of Olives The Garden of Gethsemane Jerusalem in the Time of Christ’s Early Life The Mount of Olives The Oak of Mamre The Jordan The Church of the Life-giving Tomb of the Lord in Jerusalem Mount Tabor Holy Mount Athos

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31 34 38 42 47 49 51 61 67 76 87 99 106 139

PREFACE1 POLITICS IN 1899 Petre Konchoshvili was a Georgian priest who travelled to Jerusalem and to Mount Athos. His account of the Holy Places might well have been written by any of the other four thousand pilgrims who went there in 1899. But there were two differences. First, Petre was a Georgian, and his concerns were different from the other pilgrims, who were Russian. Second, Petre was a particularly intelligent priest who played a fundamental part in the life of the Georgian Church. He was born in 1836, at a time in which Georgia had been dependent on Russia for over thirty years. In 1801 the Kingdom of Georgia had lost its independence, and from that time on had been ruled by a military governor. Russia took advantage of this situation to have a military base in Georgia for expeditions against their main enemies in the south, the Persians in the east and the Turks in the west. The Georgian Church, which had been an independent Orthodox Church like that of the Russians, was in 1811 brought under a Russian exarch, a bishop in charge of a defined area and of the Georgian bishops.

This preface is based on Vazha Kiknadze’s Life and Work of Bishop Petre Konchoshvili, Tbilisi, 2003. 1

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Map I. Georgia under Russian Administration

Petre died in 1909, at the age of seventy-three. During his whole life there had been constant troubles with Turkey, on occasions flaring up into war. Petre went to Jerusalem, which was still in Turkey’s area of control. But Ottoman rule was getting weaker. In Jerusalem itself the consulates of Russia and France could do almost anything they chose.

EARLY LIFE Petre’s father was a priest in the small village of Sabue, at the foot of a hill containing a forest. The trees continued to the upper reaches of the Caucasus and the border with Dagestan, a Muslim area. Mate was Petre’s eldest brother, and he had a younger brother and a sister. They were taught at home, but when Petre was ten his father died, and Mate took over responsibility for the family. Petre first studied in the main city of the district, Telavi, at the Theological Institute, which had been founded under Russian auspices in 1817. He then went on to study in the Seminary in Tbilisi, the main city of Georgia.

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Map II. Georgia in 1899

Towards the end of his time at the Seminary, when he was twentythree, his mother and then his elder brother died, leaving a wife and two children. Petre, wishing to take priest’s orders at the end of his time in the Seminary, had to decide whether he should become a monk or a secular priest like his father. If he chose to be a secular priest he would have to marry before he was ordained. He married Marta Makhviladze. After Petre’s ordination he would never again live in Sabue. He nevertheless looked back on his time there with great affection. When he was sixty he gave his relatives gold coins, and the Sabue Church of St John the Baptist gold-plated silver utensils, and in his will he left 6,000 roubles for the building of a church in Sabue. Petre was appointed to group of priests who served seven churches in a district called Saingilo (the historical Hereti). After Soviet changes in the frontier it is now just inside Azerbaijan, but its main village, Kakhi, is still there and has kept its name. In fact the area was very like Sabue, composed of villages on the frontier with Muslim areas. Petre and Marta started a free school for children. Marta taught reading, writing, mathematics and geography, and also taught her pupils how to say their prayers.

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When Petre was twenty-nine he moved to Java, in the area which was then called Inner Kartli (now South Ossetia). It was an area where local practices included making offerings of birds and animals to St George, and where Muslims, from North Ossetia, the other side of the Caucasus, were beginning to come in. Petre gained a great deal of experience. He was helped by the new Russian Society for Restoring Christianity, which was founded in 1859. Petre remained in Java for seven years, and thirty years later, when he died, the Ossetians still remembered his seven years’ work there and expressed their gratitude.

WORK IN TBILISI In approximately 1873 Petre Konchoshvili moved to Tbilisi to teach at the Women’s Institute about the Holy Scriptures, and he was given the title of Archpriest. He was to continue this work almost until the end of his life. Scriptural quotations are frequent throughout the Pilgrimage, perhaps due to the fact that he taught the Bible. Eleven years later, in 1884, a new version of the Georgian Bible was published. It was a translation of the Russian Bible printed in 1843. As Petre became acquainted with the text he found that there were various errors. The Russian Bible itself was translated from the Slavic Bible, and some of the errors went back to the original translation. In 1886 he began to compare the translations. He gave priority to the tenth-century Georgian version of the Bible, from the library of Iviron Monastery on Mount Athos. This had been brought to Tbilisi in 1848, and two copies were made of it, one for Sioni Cathedral in Tbilisi, and the other for Prince Dadiani in Zugdidi, the main city of Samegrelo. He also used a Greek text of the Gospels. Petre knew Greek but only a smattering of Hebrew, so for the Old Testament he had to rely on translations. He used the Mtskheta Bible, translated in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and the Georgian Bible, printed in 1743. He also used the Slavic and Russian Bibles, and compared them with Greek, Latin, French and German translations. His work was summarized in the report he wrote in 1896. The Exarch officially congratulated him, and a photograph of Petre appeared in a book about the Georgian Church with the caption, “Corrector of the Bible.” In 1907, the corrected version was finally due to be published by the Synod Publishing House in Moscow. However, in

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1908 the Russian Exarch in Tbilisi was assassinated, and early in 1909 Petre himself died, so none of his corrections were published. From 1885 Petre had also written for newspapers, including Moambe, Kvali, Iveria and Shroma, and continued to contribute to them. His earliest pen-name, “Intsobeli,” referred to the River Intsoba, which ran though his birthplace, Sabue.

PILGRIMAGE In 1896 Petre’s wife Marta died. Three years later, on May 16, 1899, he joined a Russian pilgrimage. He was 62 or 63 years old, which accounts for his references to his advanced age. Having taught about the Holy Scripture for twenty-six years he would now see the land where the biblical events had taken place. In his travels in the Holy Land he encountered Georgians, but these were vastly outnumbered by a great crowd of Russian pilgrims. Russia had been strengthening its connections with the Holy Land for the past fifty years. In 1856 the treaty of Paris ended the Crimean War, and for the time being there was peace between Russia, the United Kingdom and France. It was a good time for Russians to consolidate their connections with Jerusalem. The first pilgrim came from the Emperor’s family, Grand Duke Konstantine Nikolaevich. Following his visit, the Imperial Treasury built a group of hostels outside the New Gate. The Imperial Treasury contributed 500,000 roubles and the people of Russia 600,000. In 1864 the church in the hostel complex, Trinity Cathedral, was consecrated. There were accommodations for eight hundred lay pilgrims and a hospital. The Russians also provided a consulate. Further Russian hospices were built on the site and on the Mount of Olives, and in 1881 another pilgrim from the Emperor’s family, Grand Duke Sergey Alexandrovich, initiated the Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society. This gave help to pilgrims of every class from Russia, and several of them were to spend up to a year in the hostels. So when Petre joined a Russian pilgrimage he was dealing with a Russian enterprise which was already fifty years old, and had proved a great success.

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Map III. Russia

This might easily be taken for a kind of tourism. Pilgrims went to the same places that tourists would visit a century later. Pilgrimage and tourism used the same means of transport, steamships, railways and horse-drawn coaches that were the fastest at that time. But the pilgrims were very different from tourists. Most were there for religious reasons; they took part in all the available liturgies. The majority were poor, and had travelled to the Holy Land in the ship’s lowest class. Petre was also a pilgrim to Mount Athos, a treasured place of pilgrimage for the Orthodox. He went around the monasteries and took part in their liturgies. But he was increasingly shocked by his reception at Iviron Monastery (meaning “The Monastery of the Georgians”). It had been founded by the Georgians, and contained a great number of important Georgian manuscripts. Above all it

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contained the icon of the Holy Virgin of Portaitis. But by the time of Petre’s visit several Georgian inscriptions had been defaced by the Greeks, and the Georgian Cloister nearby, which depended on Iviron Monastery, was also subject to Greek interference. Petre set all this down in his Pilgrimage.

PETRE’S ROUTE Petre started off by taking a train from Tbilisi to Batumi. In 1872 the Georgian railways first ran from Tbilisi to Poti, a port north of Batumi then in the district of Samegrelo. This was done for both military and economic reasons to make transport possible between Tbilisi and the west of Georgia. But in 1878 the Treaty of San Stefano took the district containing Batumi, Ajara, from the Turks and gave it to Russia. The railway line was then extended southwards to the port at Batumi.

Map IV. Voyage from Batumi to Jaffa

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Petre then caught a steamship to Odessa, where he changed to a ship containing “several hundred” Russian pilgrims on their way to the Holy Land. At Smyrna he visited the Bishop, and when he put in at Beirut he visited a school, one of the five Russian schools run by Mrs Cherkasova. When a Russian archdeacon asked, “Why aren’t they taught the Bible and church singing in Russian?” Petre says “He received an intelligent answer, ‘It would be useless for them to learn Holy Scripture in a foreign language, because the church liturgy is in their native language. Besides, their society also speaks in their native Arabic language’.” Petre commented “This is certainly very true, and it would be good if everybody would approach the issue in the same manner!” No doubt he was thinking of the schools in Georgia, where the lessons were taught in the Russian language, not in Georgian. Eventually they arrived in the port of Jaffa. This was at 8 o’clock in the morning, so the pilgrims took the train to Jerusalem. The railway had been built by a French company in 1892. Jerusalem was geographically 35 miles away, but there was an enormous hill to climb, from Jaffa at sea level to Jerusalem 2,500 feet higher up. The railway therefore had to wind its way up the hills and by the time it reached Jerusalem it had covered one and a half times the geographical distance. The journey took five hours.

THE HOLY LAND Orthodox clergy frequently came to Jerusalem, and no doubt the head of the Orthodox Church, Damianos, the Greek Patriarch of Jerusalem, regularly set aside times to grant them an audience. When Petre arrived in Jerusalem he visited the Patriarch two days after his arrival. He had no letter of introduction, but he spoke to the Patriarch about the village Aghdgoma in Georgia. The name of this village means “resurrection” and it belonged to the Holy Sepulchre. He also described a recent request by the Georgian Synod to have a school built in Tbilisi. Thus he established his credentials with the Patriarch, and was granted permission to act as a priest. The services were going to be splendid indeed, as the following Sunday was the Feast of Pentecost.

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Map V. Jerusalem

When the subject concerns liturgy, Petre tends to go on at great length about apparently minor differences between the ceremonial in Georgia and what he found in foreign parts. He did not mind additions to the service, but he objected to leaving things out. The history, as he saw it, depended on the titles attached to the services. It started with the Liturgy of St James, who he believed to be the first Bishop of Jerusalem. The Liturgy was then shortened by St Basil, and also by St John Chrysostom. In this view of the history any further shortening would destroy the original form of the Liturgy, which, he believed, went back to the time of the Apostles. He regarded the Liturgy as crucially important — the Vestment of God — and this explains his emphasis on liturgical details. But it is not a sign that he went to services all the time. Apart from private prayers as a priest he only took an official part in three services,

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first, at the Holy Sepulchre where he was not a concelebrant; second, at the Pentecost liturgy in the Holy Sepulchre; and third, the service with the Patriarch in the Russian Trinity Cathedral. The fact that he took part in services where the leader was the Patriarch of Jerusalem symbolised the unity of the Orthodox Church. Nevertheless this symbolism was slightly weakened by the fact that this was also the Patriarch who had refused permission to build a parish school in Jvaris Mama Church in Tbilisi.

PETRE IN JERUSALEM Petre went on his first day to the Holy Sepulchre Church, only to find it shut. But he contented himself with a visit to the Monastery of St Abraham, which had been a Georgian possession. The next day was the audience, and the rest of the day may have been spent exploring the city, but of this he tells us very little. He then went to the Mount of Olives, and saw all the sites, including the memorial of Christ’s ascension in the mosque. Near it were the archaeological remains of the “Eleona,” a church dedicated by St Helena, but these were surrounded by a wall, which he did not enter. He mentions the “Men of Galilee,” the new church and palace of the Bishop of Jericho, which was built in 1881, and the Russian Convent on the Mount of Olives, finished in 1887, which, on the basis of a questionable historical clue, he believed to have been founded by St Helena. Some Georgian inscriptions had been found there, which he was disappointed not to see. He also visited the Cave of St Pelagia. At the bottom of the Mount of Olives Petre saw the Latin and Greek sites of Gethsemane and the Russian church of St Mary Magdalene. He also visited the Church of the Tomb of the Virgin, with the tombs of the parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Joachim and Anna, and attended Morning Prayers there the following morning. The next two days were spent celebrating Pentecost in the Holy Sepulchre and Golgotha, which included the ordination of a priest who announced that he was going to Japan on a mission. After the services there Petre went to what he calls the “Sion Choir” to remember the Last Supper and the coming of the Holy Ghost. The Feast of Pentecost continued the next day with the Patriarch coming to Trinity Cathedral in the Russian compound and concelebrating the Liturgy there.

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At 5 o’clock in the afternoon Petre was again free to explore the Holy Land, and he went by coach to Bethlehem. He visited the main church, the Milk Grotto, and the Church of the Shepherds, and spent the night there in the Bethlehem Monastery. After Morning Prayers, he went by coach to the Russian convent at Khirbet en Nasara, near a venerable tree, which gained the name of the “Oak of Rest.” This was twenty-five years before E. Mader’s excavation of the Roman and Byzantine site at the nearby Haram Rahmat al Khalil, where the Constantinian basilica of Mamre was discovered. He went on to Hebron, where, like all Jews and Christians, he was only allowed to view the Haram al Khalil from the outside. This was a long trip, but the next day he went on a shorter one, to the great sanctuary of Georgians, the Monastery of the Cross. It had been founded by Georgians and Georgians still gave it support. But Petre also noted that its inhabitants, some Greek monks, now tried to hide the fact that it was originally Georgian. Leaving the monastery he went on to a village called Malha. The villagers’ faces looked different from other Palestinians, and they were known as “Gurji,” or “Georgians.” The next day, Thursday, Petre got up at 5 o’clock in the morning, and began the other long trip in the Holy Land, to the Jordan. He reached St Gerasimos’ Monastery, went to the Dead Sea, to the place of Baptism, and to Elisha’s Spring before staying in the Russian Hospice in Jericho. He returned to Jerusalem by coach the following morning. Two of Petre’s observations are interesting; they concern the Haram al Sharif, the area which contains the Dome of the Rock, and the Armenian Patriarchal Cathedral. The Dome of the Rock was a place Christian pilgrims could visit if they had a letter from their consul. But this piece of administration was, for some unknown reason, not performed, and the nearest Petre came to the Dome of the Rock was the Wailing Wall, where the Jews mourn for the lost Temple. The Armenian Cathedral, called by Petre the Church of St James-Zebedee, had also been founded by Georgians. But this was not divulged by the Armenians, nor even by the Russian Guide to Palestine by Anisimov. Petre must have seen much more during his time in Jerusalem, but nothing worthy of recording. Petre’s pilgrimage now came to an unexpected end, because the Patriarch said it was too hot to travel, and the travellers might

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get ill. So Petre continued his description by quoting Anisimov’s Guide to Palestine for the sections on Galilee and Egypt, and St Saba’s Lavra. The places Anisimov described are those on the following map.

Map VI. Places described by Anisimov, but which Konchoshvili did not visit

Petre spent a little over two weeks in Jerusalem, Bethlehem and the Jordan, and writes about it because he regarded the pilgrimage as an excellent use of his time. He saw all the places connected with the life and death of Christ. He also saw some places connected with the Old Testament, such as Hebron, and Elisha’s Spring near Jericho. And he often tells us not only of public liturgies but also of his own private prayers. From what he says in this book, The Pilgrimage, he seems to be quite friendly with the Russians, and after all he owed a great deal to them. He was enabled to do this by the transport and hostels provided by the Imperial Palestine Society, and his companion on this stage of his travels was the Russian Archpriest, Solomin.

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PETRE ON MOUNT ATHOS The main complaint he had was against the lack of interest in the Georgian history of these Holy Places. Sometimes this was deliberate, as in the case of the elimination of Georgian inscriptions. But when he arrived at Mount Athos he found even worse examples. He went on a tour, seeing about half of the monasteries.

Map VII. Petre Konchoshvili on Mount Athos

But his main contacts were with Iviron Monastery. Despite its name, the inhabitants of this monastery were all but one of them Greeks. But the more he saw how they reacted to the Georgians, the more angry he became. They had even attempted to rewrite the history of the monastery, substituting Greeks for the Georgians, and quite a large part of Petre’s book deals with their rudeness, inefficiency, and hostility. The Greeks in fact may well have been frightened. They had the example of Chelandari Monastery, which had been founded by Serbs, but was occupied by Bulgarian monks. But the King of Serbia came on a visit, and in due time the monastery was again under a Serbian abbot. The Greeks feared that they

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would be turned out of Iviron Monastery in favour of the Georgians. Petre was interested in music, and in Tbilisi in 1899 — before or after his pilgrimage — he was appointed a member of the Committee for Restoring Church Singing in Georgia. He revealed his interest in music during his pilgrimage by recording the disappearance of a choir which had been active in the 1880s under the guidance of Anton Dumbadze, and had been famous both among Russians and Greeks. He hoped for a revival of Georgian church singing. Petre travelled back by Odessa, and on the way from Odessa to Kerch he was discussing the old Georgian Bible on Athos when an Englishman came up to him and said his name. He had heard all about him, and volunteered to put him in touch with the British and Foreign Bible Society, who he was sure would want to publish the old Georgian Bible. This person was Oliver Wardrop, of the British Foreign Service, and his sister, Marjory Wardrop. They had together been translating St Nino’s Life from Georgian. Marjory also translated Shota Rustaveli’s poetry, which had gained her great popularity. Petre also met Father Benedikte, the absentee Head of the Georgian Cloister on Athos. He had heard a complaint from the people of Sokhumi about their liturgy still being in Russian, when they would rather it was in their native language, Georgian. And when he landed at Batumi, he went for some reason (which he does not reveal) to a small Georgian village called Maradidi, which had been in Turkish hands from 1822 until its handing back to Georgia in 1878. Its people had become Muslim, and when he saw them, Petre considered how the Christians might persuade them to return to Christianity. The book ends with a letter from the Georgian Cloister on Athos.

PUBLICATIONS Petre’s illustrated account of his pilgrimage was published in 1901, and 1,200 copies were printed. Petre chose not to have chapters, but gave short accounts of the places he visited, and of his general reactions. The book was illustrated with standard pilgrimage pictures provided by E. N. Fesenko in Odessa. The pictures were sometimes attached to a text which explained them, but often they were without a text, and one picture was wrongly captioned, per-

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haps due to poor communication between the author and the printer. The present translation puts them in better order, even though it is not perfect. The cover shows St Nino, the Illuminator of Georgia, after her resurrection.

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St Nino was a Christian girl who was captured by the army and became a servant to the royal family in Kartli. She was a missionary. She converted the Queen to Christianity, and was thus responsible for the Church in Georgia. In her right hand she holds a model of the patriarchal Church of Svetitskhoveli in Mtskheta, which she instructed to be built. She is surrounded by the peaceful churches in Georgia, but outside the circular rainbow are signs of war and defeating the enemy. The following is a translation of the text on the cover. Travels to the Holy City of Jerusalem and the Holy Mount Athos (picture) by Archpriest Petre son of David Konchoshvili, Teacher of the Bible in the EMPEROR NICHOLAS I’S Transcaucasian Women’s Institute Tiflis, 1901 Printing House M. Sharadze and Company, Nic., St, No 21

David was Petre’s father, and the words “son of David” are a normal Russian way of establishing a person’s identity. The imprimatur, here printed at the beginning, was given by Bishop Kyrion. Writing about the book, Iakob Gogebashvili said it rated among the best-printed Georgian books, and gave as an example “The Knight in the Panther’s Skin” (1888) published by Giorgi Kartvelishvili and illustrated by Michai Zych. Of Petre’s own authorship Gogebashvili wrote: The price of the book is very cheap, only one rouble. Such publications on other languages cost two or three roubles. The

author deserves great gratitude on our part for writing the book that will enrich our poor literature. We want this book to be widely read in our schools and households.

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Petre wanted to interest the parish schools in his Pilgrimage, and he offered it at half price to them. But the Exarchate Council would not allow it. Why were the church authorities against the book? One of the reasons put forward was that it was not dedicated to the Emperor. But the main objection was that the Pilgrimage was not sufficiently respectful of the Russian Empire. Nevertheless, Petre was anxious to have a second edition. He wrote in a letter to Bishop Kyrion that if half the books were sold he would consider it. In 1903 he was still collecting materials, but in 1906 he wrote to Kyrion saying that six of his files for the book “were stolen or lost.” There would only be one edition. He was also working on other literary projects. He translated from Russian Peter Smirnov’s Catechism, which was well received in Georgia. At about the same time he published Readings during Confession. Before he travelled to Palestine he had translated from Slavic into Georgian the Hymn to Joseph the Handsome, as well as Petre’s advice to Deacons and Psalm-readers on a Hymn to the Cherubim from the Kontakion. After his pilgrimage his new pen-names became “Petre of Jerusalem-Alaverdi,” and “Mkhtsovani,” meaning “Sage.” Among his later publications was a book he funded and published in 1908, which is still in use in the Georgian Orthodox Church. In the introduction to the book he writes that he compared Greek-Slavic texts with the Georgian Kontakion, and thanks his helpers, the Priest K. Kekelidze, later the founder of the Institute of Manuscripts, and the Priest K. Tsintsadze, who later became Catholicos-Patriarch of Georgia.

REMAINDER OF LIFE One of the first things that Petre did was to follow up his experience in Beirut, and ask the Holy Synod that in the Exarchate Council’s parish schools the children should learn not in Russian, but in Georgian. But 1901 was the hundredth-year anniversary of joining Georgia to Russia and Georgian society cherished the hope that this event would be acknowledged by opening a higher educational institution in Tbilisi. Georgian clergy were eager to attract the attention of the Russian Emperor to the issue of restoring autocephaly in Georgia, that is to say that Georgia should have its own Orthodox Church, and not be subject to Russia. Together with

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three Georgian bishops he wrote a petition to the church authority consisting of fifteen points concerning the “The Needs of the Georgian Church and Clergy.” Unfortunately the work he mentioned was lost, but in 1904 he wrote that none of points had been fulfilled. Petre was now 69 years old. He had been given an ecclesiastical award in 1876, and in 1885 the Church awarded him a golden cross. He was an educated and intelligent priest, and he had spent many years teaching Holy Scripture in the Women’s Institute in Tbilisi, and had dedicated a full life to the Georgian Orthodox Church. He might well have been considered for consecration as a bishop. But the practice of the Orthodox Church was that only monks were considered as candidates for the episcopacy, and Petre was not a monk. But it so happened that Petre was a widower, and without any children. So a senior Russian bishop, Metropolitan Anton of Petersburg made a diplomatic request to the Georgian Exarch to make an exception to the rule, and to consecrate Petre as bishop, despite his not being a monk. It was the first time such an exception had been made. Things were moving both in secular and church politics. In 1905 there was the first socialist revolution in Russia, and there were also minor disturbances in Tbilisi and Kutaisi. In October a number of priests and archimandrites in Georgia formed “The Society of Autocephalists.” On the eve of his consecration Petre was preparing a meeting of clergy from both the Eastern and the Western areas of Georgia. It was a meeting which promised to be important, and Bishop Kyrion, though formally in exile, managed to be there, on the pretext of coming as a guest at a party given by the Prince-Regent of Georgia, Vorontsov-Dashkov. In the event the meeting failed to be a success. Some bishops were for immediate election of the Catholicos of Georgia even though the Holy Synod did not heed the appeal for autocephaly. But another group, headed by the Priest K. Tsintsadze, produced a pamphlet entitled “Point of view of a Group of Clergy,” which was against raising the issue of Georgian autocephaly at the preliminary all-Russian meeting of the Church, since the chances of success were narrow. Bishop Kyrion was strictly opposed to discussing autocephaly and Bishop Leonide did not express himself at all.

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HIS EPISCOPACY On November 13, 1905, despite the chaos of the previous day, Petre was made Bishop of Alaverdi. His first act, three days later, was to sign the appeal to the Synod about restoring the autocephaly of the Georgian Church. It was sent to the Russian Emperor who thought it appropriate to redirect it to the coming session of the Russian Church. The petition was signed by three other bishops: Leonide of Imereti, Giorgi of Guria-Samegrelo and Ekvtime Bishop of Gori. Six weeks later Bishop Leonide was sent to St Petersburg to discuss autocephaly, and Bishop Petre was unexpectedly moved to Kutaisi to govern the diocese while Leonide was away. The December Revolution of 1905 in Russia was echoed in Georgia, and Guria and Imereti regions were quite active. As a result Russian troops, headed by General Alikhanov-Avarski, were sent to suppress the riots. A great number of people were killed or exiled, and their houses burnt down. In one of his letters Petre writes that on January 26, 1906, when he arrived in Kutaisi he had to stay on the train as it was not permitted to enter the city after 6 o’clock. The situation was serious. Bishop Petre wrote that civil servants could not give official statements on the situation in the city for fear of vengeance on the part of terrorists; that three monks had changed from their habits into national costume; and that an archimandrite (Petre does not mention his name) was considered to be sympathizing with the socialists. Bishop Petre continued to work for autocephaly, and gave permission to “Tonkmelis” to publish a book criticizing the Russian Emperor and the Holy Synod for abolishing the independence of the church. The title of the book, written in Russian, was The Truth about the Autocephaly of the Georgian Church. “Tonkmelis” was an anagram (in Georgian) for “Meliton” and the real name of the author of this revolutionary book was Meliton Kelenjeridze. As Bishop of Alaverdi, Petre’s influence grew stronger. But he did meet with opposition. During a vacancy in the Exarchy responsible for the Georgian Church he suggested that Georgian clergy should replace the Russians as governors of the schools, but almost a year later the Holy Synod replied that such a request should only be made to the Exarch himself, and that, rather than the Bishop, the proper originator would be the Council of Regional and Parish Educational Institutions.

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In April 1907, at the age of 71, Petre was moved to be Bishop of Gori, a senior post which carried with it the responsibility of being the First Vicar of the Exarch. Little is known about what he achieved, but he was honoured by being chosen as a Foundation Member of a new Society for Georgian History and Ethnography, and was chairman both of the Georgian Church Museum and of the Committee for Restoring Svetitskhoveli, the Patriarchal Church in Mtskheta. Possibly the most publicly important thing he did was to hold, in Kashveti Church in Tbilisi on September 1, 1907, the funeral service of the famous public figure and author, Ilia Chavchavadze. The Georgian Archimandrite Ambrosi Khelaia had been an opponent of the Russian Exarch of Georgia, Nikon. Nikon referred to him as a “Red Archimandrite.” When Nikon was assassinated, Ambrosi was suspected of having a hand in the organization, and was exiled to Ryazan 100 miles south-east of Moscow. Bishop Petre was confused. He did not approve the assassination, but Ambrosi Khelaia was a friend of his. Petre became ill, and died of pneumonia six week later, aged seventy-three, on February 5, 1909. He was buried in Alaverdi Cathedral. Archpriest K. Kelelidze preached at his funeral in Sioni Cathedral. Bishop Petre in his will left legacies to all the institutions where he had worked, including fifty roubles for beggars. The Georgian Church became autocephalous eight years later, in 1917, but for only a short time.

MEASURES Adli

A length just over a metre (101.15 cm). It was used since the sixteenth century, and it is equal to two cubits.

Charek

A Persian word for a liquid measure holding a quarter of a litre.

Girvanka About 409.5 grams. Maneti

Corresponds to the Russian rouble.

Rouble

The same as the Georgian word manet, which was used as a translation from Russian in the first half of the eighteenth century. In 1898 the rouble was worth 38 English pence.

Sazheni

A length just over two metres (213.36 cm). It was a measure in use after 1835.

Shauri

It is equal to 5 kopecks, and 100 kopecks makes one rouble.

Tumani

In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries it was the name of a gold coin of Iran and it was equal to three manets. Tuman was used to denote ten manets.

Versti

A little over a kilometer (1.0668 km). It is equal to 500 sazhenes.

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INTRODUCTION From my childhood, ever since I came to be aware of myself and learned from my beloved parents to cross myself, ever since I became able to utter and pronounce the name of the sweetest Lord Jesus Christ the desire was there. And after that in the Theological Academy, where I diligently learned the stories from the Holy Gospels about Christ the Saviour’s life on earth; the desire continued. From this time onwards I wished to travel and to venerate the Holy Places, where the all merciful Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, had deigned to be born in flesh by the Most Holy Blessed Virgin Mary; He who spent thirty-three years visibly on earth till the time when He finished the act of saving mankind by His Death on the cross, by His glorious Resurrection and His Ascension in flesh to heaven. The Good Saviour, whose grace and mercy is unutterable, has counted me worthy to fulfill my heartfelt, and divine hope, which I have been cherishing from my childhood, only at my old age when I have served, with his immeasurable mercy upon me, the Holy Mother Church and my home country for forty years. I have decided, in gratitude for the Lord’s mercy, bestowed upon me through each day of my life till now, to go and venerate the Holy City of Jerusalem, from which the light of Christ’s religion has been revealed and “in all parts of the world the Lordship of our God has been observed” (Verse of a psalm at the Feast of the Elevation of the Cross, at Dawn). At the same time I wished to venerate the monasteries on Athos, the cornerstone of the Orthodox Church, the place of Iveria Monastery of Portaitis, in which now live Greek Fathers, the monks. Besides fulfilling my heartfelt religious feelings and hopes, a second aim of my travel to Palestine was also important to my teaching. It is already thirty-five years, by God’s grace, that I have been teaching Holy Scripture, and it is only now, after visiting and 1

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venerating the Holy Land, called Palestine, that I have vividly realized the stories of the Holy Scriptures and the Gospel, which are the bulk of the Old and the New Testaments. It is an obvious truth that through reading alone it is not possible to fully represent, or explain things as clearly as you would expect after seeing them. When St Thomas the Apostle saw with his own eyes “the print of the nails” and the pierced side of the Lord Jesus Christ, only then did he truly believe in Christ’s resurrection, and uttered “My Lord and my God!”1 In the Georgian Bible I have come across an ignorant error. It said that the Garden of Gethsemane was the place of Christ the Saviour’s tomb, when according to the Gospel narrative the tomb was carved in a rock in Joseph the Handsome’s garden. This is at least at the distance of one verst from Gethsemane. I have also read in a Russian interpretation of the Gospels that the place where Holy Priest Zachariah lived, the father of St John the Forerunner, was the city of Hebron, which is thirty versts south of Jerusalem. But St Luke the Evangelist says in his Gospel that the Most Holy Mother of God, Mary, after the annunciation by the angel went from Nazareth “to a town in the uplands of Judah”2 to visit Elizabeth, wife of the priest Zachariah. This particular place is eight versts to the west of Jerusalem. This place is still called hilly (нагорная). There are three monasteries there: one is a Roman Catholic monastery on the site of John the Baptist’s birth place, another is on the place of the house where the faithful Elizabeth came forth to meet the Most Holy Mother of God, Mary, and said the following words: “Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb. And whence is this to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me?”3 At this place there is also a newly founded nunnery containing eighty Russian sisters. The third monastery, next to the Russians’, is again Roman Catholic, exactly at the spot where Elizabeth used to draw the spring water for her own use. The third aim of my travels to Palestine and Holy Mount Athos was, of course, my heartfelt desire to venerate the splendid John 20:25,28. Luke 1:39–40. 3 Luke 1:42–43. 1 2

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monasteries and the holy churches that were built from the fourth century till the end of the eighteenth century by the Georgian kings, archbishops, nobles and all the devout people of the Georgian nation. These are also monuments of our life-giving religion and orthodoxy, and of our national fortitude and valour. But, sad to say, of these glorious remains what have not been destroyed by the all-devastating flow of time, are now, to our great sadness, being destroyed by the blasphemous hands of various nations. I have ventured to undertake this description of Holy Places, to the extent of my capability, as well as its publication, with the aim of giving a slight support to the clergy of our provinces, and those of the lower classes of Georgian society who are deprived of spiritual nourishment. The aim is to make them benefit by reading this book in order to satisfy their religious feelings which gleam in their hearts like a spark. I shall imitate Christ’s Apostle, and say: “the yearning of my heart and supplication towards God” is about the deliverance of the Georgian nation and those of its people, who due to the mischief of historic occurrences have been forced to denounce Christ’s religion in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. God grant that the spark of life-giving religion might kindle the hearts of the Georgian nation into a fire of love towards Christ the Saviour, and those renounced people of the Georgian nation, by the grace of God’s leadership, may again be united with their brothers who worship Christ: “O send out thy light and thy truth: let them lead me; let them bring me unto thy holy hill, and to thy tabernacles.”4 There are a few similar descriptions of the Holy Places in the Russian language, but I have not come across any of them in Georgian. In the 1750s two Georgian archbishops, the Archbishop of Tiflis, Timothy Gabashvili, and the Metropolitan of Ruisi, Iona Gedeonishvili, visited the Holy Places and even described their travels, which were published by Platon Ioseliani in 1852. But these books are rare now, and moreover their language is not easy to understand, as they were written a hundred and fifty years ago. Thus our people of the lower class are unable to make use of these books. In 1820, a nobleman Giorgi Avalishvili venerated Christ the 4

Psalm 43:3.

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Saviour’s tomb and other Holy Places in Palestine. He spent a whole year on this journey. He left Georgia in July, 1819 and arrived in Jerusalem in 1820 during Lent, and attended the celebration of Easter. And he has even described in detail his travels. This manuscript is kept at present in the library of The Society for the Dissemination of Literacy Among the Georgians. But in his descriptions this nobleman Avalishvili does not write so much about the Holy Places as about the people in foreign countries, and the nature and events of his travels. Furthermore, the language of this description is not easy to understand, so even if it were printed, Georgians of the lower or middle classes would be unable to use it. In 1883 Mr. Anton Tsagareli’s son, Alexandre, a most distinguished professor of St Petersburg University, travelled to Palestine, Sinai and Mount Athos under the auspices of the Russian Orthodox Palestine Society. In 1884 he published in Russian a description of his travels and of his researches on Georgian literary works, and Georgian remains in Palestine, Sinai and Mount Athos. But our people of the lower classes cannot make use of it, due not only to their ignorance of the Russian language, but also to the high cost of the book. In 1899 the most distinguished Professor Marr also travelled to Holy Mount Athos. He stayed forty days in Iveria Monastery on Athos in order to study Georgian archaeological remains in the monastery. But his researches are also important only to scholars, and our people of the lower class cannot make use of them either. There are many Georgians who desire to venerate the life-giving tomb of Christ the Saviour, and other Holy Places in Palestine, but whose material welfare does not permit them to travel to such a distant place. For the comfort of these people who love and worship Christ, I say the following words of worthy Fathers: “It is not meritorious to visit Jerusalem, but to live in Jerusalem in virtue. Do not consider that your life is in danger just because you have not visited Jerusalem, and do not consider me to be better than you, just because I live there. Wherever you are, here or there, the reward is measured by God according to your actions” (St Jerome). This venerable Father Jerome himself spent thirty years in the city of Bethlehem, in the Cave of Christ the Saviour’s nativity, where he translated from Hebrew into Latin the Holy Scriptures known as “Vulgata,” and there finally his earthly life came to an end, with the title of priest, on September 30, 420, when he was ninety years old.

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“They come to the Omnipresent with love ― and not by boat” (Venerable Augustine). This Venerable Father Augustine was the Bishop of the city of Hippo. He died on 28 August, 430, when he was aged seventy-six. St Gregory, Bishop of Nyssa, the younger brother of Basil the Great, venerated the Holy Places in Palestine, but he gained a grim and unpleasant impression because of the discrepancies and conflicts of the inhabitants of Palestine, who were agitated by different heresies. Under the influence of these grim feelings Gregory wrote to a hermit who wanted to venerate the Holy Places in Palestine: “Praise God at the places wherever you are! Changing the place will not bring us closer to God. Wherever you are God will come unto you provided your spiritual abode deserves that God should dwell in you and live in you. But if your inner being is full of malicious desires then, regardless of the place where you are ― be it Golgotha, Mount of Olives or by the Tomb in the Resurrection Church ― you are as unfitted to receive Christ into yourself as those who have not even begun to take up their religion. Can it be that Holy Ghost descends only upon the Jerusalemites, and is unable to come upon us?” “Cause me to know the way wherein I should walk; for I lift up my soul unto thee.”5

5

Psalm 143:8.

FROM TIFLIS TO ISTAMBUL On May 16, 1899, on Sunday I said goodbye to the capital city, Tiflis. I appealed to the Lord to grant me his protection not only during this travel but also throughout all the days of my life. I set off to the railway station. Two Georgian priests and a young Russian sacristan saw me off. I went into the carriage, and sat there quite alone and unhappy, but the destination and the purpose of my travel made me happy and resolute. I met two young people in the carriage who appeared to be Georgians by origin, by their family name and their affection for their country. One of them had recognised me before I started to talk with them and asked me, “Are you going to Jerusalem?” “Indeed I am.” “But how do you know about my travels, as we have never met before?” He answered, “My father G. K., who knows you very well, told me about your intention to travel to Jerusalem.” It was clear that this respectable compatriot had brought up his children in an admirable way. These young people were going to the village of Ateni in order to attend the ceremonial opening of a factory, where all sorts of wooden objects would be made, and they were going to have a traditional Georgian feast after the opening service. On my part, I wished them good luck in this useful enterprise, but at this moment a third Georgian young man wearing Georgian national dress entered the compartment and told the K……shvilis that a certain educated English woman wanted to attend the Georgian feast in Ateni, but she had no time till next Tuesday. Then we said goodbye to one another at Gori station and I do not know when they had their feast in Ateni. At Rioni station I encountered two Frenchmen who accompanied a certain landowner from Guria in order to see and purchase his estate. It would be a great pity if Georgian lands come into the possession of other nationalities, and as a result our nation remains a pauper. The Georgian nation has maintained its existence 7

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till today only because, among many other reasons, it has always been firmly founded on land sprinkled with the blood of its ancestors. On May 16, at 9 o’clock in the evening we arrived safely at the city of Batumi, and immediately went on board the steamship “Tsesarevich Giorgi.” An hour later she started off to Odessa. On May 17, in the morning we came to the port of Poti where the steamship stayed till 10 o’clock in the morning. Here a machine was working that takes sand from the bottom of the sea in order to deepen the harbour. Here a wretched man wanted to jump into the water, but he was soon noticed and rescued from death. I could not find out who this poor man was. He was dressed in Chokha. About himself he did not say anything. Here I met an Armenian man from Batumi who used to trade in Sokhumi. He told me that the Armenians living in Kutaisi do not understand their own language, and told me the following story as a proof. “I went into the Armenian Church in Kutaisi and asked for the amount of candles which cost one abbaz. The Mighdis did not understand my request and asked me in Georgian, “What do you want?” Then other people translated into Georgian my request to the Mighdis and only after this he sold some candles to me.” This Armenian man himself had been recently deported from the Ottoman Empire, and did not know Georgian. On May 18, on board the ship, which was sailing from Novorosiisk to Kerch, I met with a young Russian engineer who asked me, “Who do you work for? The Russians or the Georgians?” I answered, “I combine one with another.” “How can you?” I told him, “Those who have been educated in the Russian language can work for Russia regardless of their nationality. I myself am Georgian, but I work in a Russian state institution just as the Russians themselves do.” He then asked me, “What’s the difference between Russian, Georgian and Greek churches?” I answered, “There’s no essential or dogmatic difference between them. They have a common Creed, prayers and Eucharist. There may arise minor differences among them in following regulations, but such differences will not violate their unity of faith. For example, in the churches of

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Minor or Lower Russia,1 as well as in the Greek churches, they observe the rule that the priest or the deacon stands facing the congregation when reading the Gospel. But in Great Russia the priest stands facing east, as it also is in the Georgian Church.” Then he went on, “I have been in a Greek church, and saw different regulations there.” I asked him, “Which particular ones?” He answered “In the Greek church I could not hear a single hymn sung in a Slavic manner.” To this I replied, “Hymns sung in church are divided into eight voices or modes. This has continued in use ever since the eighth century AD. In all Orthodox churches they chant in eight voices according to their national style or taste. So, it’s obvious that one way of chanting should appear to another person to be foreign. Thus, in both Churches, Georgian and Greek, hymns are sung according to their national style.” This is an example of the ignorant way in which some educated Russians understand the hymn-singing and other practices of foreign people. On board the ship “Tsesarevich Giorgi,” sailing from Batumi to Odessa, were two brothers born to a Georgian mother (from Guria) and a black man. They speak the Georgian and Russian languages very well. One of them is a sailor on board of this ship and the other is a cook. They bear some kind of resemblance to the Georgians. On board the same ship I met a Greek family, who had brought from Batumi a ten-year-old Georgian lady from Guria. An Armenian man who was sailing on board the same ship told her about me, and she immediately came to me to ask for a blessing. We were already in the port of Odessa and I did not have much time to ask her about herself in detail. She only told me, “We are being taken to Istambul.” I never met her again on any other ship when sailing from Odessa to Istambul. On board the same ship I met with an Armenian young man from Erevan, P. Nic. Ap…ni, who was traveling at his own expense to Vienna to study natural sciences. He was traveling abroad for this purpose for the second time. He went by railway from 1

tury.

The name of the Ukraine until the beginning of the twentieth cen-

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Odessa. However distressing the first example is — a young lady working in the family of foreign people, who in a foreign country will easily forget her native language, and will very much be changed for the worse — the second example — a young Armenian man eager for education, like a thirsty soul that is given water to drink — is an encouraging and happy event for the homeland. He spoke French fluently and understood English as well. We arrived in Odessa on May 22 and on the same day, at 5 o’clock in the evening, we started off for Constantinople on steamship “Azov.” We arrived in Istambul on May 23 at 7 o’clock in the evening. On May 24 I saw around Istambul (that is, Constantinople) and visited the church of Agia Sofia. This once was the glory of Christianity but has now been turned into a mosque.

THE CHURCH OF AGIA SOPHIA IN CONSTANTINOPLE In Istambul, on the ancient Square of Augustus, on the first hill among the other seven, the splendid church of Agia Sophia shines out. It is a glorious and distinguished masterpiece of Byzantine art, a crown of the arts and a guideline for ecclesiastical architecture. It also is the cradle of Russian religion. From here has arisen the lifegiving light of Christian Orthodoxy. It was in this church that Prince Vladimir’s envoys attended the service, and did not know at that moment whether they were in heaven or on earth. It was here that they were enlightened with true religion and then they took it back to Russia. The church of Agia Sophia was built during the reign of Emperor Justinian. Constantine the Great was the first to build the church in Constantinople dedicated to God’s Wisdom (Sophia means “wisdom” in Greek), but this church with its wooden roof was burnt down during the riot that arose as a result of St John Chrysostom’s banishment, although it was not totally burnt. The altar has survived, and furthermore the episcopal throne of Chrysostom has survived, and is now in the Patriarchal Church in Istambul. The church that Emperor Theodosius the Junior (401–450) restored was again burnt down in 532 during another riot. Then Emperor Justinian decided to build a new church that would outclass Solomon’s Temple in fame and glory. The construction started on February 23, 533, and was finished after five years, ten months and two days. The church was dedicated on December 22, 537, during the Patriarchate of Mina, when Justinian said the following splendid words, “O Solomon! I have excelled you!” The construction of the building cost two million twenty thousand tumans. In our time this sum of money would equal approximately three hundred million manets. The dome of Agia Sophia is much bigger than other domes, even of the most splendid churches. The 11

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dome has thirty-two windows. It is so wide it seems to be hanging in the air. The whole dome can be seen from every side down to the bottom. The whole building is a quadrangle 240 feet (105 adli) wide and 269 feet (118 adli) long. The church has 100 columns, 40 in the church itself and 60 in the gallery. They are built with coloured marble of the most expensive kind. The interior walls are also covered with marble and the ceiling is inlaid with many coloured mosaics, representing different subjects, which every now and again are whitewashed with lime by the ignorant Ottomans. But Sultan Abdul Mejid’s words, which he addressed to the master builder who restored Agia Sophia Mosque in 1849, are truly remarkable, “Paint the mosaics superficially, so that it will always be possible to wipe it out. Who knows, it might happen that my successor will want to reveal it entirely.” In Justinian’s time about a thousand clergymen served in the church of Agia Sophia. Later on Emperor Heraclius reduced this number. He appointed 80 priests, 150 deacons, 70 subdeacons, 40 deaconesses, 160 readers, 25 singers, and 75 doorkeepers; 600 people in all. Agia Sophia was made into a mosque by Mahmad II after seizing Constantinople. When the conqueror entered the city in triumph, he went first of all to Agia Sophia. He was stunned by its great beauty, and ordered the mullah to praise Islam in a loud voice. So the first Muslim prayer was performed in this splendid Christian church when Mahmad himself entered, at the place of the altar in the sanctuary. It happened on May 29. Then on June 1, 1454, on Friday, the first complete religious service according to the customs of the Muslim religion was conducted in the church of Agia Sophia! Blessed be the power of God! Constantinople had been founded on May 11, and on the 29th of the same month it fell. And now the crescent blazes on the dome of Agia Sophia, in place of the Life-giving Cross. Ottomans do not keep the church as tidy as is appropriate for this church. When I climbed up into the upper gallery I discovered that it was full of the droppings of birds. 120 beautiful chandeliers and about 6000 candles attached to chains with ostrich eggs, are lit during the ordinary prayers in the

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mosque, but during the feasts of “Bairam” and “Ramazan”1 the number of candles is almost doubled.

1

That is, Ramadan.

IN ISTAMBUL AGAIN On May 24 I prayed in the Greek churches: the Patriarchal Church, Vlakern, the Spring of the Most Holy Mother of God, and several others. On the same day I visited the metochion of the Russian Monastery of St Panteleimon on Mount Athos, where I had dinner. They were seeing off about two hundred Russian pilgrims who had returned from Jerusalem. In this metochion and in the hospices of two other Russian monasteries they were receiving some three hundred pilgrims from Odessa, who came by the ship “Azov.” I was the only Georgian among them. I much appreciate the religious enthusiasm of ordinary Russian lay people going to venerate the Holy Places. All these lay people, monks, priests, women, men — old and young — equally make the effort to worship in Jerusalem; and after returning from Jerusalem, the men go to Mount Athos to worship in the monasteries there, and the women return to their home countries. Starting from the fourth century and until the sixteenth–seventeenth centuries, the Georgian nation also used to practice the same kind of pilgrimage to Jerusalem to venerate the Holy Places. The eighteenth-century scholar and historian, Prince Vakhushti, tells this story, “Sultan Suleiman had sent his envoy to the three kings: Giorgi IX, King of Kartli, Bagrat, King of Imereti, and Levan, King of Kakheti. He told them, “Jerusalem, the cradle of your religion, has been captured by the unfaithful and I grant it to you. Go and turn them out, and own it!” After he had suggested this, these three kings, living in friendly relations with each other, immediately assembled. They gathered their army and together went to wage war. Qvarqvare Atabagi also joined them. When they approached Jerusalem the inhabitants of the city asked them, “Answer us! If you come as our enemy, then you are few in number, and if you are guests, you are too many.” The kings chivalrously answered that the army was sufficiently numerous to wage war 15

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against them. Then began the bloody war. The Georgians slaughtered them and put the rest to flight. They entered the city and plundered it, and they gained many spoils and captives. On this occasion the Sultan granted them these Holy Places: the Lord’s Sepulchre, Golgotha, Bethlehem and the Monastery of the Cross. After this all three kings and Qvarqvare returned as victors to their own realms.” According to Vakhushti it happened in 1525. It was then that Levan, King of Kakheti, brought from Jerusalem a piece of the Life-giving Cross, at present preserved in Alaverdi, the Metropolitan Church of Kakheti, and this king also had the cross adorned with most precious gems. Even in the seventeenth century, Georgian pilgrims on entering Jerusalem were received with dignity and honour; they did not have to bow in front of the Muslims but were treated with honour as a powerful nation. Georgians used to enter Jerusalem with flying flags and banners, all in full armour from head to foot, free of any tax. Such was the glory and fame of the Georgian nation! But in those times other nations from Europe and Asia, who also professed Christianity, would disarm and used to pay the customary levies in cash: and only after they had done so were they allowed to enter Jerusalem and to pray there. At one time the Georgians used to have nineteen monasteries in Palestine and now they possess none.

GEORGIAN MONASTERIES OUTSIDE GEORGIA In Palestine: 1. The Monastery of the Cross. 2. Of the Holy Apostles, built by the Georgian King Giorgi I. 3. Of the Righteous Patriarch Abraham, renewed by the noble Giorgi Abashidze in the seventeenth century. 4. Of St Nikoloz, built by the Queen of Georgia, Elene. 5. Of St John the Apostle and the Evangelist, built by the Atabags of Samtskhe. 6. Of St Basil, built by the noble Amirindo Amilakhvari and Tako. 7. Another monastery of St Nikoloz, built by Paata and Kaikhosro Tsulukidze. 8. Of St Theodore, built under the care of the nobles Bezhan and Baadur Choloqashvili. 9. Of the First Martyr St Tekla, built by Kristepore Zedgenidze. 10. Of the Chief Martyr St Giorgi, built by the noble Dadiani. 11. The nunnery of the Embracing of the Lord, built by the Eristavs of Racha. 12. Of the Chief Martyr St Dimitry, built by Shalva the Eristav of Ksani. 13. The Georgian nunnery of the Martyred Virgin St Catherine, built by the noble Amilbar Tsitsishvili and the noble Machabeli in the seventeenth century. 14. The Church of Christ’s Resurrection on Golgotha. 15. The Monastery of Prophet St Samuel. 16. Of the Apostle St James Zebedee, in which at present lives the Patriarch of the Armenians. 17. Of the worthy Father Saba the Sanctified. 17

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18. Of St Simeon the Righteous, the one who took Christ to his bosom. It is four versts away from Jerusalem, where the Greek Patriarch of Jerusalem lives in the summer. 19. Of St John the Baptist, on the banks of the Jordan. Monasteries in Syria and elsewhere: 20. Of the Worthy Father Simeon the Stylite. 21. Of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary in Kalippo near the city of Aleppo. 22. Monastery on the Island of Cyprus. 23. On Mount Sinai. 24. In Trabizond. 25. On the Black Mount in Syria. 26. Iviron Monastery of Portaitis on Mount Athos. 27. Of St Philotheou, also on Athos. 28. The Church of the Most Blessed Mother of God on the Holy Mount of Olympus in Greece, in the Cave of the Georgians. 29. Monastery of St Nino, the Equal of the Apostles, in Bulgaria, in the mountains, twenty versts away from Philippopolis, that is till today called the Georgian Monastery. 30. Monastery of St John the Theologian on Mount Athos, founded by the Georgian Brethren in 1870, where there are thirtyfive Georgian Fathers at present. 31. Archbishop Timothy, who had visited Palestine in 1752 says in his travels that Georgians had four monasteries in Nazareth. 32. Monastery of Ierissos near Saloniki, where some twenty years ago there was a Georgian inscription on the lintel of the church, which the Greeks have ruined. 33. Monastery in Constantinople, where the holy relics of our worthy Father, the Wonderworker, St Ilarion the Georgian are buried. The fact that so great a number of monasteries and churches have been built by the Georgians abroad is surprising and astonishing. They are clearly remarkable monuments of the Georgians’ deep religious concern, their devout service, and their national strength. The words of the Holy Apostle could also be justly used of this nation, truly blessed by God, “Their sound has gone out through all the world: and their words to the ends of the earth.” And how many more ruined monasteries and churches exist outside the borders of Georgia nowadays, whose names have not been preserved

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in history! In my opinion, neither in ecclesiastical nor in civil history can one find examples of any other nation who had possessed so many monasteries and churches outside their own country. “And, behold, there are last which shall be first, and there are first which shall be last.”1 This has happened to our own nation, which has so many times been a martyr for the sake of religion. On May 25 I again visited the most remarkable places of Istambul. On the same day we went by railway to San Stefano where in 1878 the first agreement between the Ottomans and the Russians was made. It was here that I saw a new church built by the Russian authority at the place where the bones of the Russian victorious cavalrymen are buried. They were killed in 1877 and 1878 for their religion, king and homeland. The church is built as a fortress, surrounded by a stone wall with battlements to turn away the enemy. This church was consecrated on December 6, 1898 but no priests serve there. It belongs to the military establishment. A man from the Black Mountain was the warden of this church. I have not encountered any Georgian there, though I have been told that the Chief Warden of this church was Georgian. The interior of the church is painted, but not in colour.

1

Luke 13:30.

FROM ISTAMBUL TO JERUSALEM On May 25, in Istambul, before I embarked on the ship, I encountered Priest Father Iase Shelia from Samegrelo. He had already finished his pilgrimage to Jerusalem and other holy places in Palestine, having spent the whole winter there, and now was going to Odessa on his pilgrimage to the holy places in Kiev and Chernigov. It is invaluable to encounter a man from one’s own homeland in a foreign country. In 1877 this Father Shelia was taken as a captive from Apkhazeti where he had served as a Reader of Psalms. He had spent two years in Tripoli as a captive. After the Reconciliation he was exchanged for other Turkish captives and returned to his home country. On the ship “Azov” there were several families of Jews going from Georgia to Jerusalem and they conversed in Georgian. Later I saw them in Jerusalem exchanging money. On the morning of May 26, on board the ship, we celebrated Morning Prayers on Passover Eve. On this occasion I imagined the first years of the Christian era, when the Christian people, who had been banished for their religion, performed their service on board a ship. The eighth hymn of Passover made me vividly imagine the fulfilment of the following prophecy, “Lift up thine eyes round about, O Sion, and see: all they gather themselves together as divine celestial bodies, from west, north, south and east, thy children who have come to praise Christ for centuries.”1 And here we are! Several hundred Russians from the North, and me, the only Georgian from the East going to Sion-Jerusalem to venerate Christ’s Life-giving Sepulchre. In the afternoon, at three o’clock, we came to the city of Mytilene. It is nicely built along the sea shore and is 1

Paraphrase of Isaiah 60:4.

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rich in gardens. On the same evening, on board the steam ship we had the service of Evening and Morning Prayers for Ascension Day. On May 27, on Ascension Day, I was in the Metropolitan Church in Smyrna. I noticed that the sanctuary was irregular in size on each side. In Smyrna, as well as in Constantinople, the Gospel lay upside down on the altar, but I presume that this was due to carelessness rather than to some other reason. I had thought that it might be the Arabic Gospels, since Arabic writing and printing, just like Hebrew, runs from right to left, and the beginning of the book written in their language would for us be the end; but I looked through several pages of the Gospels, and it turned out to be Greek. And the antimension did not have an eileton, or wrapping material, over it, or else, if it did have one, it was stitched to it like a lining. I saw Metropolitan Basil in Smyrna on Ascension Day. I received his blessing. He lives a simple life in his home, like a bishop at the beginning of Christianity. About 150,000 people live in Smyrna. Smyrna is under the Patriarchate of Constantinople. A great number of Orthodox Christians in Palestine and Assyria, or modern Syria, are Arabs. Their priests and bishops are of their own nationality and they perform every service in Arabic. The language of the inscriptions in the churches and on the icons is Arabic. Last year the Patriarch of Antioch died. An Arab bishop was chosen as the Patriarch as his successor, but other Greek Patriarchs did not approve of this choice as they wanted one of the Greeks to be chosen. The diocese and the clergy of Antioch wished to have the Patriarch from their own nation, and not of foreign nationality, and ignorant of the local language and customs of the local congregation. The Bulgarian Church had been in similar straits till 1870. They had Greek bishops who did not know the Slavic language of the local congregation, and the people could not understand the language of their chief shepherds either. For this reason the Bulgarians raised their voice and asked the Patriarch of Constantinople to set free the Bulgarian Church. The Patriarch himself did not want to separate them. But finally, with the help of the Russian authorities and with the consent of the Sultan, the Bulgarian Church was set free from its dependence on the Greek Patriarch and was granted the right of choosing its own metropolitan and bishop.

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In Smyrna I met a student from the Kiev Academy. He was a native of Smyrna, an Arab by origin and was already a graduate. The metropolitan had already appointed him as Hierokeryx, or Public Announcer, in the churches. Another student of Moscow University also travelled from Smyrna. He was also an Arab, born in Jaffa, where he was going to visit his parents. The people of Smyrna were complaining about the Ottoman cavalrymen who had been turned out of Crete, since they were disturbing the Christians in Smyrna. In Smyrna, Istambul, and generally in Palestine, as I have seen and heard, bells are pealed in the following way: a rope is attached to the ear of the bell and when they pull the rope the whole bell swings and rings. Thus, the clapper of the bell does not hit its sides but when they swing, the sides hit the clapper causing an unpleasant sound. Of course it is possible to peal small bells in this way but not big ones weighing more than ten or a hundred pounds. Big bells like this cannot be found in the eastern countries. Here they have no idea about the melodious pealing of bells in the way it is practiced in the cities of Russia, for instance in Kiev, Petersburg, or Yaroslav. There the entire hymn singing, in harmony with the pealing of the bells, appeals to the listeners’ ears, like the prayer “God save thy people” and other hymns. About 60,000 people live in the Island of Samos. They have an Ottoman governor who takes no part in the affairs of internal government, but only gathers taxes. On the Island of Samos the wine of the city Vitty is as famous among the wines of the archipelago, as the wines of Kakheti are famous in the whole of Georgia. On May 28, at 8 o’clock in the evening, we passed by the Island of Rhodes. The ship did not stop there. The Mediterranean Sea starts from here. This island is populated by Jews who had come from Spain and also by a small number of Greeks. These Jews are well-built, and they are involved in shipping and agriculture. The Island of Chios is believed to be Homer’s native land. According to oral tradition Jonah the Prophet was cast into the sea there and was swallowed by a whale. The Mediterranean Sea is turquoise in colour and that is why it is pleasant to the eye. On board the ship “Azov” sailing from Odessa to Jaffa I encountered a Greek language teacher who worked at a gymnasium in Petersburg. He was going to Athens, the home of ancient Greek

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education, the capital city of Socrates, Plato and Aristotle. He wanted to study ancient Greek on the spot. When I started to talk to him about the disorders in the universities of Russia, he put forward the idea that the students of the lower classes are mainly to be blamed for these irregularities. I did not agree with this idea, as such students are mostly poor. They cannot have much influence on their friends who are of higher social standing, and therefore they cannot be their leaders in these disorders. The same teacher came out with the idea that irregularities will often happen among higher educational institutions as long as people are illiterate. I obviously could not agree with this either, simply because the universities are not influenced by people of the lower class, whether directly or by their authority on the young people. We spent the whole day of May 29 sailing in the waters of the Mediterranean. On May 30, at 3 o’clock in the afternoon, we arrived at Tripoli. This city is built by the seashore. It is divided into three parts, and this is why the city is called “Tripoli,” meaning in Greek “Three Cities.” From this city were brought on board cucumbers, apricots (not any better than the ones in Tiflis), and some lemons, and oranges. In the prison of this city the prisoners sentenced to execution are serving their sentences, like those who are sent from Russia to Siberia. The majority of the inhabitants are Arabs, so the services, prayers and every kind of liturgy, are performed in Arabic. The mountains of Lebanon start from here. Before Christ’s birth these mountains were covered with forest groves, as the Prophet King David mentions in his Holy Psalm, “The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree and shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon.”2 In the times of King Solomon the Wise timber from the cypress and cedar trees was taken from here to build the Lord’s Temple and the King’s palace. But now these mountains are just bare hills devoid of any kind of vegetation. In the city of Tripoli itself there are splendid orchards of oranges, lemons and other fruits, as well as vineyards. On May 31, at 6 o’clock in the morning we came to the city of Beirut. In this city George, the Chief of the Martyrs, killed the 2

Psalm 92:12.

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dragon3 and rescued the Princess who was going to be devoured. At first, we entered the Church of this Glorious Victor, and then we saw the place where Saint George had defeated the dragon. There is a Muslim chapel there now, but apparently in former times there would have been a Christian chapel, that later was forcibly taken over by the Muslims. St George’s icon was brought from the main church to this chapel, and only after taking our shoes off, were we allowed to enter it. We put up candles in front of St George’s icon, then we sang St George’s Troparion and kissed his icon. The peaceful relations between Christians and Muslims at this place is surprising. I suppose the reason that they have agreed among themselves is because they each benefit from the pilgrims’ donations. Near the chapel is a well from which they drew water, which we drank. There is a little oblong stone on which the Princess had sat when she was waiting for the dragon to emerge from the lake. At present the lake is dry and its only inhabitants are a great number of vipers. Supposedly, the name of Breta, the village in Kartli, might derive from the name of this city. The Holy Relics of the Venerable Father Piros rest in this Church of St George, Chief of the Martyrs. Piros was one of the Thirteen Cappadocian Fathers who came to Georgia in the 550s, after St Nino, the Equal of the Apostles. 20,000 people live in this city and there are several establishments for the people of different religions. The Russian Palestine Society has founded five schools in this city, attended by 500 pupils, girls and boys. These schools are run by the honourable Maria Alexandrovna Cherkasova who is now very old. She has been living in Beirut for twelve years now and knows Arabic. The majority of the local Orthodox congregation are Arabs. Young people are taught the Russian language along with their native language. But in every class the Bible is taught in the native Arabic. When my companion, I. Solomin a Russian Archpriest, asked Ms Cherkasova, “Why aren’t they taught the Bible and church singing in Russian?” He received an intelligent answer, “It would have been useless for them to learn Holy Scripture in a foreign language, because the church liturgy is 3

Literally “whale”.

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in their native language. Besides, their society also speaks in their native Arabic language.” This is certainly very true, and it would be good if everybody would approach the issue in the same manner! The liturgy in Beirut is performed in Arabic, and the local archbishop is under the Patriarch of Antioch. Here Orthodox Arabs have nine churches. On the eastern shore of the Mediterranean, between Alexandretta and Beirut there is Latakia, a small city, with beautiful fig and olive orchards. There is one Orthodox church there, and several half-ruined castles. Among them one is shown a castle where it is assumed that Queen Tamar was imprisoned. During my voyage to Jerusalem and on my return journey the ship did not reach the shore of the city and I have not seen this city myself. I do not know the source from which Father Alexander Anisimov, a Russian pilgrim and priest, had borrowed this story about Queen Tamar. He has been twice on pilgrimage to Jerusalem and the whole of Palestine, in 1875 and 1881. This Father Anisimov says nothing in his book published in 1899 about who this Queen Tamar was, or when or why she was imprisoned. This particular Queen Tamar must have been the daughter of the Queen of Georgia, Rusudan. The latter was married to Majid ed Din, the son of Qilij Arslan III, the Sultan of Erzerum. From this Tartar, who was converted to Christianity, Rusudan bore two children, Tamar and David. Tamar was beautiful in appearance and kind by nature, like her grandmother, Great Tamar. But, regardless of her wishes, her mother made her marry Gaiat ed-Din, Kaikhosro II, Sultan of Asia Minor. I do not know what makes Grig. Rcheulishvili write in his historical novel that Tamar’s husband was Qiasdin, Sultan of “Istambul,” whereas in 1354, the year when the historical novel ends, Istambul was still the Throne City of the Byzantine Emperor, and the Ottomans captured it only in 1454. Before marrying Gaiat ed-Din, Princess Tamar had sworn an oath to marry Shalva, a Georgian nobleman. Even though Tamar had revealed her secret to her mother, Rusudan had induced her to break that oath for political reasons. She wanted her son-in law, who was the nearest neighbour to the Georgian kingdom, to side with the Georgian nation and to support it in the case of an enemy invasion. Rusudan exiled her nephew David, son of Giorgi Lasha, the direct and lawful heir to the royal throne of Georgia, to avoid her

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own son David having a competitor for the Georgian throne. She sent the former David, still a young man, abroad together with her son-in-law and daughter. She intended him to be killed there, but her son-in–law and Tamar came to love him as a brother and a son. Nevertheless Rusudan was still intent on carrying out her pernicious idea. She wrote a letter to her son-in-law saying, “Your wife Tamar loves David, her cousin, not with the love of kindred. You have become blind and can’t see it.” The son-in-law believed this awful calumny, and ordered David to be thrown into the sea. But the Mother of God, whose icon he had around his neck, saved him from drowning. Then the Sultan gave orders to throw David into a pit full of serpents. But the All Gracious God saved him unharmed, as it was when Daniel the Prophet was saved from the lions in the Old Testament. And when Prince David was unjustly suffering, Tamar must also have been suffering the pangs of remorse, and truly she must have been in such a situation as she was a lonely prisoner of her husband, the Sultan, in this castle at the sea. According to oral tradition it is still called Tamar’s Castle. Latakia was named “Laodicæa” before Christ’s birth, by Antiochus II, the King of Assyria, to honour his wife. This city is mentioned among the Seven Churches of Asia Minor in the Revelation of John the Evangelist, “I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot. I will spew thee out of my mouth.”4 These are the words of John the Evangelist in his Holy Revelation, quoting the words of Jesus Christ to the angel (the Bishop) of the Church of Laodicæa. The city of Laodicæa was in the Kingdom of Phrygia. But now it is a poor hamlet with about twenty old houses lying in the ruins of extremely beautiful old buildings. Church history tells us that in 367 AD the Holy Fathers of Laodicæa held a regional (поместный) Council where they adopted sixty canons about Church doctrine and the conduct of the clergy. Now the Christian religion is suppressed and forgotten here, and not a single Christian can be found. Muslim religion has deeply spread its roots, and, as proof of it, five mosques tower here. 4

Revelation 3:15–16.

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On May 31, at night, the sea was rough and choppy, and I was sea sick, blessed be the Lord! The sea had not been rough for the whole fortnight and it happened just on the last night when we came close to the shore. On June 1, at 8 o’clock in the morning we came to the coast of the city of Jaffa. There is no jetty here. We left the steamship by boat. The rough sea made the boat rise and fall one sagene. The women and some of the men started to weep when they saw the waves, since they expected to be devoured by the sea. But thanks to the All-Merciful God, we all came safe to the shore. On the same day, at 1 o’clock we left the place by the railway and at 6 o’clock in the evening, by the Lord’s Grace, we arrived in the Holy City of Jerusalem.

Figure 1. Railway Station in Jerusalem

THE CITY OF JERUSALEM AND ITS HOLY PLACES According to the oral traditions of all the nations of the Levant, the city of Jerusalem was built by Melchizedek, the Great High Priest of the Most High God and the King of Salem. The name “Salem,” according to the Apostle St Paul, means “peace.” The same tradition also says that Melchizedek translated to Jerusalem the body of our First-Father Adam, which, during the Flood, had been preserved by Noah in the Ark. He buried him on Golgotha. Then, to quote the book of Genesis, “Shem lived five hundred years and begat sons and daughters.”1 This story also shows that Shem, Noah’s son, also lived in Abraham’s lifetime and he is the same Melchizedek, because the word Melchizedek means “King of Righteousness.”2 This is the name that Shem adopted in accordance with his righteous life, but it is not said when the Holy City got its name Jerusalem. The name Jerusalem is first mentioned in Holy Scripture in the book of Joshua, “And they brought forth those five kings unto him out of the cave, and the king of Jerusalem…”3 The Jebusites, descendants of Canaan, Ham’s son, had possessed Salem in the country of Canaan from ancient times until the Israelites came. They built a castle on Mount Sion. In 1050 BC after David became king, the Jebusites were driven out of Jerusalem by him. He then transferred his throne to this place and called the city “David’s City.” How many amazing and glorious mysteries are revealed in the name of Jerusalem! Melchizedek, Lord of Righteousness, the High Genesis 11:11. Hebrews 7:2. 3 Joshua 10:23. 1 2

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Priest of the Old Testament, the first Prophet of Christ the Saviour — also as David the Prophet says, “Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.”4 He builds the “City of Peace,” and buries there the fallen Adam on Golgotha. The Son of God, the everlasting High Priest of the New Testament, reconciles with the Creator this City of Peace and the fallen creatures of God by his voluntary death on Golgotha, and grants peace to the world by his rising again on the third day. “O, Jerusalem, the holy city, he will scourge thee, for thy children’s works, and will have mercy again on the sons of the righteous. The heathen shall come from far to the name of the Lord God with gifts in their hands and praise thee the Lord God.”5 This prophecy about Jerusalem has come true and is still valid today. But the importance of Jerusalem is not measured only by its past and present. The general idea is this: that during the Lord’s Second Coming the Judgement of the living and the dead will be carried out here, in the place where he had endured death by crucifixion to grant us salvation. This idea is based on Joel the Prophet’s words who, by the inspiration of the Lord, says, “Come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat: for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about.”6 During the Roman reign, the Emperor Hadrian (in 136) renamed the ancient Jerusalem in order to erase it from the Jews’ memory, and called the Holy City “Aelia Capitolina.” It derived from his royal name, and from the Temple of Zeus Capitolinus, which he built in Jerusalem. For a period of 300 years, when Jerusalem was under the pagans, the bishops of the city were called the bishops of “Aelia” and it was only Constantine the Great who restored its historical name to “Jerusalem.” The next day, at 11 o’clock, we went to Christ the Saviour’s Church of the Resurrection. Unfortunately, the doors were locked. On this day we went to pray in the Monastery of St Abraham, which had been built by the Georgian kings, and where some Georgian Fathers had also lived. Later on the Greek monks came to possess this monastery. Here they show the place where AbraPsalm 110:4. Tobias 13:11–14. 6 Joel 3:12. 4 5

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ham intended to sacrifice his son Isaac to God. Some five years ago in this monastery a water cistern was discovered, built by the Holy Queen Helena. The cistern has arches, fifteen sagenes long and six sagenes deep. Much water drips from the rock and it is still running there. Rains make it more abundant in autumn and spring, till the end of March. In fact this is the water storage for the inhabitants of this monastery as there are no rivers and springs in Jerusalem, and water is supplied from the rainwater collected in the wells, as it is in the Georgian monasteries of David Gareja and St John the Baptist.

Figure 2. Christ the Saviour’s Resurrection Church in Jerusalem

Just two years ago, a certain wealthy English lady7 asked the Ottoman authorities to grant her permission to bring water to Jerusalem at her own expense, on condition that she would manage its supervision. The Ottoman government did not agree with her request. They refused her, and told her, “Give us 20,000 tumans and we shall do it ourselves.” But this lady did not agree to such a suggestion. 7

Angela Burdett-Coutts.

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Now, there are two big three-storied buildings in Jerusalem built by her, but she has not yet announced their purpose. On April 2, 1820 noble Giorgi Avalishvili had read a Georgian inscription written on a stone in the monastery of the Holy High Priest Abraham, in Jerusalem, “I, Giorgi Chikoidze, the servant of God and my master, noble Ioane Abashidze, was sent from Kartli to renovate the monastery of the High Priest Abraham at the expense of my master. I, the restorer of this chapel, have fulfilled the order of my noble master — may his soul, his household and his kinship be remembered for centuries. But for the redemption of my sinful soul I plead with any Orthodox Christian who may read this, to remember in thy prayers noble Ioane Abashidze and his vassal, Aznaür Giorgi Chikoidze. September 11, 1599.” Now the Greeks are in possession of this monastery and they have entirely ruined this Georgian inscription: as it is in every other monastery that the Georgians had ever built in Palestine. On June 2, Wednesday, at 3 o’clock in the afternoon we appeared before his Holiness Damianos, the Patriarch of Jerusalem. There were three other clergymen with me: an archpriest, a priest, and a priest monk, all of them Russians. He received us all with paternal love and asked us which countries we were from. When I told his Holiness that I was Georgian he asked me about Alexandre, Grigori and Besarion, the Bishops of Georgia. He did not know that the dioceses of Guria and Samegrelo were already united. After that we asked his blessing for us to celebrate the liturgy in the churches of Jerusalem. He asked us for letters of testimony. The others presented them, but since I had no certificate from the ecclesiastical authority, he was not going to grant me permission to conduct services. I persuaded his Holiness that I was Georgian, Kakhetian by birth and that I knew the place and the village Aghdgoma that the King of Kakheti, Leon, had donated to Christ’s Sepulchre. He said, “I myself have been in the village of Aghdgoma.” To confirm my identity I also told him, “As I am a member of the Council of Georgian Diocesan Educational Institutions, I have information that at the beginning of this year, our Council made a suggestion to your representative in Tiflis, Archimandrite Sophronius, the Superior of the Jerusalem Church (Jvaris Mama). It was suggested by our Council to start a parish school in the courtyard of the church. In accordance with his duties he spoke to your Holiness about our suggestion. Last April we were told at the

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council meeting that you are against it. Now I would like to ask you again, with great humility, to give us one room in the yard of Jvaris Mama Church to found a school.” His Holiness promised me to consider this request in their Synod and to carry out my suggestion. After this conversation His Holiness was assured of my identity and permitted me to conduct services, both in Jerusalem, and in the churches outside the city wherever I should choose. Then as it is customary here, he offered us sherbet and coffee. At 4 o’clock in the evening, on Wednesday June 2, we were deigned worthy, for the first time, to worship Christ the Saviour’s Life-giving Sepulchre, which, to quote a hymn sung in the churches, is “More beautiful than Paradise and more glorious than the King’s spouse, like the Source of our Resurrection.” Christ’s Tomb itself is a little church within a larger church. The Greeks call the Lord’s Life-giving Sepulchre “Holy Kuvuklia”8 meaning the “burial vault,” or the “Royal Treasury,” because it was here that His body was laid for three days when He was dead, the Saviour of Mankind. The doors of the entrance are quite low, so that when one enters the place one has to bow one’s head almost to one’s knees. The tomb itself is covered with a marble stone. Three icons of the Resurrection are placed here. The middle one is Greek; on the right hand is the Roman Catholics’ icon, and on the left is that of the Armenians. The night service is conducted at Christ’s tomb daily after midnight. First it is conducted by the Greeks — or the Orthodox — then by the Armenians, and lastly by the Franks. But when the Russians or the Georgians want to conduct the service at this Holy Place, they are not allowed to conduct the service independently, but only with the Greek clergy. They are afraid that Russians or Georgians might lay claim to their rights. The Copts have built their own altar next to Christ’s oratory on the west. The Greek, the Armenian and the Frankish Fathers who profess the Christian Faith, live in cells inside the church.

8

From the Latin cubiculum.

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Figure 3. Christ the Saviour’s Tomb

We venerated Christ’s Tomb. The devout heart can never express that divine moment when a Christian first becomes worthy of such spiritual comfort and joy! Then I turned to my companion from Orenburg, Father Archpriest I. Solomin and told him, “Let us utter our present religious emotions.” He asked me, “How can we do so?” “By singing appropriate hymns,” I answered. Then he asked me, “Could we be allowed?” I answered, “Who can forbid us?” Then we started to sing the following hymns, “Joseph the Handsome has taken down from the Cross thy incorrupt Body…,” “Christ is risen from the dead ….,” “The angels sing in heaven to your Resurrection, Christ the Saviour,” “We have seen Christ’s Resurrection,” “The angel is singing, ‘Hail to thee Mother of God, highly favoured’,” “Shine, new Jerusalem…,” “Sleep now, thou Holy One, with thy flesh …” Then a Greek priest monk who was standing there made a sign to us, meaning that it was time for us to leave the place. On leaving the chapel of Christ’s Tomb we saw Frankish monks standing there already dressed in their vestments who had been waiting for us to leave the place. We noticed that they looked at us sternly. As we were to learn somewhat later, they were discontented because we had used half an hour of their time. They only calmed down when they found out that we were not Greeks, but pilgrims who had recently arrived from Russia and

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Georgia. The head of the Frankish clergy went into the chapel of Christ’s Sepulchre, but the other monks knelt outside the Sepulchre, because no more than four people can stand next to the Tomb. The litany started with hymn singing that lasted for half an hour. Then, while singing a hymn, they went to the right, to their own chapel, that had once belonged to the Georgians. The Church of Christ’s Resurrection is closed every day at seven o’clock in the evening by the doorkeeper, appointed by the Ottomans. He also opens it at five o’clock in the morning, after the Greeks have conducted their service. The Ottoman guards also have their lodgings in the church, and apparently this is where they perform the Namaz, their customary prayer. The price for opening the church door is fixed: two manets for opening one door every day, and three for both doors. Only when the Patriarch himself conducts the service at a Feast, are both doors opened. To see Christ the Saviour’s Resurrection Church — in every way the Most Holy of Holies — in such a condition is a great sadness to the heart of a devout Christian. An enormous entrance door is to the south of Christ’s Resurrection Church and the other door beside it had been blocked by the Ottomans. Also to the south, under the dome of this church, is Golgotha, the place where Lord Jesus Christ was crucified. An altar built by the Orthodox is there as well. An enormous cross is erected behind the altar. It represents the Lord Jesus Christ on the Cross, with the full-length figures of the weeping Mother of God on the right side, and on the left, with a sad face, Christ’s beloved disciple John. Even a stony heart would be moved and softened at this sight. We knelt in front of our crucified Lord, the Saviour of mankind. We venerated him and sang hymns, “We worship your cross, Lord.” “God, save your nation and bless your dwelling, grant victory by the Cross over the barbarians to our King and Emperor, thy righteous Nikolai Alexandrovich;” we also sang the Hymn to Joseph the Handsome who took down Christ’s Incorrupt Body from the Cross and buried Him in his garden, “in the cave that he had cut out for himself.” Since this hymn does not exist in Georgian, I

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have translated it directly from Slavic,9 “We have come to praise thee, Joseph, who art eternally remembered. Thou who hast come to Pilate at night, and hast received Him back who is the life of all, Give me the Stranger who has no place to shelter himself; give me the Stranger who has been treacherously forced to die by his pernicious disciple; give me the Stranger whose mother saw him hanging on the cross: and she besought and lamented, “Woe unto me, my son! Woe unto me, my Light, and my beloved son!” for the prophecy foretold by Simeon in the church has come true today, “a sword will pierce your heart.” We worship your passion, Christ! We worship your passion, Christ! We worship your passion, Christ, and your holy resurrection!” In this church is a pillar to which Christ the Saviour was tied during the Flagellation. Here they show the place where the guards divided Christ’s garment and cast lots for his vesture (Psalm 22:18). The cave of Christ’s Tomb is almost a sagene square, and long enough to lay out the dead man’s body. The distance left between the tomb and the walls is one-and-a-half paces. The stone bed, on which Jesus Christ’s incorruptible body was laid, is on the right of the entrance. It is covered with marble, not in order to bring beauty, but to protect it against the worshippers, some of whom used to break off pieces from the tomb as presents. St John of Damascus’ Troparion, which is carved round the cave of Christ’s Tomb, says, “We know thee as the one covered with light and as the most beautiful Paradise. Thou, who hast appeared to us as the Saviour of the whole world. Thou, Christ our God, most glorious of all the lights, who hast risen and thy tomb has appeared to us as the source of our resurrection.” The marble shelf of the Holy Tomb is sawn in two and is one finger deep. This has two explanations. The first one is that the monks of the Holy Sepulchre themselves sawed the marble into two, fearing that Sultan Saladin — who used to take marble from the churches in order to build a mosque — would snatch this piece of marble from the Holy Sepulchre. The second reason is said to have been that the marble over Christ’s tomb was covered by a golden plate, nailed at the corners with iron nails, and was welded with lead. 9

Meaning “Church Slavonic” throughout this book.

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When Saladin with his army besieged Jerusalem, the monks were terrified that the golden plate which covered Christ’s tomb might come into the hands of the invader. They started hastily to tear it off. But since they could not tear off the nails, which had been welded with lead, they had to saw the marble to remove the golden plate, and in the mean time they broke the four corners of the marble. The chapel of Christ’s Tomb is lit by lamps hanging from the arches. Thirteen of them belong to the Orthodox, and some of them might have been presented by the Georgian kings. Another thirteen belong to the Roman Catholics, thirteen others to the Armenians, and four to the Copts. By day and night the Holy Sepulchre itself is lighted with lamps, three — that is for each of these nations, for the Greeks, the Armenians and the Latins — when the doors are closed; and six when the holy doors are opened for performing the service. Two Greek monks who light the lamps in the Holy Sepulchre are appointed by order of the Sultan, and they are responsible for looking after the “Kuvuklia,” the chapel of Christ’s Sepulchre. The chapel of Christ the Saviour’s Sepulchre is divided into two parts. The first one, right at the entrance, is called the Chapel of the Angel, the one who announced Christ’s joyful resurrection to the Spice-bearing Women. The Chapel of the Angel is a symmetrical square room with equal walls of equal length, measuring about five adles. In the middle stands a tall marble bowl, with a piece of rock inside it. This had covered the entrance of the Lord’s Sepulchre, and after His Resurrection the Angel moved it from the entrance of the Sepulchre. The bowl serves as a Holy Table during the liturgy and the marble cover of the Holy Sepulchre is used as the Prothesis. Fifteen perpetual lamps are hanging over the bowl: five belong to the Greeks, another five to the Latins, four to the Armenians and one to the Copts. Built onto the west of the “Kuvuklia” is the Copts’ poor chapel, the only building to survive after the fire of 1808, which had devoured the whole church. The Georgians had occupied the first place in Golgotha since early Christian times till the eighteenth century. An enormous wide dome spreads over the Kuvuklia, but the Church of Christ’s Resurrection has a much smaller dome.

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Figure 4. View of the Holy City of Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives

CELEBRATION OF THE APPEARING OF THE HOLY FIRE

On Holy Saturday, from early morning, a great number of local Orthodox Christians and pilgrims from all parts of the world and from a great variety of nations, except the Latins, assemble in the Holy Sepulchre. They go to different corners, wherever they prefer. All the lamps and candles which are alight in the church are extinguished. A great number of Ottoman soldiers are stationed round the chapel of the Holy Sepulchre and in the centre of the church. They are there in the church to prevent and to silence any possible disturbance, quite likely to happen during this crowd of people. Before the morning service of Holy Saturday, the Christian Arabs joyfully perform the ceremony of the Appearing of the Holy Fire to them, a ceremony which had been granted to them in old times by the Sultan’s firman. With loud singing they run round the “Kuvuklia” three times, they clap their hands and pray in a loud voice, “God have mercy upon us” and “There is no other faith but the Orthodox faith!” The entrance to the Kuvuklia — or to the chapel of the Holy Sepulchre — is closed and sealed with the special seal of the Muslim doorkeepers of the Holy Sepulchre. In the sanctuary of the church there assemble the Greek Patriarch, or one of the Archbishops of the Holy Sepulchre Church of Jerusalem, who is his Deputy during his absence, and as customary, it is the Metropolitan of Petra. This happens in the presence of all the Orthodox clergy; then the Armenian clergy and the groups of various Christian nations enter the church. When the appointed time comes the Royal Doors open, and the Patriarch or a Metropolitan, dressed only in a white pheison and holding a bunch of tapers for receiving the Holy Fire, accompanied by the clergy dressed in splendid vestments, goes to the chapel of the Holy Sepulchre. They 39

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sing the following hymn, “The Angels in heaven sing to thy Resurrection, Christ the Saviour and permit us, on earth, to glorify thee with pure heart.” The Holy Group of the Clergy walks round the Holy Kuvuklia three times. The gates are unsealed after the litany, and the Patriarch of the Orthodox Greeks, together with the Patriarch of the Armenians, enters the Cave of the Holy Sepulchre. But before entering the Sepulchre the Ottomans search their pockets — almost searching their beards — in case they should be hiding matches. At this joyful moment in the Feast the anxiety calms down in the church. Everybody is filled with expectation and profound silence reigns in every part of the large crowd of the faithful from many nations. Suddenly a loud outcry like thunder is heard of 30,000 people in different languages. It causes the heart to shudder, and the sound is doubled by the high arches of the church. The Holy Fire comes out from Christ the Saviour’s Sepulchre itself and from there the Patriarch lights the candles. The Holy Fire has a bluish light and does not burn. Some people wind the lit up candles round their faces, and they say it does not burn. I was told this by the people who had attended the Appearing of the Holy Fire. Everybody present there, the young and the old, must be holding thirty three candles in commemoration of thirty-three years spent on earth by Jesus the Saviour. The Holy Fire is passed from the round window on the right of the Chapel of the Angel by the Orthodox Patriarch and on the left by the Armenian Patriarch. It is customary for a person from the community of honourable Orthodox families to receive as usual the Holy Fire from the right window and to take it to the sanctuary of the church. Here the Sacristian of the Holy Sepulchre hands it out to everybody present in the church. The Armenians, the Copts and the Syrians receive the Holy Fire from the Armenian Patriarch from the left window. Then they take it to their chapels and hand it out to their people. The Arabs lead the Patriarch by hand back to the sanctuary of the church, where the morning service of Holy Saturday immediately begins. It is accompanied with pealing of the bells, clattering of iron bars, women’s joyful exclamations and the lighting of the church with 30,000 tapers. And from this moment the Fire is lit in the churches of Jerusalem and the adjoining villages, but everyone in the church lights his thirty candles only for five seconds, and then immediately puts them out with a black hat made of wool or

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felt, to prevent the swirling smoke of the tapers from bothering the people standing next to them. The celebration of the Appearing of the Holy Fire inspired the writer of the most excellent hymns of our church to write the Troparion that is sung during the morning service of the Passover: “Everything is filled with light: the sky, the earth, the underworld and all creation celebrates Christ’s Resurrection, that strengthens us!” The monastery of the Franks is built almost all along the north wall of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. The entrance is almost opposite the chapel of the Holy Sepulchre near the front of the Holy Tomb. Once this monastery had belonged to us, the Georgians, and had been dedicated to St John the Evangelist. The Franciscans, the Frankish monks, who were driven out of Sion, where they had been living for a long time, had rented this monastery from the Georgians, in order to live there. Later, as a result of circumstances favourable to them, and because of the lack of money and carelessness of the owners of the monastery, they took possession of it and gave it a different name, “The Monastery of the Saviour.” Some writers call it after the martyr St Catherine. The monastery is decorated with valuable icons and drawings. A group of Custodians of the Holy Land are lodged in the monastery now. They are under the leadership of the igumen who has the following title: “The Custodian of Sion and the Holy Land.” The Board and the associated Council are entrusted with the right to protect all the Holy Places in Palestine that belong to the Franciscans, the majority of whom are Spaniards and Sicilians. One beauty of this monastery is the inner chapel, which is furnished and adorned in excellent taste. The Monastery of St Theodore, adjoining the edifice, is called “Casa Nova” and belongs to the Roman Catholic Church. The Roman Catholic pilgrims, coming to Jerusalem from Western Europe are lodged there free of charge.

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Figure 5. Where the Holy Cross was found (The original is wrongly captioned “The Cave of Christ’s birth”)

On the same day we saw the newly discovered road by which Jesus Christ was taken in Jerusalem to Golgotha at his crucifixion. Another discovery was the city gate and an inscription on stone of the

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Roman Caesar — Hadrian. In the year 135, at his command, Jerusalem was devastated for the second time. The heathen built an idol of Venus at the place of Christ’s crucifixion and at the place of Christ’s resurrection an idol to Jupiter. The pagans had wished to completely hide these Holy Places, and to wipe them out from Christian memory, but, due to God’s will, these pagan places became the shrine or the marking places of Christ the Saviour’s Sepulchre. “And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.”1 The wickedness of the pagans and of their Emperor was in vain. The Holy Places of Jerusalem and the whole of Palestine were preserved in the minds of the Christians for three hundred years, and they used to come to venerate them secretly. The Blessed Queen Helena, driven by Christ’s love, wished to discover these Holy Places. She found Christ’s Life-giving Cross in the year 326. The Church celebrates this on September 14, the Feast of the Elevation of the Holy and Life-giving Cross of the Lord. The first church at the Sepulchre of Christ the Saviour was also built by her, and 300 bishops were summoned to dedicate it. On September 13 it was dedicated and the Feast of “Encenia,” or “Renovation of the Dedication,” was established. It is celebrated annually. That is why (in Georgian) September is called “Enkenistve.”2 In ancient Christian times it was a tradition in churches to celebrate annually the day when the local church had been dedicated. Then this practice fell out of use, and in its place we observe the feast day which commemorates the saint to whom the church is dedicated. The Orthodox altar on Golgotha stands on four small pillars, at the holy place where the Saviour’s Cross had stood. A round opening can be seen beneath the altar where Christ’s Cross had stood. It is decorated with silver, with carvings of Christ’s passion. To the right of the altar is seen the cleft rock, that was cracked at the moment when Christ gave up his soul on the cross. Fourteen 1 2

John 1:5. The month of Encenia.

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precious lamps, the gifts of Christian kings are hanging above the altar. The floor, to the right of the Orthodox altar, is laid in white, black and red stones; and to the south there is a Frankish chapel, which only during the services, is divided with a curtain. During the service on Golgotha the Patriarch and the bishops do not wear mitres out of respect for the place of Christ’s humiliation. Under the north part of Golgotha, which belongs to the Orthodox Greeks, there is the dark chapel of Adam. Beyond the altar, between iron grills, one can see the natural outcrop of Golgotha and the rock which was cleft at the time of Jesus Christ’s death. This cleft rock, which one can see, is reasonably deep. According to a story in an ancient Syriac manuscript, the Righteous Noah buried at this very place the bones and the skull of the First Father Adam. The blood that came out of Jesus Christ’s life-giving side during his crucifixion, dripped on the head of the First Father Adam, who had sinned in Paradise, and washed him from the evil that he had performed in Paradise. This story was the origin of the tradition of showing Adam’s skull and bones below the Cross. In my opinion, the same story must also have been the origin of a widespread tradition of the entire Georgian nation: during the feast when proposing a toast to the deceased they pour some drops of wine on the bread. They also show here the place where, according to tradition, the dust of Melchizedek, the Builder of Jerusalem, and Priest of the Most High God, was laid. On June 3, on Thursday, at 7 o’clock in the morning we went to the Mount of Olives by coach. It is situated to the east of Jerusalem. This is where the Lord Jesus Christ ascended, and here we attended a service held in the Slavic language. This Ascension Church was recently rebuilt by the Russian Mission on the same foundation on which in the fourth century the Blessed Queen Helena had built a church, which was destroyed by the Mohammedan Arabs in the seventh century. A floor mosaic was found among the old ruins, when cleaning the foundations. It represents a fish and a cock and has an inscription. It is like the old Georgian church alphabet written in uncial letters. The early Christians adopted the image, and the word “fish”

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as a symbol or sign that they belonged to a common faith. The word “fish” is ichthus in Greek, and consists of the initial letters of the words, “Jesus Christ, Son of God, Saviour.”3 The image of a cock means a fall — that is the denial by Peter the Apostle — and also a rising up — his repentance and his renewed status as Apostle. Here on the Mount of Olives is shown a footmark of Christ the Saviour that was made during his Ascension. This stone is in a Muslim mosque. Christians are admitted to it, after paying a sum of money, in order to see it, and to venerate the mark of His feet. On the Mount of the Ascension, somewhat below its highest summit, there once stood the splendid Church of the Ascension built by the Blessed Queen Helena in the same place from which the Saviour ascended to heaven. At present, this place has a stone wall round it and it has only one entrance. Near a simple Ottoman mosque with a high minaret, and in the centre of a courtyard, stands an octagonal building with an open dome. When building the church at this particular site, St Helena’s aim was that the worshippers could see the sky, into which Jesus the Saviour had gloriously ascended from this world. The walls in the chapel are bare, with no sacred icons or lamps, and to the right of the entrance, marked in natural rock, the imprint of the Lord Jesus Christ’s left foot is visible. The imprint of the right foot had been removed from this place, and is now kept in Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. The entire walled courtyard belongs to the Ottomans. But Christians of any Church are permitted to conduct services on the altars erected in the middle of the courtyard during these Orthodox feasts: Palm Sunday, the Ascension and the Transfiguration. In 1870, in Jerusalem on the Mount of Olives, under the auspices of the Russian Mission in Palestine, the foundation of a new church was being excavated, when a floor covered with coloured mosaic was discovered. It represented mosaic fowls and fish, the meaning of which I have already described. The Grand Duke of Russia, Konstantin Nikolaevich was present there at that time, and according to his orders this place was fenced with iron railings (решётка). It is forbidden to walk there. In the cupboard they preX stands for ‘ch’ and Θ is ‘th’: I [esous] Ch [ristos] Th [eou] U[ios] S[oter]. 3

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serve bits and pieces of various ancient tomb sculptures, pillars and the ornaments from various buildings which were discovered when the foundations were dug. Near there is an ancient burial-vault from the time when Jerusalem was destroyed. Five or six tombs were hewn in the vault. Some of them are open in which bare bones are visible, but other tombs are closed and firmly plastered up. Crosses and inscriptions are carved (резцом) on the boards. The inscriptions state that some tombs contain the relics of three Christian kings of Georgia. I got this information from the book of the Russian priest, Father Alexander Anisimov published in 1899. Very unfortunately I was not shown these Georgian inscriptions. At present there stands a marvelous church on the Mount of Olives built by the Russians. In 1875 Father Anisimov held a service in the tent at this place on the feasts of Palm Sunday and the Ascension. Archimandrite Antonin is interred here. He was Superior of the Russian Monastery, a public figure, and a benefactor of the Russian Church. The estates of the Russian Mission in Palestine with all their edifices were purchased by the Venerable Father Antonin. All is due to his great experience and skills, in spite of the Greeks who do not wish Russian influence to be enhanced in Palestine. This is the case even though a great number of Greek monasteries here live on the donations of the Russian Orthodox nation. If the Russian income lessens they will die like fish without water. A tall bell tower has been built beside the Church of Ascension by the Russian Mission. Its pealing of bells is very pleasing to the whole of Jerusalem. From this bell tower the Mediterranean Sea can be seen at a distance of 80 versts, and the Dead Sea is visible at a distance of 40 versts. At the time when this famous Father, Venerable Archimandrite Antonin, was the Superior, the Russian Orthodox Palestine Society built a wonderful monastery with two churches in Jerusalem. One is a parish church and another, in Xenon, for sick Russian worshippers; as well as the Ascension Church on the Mount of Olives. A two-storied guest house for more distinguished pilgrims was built next to the monastery.

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Figure 6. The Monastery of the Russians in Jerusalem

They lodge there after paying from 1 to 3 manets a day. The guest house is run by its own lay manager. He has also bought several patches of land and built houses for the pilgrims, with a beautiful garden and a church, in the city of Jaffa by the Mediterranean Sea, by the Oak of Mamre, and in Jericho, again with beautiful gardens and pilgrims’ guesthouses for them to rest in. “The memory of the just is blessed.”4 This blessed father, and public figure, is remembered with respect and prayers by every pilgrim visiting the Holy Places of Palestine, when they see what he has done for the benefit of his country. On the Mount of Olives, where she used to live and work, is the Cave of Venerable Mother Pelagia. Her shrine, that is her tomb, is a little higher up, but I presume that her holy relics are not here, and have been taken elsewhere. This Cave also belongs to the Ottomans. The Venerable Mother Pelagia was from the city of Antioch. She was the daughter of pagan parents. Her beauty was inestimable. She became a prostitute and gained a great fortune. Once she entered a parish church and was moved by the sermons of the Holy Bishop Nonus, about the Last Judgement and the infinite torments of the sinners. Venerable Pelagia wholeheartedly repented of her sins, and enlightened by divine grace, abandoned her pagan 4

Prov 10:7.

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religion and her depraved way of life. She settled down in this cave as a man and spent here over ten years in austerity. The Church celebrates her day on October 8. This place is venerated both by the Muslims and the Jews. At the foot of Mount Eleon, or the Mount of Olives, lies Gethsemane. There was the garden where Lord Jesus Christ prayed in his last hours, and pleaded, “O, my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.”5 Here, in Gethsemane is the Tomb of the All Holy Mother of God, which has a chapel on the tomb itself. In Gethsemane there is a new church, built by the late Russian Emperor Alexander III. It was built to commemorate his mother Empress Maria Alexandrovna, and is dedicated to Mary Magdalene the Equal of the Apostles. The service is held only on Saturdays in this church, and is performed in the Slavic language. The church was consecrated on October 1, 1888, and was attended by Their Imperial Highnesses, the Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich, the Grand Duchess Elizaveta Fiodorovna and the Grand Duke Pavel Alexandrovich.

5

Matthew 26:39.

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Figure 7a-b. The Russian Church in Gethsemane and the Russian Church of Christ’s Ascension on the Mount of Olives

On June 4, on Friday, I attended morning service at 7 o’clock in Gethsemane. The tomb of the All Holy Mother of God is there. A Greek igumen conducted the service. Russian nuns chanted in

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harmony, and their singing was sweet and beautiful. They had come to Jerusalem on pilgrimage and intended to stay here for several months or even years. The Book of the Apostles and the Gospel was at first read in Greek, and then in Slavic. The tombstone serves as an altar. The arch at the entry to the tomb is rather low. On entering one has to bend to the waist, as it is in Christ’s Tomb. The Greeks finished their service at 8 o’clock in the morning. They collected the sacred vessels, the Gospel-book and the vestments. Then the Armenians came in and conducted a service at the same altar. There were no other Armenians besides the clergy. The Copts’ chapel is in the same church as well. It is in the west end, in the corner that belongs to them. The priest of the Copts dressed himself in a long, white alb, with a black cross on its front and back. He covered his head and shoulders with a long white towel. Their communion cup is like ours. He conducted the service with three rather thin communion breads. During the Great Entrance the priest’s back was covered with a large omophorion, in the way usual with the Greeks, and also in the way they have chosen at the Russian Monastery on Athos. The Armenians and the Copts perform their services not only in one church, but also at one and the same time, though their chapels are only separated by a distance of five paces. They clearly interfere with each other, but their ears are well used to such circumstances. Near this same Gethsemane there is the tomb of the Holy and Righteous Joachim and Anna, the parents of the Most Holy Mother of God, Mary, and that of Joseph the Righteous — her betrothed. At the place where Jesus Christ prayed his last prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane there is a monastery of the Franks. A little garden grows there. Near there they also show the place where the Lord Jesus Christ woke the Apostles Peter, James and John from their heavy sleep. He told them, “Wake up! The enemy is close!” Another place is also pointed out where the other disciples were waiting outside the garden. In short, every place where Christ on his last days set His foot is marked here: the place of His Flagellation, His first, second and third falls under the cross, the place where Simeon of

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Cyrene received the Lord’s Cross; and where the Saviour tells the Mothers of Jerusalem, “Weep not for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children.”6

Figure 8. The Garden of Gethsemane

6

Luke 23:28.

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By the entrance of the Church of Christ’s Resurrection, outside on the left, there is an uncial inscription in Georgian on the middle pillar. I could only manage to read the following, “Christ the Saviour take mercy upon Jarvar…” The continuation is scratched out as this part of the pillar has been split. It is said that this was for the following reason. On Great Saturday in 1549, the Orthodox Greek Patriarch was forcibly prevented from entering Christ the Saviour’s Sepulchre to receive the Divine Fire, which miraculously comes out from the Life-giving Sepulchre on Great Saturday. The Ottoman Pasha had granted this right and privilege to the Armenian Patriarch, after accepting a bribe. Nevertheless the Armenian Patriarch is said to have entered Christ’s Tomb, but the candle in his hand was not miraculously lighted. Instead the Holy Fire emerged from Christ’s Tomb, and penetrated the outer wall through this pillar we have mentioned, and it was there that the Orthodox people, standing together with their clergy by the outer doors of the church, lit their candles. But the Armenians claim that Holy Fire appeared from this pillar for the sake of all the worshippers who were poor and all who could not pay the usual toll for the right to wait in the cathedral on Great Saturday until the moment when the Holy Fire appears. Every year on Great Saturday the Holy (that is ‘the Gracious’) Fire comes out from Christ the Saviour’s Sepulchre. On Good Friday, after the morning service at midnight, all the lamps and candles are put out all over the cathedral and in the Holy Sepulchre itself. This continues until the moment when the Orthodox Patriarch is able to receive the Holy Fire from Christ the Saviour’s Sepulchre. Only after that the lamps and candles are again lighted in the whole church. The candles and lamps on Christ’s Sepulchre which from this moment are lit by the Fire received from Christ’s Sepulchre will not be extinguished throughout a whole year, by day or by night. At the glorious litany of the Resurrection there is a procession round the Life-giving Chapel of Christ’s Sepulchre, with twelve precious banners presented by the Greek Caesars and Georgian kings and patriarchs. They sing, “The angels up in the heaven sing of your resurrection Christ the Saviour. Make us also worthy on earth to glorify you with our pure hearts.” During the glorious Resurrection service the Greeks usually read the Gospel in the Greek and Arabic languages; but at the evening service the Gospel

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is read in various languages. After reading each verse from the Gospel the pealing of bells starts. No church in the whole of Palestine can be compared with the riches and beauty of the Church of the Holy Apostle James, Son of Zebedee, in Jerusalem. This church was built by the Georgian King Giorgi Kurapalat, in the second half of the eleventh century. At present, to our great misfortune, for almost a hundred years it has been in the possession of the Armenians. Muraviov, a traveller and a writer about the Holy Places of the Levant, records that there is a document in the Patriarchate of Jerusalem saying that the Armenians have to pass this church on to the Georgians, when the Georgians are able to pay to the Khontkar the annual tax for owning this monastery. But Mr Tsagareli could not find the document in Jerusalem during his visit there in 1883. In Jerusalem, in the Latin Monastery not far from Gethsemane they show the Sheeps’ Pool, which is called “Bethesda” in Hebrew. There were five sections, and this is where a great number of sick people were waiting to be cured in the water when it was troubled. It is where Christ cured the paralytic, or disabled man, who had been ill for thirty-eight years. The cave, or basement, has a steep descent, and there is still water there. In this monastery is exhibited the narrative of the Gospel of John the Evangelist,7 written on paper in twenty languages. I could not find this written in the Georgian language. It seems that nobody knew the Georgian language to write the beginning of this Gospel passage in Georgian. The Holy Places belonging to the Franks are generally kept tidy. In the garden of the same monastery they show the olive tree under which Jesus Christ in His bloody sweat prayed for the last time to the Heavenly Father. On June 4, on Friday, at 7 o’clock in the evening, we went to the Church of the Resurrection. The Ottomans shut the doors at 8 o’clock. A great number of Russian pilgrims — about 120 — and three clergymen, including me, were in the church to attend the vigil. I should also mention here that Greek, Armenian and Latin monks have their own cells and places for most necessary needs within the church itself. The Greek monks, in the presence of the 7

John 5:1–15.

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Archbishop, had Evening Prayers and ate their meal in the church of Golgotha. After the prayer the Greek monks went to their cells, and only we, the foreign visitors, were left in the church. We started to read the Akathisto for the Saviour’s passion. I read the beginning and the end and my companion in Palestine, the Russian Father Archpriest read the middle part. On Golgotha, under the altar there is a recess ornamented in silver. That is where Lord’s Cross had stood. Everyone who sees it, however small his faith, is spontaneously overcome with religious feelings at this sight. After each prayer, the pilgrims venerate this place by kneeling on their knees. Thus, we continued the Akathisto for the Life-giving Sepulchre and the Lord’s Resurrection, for the All Holy Mother of God, and for the Holy Archpriest Nicholas. This went on from 8 o’clock until 12. Russian common people also took part in the prayer, and they not only listened but read and chanted the hymns in harmony.

THE WORLD COMMEMORATION OF PARENTS1: DIFFERENCES BETWEEN OUR SERVICES AND THOSE OF THE GREEKS On June 5, on Saturday, for the World Commemoration of Parents, the bells rang at midnight. We started the midnight prayers in the Church of Christ’s Resurrection. Then we continued with Morning Prayers. It was followed by the liturgy, which we conducted in the Church of Christ the Saviour’s Sepulchre. Four of us took part in the service. One Russian archpriest, me — the only Georgian — and two Greek priest monks. The Greek Archbishop, Cyril, was the superior person conducting the service. On the previous night, before Evening Prayers, the Greek Fathers invited the congregation to the antechamber and suggested to them to write down the names of their living and deceased to be commemorated at the service. The Greeks themselves make the list of the names for commemoration for those who cannot write. For this work the pilgrims give them as much money as they can afford. During the service I noted the following differences which are unusual to us: at the Great Entry and during the bringing out of the Holy Offerings, the chalice and paten, the Emperor of Orthodox Russia was first mentioned, then his wife, his mother and his heir; after this was mentioned the Patriarch of Jerusalem and other Orthodox patriarchs by their names. Then the Archbishop who was conducting the service read the Entrance Prayer, which is usually read from the Prayer Book for the Penitent: “Our Lord God, the 1

This is a description of the Liturgy for the Dead.

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Son and the Word of the Living Lord, the Shepherd and the Lamb.” From the list he read the names of the living people that had been written down there. Then in the same way he read the names of the dead, and the Archbishop read in Russian a prayer that is usually said for the dead when performing the funeral service. This kind of service is called, “The Liturgy of Preparation” (разрешительная литургия). They entirely omitted “Peace to the catechumens” and then the short sermon. Before the blessing, or purification of the Holy Offerings, the Archbishop did not utter the prayer that is established in the Russian and Georgian Kontakions. It is not given in the new Greek Kontakion either. “O, Lord, Thou who on the third day hast revealed Thy most Holy Spirit to Thy Disciples and hast made them Holy, we cannot give you anything, yet renew, we pray Thee, this gift to us, your worshipers.” The same concerns “Thanks be to God.” The Greeks sing only the following words, “It is truly meet and right,” but the Greek Kontakion omits the rest of this hymn. The prayer for the Descent of the Holy Ghost performed during the Eucharist, “O, Lord, Thou who on the third day hast revealed Thy most Holy Spirit to Thy Disciples” is omitted in the newly published Greek Kontakion for the reason, as the Greek Fathers say, that this prayer is not given in the Kontakions of the previous centuries. It is true that this prayer was not in use in John Chrysostom’s time because it had not then been composed. In fact some liturgies and prayers which go back to the Apostles’ times were continuously revised and replenished by the Holy Fathers. But in John Chrysostom’s time some of the hymns had neither been composed nor were in use. For instance: 1) “The only begotten Son and the Word of God, the immortal creation.” 2) Troparions from the 3rd and 6th chants that are read at the Little Entry that is, when the Holy Gospel is brought out, since these hymns were composed after Chrysostom’s time. 3) The Trisagion “Holy God,” was introduced during the time of Patriarch St Proclus, a disciple of Chrysostom. After his unjust exile Proclus became the Sixth Secretary in the Patriarchal Church of Constantinople. In 438 AD Proclus himself persuaded the Byzantine Emperor, Theodosius the Younger to transfer to Constantinople St John Chrysostom’s Holy Relics from the city of Comana in Apkhazeti, thirty years after his death;

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4) Uttering the fervent supplication several times after reading the Gospel; 5) The hymn, “We, who mysteriously resemble the Cherubim,” was composed in the reign of Emperor Justinian the Younger; 6) The Creed, composed in 325 AD in the city of Nicaea during the First Ecumenical Council by the 318 blessed Fathers, and finished in 381 AD in Constantinople at the Second Ecumenical Council. This Orthodox profession was inserted into the Canon of the Liturgy in 510, during the time of Patriarch Timothy; 7) Prayer for the Descent of the Holy Spirit that I have mentioned above; 8) A hymn to praise the Holy Mother of God, “Is truly worthy” and “To the most holy cherubims and the most exalted seraphims.” 9) The hymn said at the end of the service, “Fill my mouth with praise to you, O, Lord,” which is included in the Canon of the Liturgy adopted in 620 AD when Patriarch Sergius and Emperor Heraclius were in office. Although the aforementioned hymns and prayers have been inserted later on into the Canons of the Liturgy, they do not make even the slightest change to the performance of the rites of the Liturgy, which the Holy Church has adopted from the time of the Apostles. The first liturgical rules are ascribed to St James the Apostle, brother of the Lord, the first High Priest of the Church of Jerusalem. This Liturgy of St James the Apostle was being celebrated in the Georgian Church till the ninth century and in the Church of Jerusalem it is performed once a year, on the feast-day of this Apostle. In the fourth century St Basil the Great, the Archbishop of CaesareaCappadocia, shortened the prayers that were to be said secretly during the Liturgy of St James the Apostle. The secret prayers to be said at St Basil’s Liturgy were shortened by St John Chrysostom. But the rite and development of the service have remained completely unaltered. These Great High Priests shortened the secret prayers because it was tiresome for the churchgoers to stand for a long time in the church and listen to them attentively. Ever since John Chrysostom’s time the Holy Orthodox Church has therefore been unchangingly following the Holy Liturgy, that is, the Service.

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Thus, should one hymn or a prayer be omitted from the liturgical rite, on the grounds that it did not exist in the time of the Apostles, who wrote the major rules and prayers of the Liturgy, then other ones too can be left out. In this case the whole liturgy will be ruined, just as when a single thread is taken out from a woven gold brocade, the whole material is certain to come unstitched. “The Apostles’ preachings and the Holy Fathers’ teachings, that in a real sense are the Seal of Religion and God’s Vestment for the Divine service, represent a glorious attire for Christ’s Church and truly glorify the great and pure mystery of the divine ministry.” (Kontakion: [To be sung during the week of] the 318 Holy Fathers of Nicaea). After the liturgy in Christ’s Sepulchre we had the Great Memorial Service at Golgotha for the souls of the deceased First Fathers and Brothers who had died, believing with faith and hope in the Resurrection. It was attended by three bishops, six archimandrites, about twenty igumens, two archpriests, one of them Georgian, the other Russian, and the priest monks. The archdeacon approached each bishop and archimandrite, and they would chant verses of the Hirmoi from the Euchologion. We left the church at 5 o’clock in the morning after performing Morning and Evening Prayers, and the Service for the Dead. The vigil in the Church of Christ’s Resurrection, where Christ the Redeemer’s Life-giving Tomb and also Golgotha, the place of His Crucifixion, are located, made a great impression on me, as on that night I saw with my own eyes and heard with my own ears the religious feelings of common Russian people openly expressed on Golgotha. From 8 o’clock in the evening till midnight the whole congregation faithfully listened, and the old together with the young, the male and the female, sang Akathisto to the Lord’s Passion, to the Life-giving Sepulchre and the Lord’s Resurrection, to the Holy Mother of God, and to the Archpriest St Nicolas the Wonderworker.

LITURGY CONDUCTED BY HIS HOLINESS THE PATRIARCH OF JERUSALEM On June 6, on Sunday, on the day of Pentecost, by the offer of His Holiness Patriarch Damianos, I conducted the service with him. The service was held at Christ the Saviour’s Sepulchre. When His Holiness entered he was met with a cross, with a Gospel-book, with an icon of Resurrection and other icons used during festivals. He entered the church with great ceremony. An enormous cross, like a banner, led the procession. Then followed the kavasses with canes, dressed in red fezzes. In this instance the Greeks neglect Apostle Paul’s teaching, “Every man who prayeth having his head covered, dishonoureth his head. But every woman who prayeth with her head uncovered, dishonoureth her head: for that is even all one as if she were shaven.”1 He was followed by the archbishops. He was dressed in a red velvet mantle. On entering the church he fell to his knees and kissed the Stone of Anointing, where Joseph and Nicodemus, Christ’s secret disciples, had anointed His Wholly Incorrupt Body and then put him to lie in the Sepulchre that had been carved out of the rock in Joseph’s garden. At 7 o’clock in the morning after the veneration, the Patriarch entered the Great Church of the Resurrection. He sat on a high seat on the right hand side, in the centre of the church and we all appeared before him, bowing to him,2 and receiving his blessing. Then they started to dress the Patriarch according to custom. Two panagias were hanging on his chest. On the Feast of Whitsunday he conducted the service together with one metropolitan, one archbishop, 1 2

ance.”

1 Corinthians 11:4–7. It is different from King James’ version. The phrase is “performing metanoia,” that is “performing repent-

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two archimandrites, two archpriests, one Russian and the other Georgian; three priests, one of them Arab and two others, Greeks. The bishops and the archimandrites did not wear mitres at the service. They only had monks’ cowls. Other Greek clergy, regardless of their rank, wear as usual black kamilavks on their heads. On this day the Gospel and the Book of the Apostles were read in three languages: Greek, Arabic and Slavic. The Archdeacon faced to the east when reading the Gospel in Slavic but when reading it in Greek and Arabic he faced to the west, towards the congregation. During the Great Entry the chalice and the paten had gold covers. They covered the Archdeacon’s back with an enormous omophorion and tied it with a tape at the front. When they were singing the cherubic hymn the Patriarch himself censed the altar and the people standing outside it. We walked round the chapel of Christ’s Sepulchre during the Great Entry with the Holy Offerings. The person who was going to be ordained as a deacon was made to walk around the altar three times. Then he was placed in the middle, in front of the altar and not at the right hand corner, as is the custom in the Russian Church. During the ordination, that is, during the blessing of the person, the Patriarch held his hand over the person’s head under the omophorion. During the service, in the middle of the church, the deacon, who had been just ordained, read the list of his ancestors’ education and their work, and stated that he was going on mission to Japan to preach the Christian faith. On the Feast of Pentecost, when I myself was the one who conducted the service with His Holiness, the Greek Patriarch of Jerusalem laid his hand, that was covered with the omophorion, on the head of the person who was being ordained as a deacon. In my opinion it is a legitimate action, since the ordination to the three senior clerical sees is called consecration, рукоположение, xirotonia in Greek, which literally means “laying on of hands.” That is why the sacrament of becoming a clergyman is called “consecration,” in the same way that the sacrament of marriage service is called “the rite of crowning,” because putting crowns on the heads of the groom and the bride constitutes the main ceremony at this Divine Service. During the elevation of the chalice and the paten the Patriarch again mentioned the living and the deceased, in the prayers in Russian; as in the case when the Archbishop was conducting the service, which I have mentioned before.

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Evening prayer was held after the service. The Patriarch opened it with the psalm: “My soul blesses the Lord.” He read it by heart and facing the people. Evening prayer was attended by the entire clergy of Jerusalem: namely six archbishops, and eight archimandrites. The Patriarch, kneeling on his knees, read the first prayer in Greek; the second prayer was read in Russian by Archbishop Meleti and the third one was read with great emotion by an old Arab priest in his native language. Vespers ended at 10 o’clock in the morning. After Morning and Evening Prayers the Patriarch was seen off to his palace with due honours. He went on foot because coaches cannot pass along this narrow street. An enormous cross was held in front of him like a banner; the kavasses, like our gendarmes, were walking ahead of everyone to keep order. The kavasses also have the same responsibility in the church. After the service we came to the Patriarch to congratulate him on this holiday. He was sitting on a high seat resembling a royal throne. They treated us with sherbet and coffee as is customary. A great number of lay people as well as the clergy also congratulated the Patriarch.

Figure 9. Jerusalem in the Time of Christ’s Early Life

THE PLACE OF THE LAST SUPPER On June 7 I visited the Choir of Sion, a chapel on an upper storey. At present an Ottoman mosque is there, but before, in the time of the first Christians the Church of Sion was there. From this place the revered name of Sion was adopted, which was given to several splendid churches built in Georgia. In this mosque, that was once the Sion Choir, are the tombs of David, Solomon and other kings of Israel. Here was “a large upper room furnished and prepared”1 where the Last Supper took place. The Saviour washed the feet of His disciples here, foretold His voluntary torments and established them in faith and love. From here He left with His disciples to Gethsemane. The Apostles had assembled here “for fear of the Jews, with the doors shut.” After His Resurrection and the Lord appeared to them “when the doors were shut,”2 He comforted them and granted them the grace of the Holy Spirit. And again in this place He appeared for the second time to assure the Apostle Thomas that he had risen. It was here where the Apostle Matthias was chosen by casting lots, in place of the traitor Judas who had fallen away. The Holy Ghost in the form of flames came down upon the Apostles here, on the fiftieth day. A little before the Holy Ghost descended, the twelve Apostles and the All Holy Mother of God had cast their lots in Sion Choir to decide where they should go to teach the Gospel, and the lot fell that Iveria — Georgia — was allotted to the Mother of God. In this Sion Choir the Apostle St James, the Lord’s brother, also called “the Younger,” was proclaimed the first Bishop of Jerusalem. Here was held the first meeting of the Apostles in Jerusalem. St John the Apostle performed the first service for the All Holy Mother of God here. She lived 1 2

Mark 14:15. John 20:19.

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here for twenty-four years protected by the first church of her Son, and she ended her earthly life here. Another part of Sion, which is separated with a stone wall, is a graveyard for Christians, regardless of their faith, nationality, or title. The Arab clergy in Jerusalem have taken over the right that, when a Christian of another nationality dies, the family has to invite an Arab priest to conduct the funeral service. Arab priests also have another right. When any church of Jerusalem has its feast day of the church, an Arab priest will take part in the service, and the proceeds of the donations throughout this day will go to him. On June 7, on Monday, the day of the Holy Ghost, I again performed the service with the Patriarch of the Russian Mission in the Trinity Church. Two archimandrites, two archpriests, and twelve priests and priest monks conducted the service that day with the Patriarch. When the Patriarch entered the church, we welcomed him with the following ceremony: the Russian Archimandrite, the Superior of this monastery, stood in the centre with the cross, the Greek Archimandrite with the festal icon stood on the right, and I stood on the left with the Gospel. When the Patriarch entered, the Russian Archimandrite brought the Patriarch’s mitre, the Greek Archimandrite the omophorion, and I brought the epigonation, the Russian Archpriest brought the pisson, and the others brought the rest of the vestments. During the liturgy, after “She is worthy,” or the Ninth Hirmologion of the feast day, the Greek Church observes the following rite: a big plate, full of uncut and cut pieces of Holy Bread is provided for either the Patriarch, or the senior person who conducts the liturgy. This person takes into his hands the plate, or dish, and with it makes the sign of the cross on the Holy Gifts, then he makes a cross with the paten, full of Holy Bread, takes several pieces of it and with it touches the chalice. Then he gives the plate to the deacon who had provided it, and at the same time gives one piece of the communion bread to him. Two choirs sang during the service: the choir of the Patriarchate [which sang] in Greek and the choir of lay people of the monastery which sang in Russian. The Gospel and the Apostolic Book were first read in Greek and then in Slavic. The Patriarch and the archimandrites read the ekphoneseis in Greek and other clergy said them in Slavic. Each of us had to read the ekphoneseis in turn. I had to read the second ekphonesis: “And make us worthy, O Lord,

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to be courageous enough to appeal to thee, Lord and Heavenly Father.” The sacristy in the church of this monastery is exemplary. In one wardrobe only phelonia are kept, in another oraria, in the third one surplices, and so on. There are twenty sets of vestments for priests and deacons, in addition to that there are holy vessels made of gold and silver — nine pairs in all. Some are valuable and are gifts of royal members of the Russian Imperial Family. After the service Father Archimandrite Raphael, the Superior of the Russian monastery, invited his Holiness and the other clergymen who had served the liturgy with him to have a cup of tea in his residence. Besides the clergy there were present the Russian Consul’s wife, his secretary and his dragoman.3 His Holiness asked me during tea time, “How do you like our city?” I answered, “I am thankful to Christ the Saviour who has blessed my pilgrimage and made me worthy both of seeing the Holy City of Jerusalem and worthy of venerating His Life-giving Sepulchre.” Then he said, “I learned Georgian in Tiflis, but I have forgotten it here! I understand it only a little. Rogor mshvidobit brdzandebit?”4 I politely expressed my gratitude for such paternal care and attention towards me. Every Friday, the Jews living in Jerusalem gather at the Place of Wailing. It is near Sion, by the city wall, and incorporates stones from the time when Solomon’s Temple was built in 1040 BC. In tears and lamentation they say the following verses: the Palace (чертоговъ) that is ruined, the Temple that is demolished, the walls that are pulled down, our glory that is ravaged, the glorious men who have fallen here, our most precious treasures that have been burnt here, and for the priests, who have defiled this altar …

The people, squatted on one ankle, groan at each verse: “We are sitting here and we are weeping.” 3 4

A translator at embassies and consulates in the eastern countries. “How are you?”

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Then the leader raises his voice and continues, “We beseech Thee, have mercy on Sion” People. Leader. People. Leader. People. Leader. People. Leader. People.

Gather the sons of Israel. Strength, strength to the Saviour of Sion. Speak a joyful message to Jerusalem, To crown Sion with glory and splendour. Have mercy on Jerusalem, For thy kingdom to come again on Sion, Console those who weep for Jerusalem. For peace and joy to come to Sion, And on Sion Jesse’s rod will bloom.5

They gather on Fridays, as it is on that day that their national existence came to an end. On that day the Jewish people were completely devastated, Solomon’s Temple was ruined, and burned, and they were exiled to captivity in Babylon. This disaster came upon them 500 years before Christ’s birth. But then Jerusalem was once again ruined. Zerubbabel’s Temple was burned down. It was in this place that Christ the Saviour, just before his crucifixion, had preached and foretold the devastation and demolition of Jerusalem, when he viewed it from the Mount of Olives, “and wept over it saying, if thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! But now they are hid from thine eyes. For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side. And shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation.”6 “This generation shall not pass away, till all be fulfilled.”7 This prophecy was fulfilled seventy years after Christ’s birth, that is in the thirty-sixth year after Christ’s Ascension. Like the first devastation of Jerusalem, and the burning down of Solomon’s Temple by Nebuchadnezzar, the King of the Chaldeans, in 500 BC, the second destruction of Jerusalem, and the burning down of ZerubIsaiah 11:1. Luke 19:41–44. 7 Luke 21:32. 5 6

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babel’s Temple by the Roman Caesar Titus, had all of it happened on August 10, on Friday. By this the Jews want to acknowledge that the wholesale devastation of their nation, the destruction of Jerusalem, and of the Holy Temple, and their scattering into all parts of the world, came upon them according to God’s will, for their infidelity and unfaithfulness. Friday is the day when Pilate said to the Jews, about Jesus Christ, “I am innocent of the blood of this just person: see ye to it. Then answered all the people and said, His blood be on us, and our children.”8 It was again on Friday when the Saviour of the world, who was crucified by them, gave up his soul on the cross, praying to his heavenly Father, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.”9

Figure 10. The Mount of Olives

On June 7, on Monday, at 5 o’clock in the evening, accompanied by the Russian Archpriest, we went to Bethlehem by coach and reached the place in an hour’s time. It is ten versts away from Jerusalem. We stayed in the Greek monastery. We were received by Archbishop Stephen, and he asked us where we had come from. At 8 9

Matt 27:24–25. Luke 23:34.

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the very first meeting he suggested to us to write down the names of the living and the deceased in the commendatory book, in order to mention them during the service. On our part we gave all that we could afford. We went into the church, venerated the place of Christ’s birth, or the Cave, above which is built the Greek chapel. Under the altar there is a place decorated with silver in the form of a star, that reads: “Here was born the Saviour of the world, Lord Jesus Christ.” The worshippers fall down to their knees and venerate this Holy Place. In 1850 the French Empress Eugenia donated to this altar a valuable curtain stitched with gold, that cost several thousand manets. This curtain was stolen, and became the cause of a great unrest before the War in the East. In the same church on the right, some two paces away, we venerated the Manger, in which was laid the new-born boy, Jesus Christ, the God of the First Century. This Holy Manger is in the Frankish chapel, and to the left there is the Armenian altar.

BETHLEHEM The blessed city, centuries old — where God himself, the Begetter of the World, who was born by the All Holy Virgin Mary, and has deigned to appeared in flesh to live on earth — is built on the slope of a mountain which goes down into the valley. It is south of Jerusalem, at a distance of two hours. It is called by different names in the Holy Scripture: “Bethlehem,” and “Judaean Bethlehem” in order to differentiate it from Bethlehem of Galilee that had belonged to the tribe of Zebulun. [It is also called] “Ephrata” or “the house Euphrata” for its uncommon fertility, as “Ephrata” means “abundance,” “fertility” in the Jewish language. It is also called “David’s City,” as the homeland of David, the Prophet and King. Bethlehem means “house of bread” in Hebrew. This “house of bread” has become the “house of divine blessing and grace,” which has been given to us, the helpless humans, by the incarnation in this place of the only-begotten Son of the Lord. “But thou, Bethlehem in the land of Judah, art not the least among the princes of Judah: for out of thee shall come a governor, that shall rule my people Israel.”1 At the beginning of the second century AD, the Jews were still in Bethlehem. The Roman Pope Euarestes was from a Jewish family in Bethlehem. Emperor Hadrian forbade the Jews either to settle down or to live in Bethlehem. Nowadays no Jewish person can be found there. The first church on the place of Christ’s birth was built by blessed Queen Helena, which was later destroyed by the Saracens. In the fifth century it was rebuilt by Caesar Justinian. The inhabitants of present-day Bethlehem number up to six thousand. They are mainly Christians. More than half of them are Orthodox Arabs, the rest are Latins, Armenians, and Copts, and 1

Micah 5:2; Matt 2:6.

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only a quarter of them are Muslims. The population of Bethlehem is mainly involved in ploughing and sowing wheat and raising cattle. In their free time they make rosaries, crosses, icons, and bangles made of mother of pearl. In spring they collect local flowers of many colours, and dry them so skilfully that they never miss their natural beauty, and of these they make albums. These examples of their art are bought in great numbers by the foreign pilgrims. The natural products of Bethlehem are: oil prepared from olives, figs, pomegranates and specifically wine. Wine in the whole of Palestine is sweet. It also tastes of earth, as vines are not supported by poles, and the grapes touch the soil. Because of this it is difficult to drink this wine for the men of our country, unless it is dissolved in water. Surely this kind of wine is meant, when on Pentecost after Christ’s Ascension, the Holy Ghost came upon the Apostles, and they started to praise God in various languages. Some heathen “mocking said, these men are full of new wine.”2 “This was because the heathen could not recognise the power of the Holy Ghost that had come upon the Apostles, and they were thought to be drunk because of their strange language” (Troparion read at the Afternoon Service in the week of Pentecost) Archbishop Timothy says that even in the eighteenth century in the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem Georgians still had an altar for conducting services. Basil the Great, in his wonderful sermon on the day of the Birth of Christ the Saviour says, by means of the Mother of God, “How shall I name you, my dear? What shall I call you? Mortal? But I conceived you by the descent of the Holy Ghost? Or shall I call you God? But you have a human body. But how shall I behave with you? Should I approach you by censing you with incense or should I feed you with milk from my breast? Ought I to take care of you, like the most tender mother, or do I have to serve you falling down in front of you like dust? Behold, this miraculous contradiction (противоположностъ): heaven is your dwelling and I cradle you with a lullaby on my knees!” While I was venerating Christ in the Saviour’s birthplace in the Church of Bethlehem, I called to mind these words of the Universal Teacher, the Great Archbishop Basil. 2

Acts 2:13.

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THE MOTHER OF GOD’S MILK CAVE In Bethlehem, two hundred paces away to the east of the Greek Monastery, there is a small cave carved in the cliff. It is two sagenes long, one sagene and a half wide and one sagene high. The entrance to the cave is from the north by means of a staircase with thirteen steps. This cave belongs to the Frankish monks and is called: “The Cave of the Mother of God and the Milk Cave.” It was in this cave that the Mother of God had hidden herself with the young child from Herod’s persecution in the first century, when the Holy Family fled to Egypt, till the righteous Joseph had bought in Bethlehem the necessary provisions for their journey. It is said that when the most Holy Mother of God was feeding the baby Jesus Christ, some drops of her milk fell to the ground, and as a result the stones in this cave are as white as milk. They scratch it and dissolve it in water, which turns as white as milk itself. From the precipitation they make a kind of flat bar, called either “Mother of God’s Milk,” or else “Sealed Earth,” since these bars, of which an innumerable quantity are taken to Europe for trade, are sealed with the Cross, or with the letter “M” (Mary). They say that these bars, dissolved in water, help women at childbirth when they need it during a difficult delivery. When it is needed it is done this way: a piece of the bar is put into a glass of water for three or four seconds, and when the water becomes white, they take out the piece of the bar, dry it, and keep it for another use. Then this water is drunk.

THE VALLEY OF THE SHEPHERDS To the east of Bethlehem, after passing the fertile valley that had been the Field of Boaz, where Ruth used to collect wheat at harvest, on the right side of the road there is an Arab Village “BeitSahur el-Nassara,” populated by the Orthodox. They are about 500 in all. To the left of this village there lies the fertile “Valley of the Shepherds” where on the holy night of Christ’s birth the poor shepherds became worthy of the angels’ song of praise, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men!”3 3

Luke 2:13–14.

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This place of the tidings of joy is enclosed with a wall, once solid and now half ruined. In the north of this enclosure are preserved some ruins. They consist of big stones, which are evidence that at one time there had been a big church with an altar, which is preserved till now. Almost in the middle of the wall one goes down into the cave, where the church is built, which is thirty foot long and twenty foot wide. The floor of the church is laid in stones, but occasionally with mosaics — coloured pebbles. The church is fairly poor. They ascribe its construction to the Holy Queen Helena’s period. It is the parish church for the inhabitants of Beit Sahur village. During the pilgrimage the worshippers normally have a memorial service performed by an Arab priest in old shabby clothes, and he reads the appropriate Gospel to the Russians, and always does it in a distorted Slavic language. At Christ the Saviour’s place of birth “there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, ‘Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.’”4 To our shame, Christ the Saviour’s Church of the Resurrection is being guarded by the armed infidel Ottomans, because we have forgotten the commandment of the Lord Jesus Christ, “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you.”5 “Love ye one another: as I have loved you. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.”6 But besides this, we do not fulfil the Apostle’s teaching, “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another.” 7 Therefore these Holy Places are frequently liable to animosity, jealousy, anxiety, torments, anguish and almost manslaughter, not only among the different Christian confessions but among different representatives of Christ’s religion. For such actions, as the Prophet Isaiah had said, “The name of the Great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ, and His

Luke 2:13–14. John 14:27. 6 John 13:34–35. 7 Galatians 5:15. 4 5

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true religion, is blasphemed because of us among the unfaithful Muslims.”8 In the Church of Bethlehem, as in Jerusalem, the Ottoman cavalry are consistently there to keep order, and put an end to controversy and arguments among the Christians. The services performed in various languages make Christ’s Church as delightful as a green valley scattered around with colourful flowers, an attractive scene pleasing to one’s eyes, and smelling very agreeable. For this reason we must “endeavour to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”9 In Bethlehem at the place of Christ’s birth there is a large church built by Emperor Justinian. The altar in the middle of the church belongs to the Greeks. The church is built like Agia Sophia in Constantinople, but is different in size. The dome of the church is made of wood, since the Christians were unable to agree on how to rebuild the cupola. The Ottoman authorities have renewed it with a wooden ceiling, and they exacted payment from the Christians. A stone wall divides the church in the middle, because one half of it, on the western side, had once been turned into a stable by the Ottomans. The Christians built a wall to separate the other half, which is the East part, to protect Christ the Saviour’s birth place. The second half is also in the possession of the Greeks at present, and the lamps there are also alight; but the central wall of “enmity” which divides the church has not been “pulled down” by the Greeks as yet. We spent the night there. Next day, at 4 o’clock in the morning, after attending Morning Prayer which started at 1 o’clock in the morning, we had prayers said for us, and then left Bethlehem.

8 9

See Rom. 2:24. Eph. 4:3.

THE CITY OF HEBRON AND THE OAK OF MAMRE: THEIR MEANING After three hours’ safe journey by coach, we arrived in the city of Hebron, which is considered the most ancient city in Palestine, contemporary with the Archpriest Abraham. We walked from here for three versts to the Oak of Mamre, as the narrow road makes it impossible for the coach to pass along it. Under this Oak Abraham had invited the Holy Trinity in the image of three pilgrims. On this day they were having a service under the Oak; although there is no church there, the service on the third day after celebrating the Descent of the Holy Ghost, in reverence to this holy place, is performed with the Patriarch’s permission and blessing. We were there only in time for the prayers. Out of four oak branches of the historical tree mentioned in Genesis, by now only two of them have remained alive. At first sight this does not look like our oak trees. The leaves are narrower and slightly thornier, although the acorn and the bark are very much like ours. This land, of about a hundred days work, was bought by the Russian Palestine Society, and the person who did it was the late Archimandrite Antonin, a very caring and active person for the benefit of the Russian Church. An enormous vineyard is planted here, where the Arabs work. The Oak itself is enclosed with an iron railing for about twenty sagenes all around it. The people venerating it are not allowed to pick even a leaf of this Oak, for a commemoration. Only the acorns which have fallen down are sold to those who wish to purchase them. The Russian Palestine Society has built here a twostoried building where the worshipers can rest. In the vicinity they have built a lofty stone tower from which both the Mediterranean and the Sea of Lot can be seen. In the city of Hebron there is a big mosque under which are the tombs of the Holy and Righteous Archpriests Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, as well as the Holy and Righteous Mothers, Sarah, Rebecca and Leah. Blessed Helena had 75

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built a church here, which was turned into a mosque by the Arabs in the seventh century. Christians and Jews can look into the chapel only through a hole outside the building, through which nothing is visible.

Figure 11. The Oak of Mamre

When returning from Bethlehem, the first thing to encounter on the Hebron road is the Prophet Elijah’s Greek Monastery which we entered and venerated on our way back from Hebron. This monastery had once been the house of the Georgian Fathers, as it had been built by the Georgian nation. Some four versts away from the main road, St George’s Church is visible. There they have people possessed with devils, who are tied up with an iron chain, and are cured there. Near the road, there are King Solomon’s Pools enclosed with a high stone wall, where the rainwater is collected in autumn and winter. But now it lies derelict and dirty. Next to the Pools there is a large stone wall which was evidently used for fighting and repelling the enemy. On June 8, in the evening, we safely returned to the place in Jerusalem where we were stationed. During each pilgrimage, both in Jerusalem and elsewhere in the neighbourhood, we were always accompanied by an armed kavas from the Black Mount, who was our guide, and protected us from the highwaymen.

THE GEORGIANS’ SPLENDID MONASTERY OF THE CROSS Wednesday June 9. On this day I visited and prayed in the Monastery of the Cross that is three or four versts away from Jerusalem. The Greeks themselves call this monastery a Georgian Monastery. To see it made my soul extremely sorrowful. At one time the famous and glorious Georgian nation had possessed 18 monasteries in Jerusalem, and now none of them is ours! Woe to our weakness! The Theological Seminary is in this monastery now, where Greek and Arab young people are educated in seven languages. But who supports this Seminary, and how? This monastery was built by the Georgian kings in the fifth century, and it has an estate in Tiflis called “Jvaris Mama”1 that had been given by the same kings. Here in Tiflis, there is a church, that, with the houses and inns round it, belongs to [the monastery]. But the income of these inns and of the church supports a seminary abroad in order to care for and educate foreigners. Last year the Council of Diocesan Institutions of Georgia suggested to the Superior of this church, Archimandrite Sophronius, Greek by origin, to arrange the Parish’s Church School in the courtyard of the church. He delivered the Council’s suggestion to the Patriarch. But, having considered the petition, the Jerusalem Synod, of course, refused to fulfil this holy duty of teaching the Bible to the young people under the church patronage. As I mentioned before, on June 2, I myself spoke to His Holiness about this matter, and let us see what comes out of it. In 1897–98 during the war between the Ottomans and the Greeks they used to send telegrams from the island of Crete to the Superior of Jvaris Mama, 1

“Father of the Cross.”

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the Archimandrite in Tiflis, to send money from the income of this church for continuing to wage the war, and now they can provide no flat, nor anything else, for running the Church School here! Till the 1750s some Georgian Superiors and Fathers had lived in the Monastery of the Cross. In the Georgian Cloister on Athos I saw a document from which it became evident that the Patriarchs of Constantinople and Jerusalem had fully paid the debts which the Cloister was due to pay. It was done by means of donations received from the Georgian king, the Patriarch and the nation, and [the Greeks] claimed that they themselves had had to add the remaining sum. It is said in this document that the Georgians can get back the monastery into their possession. This resolution is copied from the Patriarchal Archives in Constantinople. The resolution is dated 1702 and it is translated into Russian and has a seal. Now, they do not want to allocate just a simple room, in our own country, for bringing up our own children. It is not granted to us from the estate which had been donated by the Georgian king to the Georgian Cloister and the Brethren. Only the Greeks themselves become fatter and fatter with our bread, wine and other goods. This truly can be called granting mountains of gold in words, and, actually, not giving even a piece of clay. The Monastery of the Cross is surrounded with a square, solid, stone wall to protect and secure the monks from assaults by enemies and brigands. The church of the monastery is lit up from above by a wonderful dome. The floor is laid with mosaics, or coloured marble: on which at the entrance of the porch, in front of the church doors, black spots are clearly visible, as traces of blood of those monks who were massacred for Christ’s faith by the Saracens. All the walls in the church reflect the paintings of the narratives from the Old and New Testaments. The church was last redecorated in 1644 by Levan Dadiani, the Prince of Samegrelo. In the centre of the church, around the marble floor, there is an inscription in uncial Georgian letters mentioning the name of the renovator of the church, though footprints have now worn it away, and it is hardly legible. Some eastern legends and a Syrian apocryphon give a narrative about the Lord’s wooden cross, according to which this holy monastery has its name. At one time, after Lot had sinned, he went to confess his sin to the Patriarch Abraham. After listening to Lot’s grave sins, Abraham took out three pieces of charcoal from a fire,

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in which were charred pieces of cypress, spruce and pine (певга). He gave an order to Lot, “Plant the charcoal pieces, and water them. In case they come up and grow, this will be the sign of your grave sins’ forgiveness.” Lot did exactly as his uncle had ordered him to do. The charcoal began to sprout, and grew up together into one tree. This tree was cut down during the construction of King Solomon’s Temple but in so far as it became unwanted for that purpose, it was left without being used. Only during the Saviour’s crucifixion, by the will of God himself, it was brought and used for making the cross on which our Lord Jesus Christ was crucified. The second story tells that when Adam, the First Father, became seriously ill, he sent his son Seth to Eden to ask for the remedy of his infirmity. The angel, standing guard at the entrance of Eden with his fiery sword, gave him three seeds instead: they were of cypress, spruce and pine. But Adam had died before Seth’s return. An idea came to Seth to plant these seeds on his Father’s grave, and then an enormously large tree grew out of these three seeds. When Solomon’s Temple was being built, they collected the best material from everywhere, and this tree was then also cut down. But it appeared to be unsuitable for use, and as a result was used as a bridge in the neighbouring Pool of Siloam, which was used for crossing to the other bank. When the Lord Jesus Christ was condemned to crucifixion, the Jews decided to make a cross from the heavy wood for the Rabbi (Teacher) whom they had despised. They chose this very tree, as it was very heavy since it had been lying in water for centuries. This legend, which was authorised by the Church Fathers, St John of Damascus and other hymn-writers of the Christian Church, has become the basis for building a monastery on this site as well as for naming it the Monastery of the Holy and Life-giving Cross. The monastery has a wonderful vineyard round it and also orchards of lemon, orange, fig and pomegranate. A wonderful cypress tree about twenty sagenes high grows in the courtyard. The igumen of the Monastery of the Cross in Jerusalem used to be appointed by the Georgian king. The same igumen, who was also the Superior of Golgotha, was sent from Georgia. He used to be in charge of everything, not only of the buildings of the Georgians but also of the Brethren in the monasteries of Palestine. The King of Georgia used to correspond with the Patriarch of Jerusa-

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lem through this igumen. In 1049, a group of Georgian Brethren was already present in Christ’s Sepulchre. In the vicinity of the Monastery of the Cross, in the so called “Rose Valley” there is a village called “Malkha” where 600 male and female inhabitants live. There is a saying that these inhabitants are the descendants of those Georgians who had been moved here in the fifth century during the King Vakhtang Gorgaslan’s reign in order to protect the Monastery of the Cross from enemy raids. They have forgotten their native language and the religion of their forefathers. But they have a tradition that they are the descendants of the people deported from the faraway North, and they call themselves “Gurji” — Georgians. The Arabs living around them also treat them as a foreign nation that has come there. They speak Arabic, a little bit of Tartar, and Greek as well. They safeguard the Monastery of the Cross and are its servants. They exercise their right to harvest the fields and vineyards of the monastery, and only one third of the produce is returned to the monastery. The monastery cannot pass this work on to someone else, to avoid disagreements with the inhabitants of Malkha. Their appearance, their traditions and habits, are different from the Arab tribes who live around them. It is a tradition in every church in Jerusalem to use agiasma. Instead of using plain water they use rose water agiasma. They sprinkle it from a silver jug onto the worshippers when they enter and leave Christ’s Sepulchre. In the vicinity of the village Malkha there is a large “Rose Valley.” The inhabitants of this village grow a large quantity of roses, and they themselves prepare rose water. From here it is sent to the whole of Palestine, and the Patriarchate in Constantinople, for further use both as agiasma and for washing the hands during the blessing of the altar. In the Monastery of the Cross, at the bottom of the altar, where the stump of the wood can be seen that had been cut at this place, and on which the Lord Jesus Christ was crucified, the Noble Giorgi Avalishvili had seen a Georgian inscription which has by now entirely disappeared. In 1820, this dignitary bought from here fifteen Georgian books, some of them printed, and others written on parchment. At present, Georgian inscriptions remain only in the Monastery of the Cross. They have been completely scratched out in other monasteries. On the west door lintel of the church, from the

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inside, there is a Georgian uncial writing on the stone, and on another part of the stone, the same inscription is in Greek. On the left hand side pillar there is another Georgian inscription and also on the middle one, but here they have put up new wooden stairs for ascending the ambo (like a balcony) in order to read the Gospel according to regulations which the Greek Church adopted in the fifteenth century. The stairs, which have not yet been painted, cover the Georgian inscription right in the middle. The scribe beseeches the Archangels Michael and Gabriel. In the centre of the floor there is a Georgian inscription in the form of a circle. The Prince of Samegrelo, Levan Dadiani was the last to renew the monastery. Greek and Russian writers mention him as “Tatiani, the Glorious King of Georgia,” which is an error. The walls round the altar, on both sides, are newly plastered in white. Likewise, the faces of the Georgian saints have been damaged, and concealed. As I was sadly viewing this tyranny, and, after I shared my spiritual distress with the Russian Archpriest, he asked the Greek warden of the church, “Why are the walls of the church half whitewashed?” The man, in his ignorance, answered, “It was whitewashed by the Ottomans,” as if the Georgian and the Greek Saints did not mean the same to the Ottomans! Under the altar is the place where the thrice-desirable wood for Christ’s crucifixion was cut down. Behind the wall they show the foot of this tree. It also has a Greek inscription but the Georgian one has been scratched out. On viewing this vile act I could not help remembering the words from the Psalms, “Plead my cause, O Lord, with them that strive with me!”2 or the words from John the Theologian’s Revelation, “If anyone takes away from the words in this book of prophecy, God will take away from him his share in the tree of life.”3 In general I would like to note that in every church which was founded by the Georgians, the Greeks eliminate all traces of the Georgians’ activity. On the left hand side of the western doors there are the solitary paintings of two worthy Fathers, Evtimi and Giorgi, which have only Greek inscriptions. I fell down on my knees in front of them, and heartily implored the nation, whose 2 3

Psalm 35:1. Revelation 22:19.

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children they were, who had shed the light of life-giving religion on their home country. Now they are ardently interceding for the Georgian nation to the heavenly Lord. I desired with all my heart to find Shota Rustaveli’s painting, but I could hardly notice it on the right side of the pillar, as the inscription is effaced. They did not show me any remaining Georgian books in the monastery, and I returned home with a broken heart. The compiler of the Russian “Guide Book to Palestine” makes an error when he says that Georgian King Mirian, the contemporary of St Constantine, the Equal of the Apostles, is “Prince Mariam of Iveria.” We have to interpret it as “the Georgian King Mirian.” He is the one to whom a Georgian source ascribed the construction of the first chapel on Golgotha. The publisher of the aforementioned Russian book writes also ― entirely erroneously ― that the Monastery of the Cross, which had been allegedly sold by the Georgian Brethren to pay their debts, was redeemed by Dositheos, Patriarch of Jerusalem, with his own money, for the benefit of the Greeks. The writer seems not to have known about the existence of the aforementioned document, which is evidence that the Monastery of Cross was rescued from debts with the donations granted by the King of Georgia, the Patriarch, the nobles and the Georgian nation, and that the Greek Patriarchs are not the ones who would add any money from their own pockets. There cannot be any firman either that can confirm the granting of the Monastery of the Cross to the Greeks, and witnessing that it is in their possession, in the way that it is erroneously mentioned by the Russian writer, because this information contradicts the decision, mentioned above, made by the Patriarchs of Jerusalem and Constantinople. Even today the Greeks call this monastery the Georgian Monastery. The Russian writer again makes a mistake when he writes that some icons in the Monastery of the Cross have Georgian inscriptions. I myself could not see a single inscription on the icons, but only three inscriptions on the walls, as well as on the floor, in Georgian. Thus, it is possible that the Greeks could have got rid of Georgian inscriptions on the icons somewhat later. Nor can any classical author’s portrait be found in the monastery, as the Russian writer states, who also claims that in the church itself he has seen a picture of the philosopher Plato. This Russian writer also makes no mention in his book that the Monastery of the Cross has an estate in Tiflis donated by the Georgian kings. A church and

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several inns around it have been built there. The Greeks benefit from this income, and run a Seminary in the courtyard of this Monastery of the Cross. Among the eighteen monasteries built by the Georgians in Jerusalem, only the Monastery of the Cross has preserved its name as a Georgian monastery. Even this information is described incorrectly by the Russian writer. He praises most favourably the wellpreserved condition of the Monastery of the Apostle JamesZebedee in Jerusalem. At present it is the metochion of the Armenian Patriarch. This monastery had also once belonged to the Georgians, and the Russian writer again says nothing about it.

LOT’S SEA OR THE DEAD SEA On Thursday June 10, at 5 o’clock in the morning, together with my faithful fellow traveller, Father Archpriest, and an armed kavas, I started off by coach to the Jordan. We passed the village Bethany. Half way from Jerusalem to the Jordan there is a rest house for travellers, for those who get tired by the hot weather. This house is called the “Hostel of the Good Samaritan” which is mentioned in the parable in the Gospels. Taking this road we passed by the Monastery of Venerable Father George of Koziba. It is built on a rock, in a deep gorge. The access is by a long pathway and in front of it a spring runs in the gorge. The water flows to Jericho in winter, but in summer it dries up on its way there, and does not reach the place. We crossed ourselves from some distance away, but we were not able to enter the Desert, because it would have been a long journey, and the road was also narrow. Besides, we would have been late to the Jordan. At nine in the morning we reached the Monastery of the Venerable Father Gerasimus by the Jordan. The monastery lies by the river Jordan and near the Dead Sea. We entered the church and prayed there. But we could not see anything ancient there. The screen, with icons given by Russia, is new. They showed us a door with a bullet hole in it, made by a revolver. A Greek novice had shot it, at the Greek Patriarch Nicodemus. Several Greek and Arab monks work and live in the monastery. We had a stop here till 1 o’clock and then went to the Dead Sea by coach. It is four versts away from Gerasimus’ Monastery. We had a two-hour rest here as well and bathed in the sea. The water of this sea is extremely salty and bitter. If it happens to get into the eyes, it will burn. The sea smells of oil and pitch. No live fish or any other animal is present in the sea. If a fish chances to enter it from the Jordan, it immediately dies and the waves wash it away. No ships or boats sail in the sea. 85

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Unpleasant ideas came to me on seeing the Sea. This is the place, upon which there came God’s intense wrath and His curse on its ancient people for their lewd life. The story from Genesis came to me vividly. When the four cities, Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboim were engulfed by fire that had come from heaven, only the righteous Lot with his household were able to escape from this horrendous disaster. But his wife was turned into a stone for her disobedience because, despite the angels’ command, “she looked back” when she heard the thunder and the storm from heaven. In place of those four flourishing cities, after they were demolished, there appeared this Sea of Pitch. The inhabitants of these cities were punished as partially heathen. Can we be called Christians, or even Orthodox? About the thing that is happening to us — “is a shame even to speak.”1 As time goes by, fornication spreads far and wide, as in France and among other nations of Europe. Sad to say, living for carnal pleasure is a common pleasure for many. A great many people consider fornication — harlotry or whoredom — not as hateful depravities, but as something quite tolerable, a common and natural thing. Quite often there are fathers, who turn their eyes away from the immoral life of their children, and who do not trouble to prevent them in every possible way from engaging in a sinful life. There are also many so-called mothers who take too little trouble to put an end to the free lifestyle of their daughters. Because of such free life the result is that a large number of young men avoid legal marriage for a long time. They marry only when their feelings, so necessary for a tranquil married life, have already been numbed, and only when their health and strength has been wasted on whores. Others do not get married at all, since they find immense pleasure and satisfaction in a life of lust. And such people — such Christian People — commit acts which are not performed even by beasts. Such men never feel pangs of contrition. They are not afraid of threats from the Church! Woe, upon you, poor creatures! You must come to this place, and view with your own eyes the devastating results of the lewd life of the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah! Here these results appear before your eyes with awful reality, and you might 1

Ephesians 5:12.

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well become more thoughtful about your perverse life. Perhaps you may draw from this a life-giving lesson for the future. Perhaps the grim evidences of God’s horrendous wrath, here so obviously traceable, would cause you to sober up from your moral drunkenness. You might preserve the purity and wholeness of your body. You might restrain yourself from carnal idleness, and follow the teaching of the Holy Apostle Paul: “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the indwelling Holy Spirit which is in you? Therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.”2

Figure 12. The Jordan

2

1 Corinthians 6:19–20.

THE RIVER JORDAN AND THE SETTLEMENT OF JERICHO From the Dead Sea, or the Sea of Lot, we went to the Jordan. Here we blessed the water according to the rule of the Great Agiasma1 in the way we do on January 6. We drank the water from [the river] and swam in it. The water flows slowly, although the Russians say that it is swift. The banks of the river are covered with reeds and trees. We were told that at the place where we had blessed the water, the Lord Jesus Christ had been baptised. The Greek metropolitan from the city of Bethlehem comes here on January 6 and blesses the water. At that time about a thousand Russian pilgrims attend the place. Some three versts away from this place there is the Desert of St John the Baptist, which had been built by the Georgians. We approached the place and entered it. We prayed there and saw round the church. There was nothing remarkable there either. From here we came up to Jericho which is only an hour’s distance from the monastery. We did not have a rest there, but went straight to the Prophet St Elisha’s Spring. It tastes good, it turns the mills, and it waters the vineyards, the palm trees of Deborah (dates), and the orchards of lemon, orange, rose and banana. The plant of a banana is like grass, which grows about six adles tall and one adle wide. It bears pale whitish and yellowish fruit resembling cucumbers and eggplants, though not in colour. The fruit, boiled in water, is used for eating. The skin, that is thick and easy to handle, is peeled off. The boiled banana is cut up into pieces and put into jars full of sweet wine, although the bananas themselves are sweet and substantial. They are also eaten raw, but with the 1

The Baptism of Christ.

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skins peeled off, in the way it was served on board the steamship, in place of other fruits. The leaves of this plant are one and a half adli long and about a quarter of an adli in width to the bottom. This plant bears only one flower, and this is a seed, which is actually used by the gardeners for propagation. After picking the fruit the grass is cut to the bottom so as to make it bear fruit next year as well. If it is not cut to the bottom, then the tree will remain barren. At 8 o’clock in the evening we were at the mouth of Elisha’s Spring. Some five versts away there is a tall mountain where Christ the Saviour had spent forty days and nights fasting and praying. That is why the mountain is called the “Forty-Days Mountain.” It overlooks the Jordan Valley. There is a Greek monastery on this mountain. From Elisha’s Spring I walked on foot up the mountain, with my companion, Father Archpriest, and a kavas, as the coach could not go up the road. By 9 o’clock, in the evening, we were almost half way up to the garden of the monastery. Then we couldn’t walk any more up the hill and we venerated this holy place from a distance. We went back again to Elisha’s Spring, and went to Jericho by coach. The commemoration of Prophet Elisha is very much favoured in Jericho. On the second day after Prophet Elijah’s ascension there came to Jericho his former pupil, Prophet Elisha, who then took up his glorious ministry, and inherited the divine grace which had been resting on Elijah, and which made him perform miracles. “The people of the city said to Elisha, ‘Lord, you can see how pleasantly situated our city is, but the water is polluted and the country is sterile.’ He said, ‘Fetch me a new bowl and put some salt in it.’ When they had brought it, he went out to the mouth of the spring and threw the salt in it. He said, ‘I purify this water. It shall no longer cause death or sterility’. The water has remained pure till this day.”2 And because of this miracle, the water supply was called “The Spring of the Prophet Elisha.” Incidentally, this miracle is mentioned in the Book of Prayers, in the prayer for blessing salt. In Jericho, on June 14, the Prophet’s commemoration day, they have a church service to bless the grapes. 2

2 Kings 2:19–22.

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Even today the ruins of the walls of defence are visible in Jericho. They were demolished in Joshua’s time, when the Ark of the Covenant went round the city seven times. That was performed in 1450 BC. King Herod had his enormous palaces in this city, and he, not only a villain but also a contemporary of Christ’s birth, spent his last days here. At his command 14,000 babies were massacred in Bethlehem and its neighbourhood. He also drowned in a lake his brother-in-law, the young High Priest Alexander, as well as his own wife, the beautiful Mariam, and two of his children who were born by her. He also killed his mother-in-law, his own two brothers, and his uncle. When he felt that his last day was drawing near, and as he was sure that the Jews hated him, and would not shed a tear on his death, he commanded his sister Salome to summon on his behalf all the nobles and dignitaries, about seventy of them, and, after he had died, to massacre them. “When their wives, mothers and children will lament them they will also mourn over me.” But Salome, kind hearted and sensible as she was, did not implement this barbaric command of her dying brother, and after the King’s death she released them all. Not the smallest ruin of King Herod’s palaces can be traced. This is the way they have vanished from the earth! Here in Jericho is a hospice for receiving Russian pilgrims. It is built by the Russian Palestine Society and we were put up there that night. It was as hot there as in a bath. The doors and the windows are not opened, otherwise the house would get full of swarms of midges and mosquitoes, preventing people from having a rest at night. In Jerusalem and Jericho round the beds are curtains, made of thin cloth, in order to protect a person who is asleep from mosquito stings. Twenty years have passed since the hospice has been built. Bedouins and Arab Muslims live in Jericho. In the whole of Palestine one cannot see more beautiful date trees than in Jericho. The Russian Society also has its own garden in Jericho. This hospice has been built on the place where according to tradition Zacchaeus, the Chief Publican mentioned in the Gospels, used to live. The tree which he climbed to see Jesus’ face, is called in the Georgian Gospels the “Silly Sycamore” which in Slavic is “ягодичина.” A tree like this grows in the Russian metochion. It grows to half the height of a walnut tree. The fruit and the leaves

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are like those of a fig tree but they are thinner. It does not get ripe, and a great number of fruits fall down from the tree. This tree grows taller than our fig tree but its fruit is tasteless and also useless. In the courtyard of the Russian Society the remains of an old church have been discovered and it is now being cleaned. At midnight on June 7 a certain Russian novice who lived in this hospice heard a sound from the street. So he went out, and saw that on the road near their compound some Arabs had dug up earth and they were rolling away a big cauldron. He asked them, “What are you rolling away?” An Arab answered, “A stone.” The Russian retorted: “A stone cannot rattle that way.” Then he went into the house to tell the Chief Monk what had happened, but by the time they came out, the cauldron had already been emptied. Although they informed the police about this case, the Arabs, who had found the cauldron, were not identified. Such tropical heat occurs in Jericho that every year on June 14, the feast day of Prophet Elisha, they consecrate absolutely ripe grapes. A certain Russian Lady — Baghdanovich — had built a church in Jericho at her own expense, dedicated to Prophet Elisha, as well as a hospice and garden, for sheltering the pilgrims. Before she died she left all of it, according to her will, to the Greek Patriarch. Russian pilgrims are in great need of such a house, as the number of those going to Palestine is rising to thousands, and their overall number is greater by one third than the rest of the Christian pilgrims, regardless of their nationality. This example of making a donation reminds me of another similar one, but only from the life of the Georgians. One of the dignitaries of Georgia — Ch… — an experienced person throughout his life and already in his late years, driven by the desire to serve God ― went to Jerusalem two years ago and gave his possessions, which amounted to several thousand manets, to the Patriarchate in Jerusalem. He was not able to live there more than a year and now he is moving to the Georgian Cloister on Mount Athos. Clearly the Greek monks will not return the money given by him. Couldn’t he have donated his money to a great many monasteries and churches in Georgia which are enduring straits and face devastation, rather than giving it to others? The various non-Orthodox nations, professing Christ’s faith, which come up to Jerusalem for pilgrimage, are in no way as numerous as those from Russia. The French, the Italians, the Span-

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iards, the Germans and the English come up to Jerusalem mainly in winter after they have collected their annual income. And they come in a more organized way. Each entity which comes as a group has a person chosen by themselves, and they all obey him as their leader. This particular person pays for all necessities, and reports to the group on every penny spent. They do not even travel on foot when they go to a place to venerate it, like the Russian people of the lower class. Instead, they hire coaches to travel to the Holy Places, or horses, asses or mules. In Palestine they do not remain too long, just two weeks or a month. Then they all return together to their homeland. But the Russian pilgrims, who had arrived in Palestine in December, remain here till the beginning of June and, a great number of them, for a whole year. One can also encounter a great number of these people — men and women — who spend several years in Jerusalem; and some of these people are in Jerusalem for the second or third time. I myself have seen a young Russian lady on board the steamship, which I took to Jaffa, who was going to Jerusalem for pilgrimage for the third time. The Jordan valley is the deepest on earth. It is 1,400 feet lower than sea level. On June 11, on Friday at 11 o’clock in the morning, we safely returned to the place where we were staying in Jerusalem.

THE HILL COUNTRY OF JOHN THE BAPTIST’S BIRTH On June 12 we went to the Hill Country which is eight versts distance from Jerusalem. Here is a Russian Nunnery that is run by the Archimandrite of the Russian Mission in Jerusalem. We were in time for the service. They showed us the place where the Mother of God, Mary, visited Elizabeth. On the same day, in the same village, the Franks were celebrating John the Baptist’s birth, as this day falls on June 24 according to the Julian calendar, when the Orthodox Church keeps the feast of the Birth of John the Forerunner. The Franks have two churches. One is on the site of Zachariah’s House and the other on the site of John the Forerunner’s birth place. The Russian nuns, about a hundred of them, live in a monastery in the Hill Country. They now have meals in common, but formerly they used to live at their own expense. In the church of the monastery the Russian priest read the Gospel during the service facing the people. Apparently, the Russians also seem to have adopted this liturgical rule which has never been an essential part of doctrine or canons. On Sunday June 13, I took part in a service, together with the Father Superior of Trinity Church, in the Russian Monastery. Eight of us took part in the service along with him. The Archimandrite has a cross on his mitre. The Royal Doors were open during the ekphonesis, “The grace of Our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of the Lord and the Father, and the communion of the Holy Ghost be with you all,” and the Superior, holding the cross that had been brought from the altar, “crossed” the people, that is, he blessed them with the cross. He did the same during the ekphonesis, “Let the grace of the Great Lord and Our Saviour Jesus Christ be with you all.” He was also brought a platter with the communion bread as at 95

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the Patriarch’s service, and he also crossed the platter with his hand. The heat is more than 50 centigrade today. It is difficult to leave the place after 8 o’clock in the morning and it is 26 centigrade at home. After leaving the church my sight got blurred by the excessive heat and I could see nothing.

THE MONASTERY OF THE APOSTLE ST JAMES ZEBEDEE On June 14, I entered the Church of the Monastery of the Holy Apostle James Zebedee, which was the property of the Georgians a hundred years ago, and which at present is an Armenian possession. It has a garden where a beautiful large cypress tree grows. The monastery has a big and spacious courtyard with a well-facilitated school. Young Armenian boys, about forty or fifty of them, are being educated there. There is a printing house there, and the Armenian Patriarch’s residence is also there. The Holy Apostle James Zebedee’s church is one of the outstanding churches in Palestine, remarkable for its richness, its architecture, and its oriental colourful carvings. The light in the church comes from above, from the cupola, and a great number of luxurious chandeliers made of gold and silver shine from every part of the church. In the left part of the church they show the place where the Holy Apostle James was martyred. With the help of his mother Salome he tried to gain the first place in Christ’s earthly kingdom, as a great number of Jews had expected it to be. But by God’s providence he was granted the right to be the first martyr, in as much as he shed his blood for Christ’s faith before any of the twelve Apostles. He was beheaded by the command of the King of Galilee — Herod Agrippa. At the place of his martyrdom five lamps are incessantly lit up. The body of the Holy Apostle James was secretly taken from Jerusalem to Spain and at present it reposes in Santiago de Compostela. To the west of this holy place there is the tomb of the Bishop of Jerusalem, Macarius, who was an ally and associate to the Holy Queen Helena in finding the Life-giving Cross, and in building up churches, as well as other holy buildings, in Jerusalem. About this splendid monastery, which has once been the glory of the Georgian nation and the monument of the devout ministry of our nation in past times, and of our true religion, not a single 97

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word is said by the Russian writer; not even that it had once belonged to the Georgians. Clearly this has occurred due to his ignorance, in as much as the Armenians and the Greeks would not have mentioned these circumstances to him, fearing that under the patronage of the greatest and the mightiest Orthodox Russian Emperor, the Georgians, once renowned for Christ’s religion, chivalry and material wellbeing, should not again rise up and “renew like the youth of an eagle and flourish like a palm tree.”1 This also is very likely to happen by God’s grace! Any kind of reminder of Georgian presence has been destroyed by the Armenians in this monastery, in the same way as the Greeks and the Latins have done in other Georgian monasteries. No other church in the whole of Palestine can compare for its riches and beauty with the Monastery of the Holy Apostle James Zebedee in Jerusalem. The church was built by the King of Georgia, Giorgi Kurapalat, in the middle of the eleventh century and now, to our shame, it has been an Armenian property almost for a century. Muraviov writes that there is a charter in the Jerusalem Patriarchate saying that the Armenians have to return this church to the Georgians when the Georgians succeed in paying the Khontkar the annual tax for possessing the monastery. But Mr Tsagareli did not see the charter when he was in Jerusalem in 1883. On the same day at 5 o’clock, we saw the Greek Patriarch of Jerusalem, Damianos, and we asked him to give us his blessing, as we were about to return to our home country. He blessed me with Christ the Saviour’s Icon of Resurrection. Although we aimed to go to Galilee, Nazareth and Tabor, to visit the place of the Transfiguration, the Patriarch did not advise us to do so, saying that it would be too hot there at that time of the year, and we might get ill. So we had to reject our wish to travel to those places.

1

Psalm 92:12; Psalm 103:5.

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Figure 13. The Church of the Life-giving Tomb of the Lord in Jerusalem

On June 15, on Tuesday at 8 o’clock in the morning, we said goodbye to Jerusalem. We prayed for the last time in Christ’s Life-giving Sepulchre and in front of the Cross on Golgotha. We encountered the Patriarch this morning as well, after our return from the church, which we consider a great comfort. His Holiness again blessed us and wished us a good journey. Archbishop Meleti and

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the Head of the Russian Palestine Society Mr Mikhailov and his wife accompanied us to the station. He pays great attention to the pilgrims’ conditions and does his utmost to ease their travels to foreign countries. He has sent his kavas to accompany us up to Jaffa, where we arrived at 11 o’clock without any trouble. At Jaffa we were housed in the Russian Cloister. It is three versts away from the station. This Cloister is built on the site where the good religious woman Tabitha was raised from the dead by the Apostle Peter. The Russians have built a new church on this site and not at the tomb, where they show the cave where the dead Tabitha had been buried. In the same cave there are several other tombs, which are empty now, as the bodies have been taken to some other place. Some Christian Arabs live in Jaffa, but a great number of the people are Muslims. On seeing a cross they are filled with hatred or fanaticism. That is why the priests are advised to hide their crosses. These are crosses which we wear on the chest as a sign of a church title awarded for good and prominent work, as the Apostle says: “Elders who give good service as leaders should be reckoned worthy of a double stipend, in particular those who work hard at preaching and teaching.”2 In Jaffa, round the Russian premises there is a wonderful garden, full of all kinds of tropical plants. There is a big garden of oranges and lemons. There are dates as well, but not very many; and the vines are very sparse. In the whole of Palestine I have only seen two walnut trees like ours. There are also bananas, almonds, oleanders and about twenty more plants in many colours, appealing to the eye, and with an alluring smell and taste. The Russians become so much excited by this garden that they call it the earthly Paradise. They draw water for the gardens by machinery, powered by mules and donkeys. On June 15, in the evening, there arrived twenty-one Russian students of the two upper grades in Kazan Gymnasium. They were accompanied by two teachers. They were on their way to venerate the places in Jerusalem and to visit other Holy Places in Palestine. May God see fit to bless them, because this example of their devo2

1 Timothy 5:17.

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tion may also encourage other people to desire to venerate and to visit the Holy Places, and to strengthen religious feelings, which among the new generation has only a faint light, like a spark in the ashes. May God grant that this holy effort will be the cause of a great holy fire burning for Christ’s religion and for love. Each student’s voyage by steamship costs six manets, on condition that they should have their own provision of food. The students of the Russian Theological Academy, headed by their rector, also venerated the Holy Places in Palestine in 1900. Here is an example that is attractive and easy for the others to follow! As a result of tropical heat, and the bubonic plague which spread at this time, I could not conduct my travels and pilgrimage to the northern part of Palestine called Galilee, which is, according to the Gospel narratives no less beautiful than the southern part of Palestine. I could not go to venerate Mount Sinai, on whose summit Prophet Moses received two holy tablets from the Lord, on which the Ten Commandments were written. In order to describe these splendid Holy Places, and to provide the devout and faithful reader as far as possible with accurate information about the Holy Places in the Levant, I have used several Russian books published in St Ilia’s Monastery on Mount Athos, and one written by Priest Father Alexander Anisimov.

NAZARETH The city of Nazareth was very modest at the beginning but then became overwhelmingly glorious. The Archangel Gabriel appeared here to announce to the Most Holy Virgin, Mary, “Greetings, most favoured one! The Lord is with you: blessed are you among women.” “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; for that reason the holy child to be born will be called the Son of God”1 In this city the mystery of the revelation of God’s word that had been concealed for centuries was fulfilled. The city is situated in Galilee which is the northern part of Palestine. The climate in Nazareth is favourable, and foreign pilgrims are very much impressed by it. There are about 6,000 inhabitants in Nazareth, a great number of whom are Orthodox Christians and Muslims. Prior to the reign of Constantine the Great no other community except the Jews had the right to live in Nazareth, but at present not a single Jew can be seen there. The Russian Mission has built a house here, where the pilgrims from Russia stay. About two or three thousand of them arrive with the whole caravan every year, on March 25, the day of the Annunciation. They come to pray at the place where the Most Holy Virgin Mary had received the Angel’s announcement that the Lord’s Son should be incarnate. On the site of this house there is a church which belongs to the Orthodox. There is another church which belongs to the Latins, and the Latins also claim that the church is built on the place where the Blessed Mother of God had received the annunciation from the Angel. The Latin monastery was built here in 1620.

1

Luke 1:28–35.

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Archbishop Timothy Tbileli, who venerated the Holy Places in Palestine in 1755, tells in his Travels that the Georgians once had possessed four churches in Nazareth. In Judea and Samaria women go about covered with veils but starting from the borders of Galilee they have their faces unveiled. They all wear blue clothes and lower garments of many different colours. Men do not wear trousers, but only long shirts covering the lower parts of the body. The lower part of Palestine — Judaea, as compared to Galilee — has sparse soil with barren cliffs, but Galilee is extremely fertile. In the first one — Judaea — one can vividly visualise the traces of God’s wrath for the Saviour’s blood, unjustly shed. But Galilee, the peaceful homeland of Blessed Mary, exercises Her supreme patronage and heavenly blessing since the time of Her Dormition. In the Jewish language the word “Nazareth” means “a flower.” The Church of the Annunciation in Nazareth is built at the place where the Blessed Virgin Mary received the angel’s message about conceiving the Saviour. This church belongs to the Franks. The Orthodox Church, also dedicated to the Annunciation, is built on the very spring from which the Most Holy Virgin Mary used to draw water every day to use at home. Even today the people of Nazareth use this spring, because its abundant supply and its good taste satisfies everybody. In the Church of the Annunciation in Nazareth, when the metropolitan of Tabor and several other priests were concelebrating with him, the priests had to say the Litany of Peace during the service, and they also had to act as archdeacons because these were not present at the service. One of the priests read the Gospels from the pulpit. On the same day, in Nazareth, the Metropolitan himself held the memorial service for the recently deceased Russian King and Emperor Alexander II. Priests took turns in saying the Litany of Peace during the service for the dead, and among them was a Russian priest, Father Alexander Anisimov. The latter read twice the sermon for the deceased.

TABOR Forty days before his crucifixion Jesus Christ summoned Peter, James and John, the most faithful and the most receptive disciples of the Gospels, to a place on Mount Tabor, and he started to pray. During the prayer he was transfigured in front of them so that his countenance became as bright as the Sun; his clothes became as white and gleaming as snow, and all his being was invested with holy grandeur. The apostles could only compare such heavenly brightness with light or snow or lightning. And behold, two people appeared with him. When Christ had been in the desert, and had been preparing himself for the great deeds of his life, two angels came and served him; and now when he was preparing for death, the prophets Moses and Elijah appeared to him. They spoke about his departure, about which Christ had also spoken to his apostles. When the glorious vision began to darken, and the glorious people were ready to prepare for departure, the bewildered Peter, frightened that they should withdraw so suddenly, did not know what to say. He exclaimed, “Master, is it good that we are here. Shall we make three tabernacles, one for you, another for Moses, and another for Elijah?’ At this time there came a shining cloud which cast its shadow over them, and from heaven a voice spoke: “This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him.”1 This mount Tabor towers by itself in the plain of Esdraelon. It is 80 versts long and 12 versts in width. The peak of the mountain looks like an apple, which has been cut in the middle and placed upright. The top of the mountain is a plain stretching about half a verst in width; and from there in all directions a beautiful view can be seen. An oak forest makes 1

Luke 9:28, 35.

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the mountain beautiful. In the fourth century there were three churches built by the Blessed Queen Helena. At present there are two monasteries built on the ruins. One belongs to the Greeks and the other to the Latins. In the Greek monastery there lives the metropolitan of Tabor.

Figure 14. Mount Tabor

THE SEA OF TIBERIAS The Sea of Galilee is mentioned in the Gospels several times. This sea is once mentioned as the “Sea of Gennesaret,” and finally John the Evangelist in his Gospel calls the same sea the “Sea of Tiberias.” It is called the “Sea of Galilee” as it lies in the realm of Galilee, and the “Sea of Gennesaret” because a part of the sea lies near Gennesaret or Gadara. Tiberias is one of the most important cities of Galilee. It was built by Herod Antipas the Fourth at an amazing speed and was turned it into the throne city of Galilee. He called it “Tiberias” to honour his protector and benefactor, Tiberius, the Roman emperor. The city, newly built by the banks of the lake, was the origin of the name “Sea of Tiberias.” The sea is 25 versts long and 10 versts wide. After the fall of Jerusalem, in the year 70 BC, the most celebrated scholars of the Jewish nation moved to the city of Tiberias. From the Academy of Tiberias originated the Mishnah, or the Jewish religious book “Talmud,” which was compiled by the Jewish Rabbis. This book is considered the greatest and the most complete commentary on Moses’ five divine books. Here in the reign of Constantine the Great the church of the first Christians was built. But both Jews and Christians were driven away from Tiberias in 636, when Syria was captured by the Arabs. The glorious times of Tiberias have now passed; only the ruins are a reminder of its ancient great beauty. At present there live about five thousand people. Among them are 700 Muslims — Turks and Arabs, 150 Christians and the rest are Jews. Their synagogue is considered the first and foremost in the East, and their teachers the greatest scholars. Even today Jews from other countries keep coming to Tiberias to perform similar devotions as those that attract us to Jerusalem. Many Jews come from other countries to spend the remaining days of their lives here. The reason for this is a tradition, honoured by local Jews, that the Messiah (Christ) will come from Capernaum to Tiberias. That is why a great number of them, renowned for their religion and service to God, climb up the 107

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mountain and stand on the heights. There they stand still, and watch the ruins of the city and the Sea of Tiberias, from where the long-awaited Saviour is to come. The richest Jews have their own watchmen in order to be the first to declare the arrival of the most desired one. If King Herod Antipas could today rise from the grave, and see the city of Tiberias, the beloved child he begot, he would shake his head and denounce it as a bastard. Neither time, nor any of the different physical or political disturbances, have altered the Sea of Tiberias. It has in fact remained as it was during Christ’s lifetime. Although boats do not often sail on the Sea of Tiberias, the beauty of the landscape is the same even today. The plains and the valleys all around it are green, the springs and brooks flow down and meet the lake like babies clinging to their mother’s breasts. The Sea of Galilee and its surroundings were particularly loved by their Creator and God throughout the thirty-three years of His earthly life. It is rightly called the “Lake of the Gospels,” since a great number of the stories of the Gospels were performed on this lake and its banks. Its waters and rocks are sacred for all Christians. Here the Saviour of the world chose the Apostles: Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew, James and his brother John. Here Christ used to teach the nation that longed for Him as the spiritually thirsty desire the spring of immortality. Christ Himself entered the boat of Simon Peter’s and from it, as if from a pulpit, He uttered His divine parables. Here the same Peter, who had vainly been trying to catch fish together with his friends, threw the net into the Sea according Christ’s order, and caught so many fish that he himself, and those who accompanied him, were amazed at such fishing. The Saviour walked on the waters of this lake as if walking on the ground. He calmed the rough sea and the winds by His command, and in this Sea saved Peter from drowning. Christ Himself lived on the shores of this Sea, in Capernaum, when He had moved from Nazareth with His All Holy Mother and the disciples. Christ began His first sermon here — “Repent, for the kingdom of Heaven is upon you!”1 He called Matthew the tax gatherer to serve as an apostle, He raised Jairus’ daughter from the 1

Matthew 3:2.

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dead, He healed the woman with an issue of blood, who had uselessly wasted all her fortune on the doctors. Here He cured the centurion’s servant who was sick, and showed a multitude wonders and miracles of His generosity to suffering mankind. In this lake dwell fish of thirty different kinds, which are altogether called holy, as the Holy Lord himself used to eat them. From ancient times there had been an Orthodox Church here, that was turned into a stable by the Turks. Now the Orthodox Arabs intend to renew the monastery on this site. The mirror-like surface of the Lake of Galilee attracts the hearts of those who see it: it is cleansed by the walking on it of our Lord and Saviour, and the swimming together with his disciples. Some people bathe in the cold water of the lake, others bathe in the hot water, which runs from the nearby mountain and merges with the lake. Others take a boat trip round the lake. There is a rather nice newly renovated Latin Church in Tiberias, a great beauty of the city. To the north east of Tiberias, at a distance of three hours, they show a vast area where the city of Capernaum had been built, and for which Christ predicted a miserable future, “And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell.”2 But at present only the sad and scarcely traceable ruins of its ancient glory are to be seen. Such presumptuousness is contrary to God, and by Him it is dispersed and shamed.

2

Matthew 11:23.

SAINT SABA’S LAVRA To the north east of Bethlehem and to the south east of Jerusalem, at three hour’s distance from these cities, on the west bank of the River of Fire, among crags and steep rocks, and under the burning sky of the Judean desert, hangs, like an undefeated giant, the fourteen-century-old stronghold of the Orthodox faith in Palestine — Saint Saba’s Lavra. It is a first instance of exemplary service, and of the wisdom of Christianity, being the very icon of its founder, Saba the Sanctified and also an icon of John of Damascus, the supreme theologian and commentator on the Psalms, of the Christian Church. This Lavra was founded in 502 by St Saba, and originally, consisted of several cells where the founder himself and his pupils lived. The church was situated in the great cave, where now St Nicolas’ Chapel stands.1 Twenty-seven years after founding the monastery, Emperor Justinian, who acknowledged Saba’s virtue, built walls, towers, and other buildings, and enriched it with lavish gifts. In 529, St Saba, at the request of Peter, the Patriarch of Jerusalem went to Constantinople to negotiate with the Emperor about giving protection to the Christians of Palestine. Since that time the whole territory of barren mountains and gorges, starting at the Dead Sea and stretching to Bethlehem, where even animals did not live, became settled by groups of hermits. In the days when St Saba’s Lavra was flourishing, it had more than five thousand monks within its walls, not even counting those outside the walls who stayed in the caves. In 614 the Saracens ransacked the Lavra, and massacred a great number of the Brethren. The Lavra was a cradle of Georgian For St Nicolas’s Chapel see J. Patrich, Sabas, Leader of Palestinian Monasticism, Washington D.C. 1995, p.72. 1

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ecclesiastical literature from the sixth century till the end of the tenth century. Here a great number of ecclesiastical and church books were translated into Georgian. Here the translation of the Georgian Bible is said to have been finished. But then, starting from the second half of the tenth century, Iveria Monastery on Athos became the cornerstone of Georgian church literature. There the translation of the Bible was finally accomplished and the Brethren of Iveria Monastery insisted that the Brethren of St Saba’s Monastery should burn the Bible they had translated. This becomes evident from the marginal note in the Mtskheta Bible of the Patriarchate Cathedral of Mtskheta, which an unknown author makes with great concern, “May God condemn those who commanded the St Saba’s Bible to be burnt.” But the circumstances of the case when this unfortunate incident happened, and what induced the Brethren of Iveria Monastery to tell the Brethren of St Saba’s to burn the Georgian Bible, are not mentioned. The case is even harder to grasp, because Iveria Monastery itself on Athos does not possess the entire Georgian Bible. The Bible which Platon Ioseliani brought from Athos in 1850, of which two copies were made in Tiflis, is not complete. It lacks the beginning, the middle part, and the end. St Saba’s Lavra has been ravaged several times — by the Persians, the Arabs and finally by the Turks. In 1566 Sultan Selim II conquered Palestine and a new sanjaq (governor) was appointed to Jerusalem. The Brothers of this Lavra, in order to express their greetings and to ask for his patronage, then came to him with minor gifts, consisting of fresh fruit and vegetables. The new governor was amazed when he witnessed the poor clothes of the thousand monks all dressed in the same way. The gifts were accepted by this barbarian, but he gave the command to massacre all but twenty of them. They were allowed to return to the monastery. A more common way from Jerusalem to St Saba’s starts from the valley of cypress groves (that is, the Valley of Jehoshaphat) and ends by the Dead Sea. After a three hour journey this valley turns into a deep gorge surrounded by high, steep crags, from both sides, which at this place is called by the Arabs the “Valley of Fire” or the “Spring of Fire” but the Greeks call it “the River of Fire” and it is surely because of sizzling heat so common here in summer. At first, when one approaches the Lavra, the cupola of the church and the tower with its clock becomes visible, and only afterwards can

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be seen Justinian’s citadel. The monks take turns to watch over the citadel, and by pealing bells they let the Brethren of the monastery know that pilgrims are approaching. Then they open the iron gates. The pilgrims enter the porch of the great church of the Mother of God’s Annunciation. In the courtyard there is a chapel built in marble and crowned with a little cupola. Here once rested St Saba’s relics that the Franks had secretly taken to Venice. At present there remains only a shrine where his holy relics had rested, on which is placed St Saba’s icon. In the west part, above the Church of St Nicolas, is the cell of the great luminary of the Church, John of Damascus. Here he wrote outstanding church hymns about Christ the Saviour’s Resurrection, nine exalting and appealing hymns on our Lord’s and the Mother of God’s feast days, as well as the most uplifting, pleasing and consoling hymns sung or read during the service for the departed. For the great and holy deeds, by which John of Damascus has enhanced the beauty of Christ’s Church with holy hymns of many kinds, the Holy Church has given him the name “The Golden Cup of Nectar.” The following curious event in St Saba’s Monastery is worth noting. Around the monastery there are a great number of small birds — kestrels — looking like lilies. They have been trained by the monks so that when they call them, the birds fly and sit on the palms of the monks’ hands or their shoulders, and calmly peck at their food, which normally consists of raisins. The whole monastery is built on crags, and when one walks around it one has to climb up and down. Women are not permitted to enter St Saba’s Lavra, according to the will of Saba himself. And for this very reason Saba did not allow even his old mother to stay there, who only wanted to stay with her son and to settle down in the monastery. At the place where the “River of Fire” starts, there is an area called “The Monk’s Market.” This is the place where the people who live in this area sell food and clothes and exchange other things with the monks for hand-made goods produced by the hermits. From this place the road leads down to the east and reaches the Dead Sea. To the right of the road, on a fairly high hill, the ruins of Abba Passarion’s former monastery are visible. The hillside is called the Blessed Virgin Mary’s Mount. The Jordan and the Dead Sea can be seen from here.

THE FOUNDING OF THE GREEK BRETHREN IN THE HOLY SEPULCHRE CHURCH IN JERUSALEM AND THEIR ACTIVITIES The Greeks settled down in Jerusalem three hundred years ago. In 1534, in Constantinople, due to their exceptional cunning, a Greek named Germanus Peloponnesus was appointed the Patriarch of Jerusalem. The local Christians, who had been in control of the government of the Holy Places since the times of Caliph Omar did not resist the appointment in any way. They considered that the Greeks, with their experience, would use Omar’s manifesto about the freedom of Christian faith and about exceptional governing of the Holy Places, as a real power in aid of the local people to every possible extent. But they were deceived and their expectations were not fulfilled. Germanus only attempted to preserve himself at this new post. A group of Greek monks gathered round him, and the shrewd Germanus developed his own programme of action. Gradually he started to remove from church posts the people of local origin. When metropolitans and archbishops passed away, in their place, he would consecrate Greeks, and soon all the positions in the Holy Sepulchre had been taken over by Greeks. Indeed the revenues from the Holy Places began to go into the hands of the Greeks. All this money was spent on the needs of the Brethren, and as bribes for the Turkish governors. Germanus made a will that his successor, who was also chosen by the Greeks, would not permit any person of another nationality to join the ruling body of the Holy Sepulchre and would not, as far as was in his power, admit the local people to the rest of the high posts in the church. His successors have often exercised this regulation even more strictly. At the end of the sixteenth century Parthenius the Patriarch of Constantinople, had wished to unite the Jerusalem and the Con115

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stantinople Patriarchates, with Jerusalem being ruled by Constantinople. But the Brethren of the Holy Sepulchre firmly resisted. For this reason, the new Patriarch, Païsi, when he came from Constantinople to Jerusalem, was disrespectfully received by the local people. As a result the Ottoman authority had to interfere in order to secure his presence there. Finally the indigenous people realised the cunning of the Greeks, but it was all too late. They had to submit themselves to the Greek Patriarch whose authority was ratified by the Ottoman government. In the course of time, the clergy of the Holy Sepulchre realised that their positions would be more secure if the Patriarchs could be chosen among them, since they shared the same ideas and aspirations. Patriarch Dositheos issued a decree that the Patriarch of Jerusalem had to be a monk from the clergy of the Holy Sepulchre. Although the Patriarchs of Jerusalem frequently lived in Constantinople, from where they could eliminate any difficulties involved in the Jerusalem Patriarchate and could live in great style and luxury, the regulations on electing the Patriarch [of Jerusalem] were invariably followed by the Brethren of the Holy Sepulchre from then till today. Nikipore (Nikoloz Choloqashvili), the celebrated metropolitan, was in the seventeenth century one of the most notable men in the Holy Land (Palestine). He had travelled to Asia, Europe and Africa in order to enrich his knowledge of different sciences. His contemporaries considered him to be “a philosopher, a rhetorician, and a person who knew seven languages.” This celebrated “metropolitan,” as he calls himself, as a result of Georgian kings’ correspondence with the Russian rulers, was three times sent to Moscow as an envoy to King Mikhail Fyodorovich (in 1636, 1639, and 1640); fifteen times was he sent (1605–1663) to different parts of the world and to various rulers in Asia and Europe at the request of the King of Georgia, Teimuraz the First. He beautified the Georgian Monastery of Cross in Jerusalem. He had gained such respect and honour in Palestine, that the Patriarch of Jerusalem — Theophanes — before his death in 1645 had appointed him — Nikoloz Choloqashvili — as his deputy. But due to the Greeks’ cunning and guile this appointment made according to the will of

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His Holiness the Patriarch was not fulfilled.1 At present the Brethren of the Holy Sepulchre possess a great amount of money, which they have accumulated over the course of three hundred years. They exploit great revenues which come from the Russian and Georgian estates donated to the Holy Sepulchre, and almost up to the present day they have received gifts of money from the Holy Russian Synod.2

1 Заслуги грузинскаго монашества и монастырей отечественной цркви и общества, Епископа Киріона. 2 Русское Богатсво, ix, 1900.

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HOLY MOUNT SINAI Pilgrims from Russia who come to Jerusalem take the advantage of the opportunity and from Christmas time until Lent go on pilgrimages to Mount Sinai. This travel can be performed in two ways. By land, from Jerusalem, under the leadership of a Russian priest monk, and with the protection of the Palestinian Bedouins. This way of travelling, though shorter, is very tiresome. That is why it is much more preferable to travel to Mount Sinai from the city of Jaffa, then via Alexandria and Cairo. This also enables pilgrims to visit the very splendid places for Christians in Egypt: namely the places where the divine Child Jesus stayed, with His Holy Mother and the righteous Joseph, to escape from King Herod’s persecutions.

CITIES: PORT SAID, ALEXANDRIA, CAIRO Those who travel to Mount Sinai by this route buy their tickets in Jaffa for the steamship going to Alexandria. Port Said is a new city and there is nothing special about it. Those who wish to spend time there can stay in the Greek Monastery of the Apostle St John the Theologian. Alexandria is a large city on the south coast of the Mediterranean. It was founded by Alexander the Macedonian in 332 BC. Alexandria became the second city after Rome. The Holy Apostle Mark introduced Christ’s religion to Alexandria and Apostle Peter declared him the first bishop of the city. St Luke the Evangelist wrote in Alexandria “The Acts of the Apostles.” There, on the Island of Pharos, in about 200 BC, seventy Jewish scholars translated the Bible from Hebrew into Greek, under the supervision of the learned Demetrius of Pharos, the founder of a most splendid library in Alexandria. This translation of the Old Testament books was undertaken at the order of the Egyptian King, Ptolemy Philopator. In Alexandria there is a monastery that belongs to the Orthodox Patriarch. In this monastery there is a 119

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church dedicated to St Saba the Pure, and in this church there is a chapel of St Catherine, the Virgin-Martyr. According to tradition this chapel is above the place where the dungeon was located, in which St Catherine was imprisoned before her martyrdom. Another monastery, St Mark’s, belongs to the Copts. The church of the Coptic monastery is built on the place where the Holy Apostle Mark received a martyr’s death, and where he was buried. His holy relics were translated to Venice and only the head of the Apostle is kept in this cathedral in a marble larnax (coffin). Generally speaking in Alexandria there are many splendid buildings: a palace, a mosque with a thousand columns, a maritime educational institution, and a navy arsenal. Alexandria is connected by rail with Cairo. All the European countries have their consuls here. The inhabitants of Alexandria number about 65,000. Cairo is the most important city in Egypt. It is situated on the right bank of the Nile. It is the centre of Arab learning and art. There are about four hundred mosques, some of which are exceptionally interesting from an architectural point of view. In Cairo there are about 300,000 inhabitants of different nations. Each nationality lives in its own quarter. In Old Cairo there is a large Greek monastery remarkable for its age and vast size. The major church in this monastery is that of the Chief Martyr St George, with the saint’s coffin in his own chapel, translated from Lydda. In the altar of the parish church there is kept a piece of his shoulder and his finger. To the right of the screen there is an old and well-preserved icon of the Holy Mother of God, painted by the Holy Evangelist Luke. Close to this monastery there is a Coptic monastery. It is built on the site of the inn where the Holy Family found shelter during Herod’s persecution. The main church is dedicated to the Dormition of the Mother of God. In this church to the right of the Royal Door there is a door hidden in the floor, leading into the cave where the Holy Family used to live. In a niche in the eastern wall of this cave there lies a marble slab with a cross engraved on it. This was the cradle of the Divine Child Jesus, and next to it, on a stone bed, lay His holy Mother. Both these beds are now used as large dining tables. In another basement there is a stone basin that was used by the Mother of God for bathing the Saviour. To the left one goes down into a well from which the Holy Family used to drink water. The water from this well is famous in Cairo since it heals babies. When

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a child gets ill his clothes are soaked in this water, and the sick child is wrapped in these clothes. According to the parents and the relatives, the child is immediately relieved. In Old Cairo there are several remarkable buildings with square yards, enclosed with tall walls. These are bakers’ shops, and people have called them “Joseph’s Stores” from ancient times. Near the military prison there is a dungeon known as the Well of Joseph the Chief Patriarch. According to oral tradition, it is on the place of the dungeon where the innocent Joseph was imprisoned by Potiphar. The pilgrims usually stay in the metochion of Sinai and they are issued with letters from the Superior of Sinai Monastery, who lives there. North of there, at a distance of three hours, is a village called Matarieh. At the entrance to the village there is a tree-stump with four branches. It is called the Tree of the Most Holy Mother of God. It was under the shadow of this tree that the Holy Mother, on her travels, had found shade for herself and the baby, until Joseph could find a place where they could stay. This wild sycamore is considered to be incorruptible. Suez is the first city you reach on the coast of the Red Sea. It is connected with Cairo by railway (a seven-hour journey). Pilgrims can stay in the Greek clergy house by the Chief Martyr St George’s Church. Russian pilgrims must visit the Russian Consul in Suez, and receive a letter from the representative of Sinai Monastery, as without this one may face difficulties after getting to Sinai.

THE MONASTERY OF SINAI The Monastery of Sinai, due to its location, makes a very unusual impression on pilgrims and visitors. The size and shape of its enormous walls, built with solid stones, form a square box that seems to have been lowered down from above onto the gorge. On one side it rises towards the foot of Mount Horeb, and on the other it descends to the foot of St Epistemia’s mountain. There was a time when the travellers to Mount Sinai were taken by means of a basket through the monastery wall, or rather, through a windowlike aperture in the wall. But for the last ten years this practice has been abandoned, ever since the times became more peaceful, and there is no more fear of attacks on the part of savage Bedouins.

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Travellers now enter the monastery by a narrow, winding path which leads them into a tower with heavy iron doors. In the centre of the square building of the stronghold, which is the monastery, a long church can be seen, and next to it there is a ruined minaret. The huge walls of the basilica (church), of grey and golden brown stone, strong and hard, are devoid of any beauty, except for the huge carved wooden doors, made of cypress, which, on the evidence of its workmanship, is assigned to the eighth or ninth centuries. The silver casket that rests in the sanctuary contains the relics of the Virgin Martyr St Catherine. The inscription says that it was the gift of the Russian Tsars Ivan and Peter, sons of Aleksey and of the Grand Duchess Sophia Alekseyevna in 1689. The kings of Georgia: Vakhtang, St David the Builder and the Blessed Tamar are remembered in this monastery, on account of their many donations. In 250 AD, when Christians were being evicted by Emperor Diocletian, many Christians took shelter in the desert of Sinai. Queen Helena, the Equal of the Holy Apostles, then built a small church for them at the place of the “Unburnt Bush.” In the fifth century the Emperor Justinian gave orders to build two monasteries: one at the place where a small church had been built by Queen Helena, which still exists today, and another at Raithu, by the shores of the Red Sea. In the courtyard of Sinai Monastery there is a perpetual spring called “The Spring of Moses.” There the prophet of God gave water to the flock of sheep belonging to Jethro, the priest of Midian. They had been brought to this spring by his daughters. The chapel of the “Unburnt Bush,” which is behind the altar of the great church is beautifully decorated in an oriental manner. On entering the place, the visitors take off their shoes. The floors are covered in carpets. The place where the thorn bush appeared, in the centre of the chapel, is covered with a thin silver plate, with an engraving showing the flaming bush and some other miracles performed at this place. Near the chapel, to the right, there is a hall, and not long ago, there was a Greek inscription on the door: “Healing of the Soul.” It is a splendid library of manuscripts, and a rich collection of ancient parchments (written on skin). A great many book collections in Europe and, incidentally, the Russian Imperial Library, which owns the ancient manuscript of the Bible from Sinai, have enriched

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their treasures from here. At present the existing collection in the Sinai Library is still a focus of attention. A total of 1500 Greek manuscripts are kept here, and about 700 manuscripts in Arabic, Georgian and Armenian. In the Chapel of the Dormition of the Most-Blessed Mother of God, on the right hand side, there is a cave with the holy relics of the Worthy Fathers Blessed by God, Isaac the Syrian, Ephrem the Syrian, and others massacred by the Saracens in Sinai and Raithu, as well as the tomb of the Worthy Father John, the one who wrote about Klimakos’ life, but it is not permitted to enter this cave. In another chapel they show the place where once, as a result of the prayers of the Holy Sinaite Fathers, oil started to flow. According to one story, a servant took it upon himself to sell to some visitors a small amount of this oil, and since that time the flow has stopped. To the north of the desert of Sinai there is an orchard, where the Brethren have their burial ground, and a church. By the doors of the church are the relics of St Stephen, who had been the doorkeeper of the monastery. He is buried sitting on a chair. He wears a felt shirt, and round his neck is a monk’s rosary.

THE HOLY PLACES AROUND SINAI When the pilgrims leave the Sinai monastery towards the southwest, to ascend Mount Horeb, they approach what is called the “Cobbler’s Cave,” where St John the Cobbler by trade, whose family was from Cairo, lived and worked. From here, in half an hour’s time, after going uphill, they reach a small church of the Most Holy Virgin Economis, who had appeared to the Iconomos of Sinai Monastery and encouraged him, and the Brethren, to be patient. The Brethren had been left without any food for several days, as the provisions from Cairo did not arrive. Finally, since they were extremely hungry, they decided to leave the Sinai monastery. But after the Most Holy Virgin appeared to them, a matter of several hours later, there arrived a caravan loaded abundantly with provisions. This church was built to commemorate this miracle. After an hour’s walk from here one goes up Mount Horeb, on whose summit the glorious prophet Elijah had lived for some time, when he was hiding from the persecution of the king of the Israelites, Ahab, and his wife, Jezebel. Here, in the court, flows the lifegiving spring which the prophet had prayed to God to provide.

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The road leading up to Mount Sinai starts from here, and after an hour’s difficult walk uphill, the pilgrims reach the summit, the place where the Lord appeared to Moses and gave him the two tablets of stone,1 engraved with the commandments for the people of Israel. To the north of the range of Mount Horeb, among the steep rocks, there are small churches built of simple uncut cobble-stones. They are dedicated to various saints: John the Forerunner, St Anna, the most Holy and Blessed Mother of God dressed in the Glorious Girdle, and St Panteleimon. In the ravine which is called “Leja,” there is a church of the Forty Martyrs which is a metochion of the Sinai monastery. Near the metochion there is a cave of St Onuphrius, where he lived for sixty years, and above the cave there is a small church dedicated to this venerable man. In order to reach St Catherine’s mountain a pilgrim has to go down the deep ravine, “Leja.” There in this ravine is a remarkable rock with twelve holes cut in it. According to legend, by a miracle, the Prophet Moses made water flow out of this solid rock for the afflicted people of Israel. In some of the holes there the Bedouin put grass which they use for feeding their camels. When passing through Leja towards the ravine of Raha, on the left hand side, one can see St Peter and Paul’s church. Previously a monastery had been there. A little way away from here to the right, there is another church of the Dormition of the Most Holy Lady. In Wadi er Raha, at the foot of Mount Horeb, they show a solid rock, which goes down into the earth. It is a mould of a natural sized ox head. Legend says that Aaron cast the head of an ox by means of this mould, which the Israelites had asked Aaron to give them, and which they worshiped. Not far from here they show the place where the Tent of Torture was, and where Dathan and Abiram2 were devoured by the earth, since they did not observe the regulations for Holy Ministry. The highest peak of the Sinai range is St Catherine’s mountain. Here, on the summit, is a small stone chapel built on that very rock where rested the relics of the Chief Martyr and Holy Virgin St Catherine. An angel guarded St Catherine’s holy remains for two hundred years, but on November 23, her remains were translated 1 2

Exodus 24:12 Numbers 16:25–32.

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from here to the Sinai monastery. That is why St Catherine’s day is celebrated on that day by the Greek Church, and November 24 is the day of her martyrdom, as in the Russian and Georgian Churches. In the gorge of Mount Horeb there is a church of the Holy Mother of God-Davitiani which is half ruined. The construction of this church is ascribed to the holy and righteous Georgian King David the Builder, in the eleventh century.

DIFFERENCES IN PERFORMING RELIGIOUS RITES IN THE JERUSALEM AND THE RUSSIAN CHURCHES 1. In Jerusalem, during the Feast of Orthodoxy, on the First Sunday of Lent, they walk twice with crosses and holy icons, round the chapel of Christ the Saviour’s Sepulchre (Kuvuklia), and once round the entire church of the Resurrection. The rite of Anathema is not conducted in Jerusalem in the way it is held once a year in the Russian and the Georgian Churches, on the First Sunday of Lent. The Anathema is read out upon those who denounce the major doctrines acknowledged by the Orthodox Church. The Holy Church does not denounce those who violate the moral Canons of the Church. They are tolerated by the Holy Church with motherly generosity to the final occasion possible, in the hope that those who once violated the rules of religion, will repent and return to the path of truth. The Holy Church condemns and excommunicates those who deny the existence and providence of God, His spiritual existence and his supreme merits, the Holy Trinity, the coexistence and co-merits of the Son of God and the Holy Ghost with God the Father. It also condemns those who deny the necessity of the incarnation, the suffering and death of the Son of God for the life of mankind; and those who do not have faith in the virtue of salvation, who deny the eternal virginity of the Mother of God; who do not believe that the Holy Ghost acted by means of the Prophets and the Apostles, and that now He dwells in the hearts of Christians and guides them into all truth. Also condemned are those who reject the immortality of the soul, the end of this world, the eternal punishment and eternal reward according to men’s acts, as well as those who reject the Seven Holy Mysteries. Also condemned are those who deny the Seven Holy Ecumenical Councils and their decisions, and those who do not obey the au127

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thority of a king given by God, and finally those who reject and denounce Holy Icons. This Anathema is not said in Jerusalem, to avoid displeasure and possible riots among the various Christian confessions. Such displeasure may result in fisticuffs, and even lead to the desire to approach and defile each other’s holy objects. 2. The Service of the Washing the Feet of the Clergy on the Great Thursday in the City of Jerusalem. After the service, at 9 o’clock in the morning, a group of clergy comes out in full attire. They are led by an Ottoman soldier to keep order, who are then joined by the kavasses carrying long staffs. Then come several young men with lighted candles, as well as the monks, the cantors, the archdeacons with censers, priests, and, again, archdeacons with two-branched candles (dikir) and three-branched candles (trikir), and finally the Patriarch himself in full attire, who blesses the people with a cross. They come out from the church into the courtyard where, for this occasion, is placed a lofty, large divan decorated with rich carpets. The Patriarch ascends the divan and sits down on a golden chair prepared for him. The twelve clergy chosen to take part in the rite of the Washing of the Feet, take their places on either side of the Patriarch. Then the assistant to the Patriarch’s deputy goes up to the rail, where he starts to read the Gospel. The Patriarch stands up from his seat and goes to each of the Apostles who are being mentioned on this occasion. He asks them questions, and some reply directly to him, but others read from a notebook. After the reply they bow to the Patriarch so that their heads touch their feet. Then the Patriarch takes off his mitre and other ritual vestments, and washes their feet. Then he once again puts on his vestments, descends from the high seat with three chosen clergy, and starts to pray near the place where the Gospel had been read. Those who have been accompanying him, throw themselves to the ground at a distance of ten paces. In the course of his prayers the Patriarch goes three times to them and wakes them up. After this all of them again ascend to the divan. They present to the Patriarch a big bunch of flowers, instead of hyssop, and he dips it in a bowl full of rose water and sprinkles the clergy and the people with it. Finally the assembly of clergy, with great pealing of bells, returns in the same manner to the Church of the Resurrection, from where they had come out. An enormous number of people, both Christians and Muslims, gather on the roofs of the houses next to the church, as well as on balconies, in order to see this holy

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ceremonial. About 30,000 people in all watch this holy ceremonial being performed. 3. The Greeks do not observe the Vigil for Evening and Morning Services in the way it is performed in the Russian Church. Greeks only perform the first part of the vigil, that is, the Evening service, with the Blessing of Bread, that happens in the afternoon at three o’clock, with the Great Entry. Then in the morning, one priest by himself conducts the second part of the Vigil, that is, the morning service. It is conducted in a simple way, as on ordinary days. He reads only from the Gospel in the sanctuary, and the bringing out of the festive icon, the censing and the anointing with oil is not performed. But how can anointing happen when oil is not consecrated together with the Bread? 4. During the Patriarch’s liturgy, at the Great Entry, that is, the bringing out of the chalice and paten, those who concelebrate with the Patriarch are provided with altar crosses, gvadrutses (caskets) containing the Holy Relics, and some are given icons. But the cross, containing a piece of the actual relic from the life-giving Cross, is not given to anybody to bring out. 5. The Symbol of Religion, that is, “I believe in one God,” is not sung. Instead, one of the priests stands by the entrance of the Royal Door and reads it facing the people. At this time the bishops kiss the Holy Offerings and the altar, then they kiss the Patriarch on his hand and shoulder, and the Patriarch kisses them on their heads. The bishops kiss each other by mouth, and the priests kiss the Patriarch and the bishops on their right hands. 6. During the service only the Patriarch, or a bishop, or some other high official holds the Kontakion, and reads the regular holy prayers to the people who are attending the service, because none of these people holds the Kontakion in their hands. 7. It is a general rule in the Russian and Georgian Churches that after the hymn of the cherubim, the Bishop conducting the liturgy says the ekphonesis; but in the Greek Church, after the Cherubic Hymn the ekphonesis is said in turns, by whoever they may be, irrespective of title, for instance archimandrite, igumen, archpriest or priest. During my concelebration with the Patriarch, despite the fact that we were eight concelebrating together, it fell to me to say two ekphoneseis. First it was the fourth ekphonesis, and the second time, “Grant me, O Lord, to be bold to appeal to thee, and to address thee as Lord, and Father in heaven.”

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8. It is an accepted rule in the Greek Church that when a priest or an archimandrite receives a piece of the Holy Offering from the bishop himself, he has to stay there, bend his head in front of the antimension, and there receive the piece of Christ’s Incorrupt Flesh. Then he has to wipe his hands with a sponge placed on the antimension. Our clergy might ask, “But when do they read the prayer which is read before taking communion?” In the Greek Church this prayer is said by the concelebrating priests before receiving the piece of the Holy Offering from the hands of the bishop. The concelebrating clergy receive communion from the chalice in turn. 9. When a proskomedia is performed on Christ the Saviour’s Tomb, a bishop or a priest, kneeling on a gold embroidered cushion, conducts this Holy Office. 10. In Jerusalem for Palm Sunday Prime, they do not prepare boxwood branches to be blessed and handed out to the worshippers. Those who wish to attend the church with a palm branch, buy them with their own money, and go to the church with palm branches already prepared. That is why, on the Friday and Saturday of Palm Sunday Week the Arabs bring branches of date trees for sale, and sell them in the front yard of the church, charging from two shaurs up to two manets, according to the size and beauty of the branches. 11. Easter liturgy in Jerusalem. At 2 o’clock in the afternoon in Christ the Saviour’s Church the famous evening ceremonial of the first day of the Passover begins. The Patriarch is led into the church with exceptional ceremony. The whole way to the church is scattered with flowers, as well as the church itself up to the sanctuary, and as the Patriarch enters the church, from the galleries they rain on him bunches of roses and other different flowers. Ten archdeacons with two-branched candlesticks walk in front of the Patriarch; then come those carrying twelve ripidas (an icon of cherubim on a long pole); only after this come about a hundred priests in their rich vestments. As soon as they enter the church they begin the Festal Evening service. The Gospel is read in eight languages. After the liturgy the Patriarch, and the bishops holding crosses and Gospels, sit down on the seats and the people, as also happens at the Easter Prime, come up to them to congratulate them on Christ’s Resurrection.

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12 Kamilavks, commonly used by the Greek clergy. In Jerusalem, and in particular in the Greek Church, the clergy observe the common regulation of wearing kamilavks on their heads, irrespective of their titles, be it a priest, a monk, or an Archdeacon. Their kamilavks are of black velvet, and not coloured, as is usual among us. That is why it was a great honour on the part of the Patriarch, in respect of my title, that I was allowed to conduct the liturgy without wearing the kamilavk. In the Greek Church only the following awards are accepted for the clergy: Panagia (a round icon of the Blessed Mother of God or of the Saviour) for a bishop to wear on the breast, both during services in the church and outside the church, as an indication of his ecclesiastical title; and a mitra for the bishop covering his head like a crown, but only at church services; a cross for the archimandrite to wear on his breast, and an Enkerion, worn as a spiritual sword by the bishops, archimandrites, and by approved igumens and archpriests. 13. In some monasteries on Athos, during the Great Entry when the Holy Gifts are brought out, the priest says this sentence, “O all Orthodox Christians, be ye remembered by the Lord God in his habitation.” This is said by the priest four times, in four directions, and then immediately he enters the sanctuary. 14. In view of the fact that, every Tuesday, the Holy Church commemorates St John, the Glorious Prophet, Forerunner and Baptist, in Jerusalem on Tuesdays in Lent, in the monastery that is built in his name, they perform the liturgy of the First Martyr. The following differences are observed at the liturgy. The first versicle, “Guide my prayer,” is sung in the sanctuary by the priest leading the service. Other versicles are chanted at the kliros (lectern) and the last versicle, “Guide my prayer,” is again chanted by the priest leading the service in the sanctuary. At this point in the church neither the clergy nor the lay people kneel down. In addition, after the chanting of each versicle, the priest who leads the service, changes his position at the altar. At the beginning he stands upright and censes in front of the altar. During the chanting of the second versicle he moves to the right side of the altar, then he moves to the left end, towards the back, and finally to the front again. 15. In Jerusalem in the Church of the Resurrection of Christ the Saviour, the Orthodox altar is about six adles wide, with a wide foot-rest at the front. The reliquary that rests on the altar is made of malachite (green marble), as well as the church itself. Above the

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altar table is a marble canopy. This is curtained off from the public, when communion is given to the numerous clergy in the sanctuary at Great Feasts. A great number of women stand in the upper storey, and when the service is performed in the sanctuary they can watch everybody and everything without any obstacles.

RETURN FROM PALESTINE On the very day of June 16, a month after I left my homeland, I say goodbye to Palestine, named the Holy Land. In the afternoon, at 12 o’clock, we are going to get into the boats which will take us a distance of three versts to the steamship. It is stormy and the sea is very rough. When the boat approached the shore, I tried to step into it. But suddenly a wave moved the boat back from the shore, and I was left with one foot in the sea. I reached my hands backwards, and the kavas Nikoloz of the Black Mount, who was standing nearby, and who had been accompanying us from Jerusalem, very swiftly caught me by the tips of my fingers, and rescued me from the abyss of the sea. The sea was so rough that all the people, the men and women who were in the boats started to weep. Everyone was gripped with fear, because the waves would throw the boats up and down by two or three sazhens. An elderly colonel, with experience of cannon-volleys and smoke during the last Russian and Ottoman war, began weeping with fear when he saw the frightening waves in the sea. I spoke sternly to the dismayed military man and told the others to rely on their faith and hope in God’s mercy. Thanks to God, the Benevolent! We have all survived this great danger in peace. The boatmen, the local Arabs, are very skilled in sailing. When the waves used to rise up, the boatmen had to apply all their strength and skills to turn the boats away, and avoid water flooding into the boats. At exactly the same month of last year, and during the same kind of fierce storm, a boat carrying a mother and her two children capsized at the same place. The mother and her son were drowned, but the boatmen rescued her young daughter. On June 17, at 8 o’clock in the morning we arrived safely in the city of Beirut. The sea was always rough, the whole way from Jaffa to this city. We arrived in the city of Tripoli at 8 o’clock in the 133

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evening. As it got dark here the steam engine was stopped, because until dawn, no baggage could either be received, or taken away. On June 18, at 8 o’clock in the morning, we left the city of Tripoli. Some students from Beirut University were on board the steamship “Rossia.” They were going to Constantinople to take exams. They spoke in Turkish, Arabic, French and Greek. Irrespective of their religion or nationality, they were all dressed alike, and all of them were wearing red fezzes. In 1893, in the city of Beirut in Syria, the Roman Pope Leo XIII founded a school under the Jesuit Order, with the eminent name “The Catholic University.” On June 19, in the evening we had Evening and Morning Prayers on board the ship. A Russian monk from Athos had started the service earlier at another place, and the worshippers gave him offerings. But when our group of priests conducted the service, it was free of charge, as the Gospels tell us, “You received without cost; give without charge.”1 On June 21, on Monday, at 7 o’clock in the morning we came to the city of Smyrna. We worshipped here in the Church of St John the Theologian, where the screen is made of walnut timber. It has elaborate handmade carvings on it, representing the deeds and the complete lives of St John the Theologian, the Chief Martyr George, and the Bishop and Wonderworker St Nicholas. In this church they show a Greek gospel-book that is said to be written by the Apostle John the Evangelist himself. But there are also three more other gospels in this book. The book is not written on vellum either but on wax paper. There are colour paintings of the four Evangelists in the book, but there is nothing else remarkable in the book. They merely show this gospel-book in order to make money from the visitors, and it is quite obvious that the gospel-book is in no way related to the period of the Apostles.

1

Matthew 10:8.

A MONK FROM TUSHETI ON ATHOS We left the city of Smyrna on June 22 at 7 o’clock in the evening and arrived in Istambul on June 24 at 4 o’clock in the morning. We stayed here till 4 o’clock on Saturday the June 26. On the way back to Istambul we did not visit any of the metochia of Russian monasteries. Three Russian monasteries on Athos have their metochia in Constantinople. They are four or five stories high which contain churches. In these metochia they have a tradition that each morning they give out a girvanka of white bread to the needy people of the city, irrespective of their nationality or religion. Some of them on Saturdays receive a little money as alms. This Christian virtue does not agree with one occasion about which I was told in the Georgian Cloister on Mount Athos. Last year in September a certain young man from Tusheti, of our own nationality, had come to Istambul from Georgia. He had been robbed on board the ship and was left in a foreign country without any means, and nor did he know the language of the local people. In this difficult situation he applies to a metochion of the Russian Monastery, which has a fivestoreyed building in Istambul. He asks for their mercy and a night’s shelter. He was not accepted because he was a stranger. They had forgotten the gospel commandment, “I was a stranger, and ye took me in.”1 Clearly he was not acceptable, as he did not know Russian, and as he was not dressed in the habit or robe of a novice. Instead he was wearing a Georgian chokha2 and a Tushetian hat, and he tried to reassure his Orthodox origin by crossing himself. But when he had decided to go to the suburbs of the town, in order to spend that night on the plain, God sent him a guardian angel. A Geor1 2

Matthew 25:35. Georgian men’s clothing.

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gian, Silovan son of Anton, was on a short visit to Istambul. This man showed him brotherly love, and took the Tushetian man to the place where he himself was staying, and gave him a comfortable night. Next day Silovan gave him some money for travelling, took him off to board a ship, and sent him off to Mount Athos. His refusal by the Russian Monastery, in my opinion, happened because the senior brothers didn’t know anything about it, and the lower ranking lay brothers, who are the doorkeepers, are unintelligent and ignorant. At present this son of our country lives and works in an admirable way in the Georgian Cloister on Athos. How have times changed! The Tushetians, a renowned tribe of the Georgian nation, for many centuries were commended for their chivalry and bravery. They were settled by the Georgian kings on the summit of the ridge of the Caucasus, on the border with Dagestan, and used to petrify Lesgins, Chechens and Didos with their own vigour, unbending bravery, and their lion-hearted ferocity in their battles until Shamil was subdued. Today one of the sons of Tusheti “lays down his sharp sword, which had been a faithful friend in every danger in the battle against his foes. And this same twenty-year old young man, full of strength, takes up a spiritual sword, that is, the Word of God. He puts down his shield with which he used to withstand his enemies, and he takes up the shield of faith. He takes off his iron helmet and puts on the helmet of salvation. He takes off his iron coat of mail and puts on the truth. He unties his silver belt, and girds himself with righteousness. He puts down his gun, a faithful friend of his, with which he used to thunder in times of battle in order to “quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.”3 So, this brave earthly cavalryman of the king, has become a religious horseman of the heavenly Lord! “A monk from Tusheti at the end of the nineteenth century!” — it sounds somewhat uncommon to one’s ear. But here there is a special vocation from heaven. This son of our beloved country desires to go abroad, in order to hide his spiritual life from the people among whom he lives, and to serve the Lord Jesus Christ without any interruptions, as it says in the Gospel, “And anyone who has left 3

Ephesians 6:13–17.

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houses, or brothers or sisters, or father or mother, or children, or land for the sake of my name will be repaid many times over, and gain eternal life.”4 This brother of ours is today fulfilling this commandment of our Lord and Saviour. May God grant him the strength and virtue to serve with honour in this new religious pursuit; to steadily defend the faith, and finally to receive the unwithering crown of the heavenly kingdom reserved for true defenders of faith. We should, in the name of God, respect such very devoted brothers, rather than those who are presented with crosses and orders as they are always and everywhere honoured with respect. An event very like this happened to me on August 13, 1885, in the church of the Kiev Lavra. I came there during the morning service, at two o’clock in the morning, and there were so many pilgrims there that I found it difficult to enter the cathedral. In the end I saw a novice entering the church and I asked him to lead me into the church. He told me, “Hold me tight by the belt and follow me.” Finally, and with great efforts, he took me up to the kliros, and I fainted because of the heat. When I stepped on the stairs to go up to the kliros a monk wearing a golden cross, who sang in the choir, looked sternly in my direction and addressed me impolitely, “There is not enough room for everybody here!” At this moment I drew aside my cloak under which I wore the gold cross and the badge of an order. The Father Igumen was taken aback on seeing this. He took me by the hand with great apologies, and took me immediately to the kliros, and offered a seat for me to have a rest. On June 26, on Saturday at 4 o’clock in the afternoon we began our voyage to Mount Athos on board the steamship “Azov.” This is the same ship which previously took us from Odessa to Jaffa. Now a month and a half later she is taking us to Mount Athos. The ship is old, and even during the slightest swell, it is unstable. This evident drawback is balanced by its Captain, Mr Pavel Victorovich Nagorski, who is most respectful and considerate. He was always ready to fulfil our request to hold services; he always easily gave us permission to pray on the deck, and he himself and the people under his command used to take part in the service. He attended to the travellers, even at the times when some of us went 4

Matthew 19:29.

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walking in Istambul, or any other city by the sea, and if we happened to be unable to be punctual for lunch or dinner, the captain of the ship, Mr Nagorski, would order the chief cook to keep for us our lunch or dinner free of any extra payment. The captains of other ships did not pay any attention to this. If we were late for meals, we had to have them at our own expense. Sometimes during a strong storm the ship swings like a cradle, and all the people who then feel seasick are unable to eat or drink. If we happened to ask for dinner or lunch, coffee or tea, after the sea became calm, we had to pay for it, even though the passengers had been charged for their meals throughout the voyage, from the start. On our voyage from Odessa to Istambul, on board the steamship “Azov,” we were given even wine at lunch and dinner time, but on board the other ship, when we were sailing from Istambul to Odessa, they did not serve wine.

THE HOLY MOUNT OF ATHOS After the Holy City of Jerusalem — where the Son of God, after His bloody torments and His Resurrection through His Crucifixion fulfilled the mystery of our salvation and also after many other places in Palestine, sanctified by the life and deeds performed with the unutterable love and mercy of our Lord and Saviour, the first among other Holy Places is Mount Athos. Here, on this mountain, in their own cells, live and work those men who have rejected honour, glory, wealth, and the life of the laity, and have devoted themselves to special service to the one true God and to virtuous matters pleasing to God.

Figure 15. Holy Mount Athos

Holy Mount Athos was very remarkable even before Christ’s birth. A great number of pilgrims used to come there, as at present. The only difference is that in those times they would perform pagan celebrations and would offer sacrifices to the idol of Apollo, whose 139

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major place of worship was on the summit of Athos. But the ancient centuries of paganism have gone, and quite soon after the Lord’s Ascension, the Holy Mount of Athos was illumined by the light of the Holy Gospel. Mount Athos is a peninsula surrounded by the Aegean Sea on three sides. Its area is about 100 versts. A narrow strait on the west connects the peninsula with Thessalonica, the city in Macedonia. There is historical evidence about the time when monasticism started on Mount Athos. It is believed that monasticism started in the ninth century, that is to say in the times when worthy Father Peter the Athonite settled down there; although there is some fragmentary evidence to suggest that hermits’ monasteries existed on the Holy Mount even at the beginning of the fifth century. Mount Athos and Georgia are thought to be places allotted to the Holy Mother of God. About this the Church tells this traditional story: After the Lord’s ascension, in the city of Jerusalem, the Holy Apostles in the presence of the Holy Mother of God cast lots about which parts of the world each would be allotted to preach the Gospel. Georgia was then allotted to the Holy Mother of God, but an angel of the Lord said to her that another country would fall under her protection, and that Georgia would be enlightened as a result of learning the Gospel. At this time, St Lazarus, who had been resurrected on the fourth day, and who was now a bishop on the island of Cyprus, desired with all his heart to see the Most Holy Mother of God. But since the Christians were being pursued by the Jews, he was afraid to come to Jerusalem. With the consent of the Holy Mother of God, Lazarus sent a ship that was to take her to Cyprus, along with Apostle John the Theologian and other disciples of the Apostles. A strong opposing wind began to blow during the voyage and the ship was taken to Mount Athos, which at that time was full of idols. Among them there was the splendid idol of Apollo, which used to answer the questions of all the people who presented themselves to the idol. As soon as the Most Holy Mother of God came to the seashore, the idols began shouting: “People, deceived by Apollo! Go to the place where Climent lives, (where there is now the Iveria, the Georgian Monastery of Portaitis) and venerate the Mother of the Great God Jesus.” The devils which dwelt in the idols, regardless of whether they wished to do so, were forced by the power of God to speak the truth. On hearing these words from the idols, people were amazed and they all hurried

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down to the seashore, to the harbour we have already mentioned. When they saw the ship and the Mother of God, they received her with great esteem, and asked her if she had borne God, and what his name was. The Holy Mother of God informed them about Jesus Christ, and they all threw themselves down on their knees, and expressed their adoration to the God She had born. They expressed great respect to Her, and then received the Faith, and they were illuminated. The Holy Mother of God performed many miracles there, and chose for the new Christians a teacher, who was a disciple to one of the Apostles. Then She rejoiced in her spirit, and said, “May this be the place allotted to me by my Son and my God. Let the grace of God be upon this place, and upon those living here, who will be following the commandments of my Son and my God with faith and respect. And may all that is necessary for living here be achieved by their modest but fruitful labour, and let this place not lack the grace of my Son until the end of the world. And I shall become the patron of this place, and an ardent intercessor to God.” On saying this, the Mother of God blessed the people, and went away to the island of Cyprus to visit Lazarus. According to her vow about Mount Athos, the Mother of God evidently grants it her entire protection. What difficulties has Athos not gone through, and what persecutions has it not endured! Yet it still stands unbroken, and adorned with its monasteries. It is a fortress of Eastern Orthodoxy. Raids and oppressions caused by the wars of the Latin Crusaders, and Turkish rule which lasted four centuries, could never devastate this fortress, this Ark of Purity, which proves in a number of different ways the legend that Athos will remain an abode for monks till the end of the world.

ST PANTELEIMON’S RUSSIAN MONASTERY AND OTHER RUSSIAN MONASTERIES ON HOLY MOUNT ATHOS On June 27, on Sunday, at 4 o’clock in the afternoon we safely reached the foothills of Mount Athos. The harbour is two versts away from the Russian monastery of the Chief Martyr and Healer, St Panteleimon. The monks of this monastery took us to the monastery by boat. I was accommodated together with a Russian clergyman who had travelled with me on the same ship from Jerusalem. My companion in travelling, Father Archpriest Solomin, together with his wife, went straight from Istambul to Odessa, as women are not allowed to land on Athos. On June 28, at 8 in the evening after conducting a short service at twilight, they started the evening and morning services by keeping vigil in the main church of the monastery. It lasted the whole night until 5 o’clock in the morning. I also had to submit myself to the monastic typicon, although it was difficult for me at my age to stand on my feet for the whole night and to keep awake. But in order to gain the Kingdom of God one has to walk “through the strait gate and narrow way,”1 “The Kingdom of Heaven has been subjected to violence and the violent take it by force.”2 On June 29, on the feast day of the Chief Apostles Peter and Paul I too took part in the service. The Superior of the monastery, Father Archimandrite Andrey, was conducting the service himself, along with twelve of us. The Superior has a cross on his mitre and 1 2

Matthew 7:14. Matthew 11:12.

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he wears the Archimandrite’s cross as well as an icon of crucifixion, the panagia. He was presented with this panagia by the Patriarch Ioakim for his faithful service. Father Archimandrite wears the panagia only during the service, and after his death his deputies will be entitled to wear it. During the liturgy while saying the ekphonesis, “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ…,” and, “Grant us the mercy of our Lord God and Saviour…,” he also took the cross from the altar, and blessed the people after opening the Royal Doors in the same way as I mentioned before, when I described the service in the Russian Monastery in Jerusalem. He also blessed the bread on a paten and during the Great Entry and in the same way they covered the archdeacon’s back with an antimension. On the next day, in the church, at the end of the service while reading the psalm, “I shall worship the Lord forever,” they distributed consecrated communion bread among the worshippers. It had been consecrated at evening service by soaking it slightly in the wine which had also been consecrated at that time. After the service the Father Archimandrite congratulated me on the Day of my Angel with an icon of St Panteleimon, and a communion bread. Father Superior invited us, the guests, and the senior Brethren to the hall for the Brethren and we were served with tea. Then we were invited to the common meal. The Superior himself attended the dinner. About 600 monks were having dinner. A monk on duty read the Life of the Holy Apostles from a high pedestal. Nobody drank wine until the Superior rang the bell. Each brother had a small amount of wine in a leaden charek in front of him. The bell rang for the second time before the end of the meal and the monk who had been reading from the pedestal came down to receive a blessing from the Superior, as well as a piece of bread and a glass of wine. After dinner the Superior again blessed the table with the following words: “May Christ our God bless the bread of thy servants which remains over.” Then they brought him a basket into which he threw two pieces of bread and the others sitting next to him also did the same. This monastic rule represents the occasion when Jesus Christ in the wilderness blessed on one occasion five breads

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and then, on another occasion, seven breads, and several thousands were filled. Then he commanded his disciples: “Collect what is left from the table lest nothing should spoil”3 and they filled up twelve sphirids, (that is) baskets. At the end they conducted the rite of Panagia, said prayers and after the common meal we all received some small pieces of blessed bread. On August 29, 1885, when conducting Panagia in Moscow Lavra we drank wine as well, but here there was only Agiasmos. The Importance of Panagia. When Christ’s disciples used to gather for dinner, after His ascension, they used to leave one particular place unoccupied and would put a piece of bread there which they called: “Christ’s Piece.” By doing this they used to vividly imagine that Jesus Christ was invisibly present among them, as announced in the Gospels, “I am with you always, even until the end of the world.”4 After finishing dinner they used to hold up the bread, called “Christ’s Piece,” and they said the prayer: “Lord Jesus Christ, our God, help us.” Then everybody ate from this bread as holy food. On the third day after the Dormition of the Holy Mother of God, in the evening, when “Christ’s Piece” — the bread — is normally held up, the Apostles saw in the air the Holy Mother of God. She told them, “Do not be afraid, I am with you,” and after this vision the Apostles introduced the prayer, “Most Holy Mother of God save us.” The word Panagia itself means “Most Holy” in Greek. The rite of Panagia is not performed in Georgia, I suppose because of the small number of Brethren. On June 30, in the morning at 8 o’clock after attending an early service, an old novice from the monastery of St Panteleimon and two stablemen accompanied us to show us the way. I and one Russian priest, as well as the young son of a merchant, also Russian, rode on the monastery mules to venerate other monasteries. Although there is a fifteen versts’ journey up hill, it is mainly covered in forest and there is welcome shade from chestnut, oak and maple trees. After a three hour ride we arrived in a small city of Careas, surrounded by vineyards and orchards of Greek nuts and olives. Representatives of the monasteries on Athos regularly have a meet3 4

John 6:12. Matthew 28:20.

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ing or “Protaton” in this city, in order to discuss and to provide a solution for issues over which there are controversies and complaints. St Athanasius’ Lavra and each of the monasteries of the First Class,5 as well as Iveria Monastery, have their own metochia here and one of their representatives remains here permanently. When some great and important matters are discussed, the Superiors themselves assemble here. We entered the church and venerated the wonderworking icon of the Mother of God called “It is truly meet.”6 The Athonite Fathers narrate the following story about this icon. Here, in a cell of his own, lived a desert father, a great industrious man. He normally used to pray to this icon at midnight. When he finished his prayer, “It is truly meet and right to bless you O Theotokos, ever-blessed and most pure Mother of our God,” he heard a voice which addressed him from the Mother of God’s icon, “Continue the prayer with the following words: ‘More honourable than the Cherubim, and beyond compare more generous than the Seraphim, who without corruption gave birth to God the Word, true Theotokos: we magnify you.” Only after this miracle did the Orthodox Church introduce this prayer. From here we went to the Apostle St Andrew’s Russian Scete situated nearby. Scetes are second class monasteries, built on lands purchased from other monasteries, and supervised by them. Nothing can be built in the scete without the permission of the Superior of the monastery from whom the land had been purchased by the scete. And neither deacon nor priest can be ordained or consecrated without the Lord Superior’s permission. Every year a scete has to pay a levy of ten or twenty hundred gold pieces to the monastery on whose land they live, even though it had been purchased. This St Andrew’s Scete is doing well and with the good conditions it enjoys, it is in no way inferior to the Greek Monastery of Vatoped, to which it is a subject, and possibly excels it. It is not however called a monastery, even though it has its own Superior Archimandrite and about three hundred Brethren. In this Scete of St An5 The monasteries on Athos are officially graded into first, second and third classes. 6 Axion Estin.

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drew, a most delightful church has been built. It is a beautiful building not only in the context of Athos, but also in the great Throne City. Half a million manets have been spent on it, even though the marble quarry is quite close. The screen of this church, with its icons, cost 120,000 manets. The interior works have not been finished yet, and it will be ready for consecration in a year’s time. As I learnt from the Church Chronicles this grand church was already consecrated in May, 1900. Only Russian monks live in this Scete. Its superior, Father Archimandrite Joseph, now a middleaged man, received us with love and respect. He showed us round the old and new churches and buildings then he invited us to have meal with him. Two young Englishmen were having dinner with us. The Superior invited us to spend the night in their monastery, but we said “Thank you,” as we were going to the next monastery, and some three hours were now left before dusk. A certain wealthy Russian man, Sibiryakov, is said to be a great benefactor of this St Andrew’s Scete. He has donated one million manets and himself has become a Rassophore monk (рясофорный). He lives nearby, in his own wing outside the monastery, together with Father Archimandrite David, who had persuaded him to give this money to the monastery when he was in the office in Petersburg. As a monk, Sibiryakov is called Innokenti. I presented to the Father Superior of this Scete one of the Georgian holy icons, which he accepted with great pleasure. On June 30, at 6 o’clock in the evening, we came to the Russian Scete of St Ilia the Prophet. The relation of this Scete to the Greek Monastery of Pantokrator (the Omnipotent) is like that of St Andrew’s Scete to the Monastery of Vatopedi. We stayed here to spend the night. It is planned to build a new cathedral here. The courtyard is too narrow; so the ravine is being levelled with earth and stones to provide the foundation of the church. A great number of beautiful lemons and oranges are growing in the courtyard, which makes it look very appealing. The Father Archimandrite and a few Brethren are from Minor Russia. The Father Superior — Raphael — is a very modest, gentle and industrious person, who follows the Saviour’s commandment, “Whoever wants to be first

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must be the slave of all.”7 They are short of water in this monastery. Water is brought uphill with mules from a distance of four versts. In this Scete there is a miraculous icon of the Most Holy Mother of God called “Feeding with Milk” (млекопитающая). The Holy Mother of God is holding Jesus Christ, and feeding Him with her breast. On July 1, after the morning and evening services we thanked Father Raphael and I presented him with one of the Georgian holy icons which he accepted with great delight. He responded by giving me the blessing of the monastery — an icon of the Mother of God. The Scete has a very comprehensive publication “A Guidebook of Palestine,” which I bought with my own money. From St Ilia’s Scete we went straight to the newly founded Georgian Cloister and we arrived there in three hours’ time. I saw our Georgian Brethren for a little time. We rested there for an hour and I promised to pay a longer visit to them later on. On the same day we visited Iveria, the old and splendid monastery of the Georgians. We went into the church without any impediments, as Russian clergy. We venerated the Icon of Portaitis, and entered the cathedral church and had a look around. Every single sign or evidence of the Georgian Fathers’ activities has been eliminated here. If possible they would like to do away with the name of Iveria Monastery as well, but this is impossible, because the charters and sigillia of the estates of the monastery have been issued under the name of Iveria Monastery by the Byzantine emperors and the Georgian kings. On the same day we visited the cell of the Russian Chief Martyr, Artem, a third-class monastery. We had dinner there. This monastery was recently built. From here we went to St Athanasius’s Lavra, which takes precedence over all the monasteries of Athos. The only remarkable thing which I was shown in the Lavra was a paten. It was valuable but not golden. This Lavra is located almost next to the great Iveria Monastery. A great number of lands on Athos belong to it. A large number of the monasteries which were built on their estates are still paying their taxes to the Lavra. 7

Mark 10:44.

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On Mount Athos it is the only monastery that is called “Lavra.” In this Lavra, to our great disappointment, we were not shown either the remarkable treasures, or the library, where Georgian books are also kept. I was told that in the Greek Lavra of St Athanasius on Athos there are kept the purple cloak, the crown and the sceptre of the last Emperor of Byzantium, Constantine XI. In order to keep them safe they were sent to this monastery from Constantinople before the Ottomans seized the Throne City. That is how they have saved the royal regalia from plunder by the Ottomans, since the Ottomans did not touch the monasteries on Athos. Once a year, on the feast day of St Athanasius, the Patriarch is dressed in the rich cloak of royal purple, when he conducts the service in this Lavra. The last queen of Byzantium, Mariam, was the daughter of a Georgian king. She gave vast estates to the monasteries on Athos, and in these estates is sown all the wheat they need. This Queen is called, “Kallê Mariam” that is “Kind Mariam.” In front of the cathedral church of this Lavra there is a marble pool under a canopy. This pool is a source of splendid spring water. Water is blessed here during Epiphany. The first-class monasteries usually have pools like this. At dusk we came to the Scete of the Moldavians. Although newly built it is well arranged. The liturgy is performed in their native language. Church books are printed in Latin alphabet; but all the regulations for the service are those of the Orthodox Church. They do not understand Russian. “Lord have mercy on us” in their language is “Domne mileishte.” At 5 o’clock in the morning, after attending morning service, we said goodbye and set off on the road leading to the top of Mount Athos. On June 2, at 9 o’clock in the morning we came to the foot of Mount Athos. Here is the niche where the Mother of God is venerated. Here we had a rest and breakfast, and from here we began a five versts climb on foot. This peak is 12,000 feet high, and right on the summit of the peak there is a small church of the Transfiguration built against the rock facing to the East. From here it is very frightening to view the distance down to the sea. When we reached the top we saw an unpleasant scene. On the previous day there had been a thunderstorm, and the place had been struck by lightning, and around the church were the corpses of some twenty goats.

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They were lying by the doors of the church, all swollen and stinking. The goats belonged to the monks of the Greek Lavra on Athos. We prayed, and then had half an hour’s rest before we set off. The climb downhill took us an hour and a half. In the evening we came to the Russian cell of St George. We spent the night there. It is a newly built cloister, and a lot of the pilgrims were common Russian people. Next morning, after Morning Prayer we sent back the mules to St Panteleimon’s Monastery and we walked downhill for four versts. We came to the Greek Monastery of the Holy and Righteous begetters of the Mother of God — Joachim and Anna. We said a prayer there, and had an hour’s rest. Then we went to the seaside and hired a boat. Seven souls boarded it. A young Russian priest was with us. He serves in the south of France, in the city of Menton, where Russian people of high society and noble origin, who suffer from heart disease, come to stay in the winter. At 12 noon we safely returned to St Panteleimon’s Monastery. Thus, by God’s help, I have performed my first pilgrimage and visited several monasteries of the Greeks, Russians and Moldavians. On Sunday, June 4 I took part in a service in the Church of St Panteleimon. The Deputy Superior, with eight other people helping him, was conducting the liturgy. During the service I noticed the following: after the Creed everybody who took part in the liturgy went to the Antimension and kissed it. On that day, at the common meal, there was koliva8 to honour and to commemorate Holy Father Andrew of Crete. A koliva of this kind was also served on the feast day of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul. On the feast day of the Saints, koliva is prepared with wheat, but without honey. It is of a dry consistency and contains raisins. At the end of dinner everybody is served a spoonful of koliva. On that day, the Greek igumen of the Monastery of St Panteleimon came in to have dinner. He was accompanied by two candle bearers in front of him chanting in Greek. The blessing of the table he pronounced also in Greek. At dinner table he was dressed in a mantle, and, throughout the meal, a Greek monk was reading a Greek book from the pulpit. Naturally the Russian monks could not understand this reading. The Greek igumen was in charge of 8

Wheat and sugar eaten at the commemoration of the departed.

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the dinner. He sat on the right, and on the left sat the Russian Deputy Superior. The Superior’s place was empty, as he did not come to dinner that day. As I have noticed, and also witnessed, the Greek monks exercise equal rights in this monastery, although in this monastery there are 40 of them, and the Russians number 500. Here the liturgy in St Panteleimon’s Church is conducted in Greek, but in the main church and some other churches the liturgy is conducted in the Slavic language. All the Brethren, regardless of their nationality, live together. On June 4, at 7 o’clock in the evening, they started the Evening and Morning Services that ended at 6 o’clock in the morning. On week-days the midnight prayers start at 1 o’clock in the morning. On Monday, June 5 is the feast which commemorates Venerable Father Sergi of Radonezh. There was a special liturgy and a memorial service. The Father igumen, the Deputy Superior was in charge. Ten clergy including me took part in the service. On Monday, June 5 two English students came to the Russian Monastery of St Panteleimon. One was from the University of Oxford and another from Cambridge. They had come to Athos to see the old manuscripts. I made their acquaintance in the monastery hospice at tea in the evening. We were conversing by means of a Russian monk, (Prince Vyazemsky) who speaks French fluently. When the students got to know about my Georgian origin they said that in St Athanasius’s Lavra on Athos they saw a Greek gospelbook of the eighth century in which the last chapter of John’s Gospel differs from the existing text adopted by the Church. Concerning this subject I remarked that it would be invaluable for theological research to compare it with the Georgian gospel of the seventh century that is kept in Tiflis in Sioni Archaeological Museum. The students said that they had photographed several folios of the old Georgian parchment, and that they did not understand their meaning. I told them, “I am ready to help you, as far as I can, in this academic research of common interest.” They promised to show me the manuscript. But next day they happened to leave early by boat to the Greek Gregorian Monastery, and on the same day at 8 o’clock in the morning I left for the Georgian Monastery by mule. Unfortunately I have not met those students again.

THE ANCIENT IVERIA MONASTERY ON ATHOS AND THE NEW CLOISTER OF THE GEORGIANS OF THE HOLY APOSTLE AND HERALD JOHN THE THEOLOGIAN: THEIR RELATIONS WITH EACH OTHER On June 6, at 7 o’clock in the morning after attending an early service, I set off, mounted on the mules of St Panteleimon’s Monastery. I was accompanied by one servant. We went straight to the newly founded cloister of our Georgian Brethren. They all came out to meet me with sincere brotherly love. They were full of spiritual joy at my coming, and I myself greatly rejoiced at such a meeting in a foreign country. When I saw among the Georgian Brethren peace, love, respect, obedience and generally good will towards each other, I remembered the words from the Gospel, “Have no fear, little flock; for your Father has chosen to give you the kingdom”1. These were the words which Jesus Christ said to His disciples, few in number but united with the bands of love, in order to encourage and comfort them. In 1870, the Georgian Brethren bought forty days of land2 from Iveria Monastery for 2,000 manets and there they founded a new cloister named after the Holy Apostle, John the Theologian. Iveria Monastery on Athos, the home of the Georgian Fathers, was built by Tornike Eristavi at the end of the tenth century. It was paid for with the money and gifts of the Georgian kings and princ1 2

Luke 12:32. One day of land equals to thirty square sazhens.

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es. It was supported by the Georgian Fathers’ work, labours, and activities, their sweat mixed with blood, their praying and their tears. In this Iveria Monastery they finished the translation of the Holy Bible and church books into the Georgian language. It was the sapling of theological education for the Georgian nation. Now, since 1850, this Iveria Monastery has been forcibly taken over by the Greek monks. This monastery on Mount Athos is counted as a first-class monastery along with the other four Greek monasteries. The monastery has lands with a considerable income from property given to it in Georgia and Russia, which is used by the Greeks utterly unlawfully and forcibly. In this same Iveria Monastery is placed the miraculous icon of the Most Holy Mother of God, called “The Iveria Icon of Portaitis.” This icon was taken from the sea by the Venerable Father Gabriel the Georgian. The chapel is built where it first rested after it came out of the sea, and there is a spring of cold water. On June 7, at 4 o’clock in the morning, we approached the doors of Iveria Monastery. It has a high stone wall round it and from the side facing the sea there is a high, six-storied castle built by the Georgian Fathers as a defence against the enemy. The gates to the courtyard were opened. At that moment I was accompanied by the Brethren of the Georgian Cloister: Priest Monk Giorgi, much experienced in the spiritual life, and of very advanced age; Priest Alexi Bakradze, also very aged, but an elderly man able to work like a youth, very diligent in copying of the works of the Holy Fathers, and in translating from Russian into Georgian; Monk Gabriel (Abashidze), still a young man, but intelligent, and an expert in the Greek language. The Doorkeeper on duty, a Greek monk, looked at us with suspicion, and asked Father Giorgi — as if he did not recognize him — “Who are you and what do you want?” Father Gabriel translated these words to us. The new Cloister of Georgian Brethren is situated some three or four versts away from Iveria Monastery. Consequently, they know each other very well. Father Giorgi pointed at me, and said that I had come from Georgia to venerate the Icon of Portaitis. The monk looked at us even more disagreeably, and did not want to let us into the courtyard of the church. In this case he was not willing to follow Laban’s exam-

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ple, when he came forward to see Eleazar, the servant of the Archpriest Abraham, and said: “Come in whom the Lord has blessed. Why are you staying out there?”3 Father Giorgi turned to me and said: “Father Archpriest, where is your cross? Why are you hiding it under the cassock?” I undid the upper part of the cassock and when the Greek monks saw the cross on my chest, they regarded it with respect, and took us into the court. We attended the early service, venerated the Iveria Icon of the Mother of God, and said prayers in front of the tombs of the Holy Fathers Ioanne and Euthymius. At the service they did not pay any respect to us, and we were not invited to read in Georgian the Creed or the Lord’s Prayer, as is the practice during the services in other monasteries of the Greeks, the Bulgarians or the Moldavians. Then they took us to the Superior of the monastery, Father Archimandrite Gerasimos. He turned out to have worked in Tiflis for a long time. He asked me about the clergy in Georgia he had known. I asked his Excellency to allow us to see the treasures of the monastery, and the library, the result of the Georgian Fathers’ labour. The Superior promised to fulfil my godly desire. We were taken to the library that is on the first floor. We were shown the books which were lying about on the top of the bookcases which were half eaten by moths and dust. A great number of them were printed in the eighteenth century. When I pointed to the locked bookcase, and asked them to show me the books kept there, they answered: “The holder of the keys to this bookcase is not here. He has gone to Careas, which is twelve versts away and we do not know when he will be back.” I was upset, and replied: “I have travelled six thousand versts to see these books, and you should respect the reason. It is for academic research that I want to look through the books. Otherwise you should respect my elderly years, and my title.” “It is not possible at the moment” — still they rejected me. What else could I do? I unwillingly accepted their suggestion since they promised to show me the books four days later. As I was told later, the librarian had been there and the keys were there as well, but they did not open the bookcase on my first visit to them. After we had left, the Brethren of the monastery wanted 3

Genesis 24:31.

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to discuss and decide what could be shown to us and what to conceal. On the eve of the appointed day, in the evening, they sent a novice from Iveria Monastery who was a Georgian — Makar — from Samegrelo, the only person from our country in Iveria Monastery. He has been given a cell in the Cemetery church outside the monastery and he depends on the monastery. This novice was sent to me in order to say, “Come tomorrow, Father Archpriest, but do not bring any priest monk from the Georgian Cloister.” Any Georgian reader can clearly understand how the Greeks look in hatred at Georgian Brethren. On the next day, June 11, after the morning service, I went to Iveria Monastery which is an hour’s distance away on foot. There were with me Father Alexi Bakradze, an expert reader of old Georgian manuscripts, and another one, Monk Gabriel, who knew Greek. After the service we could not see the Superior. He was said to be taken ill, and we went straight to the library. Ahead of us were going the igumen, a very young man, the proigumen, and a priest monk, all of them Greek. They opened the locked bookcase and took out several Georgian books of no particular academic importance. I asked them to show me the catalogue of the Georgian library, which, it appears, had not been compiled. An ordinary shop-keeper keeps a list of his stock however unimportant it is, whereas they have not compiled a list of church treasures. So we told them to take down those books which we could see, and then I asked them to show me the old Georgian gospel-book and the Bible. They showed me an illuminated gospel-book written on parchment, with entire pages cut out, together with the illuminations. I made them this comment, “How can you treat such valuable books so savagely?” They answered: “A Russian scholar, Bishop Porphyry Uspensky has secretly cut out these pictures.” Then they brought me the Georgian Bible. I opened the first folio and read that it started with Genesis, chapter 12, verse 11. I turned over the last page which says that it was rewritten in Chronicon 978. I looked through the pages in the middle and I discovered that a great many chapters were entirely missing. In short, the Bible was incomplete. It immediately became clear to me that this was the Bible which had been brought to Tiflis from Iveria Monastery in 1848 by Platon Ioseliani. Two copies of this Bible were made in Tiflis, one for Sioni Cathedral by the order of Metropolitan Isidore, and the other for the Prince of Samegrelo, Dadiani. This original

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Bible was returned to Iveria Monastery. But both copies made from this Bible were in my hands in 1894–1896, when, with the official approval of the Synod Office of Kartli-Kakheti-Imereti I had been correcting the first books of the Bible. The Bible, which belonged to the late Prince Dadiani, has now been given by his heirs to the Society for Spreading Literacy among the Georgians. I told the Greek igumen: “I am thoroughly familiar with this Bible” and I told him shortly its history. Then I insisted, “Show me the Bible which was translated from Greek by the Holy Father Ekvtimi himself.” They answered that no other Bibles could be found there. I continued, “St Ekvtimi’s Life mentions that he had made a new translation of the Georgian Bible” They replied: “There are no other Bibles.” I remarked: “Such a wonderful ancient monastery must surely have precious Gospel books, and the Bible and holy vessels!” They replied: “At one time the Georgian library was burned, and at another time six mules loaded with old Georgian books were taken away by thieves. This is all that has survived.” I said, “You have not proved yourselves to be faithful guardians! Several muleloads of books have been stolen from a courtyard which is locked, and a castle which is closed, and you didn’t notice it!” It is as clear as daylight that the books had not been stolen, but they themselves had sold them. On hearing this, my heart was on fire. How can our Holy Fathers’ spiritual treasures, laboured over with blood and sweat, have been plundered so barbarously? Even Caliph Omar was more humane when he captured Jerusalem in the seventh century. He did not wish to conduct Namaz in the Muslim way in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre of Christ the Saviour. A most unfavourable comparison with the Greek monks’ treatment of the dwelling of our Holy Fathers! We looked through all the remaining books. A great number of them are teachings and translations written on parchment by Holy Fathers Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian, Gregory the Dialogist, John Chrysostom, Ephrem the Syrian, Dorotheos, and John of Sinai, Klimakos’ biographer. Some of them also lack the beginning, and others the end. I should also comment that there is not left a single spiritual or philosophical work which the Venerable Georgian Fathers of Iveria Monastery did not translate from Greek into Georgian. The Brethren of the Georgian Cloister on Athos asked to have these books for copying, but even in this way their Godly

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spiritual thirst was not satisfied. After we had viewed this heartbreaking scene they dismissed us, or, better to say, turned us out, saying that it was time for their meal and we had to leave the place. I turned to the Georgian Brethren and told Father Priest Alexi and Monk Gabriel, “Brethren, show the contents of your pockets to these guardians, in case they may think that we had stolen something from the library of this monastery.” They did in fact turn their empty pockets out. During the time when we visited the library there was one proigumen, Daniel, who knows Georgian well as he had been in Georgia and has experienced Georgian hospitality. But even he did not invite us, weary with the heat, to moisten our throats with a glass of wine. The Georgian Brethren’s Cloister on Athos is considered a Cell by the Greeks. According to the local rules the Georgian Brethren cannot have more than three priest monks. The Council of Iveria Monastery did not allow the Cloister of the Georgian Brethren to construct a cupola on the church. In the courtyard of the Cloister, the Greek monks, like iconoclasts, tore off the icon of St John the Theologian. The Georgian Brethren are not allowed to get piped water in the yard. And in summer this little spring that flows in the sun gets dry, and animals also make it dirty. Thus the Georgian Brethren live, despite suffering this kind of oppression on the part of the Greek monks, and all this they endure magnanimously. At the beginning of the nineteenth century, when Georgia was in great turmoil, the Greeks forced out the Georgian Brethren, and seized our glorious Iveria Monastery like brigands. Such are the relations between the Greek Iveria Monastery and the Georgian Brethren’s Cloister. When will this tight Gordian knot be undone? It is high time to take up again our requests to the Supreme Authority of Russia, of which we are considered to be children, and to the Russian King-Emperor, to whom we are devoted subjects. Unbiased history, conveyed to us by authors of many different centuries, and even uttered by the very stones, records that Iveria Monastery on Athos is a house of Georgian monks. It is confirmed by a great number of sigillia and charters of the Byzantine Caesars, the Georgian kings and the patriarchs. Clearly the Greeks will not grant the monastery to us by their own will. Only one way is left. The Russian Authority should resolve to defend its devoted Georgian nation, and stop the income from the estates that are situated in Georgia and Russia which were given to

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Iveria Monastery by Georgian kings and princes, and in later times by the Russian Emperors. The Greek monks of Iveria monastery have an annual income of not less than twenty thousand tumans from the estates given by Georgian kings and princes, and from those estates in Moscow given by Russian kings to Iveria Monastery on Athos. The Prince of Romania did something similar, when in 1860 he entirely confiscated the estates throughout his kingdom that had been given to Greek monasteries. The Russian government have also done this in 1870 in Bessarabia, and as a result only half of the annual income of 120,000 roubles is given to Greek monasteries. This happened in Bessarabia when Archbishop Paul was in charge, who later became Exarch of Georgia. Another solution, in my opinion, is to accept Georgian Brethren in Iveria Monastery based on equality with the Greeks, but on condition that the Superior and the Economos of the monastery must always and without alteration be chosen from the Georgian Brethren, because Iveria Monastery is the dwelling of the Georgians. One church should have permanent services in the Georgian language, and the other in Greek, similar to the arrangement we have witnessed between the Russian and the Greek monks in St Panteleimon’s Monastery.

INSCRIPTION ON THE ICON OF PORTAITIS OF IVERIA MONASTERY “Queen, Mother of the Lord, loving to human beings, most Holy Virgin Mary, have mercy upon the soul of my patron great Qvarqvare, son of Qaikhosro, and on me as well, your servant, unskilful, forlorn Ambrosi. I thank thee for granting me, unworthy as I am, to embellish and adorn Your Holy Icon of Portaitis. Receive, O Queen, this small gift, offered by me a sinner, and protect my living body from sins. And at the hour of passing of my poor soul, support me and make invisible all my hand-written sins and present me the sinner in the house of Your Son and God in order to glorify Him, and the Eternal Father, and the Most Holy Spirit, now and forever and to eternity, Amen!”

The abovementioned inscription was copied by us on July 10, 1899 from the Icon of Portaitis of Iveria Monastery on Athos, in the presence of the Reverend Priest, Father Alexi Bakradze, who lives

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in the Georgian Cloister on Athos, and also in the presence of Monk Gabriel (Abashidze). After venerating this miraculous icon, we repeatedly entreated the Greek igumen, who was standing nearby, to permit us to read and to copy this inscription. To begin with he gave an outright refusal to our holy request, and only after the second and third request he gave us permission. We were holding big tapers as he unveiled the cloth which covered the inscription of the Icon of the Most Holy Mother of God. The inscription is undated, or if there happened to have been a date, it was erased, which is also a possibility. Nonetheless, the gist of the inscription is a clear evidence of who and when had adorned this most revered icon, and for whom it intercedes and whom it commemorates. Bishop Ambrosi who is mentioned here was the Bishop of Samtskhe. He had been brought up by Qaikhosro Atabag (1492– 1502), whose son Mzechabuk (1502–1516) had sent Ambrosi to Jerusalem, Sinai and Holy Mount of Athos with great gifts in order to visit and venerate the places. He donated 25,500 tumans of money in gold and silver coins to the Georgian Iveria Monastery. This Bishop Ambrosi embellished the Iveria Icon of Portaitis with a chased golden cover, or “tunic.” Any other inscriptions in the Georgian language have been entirely wiped out by the Greeks in Iveria Monastery, and also, unfortunately, on the icons, as well as on the inside and outside walls. What else can they spare, if they have taken the liberty of scratching out the name of Tornike, the builder of this Holy Monastery, and renaming it in honour of a Greek Emperor? I was told in the Georgian Cloister on Athos that the Greek clergy of Iveria Monastery have prepared in Moscow a new “tunic” for the Iveria Icon of Portaitis with a Greek inscription. I myself was shown it by a Greek igumen. But they were not brave enough to take off the old gold-chased adornment which was given by Georgian Bishop Ambrosi, and replace it with a new one. This is because one of the Greek Brethren had a vision that they should not dare to venture upon Her Holy Icon, and deprive it of its old cover and replace it with a new one. When looking through the Georgian books in Iveria Monastery, taking the advantage of the short time that we had, we copied out the colophons at the beginning and end of several remarkable manuscripts.

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1. The Life of St John Chrysostom and the Translation of his Holy Relics. The format is the size of a gospel-book. The inscription of the book is as follows: “May God glorify together firstly, Ioane Tornike Singeloz and Varazvache Ioane and their children, and may St John Chrysostom, to whom they are akin, help them, the divinely renowned, for their righteous service. And I have rewritten this Holy Book, The Life of St John Chrysostom and the Translation of his Holy Relics as far as is possible for my poor nature. I have done my best and accomplished it with God’s help and with the mercy of St John Chrysostom. May God bestow happiness upon Tornike Singeloz and grant him a place equal with St Chrysostom. Assist Ioane Tornike and Ioane Varazvache and their children in both lives, St Chrysostom! This Holy Book was written in Oshki Lavra of the Baptist when Holy Father Saba was the Superior. May God grant glory and forgiveness of transgressions! [Written] with the hand of the humble and miserable Ioane Chira. Blessed is God! Those who will read this may mention me in your holy prayers so that God will grant his mercy also upon you. Amen. And if I have omitted something as a result of my ignorance, blessed is God, grant me forgiveness so that God may also forgive you! May the Father bless the writer, may the mercy of the Son fall upon the reader, may the grace of the Holy Ghost be upon the listener!” 2. Paradise, as large as the book of Lent Triodion. It lacks one quaternion at the beginning, as well as one folio of the second quaternion. The inscription at the top reads, “The book is called Paradise, donated by Tornike. “I, the most lowly, former Archbishop Timothy, came to the Holy Monastery in 1756. This book was written in the glorious Lavra of Oshki of the Baptist, during the priesthood of Saba, by Archpriest Stepane, Chronicon 197, in the year 977.”4 3. Maximus the Confessor’s Book, the size of a Horologion. 4. A translation of St Matthew’s Gospel with the following colophon, “This translation was carried out, as a copy of Matthew’s Book, by the hand of humble Eptvime, on the Holy Mount of Athos, the dwelling of the Holy Mother of God.” 4

The years are written in Georgian letters denoting numbers.

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5. The second volume of the Gospel translation has the following inscription at the end: “This was written in the Holy Mount of Athos in the Monastery of the Georgians by Holy Fathers Ioane and Eptvime. The Greek Creation year was 6516, Indiction 6; 982 after Christ’s crucifixion; Georgian Creation 6612, Chronicon 12th, 13th cycle of Conversion 228.” 6. Book of St Macarius the Great. Halfway down from the centre of the page is written, “Christ, glorify Holy Father Eptvime, the translator of this book and Father Grigol the commissioner, his spiritual son, who have undertaken this work. This was written on the Holy Mount of Olympus in Greece, in the Cell of the Georgians, in the church of the Holy Mother of God, by the order of Father Grigol, by the most sinful Isak, during the reign of Romanos, when he went to the country of the Saracens to ravage it, in Chronicon 250.” At the end there is an inscription in poor Isak’s handwriting, “This book [contains] Macarius’s Letters and The Martyrdom of St Bagrat and Akepsimas.” 7. The Translation of the Great Gospel of St Matthew has this inscription: “This was written on the Holy Mount, in the Monastery of Athos in the dwelling of the Mother of God by Holy Fathers Ioane and Eptvimi, in Chronicon 228.” 8. The Book of Dorotheos, the size of three kontakions. The beginning and the end are missing. 9. Letter of Samoel, Catholicos of Kartli. We have written it out from the copy that was taken by means of photography in Iveria Monastery on Athos by Mr. Marr in March 1899. “I, Samoel, Catholicos of Kartli by Christ’s will, bless you in the name of the Lord, [you] Iovane Sabanisdze, the spiritual son of the Holy Catholic Church, and beloved by us. May Christ grant peace to you and all who dwell in Him. We know about your yearning for serving God, your deep knowledge of Divine Books bestowed to you by God and your assiduousness for the cause of good deeds. You know about Abo, of blessed memory, who was martyred…” The rest is unfinished. At the end there is Chronicon Nine. The Brethren of the Georgian Cloister started legal proceedings in order to regain Iveria Monastery in 1883, and their complaint is not finalised until now. Thanks to God that the late King Emperor Alexander III, was so kind as to bestow his fatherly mercy on the Georgian Brethren of Athos Cloister. He ordered that they should be paid three thousand manets annually from the Rus-

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sian State Chancery in assistance until the lawsuit against Iveria Monastery is resolved. Without this the Georgian Brethren would have starved to death, whilst the Greek monks, fed on Georgian bread and wine and other good things, get fatter and fatter. Those with ears to hear may hearken! Emperor Alexander III of blessed memory has also granted one thousand eight hundred tumans to the Georgian Cloister in order to build a church. When the Superior of the Georgian Cloister received the money, the church had already been finished, and the Superior of the Cloister has not given an account to the Brethren of the Cloister on what that money was spent, as is his duty. At present there are 33 Brethren in the new Georgian Cloister. Three of them are priest monks. Father Teodore Megaloschemos, the spiritual guide of the Cloister, is most honoured not only in the Georgian Cloister, but is esteemed for his spiritual life, throughout Mount Athos. He is always approached from all the monasteries around, regardless of their nationality, to have great and weighty moral questions interpreted to them. Fathers Giorgi and Iona are priest monks who also live in the Georgian Cloister. Father Iona is temporarily in charge of the Cloister and holds services every day. The Brethren are responsible for the upkeep of the Cloister. But the Superior of this Cloister from the time of its foundation, Father Benedicte5 the Priest Monk, left the Cloister five years ago, and is now in Sokhumi and Batumi, pretending that it is for the business of the Cloister. Father Giorgi (Gogoladze) died on December 25, 1899, and has departed from this world. His righteous soul left its dwelling in the flesh on the day when the Christian Church celebrates the birth in the flesh of Christ the Saviour. And the Georgian Cloister, with its few Georgian Brethren, living away from their home country, has been deprived of this worthy, energetic, most enthusiastic and laborious Brother, who worked hard for the benefit of our Georgian Church and nation. May the most merciful Saviour, Jesus Christ grant him a peaceful rest in the Heavenly Kingdom, “that of a good and faithFather Benedicte Barkalaia founded the new Georgian Cloister on Mt Athos in 1870. 5

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ful servant who has been faithful over a few things, who has gone through the narrow gates and walked through the difficult ways with faith. Make him the ruler over many things and admit him into endless joy.”6 At the time when the new Georgian Cloister on Athos was founded, the Bishop of Imereti — Gabriel of blessed memory — sent two renowned Fathers, Tevdore and Giorgi, now departed in the presence of the Lord, from Gelati Monastery to Mount Athos in order to become solid pillars, and to support the newly founded Georgian Cloister abroad, on Mount Athos. At the beginning of 1900 Father Benedicte was appointed by the Exarch of Georgia as Superior of David Gareja Monastery in Georgia. In April he was appointed an igumen. Since the number of monks in Georgian monasteries is very few in November 1899 three monks: Pimen, Svimeon and Gabriel from the Georgian Brethren’s Cloister on Athos were summoned to David Gareja Desert in order to serve there. But, sadly these Georgian Brothers who desire the success of spiritual and religious morality in Georgia, could not find spiritual peace and brotherly love among the Brethren of this monastery. As a result two of them, Pimen and Svimeon, had to go back to the Georgian Brethren’s Cloister on Athos in January 1901. Deacon Gabriel has remained in Georgia for the time being, and now he is in John the Baptist’s Desert near Tiflis. Thus where we wanted to “sow spiritual seed,” to our misfortune, “the tares grew up, sown by the enemy of virtue, the Devil.”7 This is why “we shall pray to the Lord God that faith will not fail” in the Georgian nation, and will reveal those who are worthy and “the labourers of the harvest” to strengthen our Brethren.8 Besides various other constraints, the Georgian Brethren are not allowed by the Greek monks of Iveria Monastery to cut wood, even by paying money. On one occasion Georgian Brethren were granted permission to cut wood, and they had prepared logs of wood to bring them down. But at this very moment Greek monks of Iveria Monastery rushed on them. They brought along twelve Paraphrase of Matthew 25:23. Matthew 13:24–30. 8 Matthew 9:37; Luke 22:31–32. 6 7

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mules, loaded them, and took the wood away for their own use. The Georgians could not say a word to them as they are in a minority: they endured it with patience. They did not utter a word. No one left the courtyard of the Cloister, and no one went out. It was what a sound mind would require, and what the immortal poet Rustaveli said, “The best thing for a brave man is to leave on time.” After seeing and hearing all this, we still continue to treat Greek monks with great respect when they come to Georgia. But, at the same time, they are causing our Brethren to die of thirst. They do not allow them to construct a pipe to bring clean water to the courtyard of the Cloister. [The Georgians] are not even allowed to make use of the water which the Greeks do not themselves use, nor do they need it. They have a better spring in the courtyard of the monastery itself. Last year Mr Marr spent forty days in Iveria Monastery. He did a great deal of work; copied out a lot from Georgian books, and also photographed them. Besides this, Mr Marr promised the Brethren of the monastery to compile a catalogue of Georgian books, since until now nothing has been done. The story goes that if they need a stopper for a bottle, they will tear off a piece of parchment from a Georgian book, or else if they need a fish bait for a hook, even that would be leather from a book. How does one even name such treatment? Barbarity! Here is a vivid example of mental blindness at the end of the enlightened nineteenth century! The hatred of the Greek monks of Iveria Monastery has reached the point that the Brethren of Georgian Cloister are not allowed even to enter the monastery freely, in order to venerate the Icon of Portaitis in Iveria Monastery, the Patron Saint of the Georgian Church and nation. Iveria Monastery on Athos was founded at the end of the tenth century on the place that had been purchased by the nobles of Georgia with their own blood. They had shed it in order to rescue the Greek realm from the enemy. This very monastery was built with bountiful gifts given by Georgian kings and nobles. It is drenched and nourished with the blood of Georgian Holy Fathers, and with their sweat, prayers and tears. It is strengthened by the protection of the Holy Mother of God, whose allotted [nation] we are, and it exists by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.

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Even now the most Holy Mother of God does not lessen her favourable patronage and comfort to the Brethren of the Georgian Cloister on Athos, who are unduly oppressed by the Greeks. The Georgian Brethren told me the following as a piece of evidence for this. I have mentioned before that in the church of the settlement in Careas there is a miraculous icon that is called “Axion Estin.” Once a year, on June 11, this icon is taken out of the church, with a Litany, and they go round the settlement of Careas. Two years ago the Epitropes, or the Superiors of the Athos Monasteries, decided to commission a copy of this wonderworking icon, to consecrate it, and to carry it out from the church every year when performing the Litany. This decision was made at the assembly of all the representatives of the monasteries, and each Superior has put the seal of his monastery to confirm his approval. In this way a copy of the wonderworking icon was made with the coat of arms of each monastery on Athos irrespective of their nationality. When the new icon of the Holy Mother of God was entirely ready, they changed their minds, discarded their first decision and established that the original icon should be taken out during the annual Litany. They then started to discuss what to do with the second icon, which had been recently painted and adorned. At the general assembly they decided to cast a lot for this icon; a list of the subscribers was made and the tickets for the price of one manet were set. Father Iona, the Priest Monk, signed it on the part of the Georgian Cloister and when the lots were cast the icon of the Holy Mother of God was allotted to the Cloister of the Georgian Brethren. The representative of the Russian St Panteleimon Monastery took the icon and made for the Georgian Brethren to give them the icon, since none of the Georgian Brethren was present during the casting of lots. On the way he came across a Georgian lay-brother, gave the icon to him and told him: “Go back immediately to the Georgian Cloister, in case the Greeks take away the icon.” He ran on his way back to the Cloister for eight versts distance and as soon as he reached Georgian Cloister he started to call out loudly: “Come out, Brethren, to welcome the icon of the Most Holy Mother of God, our Merciful Patron!” Immediately, the whole church community came out carrying candles and incense. They placed the icon in the courtyard, had the service for the Mother of God, and decided that an Akathisto for the Most Holy Mother of God should be held every day at the end of Evening

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Prayers. The Brethren of this Holy Cloister received this icon as a clear sign of the Holy Mother of God’s protection, and Her forbearance to the Georgian nation and the Georgian Cloister on Athos. Another time a Greek monastery organized a lottery for a silver paten and had the participants sign the list. A member of the Georgian Cloister added his signature, and when the lots were cast this object also became the possession of the Georgian Cloister. After these two instances, the Greeks do not permit the Georgian Brethren to sign in when a church vessel is cast in lottery, for fear of the object going to the Georgians again. During Mr Marr’s visit in Iveria Monastery, a professor from Russia, Mr Kondakov, has also visited the monastery. He asked them to show him the remarkable Georgian books written on parchment, along with other notable objects in Iveria Monastery. They did not show him anything at all, and the professor got extremely angry. But who will not get angry at such savage behaviour of the Greeks? The scholar has covered a distance of seven thousand versts to come here and see the ancient archaeological objects and his godly request is unsatisfied. In the upper floor of the fortifications in Iveria Monastery they keep the most valuable royal and ecclesiastic jewels: crowns and sceptres of the Georgian kings; three valuable Gospels and the armour of eternally remembered Tornike Eristavi who was the builder of the monastery, his sword, helmet, shield, helmet with open visor, and a bow, which are never shown to any Georgian. A certain Greek monk, a friend to a Georgian person, told this story.

AN ICON OF THE FOUNDER OF IVERIA MONASTERY TORNIKE ERISTAVI, VENERABLE FATHER IOANE, AND ITS ELIMINATION BY THE GREEKS On the western door of the cathedral church of Iveria Monastery on Athos there is a painting of the builder of this holy monastery, and of its church, equipped with military armour. It had a Georgian inscription till 1880. But afterwards the inscription was eliminated and changed into Greek. Instead of our glorious Commander Tornike, now the name is written of the Greek Caesar Nicephorus. In order to prove the fact, I bring as evidence the letter of Mr. Nadikvreli, published in “Iveria” No 26, 1900, which gives word for

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word the story told by Gerasime Nadareishvili, who has twice venerated the Holy Places of Palestine and Athos and he now lives in Telavi. “In 1882 I was on Mount Athos and among other monasteries I also venerated Iveria Monastery. I saw round the historical paintings and inscriptions. On the floor of Iveria church, facing the cupola there is an inscription in brass letters, almost illegible but still possible to read the words: “Builder Giorgi the Georgian.” On the south part of the church there is a painting of a man in church vestments, and a halo above his head, saying in Greek: ‘Priest Monk Markoz the Georgian’. According to a Greek, Professor Gedeon, he lived at the end of the sixteenth century and was a renowned artist, and his paintings in other churches even now are still considered excellent. Other churches of Iveria Monastery were also painted by this Markoz the Georgian. “Above the doors of this church there were about ten paintings of kings and one of them, who was in the centre, had a halo, and another one was in military uniform. When I was viewing the paintings one old Greek monk told me: ‘My son, these are the Kings of Georgia, the builders and the renovators of this monastery. And this one, dressed in uniform is Tornike the Georgian’. The kings had one common inscription above them: ‘Kings of Georgia’. “Then there were the inscriptions of each of them separately. All except one of them were so destroyed that it was impossible to read them, but among them one said, ‘Queen NestanDarejan’. “Near the monastery there is a higher place called ‘Ilia the Prophet’s Hermitage’. I saw there some old Georgian monks who are numbered among the Brethren of Iveria Monastery and subsist from there. These Fathers had been in charge of Iveria Church of the Holy Mother of God, and for the sake of a better religious life have left the monastery. After them the admittance of the Georgians to Iveria Monastery was stopped. “In 1877 I travelled to Mount Athos for the second time and chanced to go to Iveria Monastery. I looked through the door

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and saw that the paintings of the kings which I had seen before had been renewed and instead of the former general title ‘The Kings of Georgia, the builders and the renovators of Iveria Monastery,’ there was written: ‘The Kings of Byzantium, the builders of Iveria Monastery’. Instead of ‘Queen NestanDarejan’ was written ‘Queen Irina.’ “These monasteries on Mount Athos: Iveria Monastery of Portaitis, and St Philotheou, and others in Palestine: of the Lifegiving Cross and Holy Sepulchre, as well as St Catherine’s on Mount Sinai, all receive annually a large income from Georgia. Georgian kings and princes had donated villages, vineyards, tracts of lands, inns, and the peasants to these monasteries. The Greek monks still make use of all these donations. But if any Georgian monk happens to come to these monasteries for veneration, the Greeks view him as a tramp, whom they feed out of pity and not duty. It is already forty years since the peasants in the Russian Empire have been abolished during the late Emperor Alexander II’s reign, for which he is blessed by the forty million abolished peasants. But the yoke of slavery and bondage to the Greek monks, under which exist the servants of the monasteries, has not been abolished, and they still have to endure substantial oppression and humiliation.”

PURCHASE OF LAND ON MOUNT ATHOS BY THE GEORGIAN BRETHREN AND THEIR LAWSUIT WITH IVERIA MONASTERY In 1867 the new Georgian Cloister on Athos purchased land from Iveria Monastery for 2,000 manets, and besides, as is the custom on Athos, they had to pay an annual tax of several liras in gold (one lira equals eight manets) to Iveria Monastery. But already for the last ten years Georgian Brethren of the Cloister have not paid this levy as, since 1883, they are having a lawsuit with Iveria Monastery. They demand that Iveria Monastery with its lands, which are unlawfully being used by the Greeks, as trespassers and not real owners, should be returned to the Georgians. The Georgian Orthodox kings of blessed memory, with wise foresight in order to secure future safety, when granting the Sigillum, or the “Charter,” of a gift to Iveria Monastery, used to mention: “we give, that is grant, this charter to our Iveria Monastery of the Georgians.” They had fore-

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seen that somebody of a foreign tribe or nation might start a controversy over the ownership of Iveria Monastery. And this controversy over Iveria Monastery of the Georgians is not the first case. During the reign of the Byzantine Emperor Constantine XI, several months prior to the seizure of Constantinople by the Ottomans, an issue of the ownership of Iveria Monastery was resolved by the Greek Emperor in favour of the Georgians. As far as the capture of Constantinople was being expected any single day due to the approach of the enemy, this Caesar immediately sent to England by ship the Sigillia of state importance for temporary storage. Along with the Sigillia there was the document which again granted all the rights on Iveria Monastery on Athos to be a national habitation of the Georgian Brethren.

CONCERNING THE GEORGIAN BIBLE IN IVERIA MONASTERY ON ATHOS Two Georgian Bibles are preserved in Iveria Monastery of Portaitis on Athos. One of them was paid for in 978 by the founder of this monastery, Venerable Ioane, father of St Evtimi, as reported in the ascription of the Bible made by the scribes of that time who copied the Bible. Another Bible was corrected by Venerable Evtimi, as [he was] a senior scholar of the Greek language. The Bible corrected by St Evtimi is not shown to anybody — neither Georgians nor Russians. This is what one Georgian monk from Mount Athos writes about this Bible: “By the request of the Holy Synod the Consul of Thessalonica has made an appeal to the Superior of Iveria Monastery for the two volumes of the Georgian Bible written on parchment (that is, on skin), in order to show them to the Russian Synod. The Brethren of the monastery, the Greek monks, had long and incessant discussions for two weeks. The majority was very much against sending the Bible, and only a small minority were in favour. In the end the majority did not accept the Synod’s appeal and the following answer was sent: “Considering the fact that the two volumes of the Bible were translated and written by Holy Father Evtimi the Georgian, and that it contains an eternal anathema and curse, that anyone who touches them or gives them away will have to answer for it at Christ’s second coming. We, for fear of this, are unable to send it any-

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where else. For this reason anyone who wishes to copy them should come to Iveria Monastery, and we will provide housing, accommodation and food. They can stay and copy it out for as long as they wish. This answer was given to the Consul to present it to the Holy Synod on February 16, 1900.”

It is obvious from the aforementioned letter that the Georgian Bible, that was brought in 1848 by Platon Ioseliani from Iveria Monastery on Athos, was not the one written and corrected by St Evtimi, since it does not mention the curse and anathema upon those who give this book to anybody else, nor upon anyone who takes them away from the Athos Lavra. It is, without any doubt, necessary and useful to compare and correct the recently published Georgian Bible, as well as the Slavic and Russian ones, to this Bible by St Evtimi, because neither in Georgia nor in Russia exists a Bible, that is so old and invaluable. The text of our Georgian Bible is full of mistakes and it is absolutely necessary to correct them. In Tiflis, the British Bible Society sells the Bible in almost sixty languages, and none of them are in the Georgian language, in order that the Georgian nation should make use of this divine spiritual food.

GEORGIAN ECCLESIASTICAL SINGING ON ATHOS During the 1880s in the Georgian Cloister on Athos there used to be a harmonious choir who sang to a rhythm. Up to that time among these singers on Athos there were the following persons: Nobleman Melchisedek Nakashidze, Father Giorgi Molaridze, who serves in Shemokmedi Monastery in Guria, Fathers Kontridze, Chincharadze and Father Pilipe Sharashidze. This choir of Georgian singers thrilled everyone who heard it, both Russians and Greeks. This group, under the guidance of Anton Dumbadze, had been learning much about Georgian singing in eight modes. But at present this type of singing in harmony is no more heard in the Georgian Cloister. Therefore Georgian singing must certainly be strengthened again on Athos, in order to revive the ancient dignity, glory and honour of our nation among the representatives of other nationalities on Mount Athos. There was once a time when the Georgian Brethren of Iveria Monastery of Portaitis held the banner of the first and foremost ones on Athos.

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BULGARIAN SCETE OF THE VENERABLE FATHER JOHN OF RILE On June 12, on Monday morning, I again started out to venerate and observe the rest of the monasteries on Athos. I was accompanied only by Georgian Monk Gabriel. We walked past the Russian Scetes of St Andrew and St Ilia. Since I venerated these Cloisters last week, I did not enter them this time. In the morning we came to the Scete of the Bulgarians and attended the service. When the Bulgarian Brethren learned about our nationality and that we were Orthodox, they respectfully asked me to say in Georgian the Creed and the Lord’s Prayer during the service in the centre of the church. After the service we were invited to have tea with the Superior of the monastery, the Priest Monk Father Stepane, who had himself conducted the service. The monastery is well established. The Divine service is performed in Slavic but the mode of chanting that has been adopted is Greek. Their Superior Archimandrite died last January. Now, in place of the previous one, the Brethren of the monastery have chosen the Very Reverend Father Stepane. But the Superior of the Russian Monastery does not confirm their choice, and demands that they should obey him. The Bulgarians are against this, and do not agree to losing the independence of their monastery. Then we had dinner together in pleasant brotherly conversation. Father Stepane asked me to spend a night there and conduct the service next day. I thanked him for all this, and we continued our journey. I presented him with a Georgian Saint’s icon, which he accepted with great delight.

THE GREEK MONASTERY OF VATOPED We left the place, and in the evening we safely reached the Greek Monastery of Vatoped. The history of founding this Holy Monastery is said to be as follows. Certain nobles were bringing by ship the son of the Byzantine Caesar Theodosius. The sea became rough, and the King’s son fell into the sea. The Viziers were very much concerned about this accident. They did not know what to do, and what they would say to the King. When the ship, which had been carried away by the rough sea, came to the shore at the foot of Mount Athos, the astonished and happy nobles saw the King’s son. He was sleeping in the shade of a thorn bush and was completely soaked. They thanked God for such a miracle and re-

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counted it to the King and Queen. In order to commemorate this miracle, and to express their gratitude to God, they have both built a splendid church and a monastery called “Vatoped,” which in Greek means “A youth under a thorn bush.” We spent a night in this monastery. On the following morning we attended the Morning Service and kissed the holy relics — which is a rule in every monastery on Athos. We attended the early service. Then the Superior, Father Archimandrite invited us in, and asked twelve high ranking Brethren to assemble to dine and to converse with us as with foreign guests. Among them was the priest monk Germane who spoke Russian very well, as he had served his time in Moscow, and had learned the Russian language there, and with his help I could converse with the Brethren of this Holy Monastery. I started to talk with them about the following. “I am most grateful to Lord Jesus Christ, our God, who has seen fit for me at my old age to venerate his Life-Giving Sepulchre and the other Holy Places in Palestine. And now again by His grace I have reached the Holy Mount of Athos to venerate the Holy Monasteries. I have prayed in Russian monasteries, scetes and cells, in some of the Greek monasteries and then in Iveria Monastery, so glorious in its historical past and so eminent in the Orthodox world. But instead of spiritual joy and comfort through seeing it, I felt spiritual sadness. You will ask me: “Why?” I’ll tell you Divine Assembly, I am a foreigner from Georgia who has come a distance of six thousand versts. I asked the Brethren of Iveria Monastery to show me the treasures of the monastery, that had been collected by the eternally commemorated Venerable Brethren in Iveria Monastery. Worthy Brethren, beloved by Christ, you are well aware from history, that Iveria Monastery was settled and established by Georgian kings and princes. Like Christ’s vineyard it has been moistened and drenched with streams of tears, and sweat of blood, shed by the Georgian Holy Fathers — Tornike, Ioane, Evtime, Giorgi, Gabriel and others whose names are written in the Book of Life. Finally the Most Holy Mother of God deigned to grant her own holy icon to this monastery to signify her mercy and her patronage of this Iveria Monastery of the Georgians. In the same way as Iveria, that is Georgia, is held to be her Divine property. I asked the Brethren of Iveria Monastery to show me the remarkable old Bible, the Gospel and some other Georgian and Greek books. During my first visit they showed me only very unimportant books. I was not

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satisfied with this, and I asked them once more to show me some of the remarkable books. They refused my request on the grounds that the Keeper of the Books had gone to Careas, and that he had taken along the keys of the bookcase. It was a downright lie. They then appointed another time, the following Sunday. At the time appointed, early in the morning at dawn, I came to Iveria Monastery. After the service I was led to the library. They opened the bookcase but they showed me no remarkable books, apart from a Gospel written on parchment, from which the illuminations and sometimes entire pages had been cut out. They also showed a Georgian Bible that lacks twelve chapters at the start as well as many other chapters in the middle and at the end. Then in the name of Christ’s faith and science, and their respect for my old age, I asked them to show me anything ancient which they kept on the upper floor. They answered: “There is nothing there which is Georgian.” I asked them: “Then where is St Evtimi’s Bible?” They answered: “Part of the Georgian books got burned. Another part was lost as a result of cutting out. The third part — six mules loaded with books — have been stolen.” Such are the guards of Iveria Monastery. In this kind of matter the Ottomans would have behaved with more dignity than the Greek Brethren of Iveria Monastery. Forgive me, Worthy Brethren, for such a quick-tempered talk. I, a foreign guest, have come to this place, and I now confess to you the sorrows of my heart. “Zeal for the house of God,” — the Church of Iveria — “has consumed me.”9 And with sorrow in my heart I shall add this: “From the fullness of the heart the mouth speaks.”10 I am sure that if you were now in my shoes, you also could not bear this destruction of the treasures of the monastery. As you are well aware from the Holy Scripture, the anger one feels for a holy subject is the duty of every true believer. One cannot be indifferent in such a case, following the words of John the Prophet, “Be neither cool nor hot.”11 Saint Bishop Nicholas, whom the Church names as a canon of religion and an icon of tranquillity, could no longer stand it when he heard Christ being denounced by Psalm 69:9, slightly altered. Matthew 12:34. 11 Revelation 3:15. 9

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the blasphemous Arius, and in a fit of wrath punched him on the cheekbone. When Jesus Christ Himself witnessed the terrible disorder in Jerusalem Temple, which used to ruin the holy liturgy, He was inflamed by divine fire. With a whip He cast out of God’s temple all those who were selling or buying cattle or sheep. He overthrew the tables of the moneychangers and the seats of those who were selling doves.12 And — another example from the Holy Gospel — “They brought young children to Him to touch and bless. The disciples rebuked them, but when Jesus saw it he was indignant.”13 Thus there comes a time, an hour and a circumstance when anger becomes righteous and virtuous. For instance, when we see or hear that the name of God is denounced, or the Church and its Holy Mysteries are abused, or acts of worship are disregarded, we are filled with spiritual indignation; or if a person gets full of wrath when he faces horrifying occurrences, when the innocence of an associate is mercilessly pursued, when a kind and respected name is dishonoured, or when his home or his possessions are snatched away — in all such cases, and in others similar to these, anger becomes right and virtuous. Even the stones “cry out” that Iveria Monastery is the dwelling place of the Georgian nation. So, I appeal to your Divine Assembly to deliver a true judgement in this case. The Lord himself commands us in the Gospel: “if your brother does wrong, go and take the matter up with him, strictly between yourselves.”14 I have now done it, since I have unmasked them: “But if he will not listen, take one or two others with you, so that every case may be settled on the evidence of two and three witnesses.”15 Now — I address you, the Divine Assembly — as commanded in the Gospel, to utter your sentence. “Stop judging by appearances; be just in your judgements.”16 And Moses the Prophet says: “You are not to pervert justice, either by favouring the poor or by subservience to the Matthew 21:12. Mark 10:13–14. 14 Matthew 18:15. 15 Matthew 18:16. 16 John 7:24. 12 13

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great. You are to administer justice to your fellow-countryman with strict fairness.”17 “ You must not deprive aliens and the fatherless of justice.”18 Following the Gospel your duty is to personally unveil the truth about the Brethren of Iveria Monastery who are your brothers.” After hearing this, the old Father Archimandrite said: “You are right in this matter.” The entire assembly acknowledged it as well. But they added “We cannot handle the inner affairs of Iveria Monastery.” And yet I am sure that what I said would be told word for word on the same day to the Brethren of Iveria Monastery. After having a cup of coffee I was led to the library of the Brethren of Vatoped Monastery, which is arranged in an exemplary way. Three Brethren showed me round the library. I asked for a catalogue that was brought immediately. Every book section has its own list in every language. The catalogue itself gives details of the manuscript and to which century it belongs, who is the author, and what is its content. I was shown a Greek Gospel written in gold by John Chrysostom himself. In this Gospel, round the text there is the definition of each chapter. We compared several places of the Gospel and of the akathisto of the Mother of God in the Georgian, Greek and Slavic languages, which vary from each other. I have spent fully three hours in this library with great delight. An old igumen was very well versed in books dealing with church liturgy. He would quickly find the places in Greek which I used to tell him by memory, since I did not have at hand either Slavic or Georgian books. I was spiritually delighted by their brotherly attention and respect, and by their support for science. I thanked them cordially for all this. Then I was invited to dinner and after dinner they asked me to spend the night in their monastery. I thanked them for their whole-hearted and brotherly reception and presented them with an icon of Georgian Church Saints, which they received with great spiritual joy. In the end, I asked them to send us by the monastery boat as the sea was calm. They gladly provided the boat with four 17 18

Leviticus 19:15. Deuteronomy 24:17.

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boatmen and in two hours’ time we came to Greek Monastery of Esphigmenou. On mules and because of the hilly road we could not have got there in less than five hours. We spent the night in the Monastery of Esphigmenou. This monastery, in comparison with others is quite poor, and yet it is far better than the Cloister of the Georgians in the Desert. It was the first time on Athos that I saw a lay-brother asking for alms outside the monastery.

THE MONASTERY OF CHELANDARIOU Next morning we started off to the Monastery of Chelandariou which we reached at dinner time. We dined there. It is a very well established monastery with a wonderful church and with splendid two or three storied houses. Bulgarian Brethren live here, but the monastery was founded by the Serbs, who passed through the same ordeal as the Georgians. During the supper the Archidrome, the Chief Guest-Master, when he was told of our nationality, forgot all about the rite of welcome, and started to talk about Iveria Monastery. He said as follows: “Despite the fact that Iveria Monastery had been built by the Georgians, in course of time, due to their slovenliness, they abandoned it. They are unable to get it back now.” I was kindled with the fire of love for my home country, and replied, “If the dwelling of our nation, Iveria Monastery, had been ruined by time, the destroyer of everything, we would easily have got used to it, rather than to these unjust circumstances. In fact the Holy Monastery, which was established by our holy Fathers’ sweating blood, due to the mischief of historic events, was snatched away by the Greek monks by force and quite unjustly. They make use of the lands which had once been donated by Georgian kings and princes for the benefit of the Georgian Brethren. Happiness based on the unhappiness of others cannot last long.” God’s grace be upon all of you, my Readers and my Countrymen, but after my stern reply the Archidrome saw fit to lapse into silence. On the next day in the morning, when we were mounting a horse, he asked me for my forgiveness, “Forgive me if I offended you yesterday.” Then it turned out that the Bulgarian Brethren, who live in Chelandariou Monastery, fear that the Serbs will claim back their ancient abode. That is why the Bulgarians dread that if the Georgian Brethren happen to get back the magnificent Iveria Monastery, then the Ser-

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bians will also follow this example, and demand that the Bulgarians return Chelandariou Monastery to the Serbs, which is the dwelling of their nation. In this monastery rests the tomb of the devout Serbian King Svimeon. His body was translated from here by his son, St Saba, the Archbishop of Serbia. This tomb has a huge vine growing on it. On June 10, 1900 the Georgian Brethren from Athos wrote as follows about the Monastery of Chelandariou: To His Eminence, the Much Endowed, and Most Industrous Archpriest Father Petre Konchoshvili! All of us, the Brethren of Georgian Cloister on Holy Athos, abiding far away, but spiritually close, desire with Divine love to mutually embrace you on the shoulder, the most dear and ever unforgettable, exemplary Brother and Father. We wish you lasting success in every Divine Service of yours and your Holy Virtues! Father Archpriest! Here is the news, the material which is new and worth considering in comparison to today’s circumstances at our Iveria Monastery of the Georgians. On Athos there is Chelandariou Monastery with its property, that was built by the Kings of Serbia. There are charters, attested and sealed by the Byzantine Emperors. In the course of the events in the fourteenth century, when the number of Serbian igumens and the Brethren reduced, the Bulgarian monks seized this monastery as their own property. Lately the Serbians wished to get back their own Chelandariou Monastery, and to re-establish their rights, but the Bulgarian monks did not let them in, since they had the instigation and support of the Protatos. In 1897 Alexander, King of Serbia, visited Chelandariou Monastery with his ministers, metropolitans, archimandrites, and his retinue. On the Great Thursday of Holy Week the Head of the Monastery received him with great honour. The King received Christ’s Holy Mystery. The Protatos appeared before him and congratulated the King on the celebration of the Pasch, and on his veneration of the monasteries on Holy Athos. The King spent several days at these celebrations, and

PETRE KONCHOSHVILI commanded them to show him in detail all the gifts given to the monastery. Among other things they then showed to him the enormous cypress and olive trees which had been planted by his ancestors and by King Stephen. They also showed him the library, and all the treasures donated by their ancestors, and this gave him great pleasure. Finally the King of Serbia requested the Head of the Monastery to show him the charter of the Founder of the Monastery, that had been attested by the Byzantine Emperors. Although the Bulgarian monks were stricken with fear at the King’s demand, they felt themselves prevailed upon by force, and also helpless. Immediately they brought the King the foundation charter of Chelandariou Monastery. After having glanced at its heading he said: “I shall read it during my rest.” And he put the document in a hiding place in his uniform. Then he went to have a rest. On the next day the King gave order to the Igumen of the Monastery to saddle the riding horses to go to Limena, and everyone went with him. The King with his retinue boarded the steam ship, and took the charter away with him to Serbia. A year later the King of Serbia sent a bishop, igumens, and monks and commanded them to go to their own monastery and to govern it as usual. But again, at the instigation of the Protatos, the Bulgarian monks did not receive the envoys of the Serbian King. Sometime later these Serbians, the bishop and his retinue, returned home and told the King of Serbia all about their abusive treatment. In 1900 after Passover the King of Serbia once again sent the bishop, with archimandrites, priest monks and several of his ministers. They entered their own monastery, following the King’s command. The Bulgarian monks reported it to their Exarch, and he sent the Bulgarian Consul to Chelandariou Monastery to find out about the controversies between the Serbian and Bulgarian monks. When the Bulgarian Consul saw the Minister of the King of Serbia, the bishop, the archimandrite and the retinue, he understood the situation. As soon as he realised that he could be no use to the Bulgarian monks, he retreated in thoughtful silence to Thessalonica. The Minister of

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The aforementioned example is indeed remarkable, and is a guideline on how to return Iveria Monastery to Georgian Brethren. Given that two nations of one Slavic unity have not respected each other, and the Serbs were not given their national dwelling-place —

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the monastery — by the Bulgarians, we certainly have even greater grounds to demand our national, holy and glorious dwelling from the Greeks, who to us are foreigners. Even “the stones cry out”19 that it belongs to the Georgian nation. Besides, the legislation of the Russian Empire makes controversies about church lands subject to no time limitation. In Chelandariou Monastery there lives in private a Russian archimandrite, Melchisedek, whom I visited. When he got to know me, and that I am Georgian, he started to talk to me about Iveria Monastery, and gave me good advice for the progress of this matter.

THE MONASTERY OF ZOGRAPHOU ON ATHOS On July 15 we reached the Monastery of Zographou at nightfall. The Bulgarian Brethren also live here, though it had been built by the Serbs. This monastery is very well established in every respect, both with churches and with houses where the brethren live. In this monastery there are three splendid miraculous icons of the Chief Martyr and Victorious St George. In the centre of the courtyard of the monastery there is a marble monument on the site where twenty-six Venerable Fathers had been burned for professing Christianity. It happened in 1204 during the Fourth Crusade, when the Franks seized Constantinople, and appointed a Patriarch of their own religion. The Greek clergy and their Patriarch were totally driven away, and some even tortured. The Venerable Fathers were also martyred at that time. This place, drenched with the blood of the Holy Fathers, is today adorned with a marble monument, and the whole area is decorated with tropical plants of multiple colours.

A GEORGIAN VILLAGE, IERISSOS At the point where Mount Athos joins Thessalonica there is a Georgian village. Until two years ago in the local church there was a stone with a Georgian inscription, saying it was built by a Georgian king. This has now been destroyed by the Greeks. The Geor19

Luke 19:40.

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gians inhabiting this place have lost their identity and forgotten their language, but they still differ from the Greeks by national traits and appearance. This village is called “Ierissos.” This information was passed to me by the Brethren of Georgian Cloister on Athos.

RETURN TO THE CLOISTER OF THE GEORGIANS, SAYING FAREWELL TO THEM, AND RETURN TO ST PANTELEIMON’S RUSSIAN MONASTERY On July 16 we returned to the Cloister of the Georgian Brethren. On this day Nikoloz Chikvaidze had come from Jerusalem, as he had become bored with Palestine. He came up to Athos and intended to remain there in the Cloister of the Georgian Brethren. After two months of travel to Palestine and Athos, on July 17, I said goodbye to the beloved Brethren of Georgian Cloister. They saw me off with as much kindness and love as they had when they received me. We reached St Panteleimon’s Monastery on the same day at 8 o’clock in the evening. Hierodeacon Gabriel the Georgian saw me off. Throughout my pilgrimage and my veneration of the monasteries on Mount Athos, he has served with me, an old man, “as a son with his father.”20 He saw me off right until I embarked on the steamship. For all this labour may Heavenly God grant him a hundred times as much love for his love, and as much kindness for his kindness, and as much spiritual honour for his humility. On the same day I said good-bye to the Superior, Father Archimandrite Andrey. I thanked him for his wholehearted reception and for his welcome. He gave me St Panteleimon’s Icon as a blessing of the holy monastery.

20

Philippians 2:22.

VOYAGE FROM ISTAMBUL TO ODESSA On the next day, early in the morning after the service, I went to the steamship. She was named “Alexander II” and the captain was Dragomir Chernogorchevich. He was a very honest and dignified man and had a great respect for the clergy. On our way back we remained for two days in Istambul. The steamship made for the border line between Bulgaria and Macedonia. As soon as we left Limana of Constantinople the sea became rough and it did not calm down till the next day at dinner time. We came to the Bulgarian city of Burgas. It was here that Ivan Teodosievich Grekov embarked the steamship. He is the Dragoman1 of the Vice-consulate of the Russian Empire, a Bulgarian by birth who was brought up in Russia, a very honest young man. He was travelling to the Gubernia of Simferopol to visit his parents. Incidentally he told me that in Bulgaria, near Philippopolis in the mountains, there is a monastery which is called the Georgian Monastery. There is a church there built in the name of St Nino containing Georgian books. But now the Bulgarians are occupying it. So where is now the glory we once possessed? “All over the world went the saying…”2 We went past Varna, a Bulgarian town that has a good boghaz.3 Nearby in the suburbs is their Prince’s new summer palace. At present the Bulgarians are revelling in the results of their independence and in the freedom of their church and state. Praise and glory to their chief-shepherds who started this work, and were not scared off when they had to endure so many sorrows and persecutions for A translator. Attributed to John 21:23. 3 Strait, bay. 1 2

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the love of their country. In the end the result was a success for their nation. With July 22 two months of my pilgrimage have now passed, since the day I left Odessa and started off to Jerusalem. On the same day of the month, having travelled for two months, I returned once again to Odessa, where I stayed in the metochion of St Andrew’s Scete. In comparison with the good conditions in St Andrew’s Scete on Mount Athos, the conditions of the metochion in Odessa deserve to be better. In Odessa, other metochia of the Russian monasteries on Athos seem to be in better condition. St Ilia’s Scete, which is now aiming to build a parish church on Athos, has a wonderful cathedral in Odessa that would beautify any royal city. The same is true for the metochion of St Panteleimon Monastery in Odessa. Both these metochia have three-storied houses. It was quite hot in Odessa. I was very much wishing to see in Odessa our most celebrated countryman Vasil Petriashvili. Once I visited him at home, and twice [more] at the University and in the laboratory. Only then was I told that he had left for his country house. I went by train and had a great search for him, but unfortunately I could not find him anywhere. The same had happened in August 1885. But in Odessa I saw the most wonderful buildings, the post office and the shaded bazaar built by the town council where every kind of food is sold. At the stalls one sees men and women of every nationality and religion: Russians, Jews, Germans, Greeks and others.

CONTINUING THE VOYAGE FROM ODESSA TO SOKHUMI On July 27, we left Odessa at 1 o’clock in the afternoon and went by Evpatoria and Sevastopol. One evening, at teatime, a conversation started. On board the steamship there travelled Vladimir Ivanovich Zaiochevsky, Director of the Kiev Institute for the Blind, former Professor of Kiev University. I was asked about my travels, and distressed as I was by the monks of Iveria Monastery, I began to tell those around me that I had wished to see the ancient Georgian Bible on Athos, which I did not become worthy of. One of the people sitting by the table asked me: “Are not you Father K…i? I looked at him in surprise and said: “It is precisely me! How do you happen to know me?” He answered: “I take an interest in Georgian literature, and I have heard the story about the Bible which you have corrected.” It turned out to be Mr Oliver Wardrop,

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an Englishman, with his sister Marjory Wardrop. They were going to Kerch where he is Acting English Ambassador.4 Mr Wardrop, who was travelling with us on the same steamship from Odessa to Kerch, after this conversation told me that the British Bible Society would publish the Georgian Athos Bible at its own expense as a splendid example of archaeology, even though it was incomplete due to the Greeks’ carelessness. For this reason the clergy in Georgia should try to get the Government’s permission to bring the Georgian Bible from Athos. At the same time the British Bible Society should be approached in order to print the Georgian Bible in the same uncial script in which it had been written, so as not to lose at least this version of the Bible, until its ancient version is discovered. It should not come as a surprise if this Bible will share the same fate as those six mules loaded with Georgian books that they alleged were stolen, but were in fact dishonestly sold. I thanked him for such attention towards Georgian literature, and not only secular literature but also theological. He also asked me about the Georgian Bible, and I told him about this problem too. People from foreign countries are delighted to attend to our literature, whereas we not only know nothing about other people, but know nothing about our own deprivations and afflictions. It is high time to wake up and abandon our deep slumber! Approaching Kerch we said goodbye to Mr and Ms Wardrop, respected representatives of a renowned nation. From Kerch we continued our voyage and came to the Monastery of New Athos.5 There a nice church has been built, as well as houses around it for the monks. They have a school for Abkhazian children where fifteen students are educated. Mr Nikiforov teaches them the Russian language. He was formerly a colonel, and is now a habited monk. This Nikiforov is very well known to the Georgian society in Tiflis. Lately under the auspices of the Society for Restoring Christianity he has been acting as an Inspector of Schools in the mountainous regions. I stayed here for two days. On August 1, at 5 o’clock in the evening, I took a coach-ride, together with the Director of the School for the Blind with whom I had been travel4 5

He was actually a Vice Consul at Kerch in the Crimea. In Georgia, on the territory of Abkhazia.

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ling from Odessa. It was his first journey to the Caucasus together with his wife, and he was fascinated by the rich nature of the local places. At 8 o’clock in the evening we came to Sokhumi, that is 24 versts away from the New Athos Monastery. I saw here my old friend, the much-honoured Father Archpriest Davit Machavariani, with whom we talked about general matters. I also saw Father Benedicte, the Superior of the Georgian Cloister on Athos. I told him about the situation in his Cloister, as it is already five years since he has left the Cloister, and he is now living in Sokhumi and Batumi.

THE PRESENT-DAY RELIGIOUS AND MORAL CONDITIONS OF THE GEORGIANS LIVING IN SOKHUMI In Sokhumi there are about two thousand Georgians whose native language is Georgian. A great many have complained to me that they are deprived of the spiritual comfort and nourishment of having services in their native language, which has a pleasing, lifegiving and redeeming influence on the heart of a religious person. It is also extremely easy to satisfy this godly demand. Here, several Georgian clergymen serve in the cathedral church. Couldn’t they indeed ask the Bishop for permission to conduct the service in the Georgian language? It is acceptable in the churches in Jerusalem, and in the whole of Palestine, to read the Gospel in several languages, whether at great celebrations or even at the daily services, when they see that the congregation is made up of various nationalities. According to Church Law it is permitted in the whole Christian world to read the Gospel in different languages at Easter — and certainly in the vernacular. This is a disaster as the local Georgians are deprived of consolation and divine joy! Can there be any greater spiritual disaster than, at Easter, not being able to hear, in one’s own native language, “Christ has risen from the dead!” when the spiritual leaders of their own nation are standing before their eyes. Every spiritual leader should bear expressly in mind that after his death, each person will present himself to be questioned, when we have to appear before Christ the Lord, and we shall tell him, “Behold my Lord, here am I, and my sheep whom you have given to me. I have been pasturing them and none of them I have caused

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to perish.” Blessed be the shepherd who is courageous enough to say it. According to Christ’s teaching the sheep have to hear the voice of the shepherd and to follow him 1; the shepherd should know the names of his sheep and call them. When the parish does not hear the voice of the shepherd — whether inside or outside the church — then there is no religious and moral connection between them. “The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.”2 This is the true role of a shepherd, as reflected in the Gospel, “There is no greater love than this, that someone should lay down his life for his friends.”3 “He that hath ears to hear, let him hear!”4 On August 4, on Wednesday, at 8 o’clock in the morning, in the company of my above mentioned co-travellers, we left Sokhumi. The sea was already rough before we went on board the steamship. In the afternoon it got even worse. A great many travellers became seasick, and I myself could not avoid it. The ship was unable to enter Poti, and at 10 o’clock in the evening we reached Batumi. The storm affected me so much that on the next day I could not walk, and felt giddy. I want to say a few complimentary words concerning the Georgian community in Vladikavkaz, that the issue of conducting the service in their native language has been resolved in a better and more exemplary way. Following their great yearnings they have built their own church, invited their own spiritual father, and they have entrusted to him the divine duty to conduct all the services in the Georgian language. They have also founded their own church school, and “now they rejoice in the fruit of their labour.” Although the Georgian community living here is very few, compared with the Georgians living in Batumi and Sokhumi, the Georgians of Vladikavkaz have rediscovered such spiritual power and steadiness, that in the face of difficulties and obstacles they are undaunted. They have cut down on their personal pleasures and leisure, as people inspired by love of their nation, and in order to perform their holy aim they have established an annual payment in accordJohn 10:3. John 10:11. 3 John 15:13. 4 Matthew 11:15. 1 2

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ance with their means. Although I would like to say again that the Georgian community here both in number and material capabilities stands far below the Georgians in Batumi and probably those in Sokhumi.

THE BASIS, POWER, AND IMPORTANCE OF CONDUCTING AND LISTENING TO THE SERVICE AND THE PREACHING OF THE GOSPEL IN THE VERNACULAR When the Tower of Babel had been destroyed, according to the Holy Church, which explains and interprets God’s orders and words, “When there came upon them a variety of languages, the Highest scattered their kinship”(Kontakion of the Feast of Pentecost). Thus it is destined by God’s will that many nations and people should exist on earth and every nation should glorify, praise, and thank God, in their native language. After the Ascension of Christ the Saviour, when “The Lord brought down the Most Holy Spirit upon his Apostles, as flames of fire, and illuminated them” (Troparion of the Third Hour), all the Apostles immediately received glorious wisdom. They prayed and praised God in foreign languages. This gift was granted to them as a necessary means and an essential weapon for preaching the Gospel in all parts of the world, and to all nations and peoples, in order that they could “See and hear in all parts of the world the salvation of Our God” (A quotation from the Feast of the Elevation of the Cross at Morning Prayer). Without this gift of the knowledge of foreign languages, the preaching of gospels would be utterly barren and it would appear to the listeners like “a sounding gong or a clanging cymbal.”1 Only when the Gospel is preached and the service is performed in the native language, it can bear the life-giving fruit of spiritual life. “The word of God is alive and active. It cuts more keenly than any two-edged sword, piercing

1

1 Corinthians 13:1.

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so deeply that it divides soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it discriminates among the purposes and thought of the heart.”2 Praying is the human being’s conversation with God. It is expressed in words of reverence for God. On the one hand is casual conversation, which speakers need so as to understand the words by which they attempt to convey to one another their ideas, feelings and requests. On the other hand the worshipper very much needs to understand the language of “supplications, prayers, intercessions and thanksgivings” 3 and of any other divine services. In the First Epistle of Saint Paul the Apostle to the Corinthians, chapter 14, he teaches us that the native language — a tangible language — is necessary for conducting the service, or preaching the Gospels, or any church teaching, “For he that speaketh in an unknown tongue speaketh not unto men, but unto God: for no man understandeth him; He that speaketh in an unknown tongue edifieth himself; but he that prophesieth edifieth the church. Now, Brethren, if I come unto you speaking with tongues, what shall I profit you, except I shall speak to you either by revelation, or by knowledge, or by prophesying, or by doctrine? And even things without life giving sound, whether pipe or harp, except they give a distinction in the sounds, how shall it be known what is piped or harped? For if the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to battle? So likewise ye, except ye utter by the tongue words easy to be understood, how shall it be known what is spoken? For ye shall speak into the air. Therefore if I know not the meaning of the voice, I shall be unto him that speaketh a barbarian, and he that speaketh shall be a barbarian unto me. For if I pray in an unknown tongue, my spirit prayeth, but my understanding is unfruitful. Else when thou shalt bless with the spirit, how shall he that occupieth the room of the unlearned say ‘Amen’ at thy giving of thanks, seeing he understandeth not what thou sayest? For thou verily givest thanks well, but the other is not edified. I thank my god, I speak with tongues more than ye all: Yet in the church I had rather speak five words with my understanding, that by my voice I might teach others also, then ten thousand words in an unknown 2 3

Hebrews 4:12. 1 Timothy 2:1.

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tongue.”4 The same Holy Apostle teaches us again in his epistle: “And all this I do for the sake of the Gospel, to have a share in the blessings.” 5

4 5

1 Corinthians 14:2–19. 1 Corinthians 9:23.

TODAY’S RELIGIOUS AND MORAL STATE OF THE GEORGIANS INHABITING CHOROKHI GORGE FROM EARLY TIMES On my way back from Palestine I came to the city of Batumi on August 5, 1899. The very next day I went to the village Maradid that is in the gorge of the river Chorokhi, about 24 versts away from Batumi. The local inhabitants — the Georgians of times past, but now Muslims by religion, together with the entire neighbourhood of Batumi — have joined their old native land, Georgia, after the Russian-Ottoman war in 1878. They are the indigenous people of ancient Georgia, our “bone from the bones and flesh of the flesh.”1 They had been torn off by force from their beloved home country and separated from the Georgian nation in 1822. Now our divine duty is “to reunite them with us with our parental care and love as they had been forcibly ousted from the bosom of their sweet mother.” The local people speak Georgian quite well, but the Georgian language is better preserved by the women in their homes. Their costumes, their dress, their feasts, singing and manner of walking, is wholly that of the Gurians: the only difference is that they have been forced to adopt Islam. To judge by outward appearances, they embrace Islam so firmly that they regard any representative of Christianity with loathing and fanaticism. During my stay there, they used to go to the other side of the street to avoid me, at our first encounter. They would not respond to me when I greeted them, or they just answered me in Tartar.2 Only when they 1 2

Genesis 2:23. “Tartar” here and in the following passages means “Turkish.”

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got to know me personally, and that I did not belong to some foreign nation, but to the country of their forefathers, they would greet me in Georgian and respond to me. A young man, whom I asked which nation he belonged to, gave an answer: “I am a Tartar.” To which I responded: “By religion and faith you may be a Tartar, but by nationality and kinship you are our blood and flesh, our brother.” On hearing these words he got so excited that tears streamed from his eyes. Some of them had private talks with me, on the reason why they had become detached from their old home country, and had abandoned the graves of their dear forefathers and relatives. A great number of them, even today, and provided that the material conditions are favourable, rebury their dead in the Ottoman country. It is soul and heart-rending for a Christian Georgian to see these people, our soul-brothers, “Scattered around like sheep without a shepherd,” who have become detached from us as a result of mischievous historical circumstances. We must also be worried to see that they have also become distant nationally, since they do not call themselves Georgians any more, and spiritually they will perish, as they denounce Christ the Saviour’s religion. Even now they are looking with one eye towards Istambul. Whilst one brother lives here, another lives in the Khontkar’s city, or the parents are here and the children are abroad in a foreign Ottoman country. We Georgians, their elder brothers, must take care of them, and prevent them becoming entirely foreign and alien to us, these brothers of ours who share our flesh and blood. As our guide we should remember the Holy Apostle Paul’s words, “There is great grief and unceasing sorrow in my heart. I would even pray to be an outcast myself, cut off from Christ, if it would help my Brethren, my kinsfolk by natural descent.”3 “Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved.”4 A great many of these Muslim Georgians have learned to read and write by means of the books that had been distributed among them by our national representative and beloved countryman, Zakaria Chichinadze. Provided that each of us sacrifices a very small offering at 3 4

Romans 9:2–3. Romans 10:1.

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the altar of our home country, the Lord and Saviour will receive it “as spiritual perfume, and excellent smell.” With His grace it will become possible to convert them again to Christianity, our lost and sinning Brothers who have wandered away from Holy Church’s motherly bosom. Their conversion will be a cause of immense rejoicing, like the return of the prodigal son to his father’s home. The Holy Apostle Paul’s words are similar, “Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. How they shall call on him in whom they have not believed?”5 That is, how shall they utter the name of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ in whom they do not believe? “And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach, except they be sent?” 6 That is, in order to convert them to their ancient ancestors’ Christian faith, it is absolutely necessary that preachers should preach the Holy Gospels in their native Georgian language because “Sweet talk can draw even a serpent out of its hole” as said by great Rustaveli. There is no other language sweeter than the native language — an obvious and unshakable truth. Because of this, we have a divine duty to exert all our efforts with the heartfelt aim of educating them in Christ’s religion, and we have to entrust the success and the desired fruit of our labour in this holy work to the Saviour of the World, our God Jesus Christ. And this agrees with the words of the Apostles, that in order to succeed in preaching the Gospels, “Neither is he that planteth anything, neither he that watereth”7 but God the Regenerator. That is, in the same way as in the parable: “The kingdom of God is as if a man should cast seed into the ground; and should sleep, and rise night and day, and the seed should spring and grow up, he knoweth not how.”8 Christian preachers of the Gospel (the missionaries) must preach the teaching of the Holy Gospel to their listeners with love, since according to the words of the Apostle, “The servant of the Lord must not be quarrelsome; but be gentle unto all men, apt to Romans 10:17, 14. Romans 10:14–15. 7 1 Corinthians 3:7. 8 Mark 4:26–27. 5 6

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teach, patient, in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth.” 9 But if the preacher is to “bear fruit” in this Divine work, that is the acceptance of Gospel Teachings by the listeners, then he should entrust it to God’s will and His grace, because acting by force when teaching religion will not “bear good fruit.” On this point the Holy Gospel also teaches us the following lesson, “Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine.”10 A person must receive religion with his pure heart and with faith, for otherwise, he denies Christ’s religion, and returns to unfaithfulness again, according to the saying of Apostle St Peter, “The dog is turned to his own vomit again,”11 meaning that in several seconds the dog will return and eat up again what he had vomited. Another proverb of the same Apostle also says this, “The washed sow wallows in the mud again.”12 And the Holy Apostle says also, “It had been better for them” (the unfaithful) “not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to return from the holy commandment delivered unto them.”13 For this reason, we have to use our common sense. First we must awaken national awareness among the Georgian Muslims of Batumi region. We should show compassion and love to our lost brothers, in order that they should not speak of themselves as Tartars by nationality but Georgians; since in many countries we can see that one and the same nation, of the same provenance and language and within one state, profess different religions. This does not interfere in any way with their nationality. For example in the German and the Austrian Empires there are a great number of Germans. Some of them, mainly in Germany, are Roman Catholics and others Protestants, but the fact that they differ in religion does not prevent them to be faithful subjects to one or another ruler.

2 Timothy 2:24–25. Matthew 7:6. 11 2 Peter 2:22. 12 2 Peter 2:22. 13 2 Peter 2:21. 9

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When the national self-awareness of the ancient Georgians of Batumi region awakens among them, it will bring about all things that go with their brotherly reunion and consolidation with us, both in national achievements and in unity of spirit and religion. In order to bring this to fulfilment, that is, to complete this holy work, the Georgians will very much depend on the Georgian school in Batumi, and on conducting the church services, with its beautiful hymns in the vernacular in the Georgian church in Batumi. In Batumi school even today Georgian Muslim children study the Georgian language together and on the same basis with the Georgian Christian children. On the basis of the Georgian language learnt there, the Muslim children will abandon their common fanaticism — that is, hatred towards us — and will influence the families and the community and the society in which they live and work. The majority of the people of Batumi are even now Georgian by nationality, and a great deal of conversation in the Georgian language can be heard both at home and outside. Some Georgian Muslims of Batumi region have already renounced Islam and have adopted the Christian faith. The Georgians of Batumi region have indeed been faithful Christians since almost the time of the Apostles until the beginning of the nineteenth century, to which history provides objective evidence. There are a great many splendid cathedrals and monasteries scattered throughout the whole region of Batumi, some of which are even today preserved in good condition. But some of them have been taken over by a foreign nation, who in those glorious churches and monasteries has entirely destroyed the monuments and the inscriptions that are in the Georgian language. This reminds me of a Georgian proverb: “A Tartar from Azambur would speak of my sack as ‘a big cloth bag’.” Meanwhile, the Georgian language is spoken till today almost to the borders of Trabzon, both at home and out of doors, and in their feasts and songs, at weddings or during their work or their travels, and the language is of pure Gurian dialect. All this is a real, unshakable and genuine sign of them being Georgian by nationality. Therefore, the Georgian language comes as the first necessity. It must become the connecting bridge between the Georgian Muslims living in Batumi region and us. Literacy must be spread among them in this language, and by means of this the Tartar and Arab languages will be gradually squeezed out, because in these languages the Mullahs preach and read the Quran. It is always read only in Arabic, even though many

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people do not understand its contents. In casual conversation, at fairs for example, they use the Tartar language along with Georgian. Another uniting bridge, forming a golden chain, that by the help of the Lord will be formed by itself, is Christ the Saviour’s religion. Apostle St Andrew, the First to be Called, preached Christ’s teaching in West Georgia. The Georgians of Batumi region, of Samtskhe-Saatabago, unswervingly acknowledged Christ’s religion till 1580. Only in that unhappy year Qvarqvare Atabag himself rejected Christianity, and subjected his principality to the Ottoman Khontkar. Since then Christ’s religion has been gradually banished from Samtskhe-Saatabago, by means of torture, pursuit and abuse. The Muslim Georgians living in Maradid happened to tell me the following. They are prevented from adopting Christianity because, after receiving the faith, they are going to be summoned to the army, and along with other Christians, they will have to eat pork, which is unacceptable to them. Now, they pay a certain amount of money,14 and are free from the compulsory army service. According to the teaching of the Apostles of Christ the Saviour, I answered this in the following way: “Every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving: for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.”15 On this subject Holy Apostle Paul teaches us: “I know, and I am persuaded by the Lord Jesus, that there is nothing unclean of itself: but to him that esteemeth anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean.”16 According to the same Apostle: “The kingdom of God is not to be found in meat and drink; but in righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.”17 For this reason we Christians do not consider pork unclean, since “unto the pure all things are pure: but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled.”18 Besides, there are sevFor “money” Konchoshvili writes manet, the currency available in his time. 15 1 Timothy 4:4–5. 16 Romans 14:14. 17 Romans 14:17. 18 Titus 1:15. 14

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eral people among the Christians who never eat pork according to a vow, and similarly our Mtiuls19 do not eat pork because their stomach rejects it. Incidentally Muslim Georgians boast that according to the Islam they pray five times a day, even though their worship is mainly outward and mostly consists of washing hands and feet. It only lasts ten seconds. To this I answered that the Christian Church, with motherly voice, calls for prayer nine times a day. According to Christ the Saviour’s Apostle we have to pray “Without ceasing.” “He that is able to receive it, let him receive it.”20

19 20

Georgian highlanders living to the north of Kakheti. Matthew 19:12.

RETURN TO THE HOMELAND “If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning.”1 “Show me thy ways, O Lord; teach me thy paths: Lead me in thy truth, and teach me: for thou art the God of my salvation; on thee do I wait all the day.”2 “I will make mention of the deeds of Lord and the ones I have seen, I will tell.”3 “Cast me not off in the time of old ages; forsake me not when my strength faileth. When I am old and greyheaded, O God, forsake me not; until I have showed thy strength unto this generation, and thy power to everyone that is to come.”4 Men walking towards God are guided. I thank the most merciful God who has accompanied me in my travels and pilgrimage to the Holy Places and who has enabled me to return to my homeland, whole and unharmed, on August 31, 1899. Glory be to God, our Benefactor through the centuries, now and forever!

IT IS TIME TO PUT AN END TO THIS! (THE STATE OF AFFAIRS OF THE BRETHREN OF THE GEORGIAN CLOISTER ON ATHOS) From the newspaper “Iveria,” No. 217, 1899: Our society is very well aware of the great misfortunes of the monks in the Georgian Cloister on Athos, who have no relief from the Greeks, and with no prospect of living their lives in freedom. An investigation on this matter was in process, and there were a Psalm 137:5. Psalm 25:4–5. 3 Sirach 42:15. 4 Psalm 71:9, 18. 1 2

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few rumours that the Greeks would be curbed, and that the lands and the Holy Places of the Georgians which they had claimed, would be removed from them. But now things are as they were before, although it is high time to put an end to this situation. In order to understand the oppression of the Georgian Brethren of Athos Cloister we are now publishing their letter to Reverend Petre Konchoshvili, with a foreword written by Father Archpriest himself and addressed to us. This is what the Rev. Father Konchoshvili writes: “I had already finished writing the description of my pilgrimage when on September 30, 1899, I received a heart-rending letter from the Brethren of the Georgian Cloister on Mount Athos. In this letter they tell us how heavily the harm, the harassment, and the sorrow caused by the Greek monks of Iveria Monastery weighs on the Georgian Brethren. It is exactly like the way the heathen treated the Christians of the first century. The Greek monks’ aim is utterly to drive out the Georgian Brethren from Mount Athos, and to wipe their traces from the earth. At the same time, different nationalities, Russians, Bulgarians, Moldavians, Serbs, Wallachians, those from Black Mount, Arabs and Arnauts, peacefully live their lives in various monasteries on Athos. Then why are the Georgian Brethren persecuted by the Greeks? Nothing else but because of the request by the Georgian nation in 1883, headed by representatives of their dignitaries, to return Iveria Monastery, a dwelling of the Georgian nation, and its lands, to the Brethren of the Georgian Cloister. For this reason I enclose an unchanged and unabridged letter of the Brethren of the Georgian Cloister on Athos, to make the Georgian society see clearly how worrying is the situation of our Brethren on Mount Athos. All who read this letter, and those who hear about it, the entire Georgian society, whatever their title or sex, and those who cherish even the slightest love for their home-country in the face of God and mankind, must come to support the Brethren of the Georgian Cloister on Athos, and rescue them from the tyranny of the Greek monks. This is not only demanded by our national dignity and honour, and by the ancient historic glory of the Georgian nation, but also by love for our kinsmen, since the Brethren of Georgian

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Cloister on Athos are “flesh of our flesh and the bone of our bones.”5 May God will that for the success of this issue there will appear on Georgian soil such honourable and renowned holy patriots as Esther, Marduch, Ezra, Nehemiah and Jeremiah, who grieved for the ruined Jerusalem and its Temple; or Zerubbabel the Chief Priest, Joshua and Simon, the High Priests, who restored again the ruined Temple and the city of Jerusalem, and beautified them for their national glory. All these glorious people, overcome with love of their home-country, worked and sought to sacrifice themselves for the benefit of their country. According to the words of the Apostle of Christ, “Everything that has been written is written to teach us and educate us. For this reason we must imitate the righteous in their good deeds, and must abandon the vile and awesome transgressions of the wicked.”6 Who hath ears to hear, let him hear! Archpriest Petre Konchoshvili

We are also publishing unaltered, the letter of the Brethren of Georgian Cloister on Athos sent to Father Konchoshvili on the 10th September, this year. Your High Eminence, Most Reverend Archpriest Father Petre! First and foremost we, the Brethren of the Georgian Cloister on Holy Mount of Athos, ask for your prayers and blessings, and hereby we wish you a long life, with God’s favour, and for the benefit of Iveria. As we are sure that you, as a true Georgian, will share the sorrows and joys of your kinsmen, we take the liberty to tell you about our circumstances. This letter will make you think deeply about solution you can find for your Genesis 2:23. The Eighth Heirmos of Andrew of Crete sung on Tuesday of the First Week of Lent. 5 6

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TRAVELS TO JERUSALEM AND MOUNT ATHOS Brethren, in a foreign country, unjustly persecuted and constrained by the Greeks for the last thirty two years. Simply to make provision for our needs we started to build beside a wall, a wood-shed resting on plain wooden pillars. As a result, the Greek monks living in our Iveria Monastery, who had anyway been looking for an excuse, attacked us on the 30th August this year. It was early in the morning, during the Divine Liturgy, while the celebrant was saying: “We have come with fear for God and faith.” We were rushed at by four proigumens, leading figures of the monastery, and two of whom you know personally. One of them was Porphyry — the Second Epitropos of the year, who swore his love to you when you asked to visit the library at the Common Assembly — since at the start you had asked Archimandrite Gerasimos about it. Another one was Father Daniel, who spoke Georgian, and who dreams of becoming an Archimandrite in Georgia, in order to plunder our poor people with his white teeth. There were also two lay people, their servants, armed with guns, sabres, and revolvers, on the belts round their waist full of bullets. Because, from the very beginning they were consumed with the wish to do evil, their aim so overwhelmed them that they forgot all about their duty. So these clergymen did not even enter the church to venerate the Holy Icon of the Saint in whose name the Cloister was built. Instead, they were demanding to send their Isaul7 to see the Head of the Cloister. Since the temporary Head, Father Iona, was in the church and the liturgy was going on, this was not the time. Therefore Father Gabriel came out to them and he invited them in the Greek language to the guest-room to have tea. But they replied coldly that they had not come to have tea, and it was for another reason that they had come. As Father Gabriel saw they were angry he made no reply. In the meantime the service was over, and Father Iona was told about the matter. He immediately came politely towards them, and he also asked them to come in and 7

A mounted military policeman.

PETRE KONCHOSHVILI have a cup of tea. But outrageously — however audacious the word may be — they began yelling and giving orders like barbarians, and demanding that we Georgians must immediately pull down the shed, for which as yet only four poles had been erected. Father Iona began to talk calmly with them. He wished to explain why we were building the shed. But they did not listen to a word of his, and told him resolutely: “Are you not going to pull it down with your own hands?” To that Father Iona replied: “We have not done this work in order to pull it down, and we will not allow others to do so except for a case of real necessity.” Then the Greeks, headed by proigumen Porphyry, gave orders to their servants, “Now lads, pull it down! Break it! Smash it!” The lads, followed by the proigumens, headed towards the pillars to pull them down. Since Father Iona and Father Giorgi were standing near the pillars, they did not let them pull the pillars down. And when the wild yelling of the Greeks became louder, a crowd assembled not only of the Brethren of our Holy Cloister, but of those neighbours who were nearby. They too witnessed this event. When the Greeks saw that we did not allow them to achieve their aim, they wished to use their weapons, and threatened Father Giorgi and one of our monks with their sabres. By God’s mercy one of the proigumens ordered them to go back, and, only after his command they retreated. They went home, but threatened that next time they would come with more people, and wouldn’t leave us unharmed. This time we have survived, by God’s grace, with the patronage of the Most Holy Mother of God, with the help of the most glorious John the Theologian, and with your prayers. On the same day we informed the local Head about the event. He paid no more attention to us than to those whom men have abandoned, to the poor and destitute. But the most powerful and the almighty God of the unsupported foreigners and orphans will not leave us unassisted and will not therefore grant success to our visible and invisible enemies upon us, the poor. We have addressed our Ambassador in Constantinople and the Vipatos in Thessalonica, who have issued the due order… On August 31, the Antiprosops (the deputies) from the local Protatos came to our Cloister at the request of the Greeks. They announced to us that since Iveria Monastery disagrees with the building of a wood-shed in our

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TRAVELS TO JERUSALEM AND MOUNT ATHOS courtyard, we have to pull it down ourselves. Otherwise they would pull it down themselves, and would write a memorandum to our detriment, that would result in the Georgians’ banishment from Athos. On seeing that justice would not prevail, we obeyed them, as sheep would obey a wolf, since all the might and power on Mount Athos is in the hands of the Greeks. And we were also frightened yesterday by the local lawyer, who casually told us that if Greeks command that Georgians are to be banished from Athos, he has immediately to carry out the Greeks’ order. We have been demeaned to such an extent that we had to demolish the pillars, and other amenities, with our own hands. Any onlooker would find it a miserable spectacle. After fulfilling what they were up to, the Greeks left, rejoicing with vile delight, and parting from us without any compassion. We hope, your High Eminence, that you will sympathise with our destitute situation, and that you will let some of the others – who and where it is appropriate – know about it, so that entire Iveria should know that the Georgians, who live on their own land, are not permitted to build even a simple shed! All the Brethren of our Cloister send their best regards to you, and we ever remember your words, sweeter than honey. Please, comfort us with your precious epistle.

SOME IMPRESSIONS OF A RUSSIAN GENERAL DURING HIS VISIT TO GEORGIAN HOLY MONASTERIES IN PALESTINE AND ON HOLY MOUNT ATHOS In the summer of 1900, a God-loving Russian General, A. Vener…, came to venerate the Holy Places in Palestine and the Holy Mount Athos. This General writes with vexation to a Georgian spiritual Father, of his impressions after visiting the Holy Places abroad. “At one time the Georgians had three monasteries in Jerusalem. In two of them there now live Greek monks, namely in Patriarch St Abraham’s Monastery and in the Holy Cross Monastery. In the third one — St John the Theologian’s Monastery — there are now Frankish monks. On Mount Athos also the Georgians used to have the magnificent Iveria Monastery of Portaitis where now 150 Greek monks are living. “When and how did the Georgians lose these monasteries?” he enquires with heartfelt regret. Then he continues: “The Georgian Brethren who live in the Cloister on Athos are in great anxiety at the moment. They honourably endure deprivation, thirst and every affliction on the part of the Greeks. Meantime, near the Georgian Brethren’s Cloister, in Iveria Monastery, the ancient dwelling of the Georgians, the Greek monks enjoy great leisure. This unjust situation pleads with tears to God, and prays for vengeance.” This son of a foreign nation, but our brother by his Orthodox religion, is a subject of the country to which we also belong. He had also served in Georgia, and studied our national character, traditions, customs and values. And he is thus most distressed at the loss of the glorious remains of our past. Whereas, we are sunk in a deep sleep. We do not seek wholeheartedly for our religious dwelling, which also represents the glory 209

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of our Georgian nation. This General, a devout and religiously inspired man, is astonished at the callousness and negligence on our part in such a holy matter. He is asking: “What are the nobles and the dignitaries of Georgia doing? Why don’t they care for this venerable dwelling?” In this context he gives the distinguished names of eminent Georgian dignitaries. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.1 The religious commitment of this faithful General makes one recall the words of the Apostle St Peter: “But in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him, and is worthy of praise”2

1 2

Matthew 11:15. Acts 10:35.

A LETTER FROM THE BRETHREN OF THE GEORGIAN CLOISTER ON ATHOS 10 June, 1900 By order of the Supreme Government, the payment to the Greek monks of Iveria Monastery from the income of the metochion in Bessarabia, a total of over 90,000 manets, has been withheld. This money has not been paid to them, and this has been the case for the last fifteen years. This dispute makes the Greeks very much alarmed about our complaint. The Ambassador (Despan) in Constantinople and the Consul in Thessalonica tell the Greeks of Iveria Monastery, “Only after you arrange your matters with Georgia, you will receive this money. This is otherwise not possible.” This dispute, and an answer like that, make the monks immensely fearful. The former Ambassador (Despan), Nelidov, has privately told us, “Although the Supreme Government has suspended the payment of the metochia of Russia and Georgia and did not give it to the Greeks, in this instance your case has finished easily and peacefully. I myself have forwarded the suspension of the metochia’s payment to the Foreign Ministry (in Petersburg), but I have not yet received their confirmation.” Forgive us, Reverend Father, for this short letter but since we clearly see that, as a true Georgian, you are participating in this issue as if it were your own personal matter, that is why we are writing this humble letter to you, as evidence for the case. The Head, Priest Monk Iona, and Christ’s Brethren.

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INDEX OF NAMES AND PLACES Aaron 124 Abashidze Ioane 32 Abashidze, Gabriel 154, 156, 158, 160, 164, 172, 182, 206 Abashidze, Giorgi 17 Abdul Mejid, Sultan 12 Abiram 124 Abo, St 162 Abraham, Archpriest 29–31, 75, 78, 155 Abraham, monastery of 17, 30, 32, 75, 209 Adam 29–30, 44, 79 Adam, chapel of, in the Holy Sepulchre Church 44 Admah 86 Aegian, Sea 140 Aelia Capitolina, see Jerusalem Africa 116 Aghdgoma 32 Agia Sophia 11–12, 73 Ahab 123 Akepsimas, St 162 Al-Aqsa Mosque 45 Alaverdi, 16 Aleppo 18 Alexander II, Russian Emperor 104, 169, 183 (steam ship) Alexander III, Russian Emperor 48, 162–163 Alexander Macedonian 119 Alexander, High Priest 91 Alexander, King of Serbia 178– 179

Alexsandretta 26 Alexsandria 119, 120 Ambrosi, Bishop of Samtskhe 159–160 Amilakhvari, Amirindo 17 Andrew, Apostle 108, 200 Andrew of Crete 150, 205 Andrew, St, scete on Mount Athos 146–147, 150, 172, 184 Andrey, Archimandrite 143– 144, 172, 182 Angel, chapel of, in the Holy Sepulchre Church 37, 40 Anisimov, Alexander 26, 46, 101, 104 Anna, St, church of, on Mount Horeb 124 Annunciation church, at St Saba’s Lavra 113 Annunciation church, in Nazareth 103–104 Antioch 26 Antiochus II 27 Antonin, Archimandrite (Kapustin) 46–47 Apkhazeti 21, 56 Apollo 139–140 Arabs 22, 24, 44, 75–76, 80, 92, 107, 112, 133, 204 Christian Arabs 25, 39–40, 69, 100, 109, 130 Aristotle 24 Arius 175

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Armenian 8-9, 33 (chapel), 37, 39, 50, 53, 68 (altar) 68– 69, 97–98, 123 Patriarch 17, 40, 52, 83 Arnauts 204 Artem’s cell, St, on Mount Athos 148 Ascension church, on the Mount of Olives 44–46, 49 Asia 16, 26, 27 (Asia Minor), 116 Assyria see Syria Atabags of Samtskhe 17 Ateni 7 Athanasius, St 149 Athanasius, St, Lavra of, on Mount Athos 146, 148, 149, 151 Athens 23 Athonite Fathers 146 Athos, Mount 1–2, 4, 15, 18, 50, 78, 92, 101, 112, 131, 134– 137, 139–141, 143, 145, 147–149, 151, 153–154, 157–173, 177–178, 180– 182, 184–185, 204–205, 208–209 Augustine, St 5 Austria 198 Avalishvili, Giorgi 3–4, 32, 80 Azov, steam ship 10, 15, 21, 23, 137–138 Babylon 66 Baghdanovich 92 Bagrat, King of Imereti 15 Bagrat, St 162 Bakradze, Alexi 154, 156, 158– 159 Basil the Great 5, 57, 70, 157 Basil, Metropolitan of Smyrna 22 Basil, St, monastery of, in Palestine 17

Batumi 8–9, 163, 186, 188–189, 195, 198–200 Beirut 24–26, 133–134 Beit Sahur el-Nassara 72 Benedicte, Priest Monk, (Barkalaia) 163–164,186 Bessarabia 159, 211 Bethany, village 85 Bethesda 53 (Sheeps’ Pool) Bethlehem 4, 16, 67, 69–71, 73, 76, 89, 91, 111 Black Mount 19, 76, 204 Black Mount, monastery of, in Syria 18 Boaz, field of 71 Breta 25 British Bible Society, the 171, 185 Bulgaria 155, 172, 177 Burgas 183 Byzantium 11, 26, 148–149, 158, 169, 170, 172, 178– 179 Cairo 119–121, 123 Cambridge, University of 151 Canaan, Ham’s son 29 Capernaum 107–109 Cappadocian Fathers 25 Careas 145, 155, 166, 174 Casa Nova see St Theodore’s Monastery 41 Catherine, St 41, 120, 122, 124125 Catherine, St, chapel of, in Alexandria 120 Catherine, St, monastery of, in Jerusalem 17, 41 Catherine, St, monastery of, on Mount Sinai 169 Caucasus 136, 186 Cave of Christ’s Nativity 4 Chelandariou, monastery of, on Mount Athos 177–181

PETRE KONCHOSHVILI Cherkasova, Maria Alexandrovna 25 Chernigov 21 Chernogorchevich, Dragomir 183 Chichinadze, Zakaria 196 Chikoidze, Giorgi 32 Chikvaidze, Nikoloz 182 Chincharadze 171 Chios, Island of 23 Choloqashvili, Baadur 17 Choloqashvili, Bezhan 17 Choloqashvili, Nikoloz (Nikipore) 116 Chorokhi Gorge 195 Christ the Saviour see Jesus Christ Christ’s Tomb in the Holy Sepulchre Church 4–5, 33–34, 36–37, 50, 52 Comana 56 Constantine the Great 11, 30, 103, 107 Constantine XI 149, 170 Constantinople see Istambul Copts 33, 37, 40, 50, 69, 120 Crete, Island of 23, 77 Cross Monastery, in Jerusalem 78–80, 82–83, 116, 209 Cyprus, Island of 18, 140–141 Cyril, Greek Archbishop 55 Dadiani, Levan 17, 78, 81 (Tatiani), 156–157 Dagestan 136 Damianos, Patriarch 32, 55, 59– 61, 98 Daniel, Proigumen 158, 206 Daniel, Prophet 27 Dathan 124 David, archimandrite 147 David Gareja monastery 31, 164 David, Giorgi-Lasha’s son 26– 27

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David, Prophet 24, 29–30, 63, 69 David, Queen Rusudan’s son 26–27 David’s Castle 29 David’s City 29, 69 David the Builder 122, 125 Dead Sea, the 75, 85, 89 (Lot’s Sea), 86 (the Sea of Pitch), 112 Demetrius of Pharos 119 Dimitry, St, monastery of 12 Diocletian, Emperor 122 Dormition, church of, on Mount Sinai 120, 123–124, Dorotheos 157 Dositheos, Patriarch 82, 116 Dumbadze, Anton 171 Egypt 71, 119-120 Ekvtimi (Eptvimi, Evtimi, Euthymius) the Athonite 81, 155, 157, 162, 170–171, 174, 189 Eleazar 155 Elene, Queen of Georgia 17 Elijah, Prophet 90, 105, 123 Elijah, Prophet, monastery of 76 Elisha, Prophet 92, 89–90 (spring) Elizabeth, St 2, 95 Elizaveta Fiodorovna 48 Embracing of the Lord, Presentation, nunnery of 17 England 170 English 7, 10, 31, 93, 147, 151, 185 English Lady (Angela BurdettCoutts) 31 Ephrem the Syrian 123, 157 Epistemia, St, 121 Erevan 9

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Eristavi, Tornike (IoaneTornike) 153, 155, 160– 161, 167–168, 173 Eristavs of Racha 17 Erzerum 26 Esdraelon 105 Esphigmenou, monastery of, on Mount Athos 177 Esther 205 Euarestes, Pope 69 Eugenia, Empress 68 Europe 16, 41, 71, 116, 120, 122 Euthymius the Athonite see Ekvtimi the Athonite Evpatoria 184 Ezra 205 Forty-Days, mountain of 90 Forty Martyrs’ Church 124 Franciscans 41 Franks 33–35, 41, 44, 50, 53, 68, 71, 95, 104, 113, 181, 209 French 7, 92, 134, 151, 10, 68 Gabashvili, Timothy 3, 18, 70, 104, 161 Gabriel, Archangel 81, 103 Gabriel, Bishop of Imereti 164 Gabriel, Monk see Abashidze, Gabriel Gabriel the Georgian 154 Gadara 107 Gaiat ed-Din 26 Galilee 69, 97, 98, 101, 103–104 Sea of 86 (the Sea of Pitch), 107 (Tiberias, Gennesaret), 108–109 Gedeon 168 Gedeonishvili, Iona 3 Gelati Monastery in Georgia 164 Gennesaret (Gadara) see Galilee, the Sea of George of Koziba, St, monastery of 85

George, St 24, 25 (icon), 120, 134, 180 George, St, church of 25 (in Beirut), 76 (in Hebron), 120–121 (monastery in Cairo), 150 (cell on Mt Athos) Georgia 17–18, 23, 25–26, 32, 35, 46, 63, 79, 81, 92, 116, 122, 140, 145, 154–155, 158–159, 164–165, 168– 169, 171, 173, 185, 195, 200, 209–211 the Georgians 18, 32–33, 35, 37, 41, 70, 77–78, 80–81, 83, 89, 92, 97–98, 104, 153, 157, 165, 167–170, 173, 177–178, 180, 182, 187–189, 195–196, 198– 201, 204, 207–209 Georgian Bible 2, 112, 154, 156–157, 170–171, 173– 174, 184–185, icon 82, 147–148, 154–155, 159–160, 165, 167, 172 and 176 (icons of Georgian Saints) Kings 3, 30, 37, 52, 77, 82, 125, 136, 149, 153, 158– 159, 165, 167–169, 177 see Iveria Georgian Cloister on Mt Athos (St John the Theologian) 18, 78, 92, 135–136, 157– 158, 160, 163–164, 166, 167, 169, 171, 178, 180, 182, 186, 203–205, 209, 211 Georgian monastery 18 (in Bulgaria, in Constantinople, on the Island of Cyprus, in Trabzon), 183 Gerasimos, archimandrite 155, 206

PETRE KONCHOSHVILI Gerasimus, St, monastery of, by the Jordan 85 German 93, 184, 198 Germane, Priest Monk 173 Germanus Peloponnesus 115 Gethsemane 2, 48-50, 63 Giorgi I, King of Georgia 17 Giorgi IX, King of Kartli 15 Giorgi Kurapalat 53, 98 Giorgi-Lasha 26 Giorgi, Priest Monk 154, 163– 164, 206 Giorgi, St, Georgian monastery of, in Palestine 17 Giorgi the Athonite 81 (painting), 168 (the Georgian), 173 Gogoladze, Giorgi 163 Golgotha 5, 16–17, 29–30, 35, 37, 42–44, 53–54, 58, 79, 82, 99 Gomorrah 86 Greece 18, 162 Greek 8–9, 11, 15, 18, 22– 24, 30, 32–35, 37, 39–40, 44–46, 49–50, 52–53, 55– 56, 59, 60, 64, 67–68, 71, 73, 77–85, 89–90, 92, 98, 106, 112, 115, 116, 119– 125, 129–134, 145–151, 154–177, 180–185, 203, 206–211 Gregory, Bishop of Nyssa 5 Gregory the Dialogist, St 157 Gregory the Theologian 157 Grekov, Ivan Teodosievich 183 Grigol, Father 162 Guria 7, 9, 32, 171 Gurians 195, 199 Gurji 80 (the Georgians) Hadrian, Emperor 30, 43, 69 Ham’s son see Canaan Hebrew 4, 22, 69, 119 Hebron 2, 75–76

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Helena, St 31, 43, 45, 69, 72, 75, 97, 106, 122 Heraclius, Emperor 12, 57, 79 Herod Agrippa 71, 91, 97, 119– 120 Herod Antipas 107–108 Hippo 5 Holy Apostles, the, Georgian monastery of, in Palestine 17 Homer 23 Horeb 121, 123–125 Ierissos, monastery of 18, 181– 182 Ilarion the Georgian 18 Ilia, St, monastery of, on Mount Athos 101, 147–148, 172, 184 Ioakim, Partiarch 144 Ioane Chira 161 Ioane the Athonite (IoaneVarazvache) 161–162, 170, 173 Iona, Priest Monk 163, 166, 180, 206–207, 211 Ioseliani, Platon 3, 112, 156, 171 Isaac, archpriest 31, 75 (Abraham’s son) Isaac the Syrian (Isaac of Nineveh) 123 Isak, scribe 162 Istambul 7, 9–11, 15, 21, 23, 26, 135–136, 138, 143, 183, 196 Italians 92 Ivan V, Tsar 122 Iveria as Georgia 63, 173, 205, 208 Iviron as Monastery of Portatitis 4, 82, 112, 140, 146, 148, 153–154, 156–160, 162– 163, 165, 167–171, 173–

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178, 180–181, 184, 204, 206, 209, 211 as icon of Portaitis 154–155, 160 Jacob, Archpriest 75 Jaffa 23, 28, 47, 93, 100, 119, 133, 137 Jairus 108 James, Apostle 50, 57, 63, 97– 98 (James Zebedee), 105, 108 James Zebedee, St, monastery of 17, 53, 83, 97–98 Japan 60 Jarvar 51 Jebusites 29 Jehoshaphat, valley 30, 112 Jericho 47, 85, 89, 90–92 Jerome, St 4 Jerusalem 1–2, 4, 7, 15–16, 18, 26, 28–34, 37, 65–67, 76– 79, 80 (agiasma), 85, 91, 93, 107, 111–112, 115, 127–128, 130–131, 133, 139–140, 157, 160, 182, 184, 203, 205, 209 Sepulchre Church 39–40, 43–46, 57 Temple 175, 205 pilgrims 16, 21, 26, 41, 50, 92–93, 100, 119 Bethesda (Sheeps’ Pool) 53, Mothers of Jerusalem 51, Patriarchate 92, 98, 115116, Arab clergy 64 Jesse 66 Jesuit Order 134 Jesus Christ 1, 2, 4, 27, 30, 33– 37, 40–45, 48, 50–55, 59, 63, 65–73, 79–80, 89–91, 95, 98, 104–105, 108–109, 113, 119–120, 127, 130– 131, 136–137, 139–140,

144–145, 147–148, 153, 157, 163, 165, 173, 175, 191, 196–197, 200, 201 Jethro 122 Jews, the 21, 23, 30, 48, 63, 65– 67, 69, 76, 79, 91, 97, 103– 104, 107–108, 119, 140, 167, 184 Jezebel 123 Joachim and Anna, Sts, monastery on Mount Athos 150, 50(tomb) Joel 30 John Chrysostom 11, 56–57, 157, 161, 176 John Klimakos 123, 157 John of Damascus 36, 79, 111, 113 John of Rile, St, on Athos 172 John of Sinai 157 John, St, Apostle 27, 50, 105, 107 (the Evangelist), 108, 134, 140, 207 (the Theologian), 158 (icon) John the Baptist 2, 95 (the Forerunner), 131 (Prophet, the Forerunner), 164 (desert), 174 (Prophet) John the Baptist, St, church of, by the river Jordan 18, 89 John the Baptist, St, monastery of, in Georgia 31, 164 John the Cobbler 123 John the Evangelist, St, near the Holy Sepulchre 17, 41 John the Forerunner, St, church of, on Mt Horeb 95, 124 John the Theologian, St 134 (church of, in Smyrna), 17, 209 (monastery in Jerusalem), 119 (monastery in Port Said), cloister on Mount Athos – see Geor-

PETRE KONCHOSHVILI gian Cloister on Mount Athos Jonah 23 Jordan 18, 85, 89, 90, 113 (the river), 90, 93 (valley) Joseph, Archimandrite 147 Joseph, St 50, 71, 119, 121 (stores) Joseph the Handsome (Joseph of Arimathaea) 2, 59 (garden), 34–36, 59 Joshua 29, 91, 205 Judas 63 Judea 104, 111 Jupiter 43, 180 Justinian, Emperor 11–12, 57, 69, 73, 111, 113 (citadel), 122 Jvaris Mama 32 Kaikhosro II see Gaiat ed-Din Kakheti 15–16, 23, 32, 157 Kalippo 18 Kazan 100 Kerch 8, 185 Kiev 21, 23 (Academy), 137 (Lavra), 184 (University) Klimakos, John see John Klimakos Kondakov 167 Konstantin Nikolaevich, Grand Duke 45 Kontridze 171 Kutaisi 8 Kuvuklia 33, 37, 39–40, 127 Laban 154 Latakia 26, 27 (Laodicæa) Latin 4, 37, 39, 53, 69, 98, 103, 106, 109, 141, 149 Lazarus, St, Bishop of Cyprus 140–141 Leah 75 Lebanon 24 Leja 124 Leo XIII, Pope 134

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Levan, King of Kakheti 15–16, 32 Levant 29, 53, 101 Limana 183 Lot 75, 78–79 Luke, St 2, 119–120 Lydda 120 Macarius, Bishop of Jerusalem 97 Macarius the Great (Macarius of Egypt) 162 Macedonia 140, 183 Machabeli 17 Machavariani, David, Archpriest 186 Mahmad II 12 Majid ed Din, Sultan of Erzerum 26 Makar, novice 156 Malkha 80 Maradid 195, 200 Marduch 205 Maria Alexandrovna, Russian Empress 48 Mariam, Herod’s wife 91 Mariam, Queen of Byzantium 149 Mark, St 119–120 Mark, St, monastery of, in Alexandria 120 Markoz, Priest Monk 168 Marr, Niko 4, 162, 165, 167 Mary Magdalen, St, Church of 48 Mary, St 1–2, 27, 34, 48 (tomb ) 50, 57, 63, 69–71, 95, 103– 104, 108, 113, 119–121, 127, 140–141, 145–146, 159–160 (icon), 165–166, 173, 207 church on mount Olympus 18, 162 church on mount Horeb 124

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monastery near Aleppo 18 Matarieh 121 Matthew, Apostle 108, 161–162 Matthias, Apostle 63 Maximus the Confessor 161 Mediterranean Sea 23–24, 26, 46–47, 75, 119 Melchisedek, Archimandrite 181 Melchizedek, Priest, ‘King of Salem’ 29–30, 44 Meleti, Archbishop 61, 99 Michael, Archangel 81 Mikhail Fyodorovich, King 116 Mikhailov 100 Milk Cave 71 Mina, Patriarch 11 Minor Russia 9, 147 Mirian, King of Georgia 82 Molaridze, Giorgi, Father 171 Moldavians 149–150, 155, 204 Moscow 23 (University), 116, 145 (Lavra), 159–160, 173 Moses 101, 105, 107, 122, 124, 175 Mothers of Jerusalem 37 Mount of Olives 5, 44–48, 66 Muraviov 53, 98 Mytilene 21 Mzechabuk 160 Nadareishvili, Gerasime 168 Nagorski, Pavel Victorovich 137 Nakashidze, Melchisedek 171 Nativity, church, in Bethlehem 70, 72–73 Nazareth 2, 18 (four Georgian Monasteries), 98, 103–104, 108 Nebuchadnezzar 66 Nehemiah 205 Nelidov, Ambassador 211 Nestan-Darejan, Georgian Queen 168–169 New Athos Monastery in Georgia 185–186

Nicaea 57 Nicephorus 167 Nicodemus, Greek Patriarch 85 Nicodemus, St 59 Nicolas, St 54, 58, 134, 174 Nicolas, St, chapel of, at St Saba’s 111 Nikiforov 185 Nikolai Alexandrovich, King and Emperor of Russia 35 Nikoloz, from the Black Mount 133 Nikoloz, St, monastery of, in Palestine 17 Nile, river 120 Nino, St 25, 183 Nino, St, Monastery of, in Bulgaria 18, 183 Noah 29, 44 Nonus, St, Bishop 47 Novorosiisk 8 Oak of Mamre 47, 75 Odessa 8–10, 15, 21, 23, 137– 138, 143, 183–186 Olympus 18, 162 Omar, Chaliph 115, 157 Onuphrius, St 124 Orenburg 34 Oshki, St John the Baptist’s Lavra 161 Ottomans 2, 12, 19, 23, 26, 31, 35, 39–40, 45, 47, 52–53, 63, 72–73, 77, 81, 116, 128, 133, 149, 170, 174, 195, 196, 200 Oxford, University of 151 Paisi, Patriarch 116 Palestine 1–2, 4–5, 16–18, 21– 23, 26, 32, 41, 43, 47, 53, 70, 75, 79–80, 93, 97–98, 100–104, 112, 116, 133, 139, 168, 173, 182, 187, 195, 209 a guide book 82, 148

PETRE KONCHOSHVILI Panteleimon, St, church of, on Mount Horeb 124 Panteleimon, St, monastery of, on Mount Athos 15, 124, 143–145, 150–151, 153, 159, 182, 184 Parthenius, Patriarch 115 Passarion, Abba, monastery of 113 Paul, Archbishop of Bessarabia 159 Paul, St, Apostle 59, 87, 196– 197, 200 Pavel Alexandrovich, Grand Duke 48 Pelagia, St 47–48 Peter and Paul, Holy Apostles 124, 143, 150 Peter and Paul, Sts, church of, on Mt Sinai 124 Peter, St, Apostle 45, 50, 100, 105, 108, 111, 119, 198, 210 Petersburg 4, 23, 147, 211 Peter the Athonite 140 Peter I, Russian Tsar, Emperor 122 Petriashvili, Vasil 184 Pharos 119 Philippopolis 183 Philotheou, St, monastery of, on Athos 18, 169 Phrygia 27 Pilate 36, 67 Pimen, monk 164 Piros 25 Plato 24, 82 Pool of Siloam see Siloam’s Pool Porphyry, Epitropos 206–207 Port Said 119 Poti 8, 188 Potiphar 121 Proclus, Patriarch 56 Ptolemy Philopator 119

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Qaikhosro Atabag 159–160 Qiasdin, Sultan of Istambul 26 Qilij Arslan III 26 Qvarqvare Atabag 15–16, 159, 200 Raha, ravine 124 Raithu 122-123 Raphael, Archimandrite in Jerusalem 64–65 Raphael, Archimandrite, on Mount Athos 147–148 Rcheulishvili, Grigol 26 Rebecca 162 Red Sea 121–122 Rhodes 23 Rioni 7 River of Fire 112 Roman 2, 30, 33 (Icon), 37, 41, 43, 67, 69, 107, 134, 198 Roman Catholic Church 198 Romania 159 Romanos 162 Rome 119 Rose Valley 80 Rossia, steam ship 134 Ruisi 3 Russia 24–25, 34, 44–45, 64, 85, 92, 117, 154, 158, 183 Russian 2–3, 8, 11, 56, 78, 81– 83, 98, 116–117, 135, 149, 170, 173, 184–185 (language), 4, 7–9 (Great Russia), 15, 53–54, 58, 89, 91– 92, 103, 119, 121, 150 (pilgrims), 19, 21–23, 159, 169 Russians 32–33, 46, 72, 89, 93, 95, 100, 151 Russian Church 60, 75, 125, 127, 129 Russian Orthodox Palestine Society 4, 25, 46, 75, 91– 92, 100 Rustaveli, Shota 82, 165, 197

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Rusudan, Queen of Georgia 26–27 Saba, St 111, 113, Lavra 17, 111–113, 120 Saba, St, Archbishop of Serbia 178 Saba, St, church of, in Alexandria 119–120 Sabanisdze, Iovane 162 Saladin 36–37 Salem 29 Salome, Herod’s sister 91 Salome, St 97 Samaria 104 Samegrelo 21, 32, 78, 81, 156 Samoel, Catholicos of Kartly 162 Samos 23 Samtskhe 17, 160 Samtskhe-Saatabago 200 Samuel, St, monastery of 17 San Stefano 19 Santiago de Compostela 97 Sarah 75 Selim II, Sultan 112 Sepulchre Church, Holy, the 1617, 21, 32–33 (Kuvuklia), 35 (Golgotha)–37 (chapel of Christ’s Tomb), 39–41 (the Holy Fire), 43–44 (Adam’s chapel), 46, 52 (inscription, Easter celebration), 54–55 (liturgy), 57, 58 (Chapel of the Angel, Golgotha), 59, 65, 80 (agiasma), 99, 115–117, 127 (the Resurrection church), 131, 157, 169, 173 Serbs 177–181, 204 Sergei Alexandrovich, Grand Duke 48 Sergi of Radonezh (Sergey Radonezhsky) 151

Sergius, Patriarch of Constantinople 57 Seth 79 Sevastopol 184 Seven Churches of Asia Minor 27 Shalva, Eristav of Ksani 17, 26 Sharashidze, Pilipe 171 Sheeps’ Pool (Bethesda) 53 Shelia, Iase 21 Shem, Noah’s son see Melchizedek Shemokmedi, monastery of 171 Shepherds, valley 71 Shota Rustaveli see Rustaveli Siberia 24 Sibiryakov, monk Innokenti 147 Siloam’s Pool 79 Silovan, son of Anton 136 Simeon, St, Georgian monastery of, in Palestine 18 Simeon,St 36 Simeon the Stylite, monastery of, in Syria 18 Simferopol 183 Simon, High Priest 205 Simon of Cyrene 50 Sinai 4, 18, 101, 119, 121–125, 160, 169 Sinaite Fathers 123 Sion 21, 29, 41 Sion church 63-66 Sioni Archaeological Museum 151 Sioni cathedral in Tiflis 156 Smyrna 22–23, 134–135 Society for Restoring Christianity 185 Society for the Dissemination of Literacy among the Georgians 4 Socrates 24 Sodom 86 Sokhumi 8, 163, 184, 186–189

PETRE KONCHOSHVILI Solomin, Archpriest 25, 34, 55, 143 Solomon, King of Israel 11, 24, 63 Solomon’s Pools 76 Solomon’s Temple see Temple Sophia Alekseyevna, Ivan V’s sister 122 Sophronius, Archimandrite 32, 77 Spain 23, 41, 97 Spice-bearing Women 51 Stephen, Archbishop, in Bethlehem 67 Stepane, Archpriest 161 Stepane, Priest Monk 172 Stephen, Archbishop, in Bethlehem 67 Stephen, St 123 Stephen, the King of Serbia 179 Suez 121 Suleiman, Sultan 15 Svimeon, Monk 164 Syria 18, 22, 27, 40, 44, 78, 107, 134 Tabitha 100 Tabor 98, 104–105, 106 Tako 17 Tamar, Queen of Georgia 26, 122 Tamar, Queen Rusudan’s daughter 26–27 Tamar’s Castle 27 Teimuraz I, King of Georgia 116 Tekla, St, monastery of, in Palestine 17 Temple 11, 65–66, 79, 175, 205 Teodore Megaloschemos 163 Tevdore, Father 164 Theodore, St, Monastery of, in Jerusalem 17, 41 Theodosius, Emperor 11, 56, 172

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Theophanes, Patriarch 116 Thessalonica 140, 170, 179, 181, 207 Thomas, St, 184, 63 Tiberias 107–109 see Galilee Tiberius, Emperor 107 Tiflis (Tbilisi) 7, 24, 32, 65, 77– 78, 82, 112, 151, 155–156, 164, 171, 185 Timothy, Patriarch 56 Titus, Caesar 67 Tornike Eristavi see Eristavi, Tornike Trabzon 18, 199 Transfiguration, church of, on Mount Athos 98 Trinity Church, in Jerusalem 64 Tripoli 21, 24, 133–134 Tsagareli, Alexandre 4, 53, 98 Tsessarevich Giorgi, steam ship 8–9 Tsitsishvili, Amilbar 17 Tsulukidze, Kaikhosro 17 Tsulukidze, Paata 17 Tusheti 135–136, Uspensky, Porphyry, Bishop 156 Vakhtang Gorgaslan, King of Georgia 80, 122 Vakhushti, Prince 15 Valley of Jehoshaphat 30, 112 Valley of Shepherds 71–72 Varna 183 Vatoped, Monastery of, on Mt Athos 146–147, 172–173, 176 Vener…, A, Russian General 209, Venice 113, 120 Venus 43 Vienna 9 Vitty 23 Vladikavkaz 188 Vladimir, Prince 11

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Vlakern, Greek Patriarchal Church, in Istambul 15 Vyazemsky, Prince 151 Wadi er Raha 124 Wailing Wall 65 Wardrop, Marjory 185 Wardrop, Oliver 184–185 Yaroslav 23 Zacchaeus 91 Zachariah 2, 95 Zaiochevsky, Vladimir Ivanovich 184 Zeboim 86 Zebulun 69 Zedgenidze, Kristepore 17 Zerubbabel 66, 205 Zographou, monastery of, on Mount Athos 181