Mtskheta, Georgia, October 14, 2011
Georgia Celebrates Day of Svetitskhoveli Cathedral today.
Svetitskhoveli Cathedral is a Georgian Orthodox cathedral located in the historical town of Mtskheta, Kartli region, 20 km (12.5 miles) northwest of the nation's capital of Tbilisi. The Georgian Orthodox Church also marks today the commemoration of Georgian St. King Miriani and Queen Nana (4th century), as well as St. Sidonia and Abiatara.
The original Church was built in 4th century A.D. during the reign of Mirian II. St. Nino is said to have chosen the confluence of the Mtkvari and Aragvi rivers as the place of the first Georgian Church. In the 1st century AD, a Georgian Jew from Mtskheta named Elias was in Jerusalem when Jesus was crucified. Elias bought Jesus’s robe from a Roman soldier at Golgotha and brought it back to Georgia. Returning to his native city, he was met by his sister Sidonia who upon touching the robe immediately died from the emotions engendered by the sacred object. The robe could not be removed from her grasp, so she was buried with it. The place where Sidonia is buried with Christs’s robe is preserved in the Cathedral. Later, from her grave grew an enormous cedar tree. Ordering the cedar chopped down to build the church, St. Nino had seven columns made from it for the church’s foundation. The seventh column, however, had magical power and rose by itself into the air. It returned to earth after St. Nino prayed the whole night. It was further said that from the magical seventh column a sacred liquid flowed that cured people of all diseases. In Georgian “sveti” means "pillar" and tskhoveli means "life-giving" or "living", hence the name of the cathedral.