The purpose of this website is to provide English-speaking foreign citizens in Georgia with resources to gain a better understanding of Orthodox Christianity, in particular its Georgian “flavour”, to learn about its festivals and rituals, and to assist people to make contact with English-speaking clergy should they seek to make more detailed theological enquiries. If you are contemplating marriage to an Orthodox person, or feel drawn to the Church, or are just curious about what our beliefs and practices are, we hope these resources may help you.
We are currently working on a printed bilingual version of The Divine Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom (English on one page, Georgian on the opposite page) and will post a pdf version here when it is finished. We will have hymnbooks and psalters translated in the future also. We are grateful for the kind assistance of the Tbilisi Theological Academy and the Institute for Orthodox Christian Studies, Cambridge in this endeavour.
For this humble lay initiative, we have selected Saint Abo of Tbilisi as our Patron. Born as a Muslim in Baghdad, Saint Abo (Abu in Arabic) converted to Christianity in the 8th century in Tbilisi and was martyred for proselytising to Tbilisi’s Muslim population in 786, during the Arab colonisation of Georgia. He is an inspiring example, both as a devout and steadfast Christian, and as a courageous foreigner who was warmly accepted, and eventually venerated, by the Georgian people whom he chose to live amongst. Bless our modest efforts and intercede for us, Saint Abo.
Hi.
I am coming to Tbilisi soon and desire to connect with the local church. Ideally I desire to start a spiritual journey separate from the charismatic churches found in the west. I desire a more intimate and connected relationship with God, and feel that I need to somehow start from a position of 1st conversion – putting aside previous teachings and experiences from the church.
Please contact me if it would be possible to meet someone that could assist me on this spiritual journey.
Skype i.johannsmit
Can somebody explain please, who runs this blog? If it is a blog, there must be a person behind these writings. Without signing the blog it gives an impression that it is a kind of a formal website of the Orthodox Church of Georgia. Thanks in advance for your assistance.
Hello Tatuna. All WordPress blogs are signed; if you click on the icon in the top right corner it will usually give you information on the blog author.
Also, if you read the “About this blog” page, it mentions that this is a lay initiative; it is published with the knowledge and support of the Georgian Church in Tbilisi.
The official website of the Georgian Orthodox Church is found at http://www.patriarchate.ge . Unfortunately the English version has not been updated in the past two years.
Hello. I am trying to find sheet music for the Patriarch’s arrangement of the Trisagion Hymn (პატრიარქის – წმიდაო ღმერთო) Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qgXCSg5x7U
Would you happen to know where I could find something like this?
I will put you in contact with a musician from Sameba Cathedral, he should have it.
Simon Appleby,
Greetings in the Lord!
My name is Father Joseph Fester. I am an Orthodox priest from America under the Ecumenical Patriarchate. My wife is working in Tbilisi for at least the next two years. With the blessing of His Holiness, Patriarch Ilia, we will be offering an English language Divine Liturgy at the Church of St. Andrew (Blue Monastery Church) in Tbilisi starting this Saturday, October 4. Hours starting at 9am and Liturgy at 9:30am. If any of your readers would like more information, they may contact me at jfester99@gmail.com. The choir at St. Andrew’s is learning english and will respond to the litanies in English and as they learn more, we will expand their English language responses. I will serve in English. Everyone is invited to participate, whether Orthodox or interested in the Orthodox Faith.
Thank you for the opportunity to share this information.
Protopresbyter Joseph Fester
Greetings,
I am writing to you on behalf of the English version of the website of Sretensky Monastery in Moscow, orthochristian.com (also pravoslavie.ru/English). In case you are not familiar with our site, we strive to keep our readers updated daily on important news concerning the Orthodox Church worldwide, Christian persecution, Christian social issues, etc, as well as to present beneficial spiritual writings, homilies, lives of the Saints, etc.
We hope to share the Orthodox faith with as many as possible, and we are always looking for new ways to develop our site and to reach new readers. We also appreciate the effort of yours and so many other blogs that share the Gospel of Jesus Christ. With that in mind, we ask if you would kindly consider adding our site to your blog roll. If you could do this we would be very grateful, and we look forward to continuing to provide timely and soul-profiting works for those both in and outside of the Church.
In Christ,
Jesse Dominick
Orthochristian.com
Hi, I’m a freelance journalist and i’m visiting Tbilisi next week to write a report about how the Georgian history has effect on Georgia nowadays. The influence of the Church can not be ignored, and I’d like to talk to someone who can tell me something about that. Would you be able to help me?
Greetings,
Stef Snakkers
Dear Stef,
Sure, you can contact me at pingguo1969@gmail.com
Best wishes
Simon
Do you know if this article is accurate? The reference to it is a YouTube article in Georgian. I can’t find any other reference to it in English.
http://www.pravoslavie.ru/english/90950.htm
“The Great and Holy Council is to be held in June … Our Church will
stay with the old calendar … Our Church was, is and will be a
guardian of Orthodoxy. The Georgian Orthodox Church rejects the
document on ecumenism drafted for the Great Council. Our Church is
that which has saved our country and our people. In the future our
Church will stand as a guard for Orthodoxy.”
David
Buffalo, NY
Granted my Georgian is a long way from perfect, but the English translation is pretty close to what he said. The broadcaster is First Channel, a state-owned broadcaster.
Hi there! You say that the blog is meant to assist people to make contact with English-speaking clergy, but I can’t find anywhere on the site that does that…I would like to start meeting regularly with an English speaking priest/take some classes, but I don’t know where to start! This blog is the only resource at all that I have been able to find, so I hope you can help me! If so, you can write me at upther57@aol.com
Message sent.
Hello!
My name is David and I’m a Romanian Orthodox theologian living in Spain. Currently I’m doing my doctoral dissertation about the presence of Orthodoxy in Spain and its relationship with the Spanish State. I can’t find anywhere information about Georgian parishes or diocese in Spain. I understand that the Georgian Orthodox Patriarchate has a Diocese for Western Europe, which maybe has under its jurisdiction the Georgian christians from Spain. I would like to know if there are any Georgian parishes in Spain and under which jurisdiction. Can you help me?
Thank you very much,
David B.
I am not aware of any Georgian language parishes in Spain other than in Barcelona; I know that the Russians and Romanians both have parishes throughout the country (and most Moldovans in Spain attend the Romanian parishes). Barcelona has the densest concentration of Georgians in Spain, largely from Georgia’s West, and there is a Georgian parish there, the Church of Saint George. The priest’s name is Archimandrite Luka Palavandishvili.
Thank you for your kind and quick answer! God bless you!