Archpriest Zakaria Machitadze
In 1446 Giorgi VIII was crowned ruler of a united Georgian kingdom. Filled with every virtue, the valiant warrior and God-fearing king dedicated the twenty years of his reign to a ceaseless struggle for the reunification of his country.He was constantly warding off foreign invaders, surmounting internal strife, and suffering the betrayal of his fellow countrymen.
Rating: 7,5|Votes: 2
In September 26, 1989, a copy of the famous Iveron Icon of the Mother of God, the “Portaitissa,” arrived in Tbilisi from the Iveron Monastery on Mt. Athos. With the blessing of Catholicos-Patriarch Ilia II, the monks of the Holy Mountain had painted this exact copy as a symbol of love and gratitude to the Georgian people.
At the blessing of His Holiness, Patriarch Alexei II of Moscow and all Russia, an official delegation of the Russian Orthodox Church, headed by His Eminence Isidore, Metropolitan of Ekaterinodar and Kuban, will be participating in a celebration of the restoration of unity in the Russian Orthodox Church. The delegation, which includes the Sretensky Monastery Choir, will be participating in Divine Services in churches and monasteries of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad. These guests from Russia will be carrying a holy miracle-working icon treasured by all Orthodox Christians—the “Reigning” icon of the Mother of God.
Rating: 2|Votes: 1
The details of the life of St. Salome the Georgian are notpreserved. In the Synaxarion of Jerusalem’s Holy CrossMonastery it is written: “On this day (July 20) we commemoratethe martyrdom of Salome the Georgian, who atfirst yielded to the Persian threats and renounced Christ,but later confessed the true Faith. For this she was beheaded and castinto the flames.”
Blessed Kristesia’s family was from Egrisi in western Georgia. From his youth Kristesia longed for the divine services and the solitary life, but he was forced by his master to marry, and by this marriage he begot a son. Later, when both his wife and son had died, his master insisted that he marry again, but the pious Kristesia would not heed his master’s order.