7/16/2021
Kyrylo Myazha
St. Ivan Rilski was the first Bulgarian monastic hermit and would set the foundation for the later flourishing of monasticism throughout the Bulgarian Empire.
From roughly 1335 to 1346, St. Gregory of Sinai labored in this wilderness, which served as a spiritual powerhouse within the Hellenic and Slavic worlds, and spiritual connections from this time period flourish to the present day.
In the time since the icon's arrival in Sofia, the Church of the Assumption of the Most Holy Mother of God has become a pilgrimage site.
By 1900, the monastery was completely ready and consecrated, and Emperor Alexander III brought bells as a gift, which are now located in the highest tower and are still working today.
Over the centuries, a whole host of venerable ascetics and martyrs have shone forth in the Gareji desert.
The Holy Orthodox Order of Saint George the Great Martyr has gifted over $146,000 to various Orthodox Christian institutions and individuals in need.
This pattern of desert monasticism would recur within the nation of Georgia in the sixth century with the arrival of the Assyrian Fathers from the Middle East. During this period of Georgian history, there was substantial pressure from the Zoroastrian Sassanid Empire for the Georgian people to become Persianized and abandon their Christian faith in favor of Zoroastrianism.
For the martyrs of Christ, their true treasure was God, and they renounced this world its possessions, titles, and more for the sake of eternal life.
During the Abkhazi war, parishioners were often seized with despair and fear, but Hieromonk Andria’s modest smile, speech, and tranquility comforted and helped to bring calm to the people who suffered greatly from the war.
Within the nation of Georgia, there are numerous holy sites that are located within an hour of the nation’s capital of Tbilisi and are connected with the conversion of the Georgian nation itself to the Christian faith in the fourth century AD.
Recently through the grace of God, two Turkish catechumens (a married couple) were able to immigrate from Turkey to Batumi, Georgia, to not only receive Holy Baptism within Orthodox Georgia but also to reside in an Orthodox nation where their faith could be nurtured properly.
The spiritual situation for an Eastern Orthodox Christian immigrating from the Western world to Orthodox Georgia is one of the best within the Post-Soviet countries.
Two pious stories involve this holy site, with one occurring during the medieval age of Georgia.
Moving to Georgia has been hugely helpful for my Orthodox faith, as being a devout Orthodox Christian within Georgia is looked upon positively, especially for an individual like myself who converted to the faith as an adult. In addition to this, there are numerous holy sites, churches, and monasteries I can visit throughout Georgia.
Before the start of the English language community, the liturgical languages found within Georgia were Georgian, Church Slavonic, Greek, and Aramaic, because of the Patriarch’s desire to have each Orthodox minority hear the Liturgy in its native language.
Yesterday, on the feast of the Prophet Elias, the nation of Georgia celebrated the saints day of Patriarch Ilia II, who is currently eighty-eight years old, and the most respected public figure within the nation despite recent attempts to discredit the Church itself after the July 5 anti-LGBTQ demonstrations.
Kyrylo M'yazha
Despite the actions of the Church in calling for non-violence and the Church being the main calming influence in making this an overall very peaceful demonstration, the Church is now being portrayed as the enemy of the nation by the mass media.
