The Monastery of Saint George of Jerusalem

The Monastery of Saint George of Jerusalem, its time of foundation is unknown; it is undetermined whether the Georgian community founded it, or if the property of others passed into its hands, although this monastery belonged to the Georgians in the 15th century. This is confirmed by F. Suriano, Italian friar of the Franciscan Order of XV c. According to an agape of the Monastery of the Cross from the 1560s, Filipe Shakarashvili of Samtskhe repaired the church of St. George with the Jerusalemite tetri [silver coins] sent by Varaz, son of Sulkhan. According to T. Gabashvili, in Jerusalem "it was built in the Jewish quarter by the Dadians and the memorial is there." Probably, this is Levan II Dadiani, whose care for the Georgian sanctities of Jerusalem is well known.

The Patriarch of Jerusalem, Dositheos II regarded the monastery established by the Georgians as their legal property. He names this monastery along with several other Georgian churches and monasteries. The same Dositheos restored the monastery in 1683 with money taken from Georgia, as the "Monastery of the Iberians." From the end of the same century, the monastery passed into the de facto possession of the Greek Patriarchate, although according to a 1706 epistle, the Patriarch declared that they were returning the monastery to the Georgians.

 

Literature: მამისთვალიშვილი ე., მისივე, საქართველო-იერუსალიმის ურთიერთობის ისტორიიდან (XVI-XVII სს.), თბ., 2008. ქართველები და ბიბლიური სამყარო, გორი, 1998.

Source: ტიმოთე გაბაშვილი, მიმოსლვა, ე. მეტრეველის გამოც., თბ., 1956.

E. Mamistvalishvili