GEORGIAN MONASTERIES IN ARMENIAN-POPULATED REGION

Azg/arm
28 Jan 05

“This was the way that St Nino passed while going inland, to
Mtskhet. For that reason the monastery of St Nino was built at the
shore of Parvana Lakein 1989”, said father Antony from the monastery.

The monastery is located by Poga village in largely Armenian-populated
Ninotsminda region. The monks, solely Georgians, spend their time here
in prayers. The local Armenians are in friendly relations with the
residents of the monastery, 5 monks as yet.

“Only in 1989 it became possible to built the monastery as the region
was a closed zone and one had to have an ID to pass through here”
Antony explained. It was built by Georgian Patriarch’s order.

Father Antony says that the main reason for building the monastery was
to bring people to God. “We live here, baptize children and explain to
curious people what the Orthodoxy and the Georgian Church are”.

The vegetable garden and the cattle are the only source of their
food. “We do everything ourselves and people help occasionally. People
come here from everywhere, mainly the capital”, father Antony said.

Mother Shushanik is the supervisor of the woman’s cloister which was
built 3 years later, in 1992. “We were four at first but today there
nine of us”, mother Shushanik said.

Telling why they chose Ninotsminda region for their cloister, mother
Shushanik said: “This is a holy place for Georgia as St Nino,
illuminator of Georgia, passed through here on her way to Georgia from
Armenia”.

Mother Shushanik said that there is a Sunday school at the cloister
where they have not only Georgian but also Armenian pupils learning
Georgian and English.

The inhabitants of two monasteries celebrate the day of St Nino on
January the 1st in an open church at the Parvana Lake after which the
Georgian clergy that is participating at the celebrations goes to
Mtskhet by the route thatSt Nino passed in 4th century.

Speaking of the future mother Shushanik said: “We make no plans here,
we simply live carrying out our daily jobs praying and serving the
Lord”.

By Aghavni Harutyunian in Poga