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Georgian Church lays claims to Armenian monuments in Tbilisi and beyond

Ownership of six churches has been placed on the Armenian-Georgian agenda

by Tatul Hakobyan

Published: Saturday December 20, 2008

The church on the right side of the photo is Holy Norashen. The church on the left is a formerly Greek Orthodox Church, seized and reconsecrated as a Georgian Orthodox Church. Tatul Hakobyan for the Armenian Reporter

Tbilisi - On December 9, members of the Georgian-Armenian community in Tbilisi pulled the nails out of the doors of the 15th-century Holy Norashen Church, and entered it with lit candles.

Prime Minister Tigran Sarkisian of Armenia, along with Bishop Vazgen Mirzakhanian, Primate of the Georgian-Armenian Diocese, members of the Armenian church, and a few dozen Armenians entered the Armenian church found on Leselitze Street in Tbilisi, where for the first time in 12 years prayers were heard and candles were lit.

After the short ceremony, the doors to the Armenian church were once again nailed shut.

A center of Armenian civilization

Tbilisi, which Armenians still call by its old name Tiflis, has been one of the most important centers of Armenian culture for centuries. In the 19th century, its population was a mixture of ethnicities: Armenian, Russian, Georgian, and many others. There were more Armenians living there Georgians or members of any other ethnic group. In those days, through the beginning of the 20th century, the mayors of Tbilisi were primarily Armenians. Aleksandr Khatisian, the last Armenian mayor of Tiflis later became prime minister of the first Republic of Armenia.

When the Caucasus was split into ethnic republics, and Tiflis became the capital of the Georgian republic, the number of Armenians in the city slowly but irrevocably began to diminish. In the 1950s, every third resident of the city was Armenian. According to the most recent census, taken in 2002, Armenians make up 14 percent of the city's inhabitants, and six percent of the population in all of Georgia. For the first time in centuries, there are more Azerbaijanis than Armenians in the territory of what is now Georgia.

In primarily Armenian neighborhoods throughout Tbilisi, over the centuries Armenians have built dozens of churches, some of which have been totally destroyed, fundamentally due to lack of attention and repair. Some Armenian churches are crumbling, while others have been made Georgian. In other words, they have been re-consecrated as Georgian Orthodox Churches and today serve Georgia's Orthodox, even though those churches continue to showcase Armenian inscriptions.

When Mikhail Gorbachev introduced perestroika and glasnost in the 1980s, Georgia was one of the first republics where, one after the other, churches began reopening their doors. The Armenian side insists that in Tbilisi alone, at least seven Armenian churches were reopened - but re-consecrated as Georgian churches.

"Disputed" churches

Another six Armenian churches - five in Tbilisi and one in Akhaltskha - are today considered "disputed," because the Georgian side insists that those churches are Georgian, even though architecturally, and as evidenced by the Armenian writing on their walls, they have absolutely no connection to the Georgian Church. Among the differentiating factors are the façade and interiors of the churches, and above all the altars.

The seizing of Armenian churches in Georgia cannot be viewed simply as an assault against Armenian monuments, because in this country - which historically was considered the center of religious and racial tolerance in the Caucasus - in the last 20 years many Catholic, Greek, and Russian churches have been recast as Georgian churches. Non-Christian monuments, such as synagogues and mosques, aren't in an enviable position either.

The consistently diminishing numbers of Armenians in Georgia is one of the reasons that the Georgian side has the audacity to seize Armenian Apostolic Churches. At one time, Armenian homes used to surround Armenian churches. Armenians in each neighborhood would take care of their church. They were not only parishioners but also the guardians.

Today the churches considered "disputed" no longer have Armenians living in their vicinity. The Armenians who used to live among the churches at one time have left for other countries, and in their places and in their homes live Georgians who no longer bother to take care of Armenian churches.

For example, Georgian neighbors keep their dogs in the courtyard of St. Nshan Church, built in 1701, although there is a sign on the church that reads, "Protected by the state."

Limited resources

The Armenian Apostolic Church, more specifically the Georgian-Armenian Diocese, with its limited financial resources and staff simply cannot also take care of those "disputed" churches. The churches are legally within the Georgian government's authority. As long as those churches are "disputed," they are subjected to total neglect because the Georgian-Armenian Diocese is not legally allowed to take care of them and the Georgian state refuses to repair them or provide for their maintenance.

Among the other "disputed" Armenian churches:

• The Shamkoretsots or Red Bible Church found in the Havlabar neighborhood is almost completely destroyed. There are allegations that the church was bombed in 1989.
• The basilica of Minas Yerevantsots is also semi-ruined, Georgian refugees from Abkhazia live in its courtyard.
• The interior of Saint Gevorg Mughnetsi Church in the Sololag neighborhood of Tbilisi is also destroyed.
• St. Nshan, in the center of Old Tbilisi, is in poor condition and will not last long.

The Georgian side is not indifferent toward Norashen, which is located right beside a Greek church that has been made into a Georgian church.

Frescoes scraped off

Attempts to seize and recast Norashen as Georgian go back to 1994, when on the order of the Georgian priest Father Tariel, frescoes and miniature paintings - remarkable creations of the Hovnatanians - on the church were scraped off. A reporter from Azg daily, who was at Norashen on December 9, wrote the following: "In many places, the Hovnatanian frescoes were literally scraped off the walls of the church. The interior of the church is destroyed, and the altar has been converted into a Georgian one. A Georgian ‘Nino' cross has been ‘discovered' on the holy table of the church."