FOR THE HISTORY OF THE GEORGIAN CATHOLIC CHURCH IN ISTANBUL Cover Image

სტამბოლის ქართული კათოლიკური მონასტრის ისტორიისთვის
FOR THE HISTORY OF THE GEORGIAN CATHOLIC CHURCH IN ISTANBUL

Author(s): Kakhaber Surguladze, Irakli Baramidze, Khatuna Diasamidze, Tatiana Kopaleishvili
Subject(s): History of Church(es), 19th Century, Pre-WW I & WW I (1900 -1919), Other Christian Denominations
Published by: სსიპ-გორის სახელმწიფო უნივერსიტეტი
Keywords: Catholicism; Feriköy Georgian Monastery; Kharischirashvili; Greek-Catholic rite;

Summary/Abstract: The Georgian Catholic Monastery in Istanbul under the leadership of Kharischirashvili was a prominent religious and scientific-cultural center of Georgian monasteries outside Georgia in XIX-XX centuries. At the border, against the backdrop of the Georgians and the Armenians, the Georgian settlement in Istanbul was the only religious establishment, where the monks fought with practical actions - crosses, pens, or weapons in their hands for the sovereignty of Georgia. It was the only religious institution abroad, which besides the scientific activity fought for the protection and propaganda of Georgian culture. Liturgically, it was a special feature of the Georgian Catholic Church in Feriköy to introduce the Georgian practice of consecration of clergy with the permission of Sacra Congregatio de Propaganda Fide in 1864-1874. If we draw a parallel with the situation in Tiflis (Tbilisi) and Kutaisi provinces in the heart of the Russian Empire, where Catholics were forbidden to conduct Byzantine-Catholic rites until the 20th century and most of the population followed the Armenian rite, then the importance of the Georgian Congress of Istanbul will increase even more. In the XIX-XX centuries in Tiflis (Tbilisi) and Kutaisi provinces, the struggle for the Georgian typicon was led by Meskhetian Catholics. The main organization of this battle was the Georgian Congregation in Istanbul, and a similar mission in Samtskhe-Javakheti was carried out by Kharischirashvili's students together with their comrades. Originally built in 1861, the one-story Georgian church in Feriköy was the church of immaculate conception of the Virgin. During the construction of a new building of the monastery, the Church Fathers considered the current novelty of a dogmatic change in the worship of St. Mary, therefore, in 1901, the neo-Gothic-style hall-type church was named after the "Virgin of Lourdes".

  • Issue Year: 2022
  • Issue No: 7
  • Page Range: 142-154
  • Page Count: 13
  • Language: Georgian