#Georgian Orthodox and Apostolic Church

[suetravelblog]

Mtskheta, Jvari Monastery, Svetistkhoveli Church Georgia

Mtskheta Orthodox Church The daytrip to Mtskheta, Jvari Monastery, and Svetistkhoveli Cathedral was very educational. The historical area in central-eastern Georgia is wrapped in a peaceful environment of lush greenery and expansive mountain vistas. The stunning area is located about 12 miles north of Tbilisi at the confluence of the Mtkvari and Aragvi Rivers. Mtskheta is home to UNESCO World…

[lauralot89]

How many books are in your Bible?

Somehow I ended up on the Wikipedia page for Biblical canon and now my head hurts so I'm throwing all of you into the rabbit hole with me.

All Christian denominations share the same twenty-seven books of the New Testament: Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 and 2 Thessolonians, 1 and 2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon, Hebrews, James, 1 and 2 Peter, 1 2 and 3 John, Jude, and Revelation. (The Orthodox Tewahedo Church has an additional eight books, but they are not considered part of the Bible itself, just the broader religious canon.)

However, the Old Testament is where it gets complicated.

The Tanakh contains twenty four books divided into three sections: The Torah, the Nevi'im, and the Ketuvim. The Torah contains Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. The Nevi'im contains Joshua, Judges, Samuel, Kings, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuh, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi. The Ketuvim contains Psalms, Proverbs, Job, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Esther, Daniel, Ezra and Nehemiah, and Chronicles.

The Protestant Old Testament took the canon of the Tanakh, divided some books into two and added another book, making a total of 39 books: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, 1 and 2 Chronicle, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon (also called Song of Songs), Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuh, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi. Combing the Old and New Testaments, Protestant Bibles have 66 books.

The Catholic Bible includes the same 39 books as the Protestant Bible, with an additional seven books called the Deuterocanon: Tobit, Judith, Baruch, Sirach, 1 and 2 Maccabees, and Wisdom. Additionally, the books Esther and Daniel in the Catholic Bible contain more text than their Protestant counterparts. In total, the Catholic Bible has 73 books, 46 of those being the Old Testament.

The Greek Orthodox Bible includes the 46 books of the Catholic Old Testament, with an additional three: Prayer of Manasseh, 1 Esdras, and 3 Maccabees. Also, while the Protestant and Catholic Bibles contain 150 Psalms, the Greek Orthodox has 151. In total, the Greek Orthodox Bible contains 76 books.

The Slavonic Orthodox and Georgian Orthodox Bibles contain the same books as the Greek Orthodox.

The Armenian Apostolic Bible contains 50 Old Testament books: The 49 books in the Greek Orthodox Bible, and one other: 2 Esdras. This Bible contains Psalm 151. The Armenian Apostolic Bible contains 77 total books.

The Syrian Orthodox Old Testament has 48 books: All the books of the Catholic Old Testament with the additions of Prayer of Manasseh and 3 Maccabees. This Bible contains Psalm 151. The Syrian Orthodox Bible contains 75 total books.

The Coptic Orthodox Bible has 47 Old Testament books: All the books of the Catholic Old Testament with Prayer of Manasseh added. This Bible contains Psalm 151. The Coptic Orthodox Bible contains 74 books.

The Orthodox Tewahedo Bible is the canon for both the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church and the Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church. This Bible has the 39 Protestant Old Testament Books, and the additional books Jubilees, Enoch, Meqabyan, Ezra Sutuel, Tobith, and Judith. This Bible contains Psalm 151, and the books 2 Chronicles and Jeremiah are extended. The Orthodox Tewahedo Bible contains 73 books.

The Assyrian Church of the East has the 46 books of the Catholic Old Testament, plus two: Prayer of Manasseh and 3 Macabees. This Bible contains Psalm 151, and Baruch is extended. The Assyrian Church of the East Bible contains 75 books.

I hope this information serves you well if you ever end up on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire or something one day

[orthodoxydaily]

Icon, Saints&Reading: Sunday, June 23, 2024

june 10_ june 23

Pentecost_Trinity Sunday

HOLY FATHERS AND MOTHERS OF ATCHARA(Georgia_18th.c.)

(movable holiday on the Trinity Sunday)

Atchara has been a Christian stronghold since apostolic times. It was through this region that St. Andrew the First-called entered Georgia, preaching the Gospel for the first time in the Iberian land. In this land, in the village of Gonio, the holy relics of the martyred Apostle Matthias are buried.       Since the 16th century Atchara has been subject to constant assaults by the Turks. Having attained a victory in the Ottoman-Persian War, the Turks gained a large part of southern and western Georgia: Samtskhe, Atchara, and Chaneti were declared Turkish provinces. The invaders knew well that, in order to completely conquer the Georgian people, it was necessary to uproot Christianity. Thus they instituted a systematic campaign of forced conversion to Islam.       When they failed to achieve their goal with bribery and deception, they resorted to violence. In his work The Islamization of Georgia, or the Spread of Islam in Western Georgia in the 17th–18th Centuries, the renowned early twentieth-century scholar Zakaria Chichinadze retold a story he had heard from one elderly Atcharan man: “In Atchara the implanting of Islam faced a powerful opposition. Many of the elderly men and the majority of women stood firmly by the Christian Faith, and even challenged and debated the Turkish mullahs.… The number of these aged men in Atchara was considerably high. In the end an order was issued: to arrest all dissidents, forcibly convert them to Islam, and execute those who resisted. Before long all the elderly Christians of Atchara were arrested and cast in prison. Then they were led to the River Atcharistsqali, to a 12th-century bridge known as the “Bridge of Queen Tamar.” On that bridge the Ottomans erected a guillotine.

 They chopped off the heads of the elderly people, sent the ends of their tongues to the pasha, and threw their bodies into the river. This happened one hundred years ago, in the year 1790.”       Gallows and a guillotine were erected in the villages of Atcharistsqali, Keda, Chakvi, Khulo, Machakhela, and Gonio. The documents preserved in the manuscript collection at Akhaltsikhe Museum describe in even more horrific detail the martyrdom of the Atcharan Christians: “The human tongue is powerless to describe the tortures that the Georgians suffered in those years for confessing Christianity. While they were still alive their flesh was stripped and their bodies quartered; they were slashed to pieces with swords, their bellies ripped open; they were roasted over campfires. They were pierced with flaming rods, thrown into cauldrons of boiling water; molten lead was poured down their throats; they were tossed into pools of hot lime.…”       The Georgian Apostolic Church has numbered among the saints all the holy fathers and mothers of Atchara who sacrificed their lives in defense of the Christian Faith.

© 2006 St. Herman of Alaska Brotherhood.

ICON: LESNA OF THE MOTHER OF GOD (1696)

The Lesna Icon of the Mother of God appeared on the Feast of the Universal Exaltation of the Cross in the year 1683 and was found by Alexander Stelmashuk, a shepherd, who had gone into the woods in order to escape the heat. There he saw a small Icon in the branches of a pear tree, emitting a bright radiance. He fell to his knees in reverence, but then he was so afraid that he ran to tell a friend about his discovery. The two shepherds went to the village priest, who returned to remove the Icon from the tree. They brought it to an Orthodox church in the village of Bukovich, not far from the town of Lesna.

When news of the Icon's miraculous appearance circulated throughout the surrounding area, Roman Catholic priests decided to use the Icon to convert the Orthodox to Catholicism. In 1686, when they met with opposition from the Orthodox faithful, they removed the Icon by force in 1686 and placed it in the Roman Catholic church at Lesna.

At the beginning of the eighteenth century, Catholic monks founded a large Roman church and monastery at Lesna, where the wonderworking Icon was. In 1863, the monks took part in the Polish revolt, and, by a decree of the Russian government, the Icon was returned to the Orthodox Church. The monastery was closed and turned into an Orthodox women’s monastery in 1885. A new iconostasis was built, but it was only two rows high so that people could see the Lesna Icon hanging in the High Place.

The Icon has worked many miracles, healing the sick, dispelling melancholy, and alleviating every misfortune.

ACTS 2:1-11

1 When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. 2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. 5 And there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men, from every nation under heaven. 6 And when this sound occurred, the multitude came together, and were confused, because everyone heard them speak in his own language. 7 Then they were all amazed and marveled, saying to one another, "Look, are not all these who speak Galileans? 8 And how is it that we hear, each in our own language in which we were born? 9 Parthians and Medes and Elamites, those dwelling in Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya adjoining Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, 11 Cretans and Arabs-we hear them speaking in our own tongues the wonderful works of God.

JOHN 7:37-52; 8:12

37 On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. 38 He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. 39 But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. 40 Therefore many from the crowd, when they heard this saying, said, "Truly this is the Prophet." 41 Others said, "This is the Christ." But some said, "Will the Christ come out of Galilee? 42 Has not the Scripture said that the Christ comes from the seed of David and from the town of Bethlehem, where David was? 43 So there was a division among the people because of Him. 44 Now some of them wanted to take Him, but no one laid hands on Him. 45 Then the officers came to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them, "Why have you not brought Him?" 46 The officers answered, "No man ever spoke like this Man!" 47 Then the Pharisees answered them, "Are you also deceived? 48 Have any of the rulers or the Pharisees believed in Him? 49 But this crowd that does not know the law is accursed. 50 Nicodemus (he who came to Jesus by night, being one of them) said to them, 51 Does our law judge a man before it hears him and knows what he is doing? 52 They answered and said to him, "Are you also from Galilee? Search and look, for no prophet has arisen out of Galilee." 12 Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, "I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life."

[julianworker]

Mtskheta

Mtskheta was the ancient capital of Kartli (also known as the Kingdom of Iberia or Iveria), the East Georgian Kingdom from the 3rd century BC to the 5th century AD. The church authorities proclaimed Christianity as the official religion of Georgia here in 337. Mtskheta remains the headquarters of the Georgian Orthodox and Apostolic Church. Mtskheta is at the confluence of the Aragvi and Mtkvari…

[where-orthodoxy-is-found]

Credit

Gergeti Trinity Church (Georgian: Tsminda Sameba) is a popular name for Holy Trinity Church near the village of Gergeti in the Georgia. The church is situated on the right bank of the river Chkheri (the left tributary of the river Terek), at an elevation of 2170 meters, under Mount Kazbegi.

The Gergeti Trinity Church was built in the 14th century, and is the only cross-cupola church in Khevi province. The separate belltower dates from the same period as the church itself.

Its isolated location on top of a steep mountain surrounded by the vastness of nature has made it a symbol for Georgia.

The 18th century Georgian author Vakhushti Batonishvili wrote that in times of danger, precious relics from Mtskheta, including Saint Nino's Cross were brought here for safekeeping. During the Soviet era, all religious services were prohibited, but the church remained a popular tourist destination. The church is now an active establishment of the Georgian Orthodox and Apostolic Church

The church is a popular waypoint for trekkers in the area, and can be reached by a steep 3 hour climb up the mountain, or around 30 minutes by jeep up a rough mountain trail.

[armeniaitn]

Armenian President hosted by Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia Ilia II

New Post has been published on https://armenia.in-the.news/politics/armenian-president-hosted-by-catholicos-patriarch-of-all-georgia-ilia-ii-72124-16-04-2021/

Armenian President hosted by Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia Ilia II

On an the President of Armenia Armen Sarkissian and his wife Nouneh Sarkissian were hosted by the Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia Ilia II.

The Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia welcomed the official visit of the President of Armenia. He stressed that the Armenian and Georgian peoples have a centuries-old history of friendship, and noted that Armenian Apostolic and Georgian Orthodox Churches have played an important role in preserving it. He noted that the two churches play an important role in establishing peace and stability in the region.

President Armen Sarkissian thanked for the meeting and conveyed greetings from Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians.

[embedded content]

President Sarkissian noted that his official visit was aimed at discussing the development of current relations and cooperation between the two peoples. “The purpose of the visit was to discuss today’s issues, and most importantly, to talk about the future, to strengthen and expand our fraternal relations so that our children and grandchildren can enjoy the fruits of our friendship and continue the friendship of our peoples. “

President Sarkissian also spoke about the current challenges, noting that the world and the region are facing difficult times. “Armenia went through the hell of war, we lost thousands of young lives. My prayers are with the parents and families of the bereaved. And we must do everything to have a more stable and peaceful region in the future,” he said.

The Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia Ilia II expressed hope that the Armenian people will find the strength to overcome the difficulties. “When it is difficult for Armenia, the Armenian people, it is also difficult for us,” said the Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia.

His Holiness Ilia II conveyed his words of blessing to President Sarkissian and the Armenian people, as well as his warm wishes to the Catholicos of All Armenians.

Read original article here.

[release-info]

Orthodoxy as the “prevailing” faith of the country, while guaranteeing freedom of religious belief for all.[145][271] The Greek government does not keep statistics on religious groups and censuses do not ask for religious affiliation. According to the U.S. State Department, an estimated 97% of Greek citizens identify themselves as Eastern Orthodox, belonging to the Greek Orthodox Church,[272] which uses the Byzantine rite and the Greek language, the original language of the New Testament. The administration of the Greek territory is shared between the Church of Greece and the Patriarchate of Constantinople. In a Eurostat – Eurobarometer 2010 poll, 79% of Greek citizens responded that they “believe there is a God”.[273] According to other sources, 15.8% of Greeks describe themselves as “very religious”, which is the highest among all European countries. The survey also found that just 3.5% never attend a church, compared to 4.9% in Poland and 59.1% in the Czech Republic.[274] Estimates of the recognised Greek Muslim minority, which is mostly located in Thrace, range around 100,000,[272][275] (about 1% of the population). Some of the Albanian immigrants to Greece come from a nominally Muslim background, although most are secular in orientation.[276] Following the 1919–1922 Greco-Turkish War and the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne, Greece and Turkey agreed to a population transfer based on cultural and religious identity. About 500,000 Muslims from Greece, predominantly those defined as Turks, but also Greek Muslims like the Vallahades of western Macedonia, were exchanged with approximately 1,500,000 Greeks from Turkey. However, many refugees who settled in former Ottoman Muslim villages in Central Macedonia and were defined as Christian Orthodox Caucasus Greeks arrived from the former Russian Transcaucasus province of Kars Oblast after it had been retroceded to Turkey but in the few years before the official population exchange.[277] Judaism has been present in Greece for more than 2,000 years. The ancient community of Greek Jews are called Romaniotes, while the Sephardi Jews were once a prominent community in the city of Thessaloniki, numbering some 80,000, or more than half of the population, by 1900.[278] However, after the German occupation of Greece and the Holocaust during World War II, is estimated to number around 5,500 people.[272][275] The Roman Catholic community is estimated to be around 250,000[272][275] of which 50,000 are Greek citizens.[272] Their community is nominally separate from the smaller Greek Byzantine Catholic Church, which recognizes the primacy of the Pope but maintains the liturgy of the Byzantine Rite.[279] Old Calendarists account for 500,000 followers.[275] Protestants, including the Greek Evangelical Church and Free Evangelical Churches, stand at about 30,000.[272][275] Other Christian minorities, such as Assemblies of God, International Church of the Foursquare Gospel and various Pentecostal churches of the Greek Synod of Apostolic Church total about 12,000 members.[280] The independent Free Apostolic Church of Pentecost is the biggest Protestant denomination in Greece with 120 churches.[281] There are no official statistics about Free Apostolic Church of Pentecost, but the Orthodox Church estimates the followers as 20,000.[282] The Jehovah’s Witnesses report having 28,874 active members.[283] Since 2017, Hellenic Polytheism, or Helenism has been legally recognised as an actively practiced religion in Greece,[284] with estimates of 2,000 active practitioners and an additional 100,000 “sympathisers”.[285][286][287] Hellenism refers to various religious movements that continue, revive or reconstruct ancient Greek religious practices. Languages The first textual evidence of the Greek language dates back to 15th century BC and the Linear B script which is associated with the Mycenaean Civilization. Greek was a widely spoken lingua franca in the Mediterranean world and beyond during Classical Antiquity, and would eventually become the official parlance of the Byzantine Empire. During the 19th and 20th centuries there was a major dispute known as the Greek language question, on whether the official language of Greece should be the archaic Katharevousa, created in the 19th century and used as the state and scholarly language, or the Dimotiki, the form of the Greek language which evolved naturally from Byzantine Greek and was the language of the people. The dispute was finally resolved in 1976, when Dimotiki was made the only official variation of the Greek language, and Katharevousa fell to disuse. Greece is today relatively homogeneous in linguistic terms, with a large majority of the native population using Greek as their first or only language. Among the Greek-speaking population, speakers of the distinctive Pontic dialect came to Greece from Asia Minor after the Greek genocide and constitute a sizable group. The Cappadocian dialect came to Greece due to the genocide as well, but is endangered and is barely spoken now. Indigenous Greek dialects include the archaic Greek spoken by the Sarakatsani, traditionally transhument mountain shepherds of Greek Macedonia and other parts of Northern Greece. The Tsakonian language, a distinct Greek language deriving from Doric Greek instead of Koine Greek, is still spoken in some villages in the southeastern Peloponnese. The Muslim minority in Thrace, which amounts to approximately 0.95% of the total population, consists of speakers of Turkish, Bulgarian (Pomaks)[293] and Romani. Romani is also spoken by Christian Roma in other parts of the country. Further minority languages have traditionally been spoken by regional population groups in various parts of the country. Their use has decreased radically in the course of the 20th century through assimilation with the Greek-speaking majority. Today they are only maintained by the older generations and are on the verge of extinction. This goes for the Arvanites, an Albanian-speaking group mostly located in the rural areas around the capital Athens, and for the Aromanians and Moglenites, also known as Vlachs, whose language is closely related to Romanian and who used to live scattered across several areas of mountainous central Greece. Members of these groups ethnically identify as Greeks[294] and are today all at least bilingual in Greek. Near the northern Greek borders there are also some Slavic–speaking groups, locally known as Slavomacedonian-speaking, most of whose members identify ethnically as Greeks. It is estimated that after the population exchanges of 1923, Macedonia had 200,000 to 400,000 Slavic speakers.[295] The Jewish community in Greece traditionally spoke Ladino (Judeo-Spanish), today maintained only by a few thousand speakers. Other notable minority languages include Armenian, Georgian, and the Greco-Turkic dialect spoken by the Urums, a community of Caucasus Greeks from the Tsalka region of central Georgia and ethnic Greeks from southeastern Ukraine who arrived in mainly Northern Greece as economic migrants in the 1990s. Migration http://bit.ly/31cq3J5

[elvenworld]

Mtskheta was the ancient capital of Kartli, the East Georgian Kingdom from the 3rd century BC to the 5th century AD, and was also the location where Christianity was proclaimed as the official religion of Georgia in 337. To date, it still remains the headquarters of the Georgian Orthodox and Apostolic Church. . . . . #canon #landscapes #view #hight #landscape #instanature #naturephoto #instadaily #cloudporn #walking #naturelover #lovenature #mothernature #photographylovers #mountain #amazing #mountainview #instagood #prilaga #hiking #sky #georgia #tbilisi #mountains #beautiful #naturewalk #nature #naturephotography #gorgeous #elvesofinstagram

[kings-of-georgia-en-blog]

David VIII of Georgia

Davit VIII redirects here. There was also a Caucasian Albanian Catholicos Davit VIII, who ruled between c. 1331 – c. 1401. This article includes a list of references, related reading or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (February 2015) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) David VIII King of Georgia Reign 1292–1311 Predecessor Vakhtang II Successor George VI Born 1273 Died 1311 (aged 37–38) Spouse Oljath Daughter of Hamada Surameli Issue George VI Dynasty Bagrationi Father Demetre II of Georgia Mother Daughter of Manuel I of Trebizond David VIII (Georgian: დავით VIII; 1273–1311), from the Bagrationi dynasty, was King of Georgia in 1293–1311. Eldest son of Demetre II the Self-sacrificing by his Trapezuntine wife, he was appointed by the Ilkhan ruler Gaikhatu as king of Georgia as reward for his military service during the Rümelian uprising in 1293. Succeeding his cousin Vakhtang II, David's rule actually extended only over the eastern part of the kingdom, whereas western Georgia had been under the Imeretian branch of the House of Bagrationi since 1259. In 1295, he supported Baidu Khan in an internal conflict in the Ilkhanate. However, Baidu was killed and Ghazan became a khan. Ghazan ordered the Georgian king to arrive to his capital Tabriz. Remembering the fate of his father, David refused to comply and began preparations for war. Ghazan Khan responded with a punitive expedition, and ravaged the country. Supported by the Mongols, Ossetes attacked Shida Kartli province and occupied the Liakhvi River gorge. David entrenched himself in the Mtiuleti mountains and defeated a large Mongol force in a desperate guerilla fighting at Tsikare. Then, the Khan declared him deposed and appointed David's younger brother Giorgi V as king in 1299. Although backed by the Mongol forces, the power of Giorgi did not extend out of the Georgian capital Tbilisi, and the Khan replaced him by another brother, Vakhtang III, in 1302. The new king led a Mongol army against David, but could not penetrate deeply into the largely mountainous provinces held by the rebels, and a truce was negotiated. David was recognized as joint sovereign with his brother and received the princedom of Alastani in the southern province of Javakheti. He developed friendly relations with the Egyptian Mamluks, the traditional rivals of the Ilkhanate, and, mediated by Byzantium, achieved the restoration of the Monastery of the Cross in Jerusalem to the Georgian Orthodox and Apostolic Church in 1305. David was married twice, first to the Mongol princess Oljath, and then to a daughter of the Georgian nobleman Hamada Surameli. He was succeeded by his son Giorgi VI the Little in 1311. More details Android, Windows

[nagasairo]

A family praying inside the Orthodox church of Svetitsjoveli. Former capital of the kingdom of Georgia, seat of the Orthodox and Georgian Apostolic Church. It houses the Svetitsjoveli Cathedral, the Jvari Monastery and Samtavro Monastery. Today it is a center of pilgrimage and prayer for thousands of Orthodox devotees, residence of priests and nuns of cloister and that according to the legend was chosen by one of the descendants of Noé to found Misjeta by its proximity to Mount Ararat. #picoftheday #photpoftheday #daylife #lifeauthentic #travel #travelcaptures #travelingram #instatravel #igtravel #traveldreams #travelmemories #travellerslife #travelgram #instatraveller #traveladdict #worldcaptures #bestplacestogo #landscapelovers #streetphotography #fotografiacallejera #shadows #streetshot #streetlife #peoplepics #typicalpic #goexplore #keepexploring #blackandwhite (en Mzcheta)

[julianworker]

Mtskheta

Mtskheta was the ancient capital of Kartli (also known as the Kingdom of Iberia or Iveria), the East Georgian Kingdom from the 3rd century BC to the 5th century AD. The church authorities proclaimed Christianity as the official religion of Georgia here in 337. Mtskheta remains the headquarters of the Georgian Orthodox and Apostolic Church. Mtskheta is at the confluence of the Aragvi and Mtkvari…

[orthodoxydaily]

Icon,Saints&Reading: Sunday, June 12, 2022

June 12_May 30

Pentecost_ Trinity Sunday: Fast free week ( it means we are heading toward a fasting period :)

Heavenly King, Comforter, Spirit of Truth, Who art everywhere present and fillest all things, Treasury of good things and Giver of life: Come and dwell in us, and cleanse us of all impurity, and save our souls, O Good One.

HOLY FATHERS AND MOTHERS OF ATCHARA (18th. c.)

Commemorated on Trinity Sunday

     Atchara has been a Christian stronghold since apostolic times. It was through this region that St. Andrew the First-called entered Georgia, preaching the Gospel for the first time in the Iberian land. In this land, in the village of Gonio, the holy relics of the martyred Apostle Matthias are buried.      Since the 16th century Atchara has been subject to constant assaults by the Turks. Having attained a victory in the Ottoman-Persian War, the Turks gained a large part of southern and western Georgia: Samtskhe, Atchara, and Chaneti were declared Turkish provinces. The invaders knew well that, in order to completely conquer the Georgian people, it was necessary to uproot Christianity. Thus they instituted a systematic campaign of forced conversion to Islam.      When they failed to achieve their goal with bribery and deception, they resorted to violence. In his work The Islamization of Georgia, or the Spread of Islam in Western Georgia in the 17th–18th Centuries, the renowned early twentieth-century scholar Zakaria Chichinadze retold a story he had heard from one elderly Atcharan man: “In Atchara the implanting of Islam faced a powerful opposition. Many of the elderly men and the majority of women stood firmly by the Christian Faith, and even challenged and debated the Turkish mullahs.… The number of these aged men in Atchara was considerably high. In the end an order was issued: to arrest all dissidents, forcibly convert them to Islam, and execute those who resisted. Before long all the elderly Christians of Atchara were arrested and cast in prison. Then they were led to the River Atcharistsqali, to a 12th-century bridge known as the “Bridge of Queen Tamar.” On that bridge the Ottomans erected a guillotine.

     They chopped off the heads of the elderly people, sent the ends of their tongues to the pasha, and threw their bodies into the river. This happened one hundred years ago, in the year 1790.”      Gallows and a guillotine were erected in the villages of Atcharistsqali, Keda, Chakvi, Khulo, Machakhela, and Gonio. The documents preserved in the manuscript collection at Akhaltsikhe Museum describe in even more horrific detail the martyrdom of the Atcharan Christians: “The human tongue is powerless to describe the tortures that the Georgians suffered in those years for confessing Christianity. While they were still alive their flesh was stripped and their bodies quartered; they were slashed to pieces with swords, their bellies ripped open; they were roasted over campfires. They were pierced with flaming rods, thrown into cauldrons of boiling water; molten lead was poured down their throats; they were tossed into pools of hot lime.…”      The Georgian Apostolic Church has numbered among the saints all the holy fathers and mothers of Atchara who sacrificed their lives in defense of the Christian Faith.

© 2006 St. Herman of Alaska Brotherhood.

ICON: THE LESNINSK ICON OF THE MOTHER OF GOD (1696)

The Lesna Icon of the Mother of God appeared on the Feast of the Universal Exaltation of the Cross in the year 1683 and was found by Alexander Stelmashuk, a shepherd, who had gone into the woods in order to escape the heat. There he saw a small Icon in the branches of a pear tree, emitting a bright radiance. He fell to his knees in reverence, but then he was so overcome with fear that he ran to tell a friend about his discovery. The two shepherds went to the village priest, who went back with them to remove the Icon from the tree. They brought it to an Orthodox church in the village of Bukovich, not far from the town of Lesna.

When news of the Icon's miraculous appearance circulated throughout the surrounding area, Roman Catholic priests decided to use the Icon to convert the Orthodox to Catholicism. In 1686, when they met with opposition from the Orthodox faithful, they removed the Icon by force in 1686 and placed it in the Roman Catholic church at Lesna.

At the beginning of the eighteenth century, Catholic monks founded a large Roman church and monastery at Lesna, where the wonderworking Icon was. In 1863, the monks took part in the Polish revolt, and, by a decree of the Russian government, the Icon was returned to the Orthodox Church. The monastery was closed and turned into an Orthodox women’s monastery in 1885. A new iconostasis was built, but it was only two rows high so that people could see the Lesna Icon hanging in the High Place.

The Icon has worked many miracles, healing the sick, dispelling melancholy, and alleviating every sort of misfortune.

The Lesna Icon of the Mother of God is commemorated  on the Day of the Holy Trinity (Pentecost). And also on September 14

Source: Orthodox Church inAmerica

JOHN 7:37-52; 8:12 

37On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink.38 He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. 39 But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. 40 Therefore many from the crowd, when they heard this saying, said, "Truly this is the Prophet." 41 Others said, "This is the Christ." But some said, "Will the Christ come out of Galilee? 42 Has not the Scripture said that the Christ comes from the seed of David and from the town of Bethlehem, where David was? 43 So there was a division among the people because of Him. 44 Now some of them wanted to take Him, but no one laid hands on Him. 45 Then the officers came to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them, "Why have you not brought Him?" 46 The officers answered, "No man ever spoke like this Man!" 47 Then the Pharisees answered them, "Are you also deceived? 48 Have any of the rulers or the Pharisees believed in Him? 49 But this crowd that does not know the law is accursed. 50 Nicodemus (he who came to Jesus by night, being one of them) said to them, 51 Does our law judge a man before it hears him and knows what he is doing? 52 They answered and said to him, "Are you also from Galilee? Search and look, for no prophet has arisen out of Galilee." 

12 Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, "I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life."

ACTS 2:1-11 

1 When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. 2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. 5 And there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men, from every nation under heaven. 6 And when this sound occurred, the multitude came together, and were confused, because everyone heard them speak in his own language. 7 Then they were all amazed and marveled, saying to one another, "Look, are not all these who speak Galileans? 8 And how is it that we hear, each in our own language in which we were born? 9 Parthians and Medes and Elamites, those dwelling in Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya adjoining Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, 11 Cretans and Arabs-we hear them speaking in our own tongues the wonderful works of God.

[nagasairo]

Closing Nuns. Former capital of the kingdom of Georgia, seat of the Orthodox and Georgian Apostolic Church. It houses the Svetitsjoveli Cathedral, the Jvari Monastery and Samtavro Monastery. Today it is a center of pilgrimage and prayer for thousands of Orthodox devotees, residence of priests and nuns of cloister and that according to the legend was chosen by one of the descendants of Noé to found Misjeta by its proximity to Mount Ararat. #picoftheday #photpoftheday #daylife #lifeauthentic #travel #travelcaptures #travelingram #instatravel #igtravel #traveldreams #travelmemories #travellerslife #travelgram #instatraveller #traveladdict #worldcaptures #bestplacestogo #landscapelovers #streetphotography #fotografiacallejera #shadows #streetshot #streetlife #peoplepics #typicalpic #goexplore #keepexploring #blackandwhite #georgia #georgian #caucasus #transcaucasian #nun #prayer (en Mtskheta, Mtskheta-Mtianeti, Georgia)