Mtis (Mount) St. George Monastery, also known as Leknari and Mtasakdari in scientific literature, is located on the cliff of Nakerala (Racha) ridge, the southern border of historic Racha province. According to its architectural style, the main church of the monastery is dated with the 2^nd half of the 9^th c. and the 1^st half of the 10^th c., the north side-chapel of the main church is dated with the last period of the 10^th c. and 1^st third of 11^th c., as for the west stoa, it is dated with the later period. S-E of the monastery is Nakerala Mountain, the part of which is Leknari [Botchoridze, 1995: 85-90; Dvali, 1968: 155-165].  The coordinates of the Monastery are: 42°26’10.45“; 42°58’32.15“.

About 20 written monuments related to the monastery are known in the scientific literature. These are: juridical acts of the 15^th-19^th cc.; epigraphic inscriptions of the 11^th-18^th cc. made on the inventory of the monastery – the engraved inscriptions on the cross and different icons; the lapidary inscriptions of the facing stones of the monastery constructions; the postscripts (colophons) written on the manuscript of the 16^th-17^th cc.

These written materials present priceless notes about the history of the monastery and also about various issues of the political and ecclesiastic history of medieval Georgia. This article is dedicated to the following issues: the ownership and origin of so-called St. George Icon of Agara; the relation of Mtis St. George Monastery located on Nakerala ridge with historic Samegrelo province.

St. George Icon of Agara, named after its last location (historic village Agara near Nikortsminda Cathedral in Racha), represents the wooden icon repoussé with the gold plated surface. Today it is preserved in Kutaisi State Historical Museum (inventory № 3160/g. 577). The icon is very damaged. Fortunately, St. George Icon of Agara  is well known from the publications of the 2^nd half of the 19^th c. and 1^st quarter of the 20^th c., according to which it is possible to restore the external condition of the icon, the way it had been described before it was damaged as well as the story and the dynamics about how and when it was damaged[1].

In 1893 the icon was visited and described by Anton Kutateladze. He also wrote the valuable note about the origin of the icon: “This icon was brought to village Agara from St. George Mountain. The Rachvelians have the tradition: during the drought they are carrying the icon back to St. George Mountain and are praying for thanksgiving - for the rain to come” [Kutateladze, 1894: 58-59]. As we can see, even in 1893 the memory about the origin of the icon was alive in the village Agara. The villagers also followed the tradition, according to which they took the icon back to Mtis St. George Monastery during the drought and prayed for thanksgiving.

The same tradition and the memory was kept in Agara several years later in 1902-1903, when the icon was described by the supervisor of  Chelishi Monastery – Archimandrite Ambrosi Khelaia. Apart from the information about the icon that was published by A. Kutateladze in 1894, A. Khelaia wrote down very important oral conveyance about the icon and Mtis (Mount) St. George’s Monastery. According to Giorgi Momtsemlidze – 80 years old respondent of A. Khelaia - “In the old ages the icon of St. George was kept in the village Khorga [2] (Samegrelo region). The king gave this icon to one of the ancestors of Momtsemlidzes. This king was Bagrat Kuratpalati (Bagrat Kurati in local folks slang), who built Nikortsminda church. The person, who accepted this gift from the king was a Muslim, who was converted to Christianity and chose Giorgi (George) as a baptism name. He took the icon to Racha and placed it on St. George Mountain, which supposedly was named after this icon. During the drought, St. George Icon of Agara is carried back to this mountain (where are the ruins of the church) and pray for rain. King Bagrat also gave a deed of donation to Giorgi Momtsemlidze, which is said to be still kept in Momtsemlidzes’ family. The last name “Momtsemlidze” was created after this donations, from the word “motsema” (to give)” [Khelaia, 2011: 204-5].

In 1919, the icon was visited by E. Takaishvili. Like A. Kutateladze and A. Khelaia, E. Takaishvili confirmed the local oral conveyance about the origin of the icon from Mtis St. George’s Monastery. He also dated the first layer of the artifact with the 11^th c. [Takaishvili, 2017: 296-8].

The last scholar, who visited the icon in 1926 was Giorgi Botchoridze. At that time, the icon was already hardly damaged within the Soviet antireligious movements of 1923-1924. Apart from the above mentioned scholars, G. Botchoridze did not even mention the earlier origin of the icon[3] [Botchoridze, 1994: 146].

Therefore, St. George’s Icon of Agara, which should belong to the 11^th c., is a valuable artifact for the history of Mtis St. George Monastery, as even until the beginning of the 20^th c. villagers of Agara had remembered the oral conveyance according to which the icon was the property of Mtis St. George Monastery before Agara. It is important that this note was written down by three different scholars – A. Kutateladze, A. Khelaia and E. Takaishvili.

There are many interesting issues related to St. George Icon of Agara. Hence, this article is dedicated to the origin of this icon, which is an especially important issue for the history of Mtis St. George Monastery.

As I have already mentioned, the oral conveyance, which identifies Mtis St. George Monastery as a place, where St. George Icon was kept before village Agara, was written down by three different scholars (from four), who described the artifact in different periods, independently from one another. This fact leads to the conclusion that this oral conveyance tradition was well known and very popular among the local villagers. The exact date and the reasons when and why the icon was taken from Mtis St. George Monastery to Agara is not known. Hence, it is possible to determine the period and the reason of this event. 

In 1465-1467 King of Kartli and Imereti Bagrat VI granted the deed of donation to Mtis St. George Monastery by which he renewed the old land donation (the villages, donated in the 11^th-12^th cc. by King David the Builder and his son Demetre) and gifted the peasants, who lived there at the time of the newly granted deed (1465-1467). “Agara at Sakhadi” is mentioned in the beginning of the list of the donated immovable property (settlements)  [Zhgenti, 2011: 205].

Toponym “Sakhadi”, as the general name of the surrounding area of Nikortsminda, is mentioned in the deed of the supervisor of Nikortsminda of 1071-1080 [Shoshiashvili... 1987: 44]. Therefore, “Agara at Sakhadi”, mentioned in the deed of 1465-1467, should be identified as the village Agara - an especially important geographic place for this article. According to the deed of 1465-1467, the settlement “Agara at Sakhadi” fully belonged to Mtis St. George Monastery (Agara at Sakhadi with its houses, cemetery, water, mill, riverside copse, mowing land, arable land, forest, valley, with all its legal borders, without any changes)  at least from 1465-1467. This should explain why St. George Icon was taken from the monastery to the village Agara and not to any other place.

After solving the problem with the geographic reason of moving St. George Icon to Agara from Mtis St. George Monastery, it is time to review another related issue - when and why did this event happen?

According to the survived historic sources, there were no churches in Agara before the 17^th c.[4] .The church of Agara was hardly damaged during the Soviet period. Nowadays, it is impossible to reveal the old architectural layers of the church, because of the way its restoration.

The frescos of the builders of the church as well as the fresco inscription about its construction were painted on the north wall of Agara Church (some paintings of the church were erased during the soviet period). According to this inscription, the church was built in 1688 by one of the strongest feudals of western Georgia – Merab Tsulukidze [Takaishvili, 2017: 293-4]. Therefore, St. George Icon should not be considered to be taken to Agara before 1688. It is important to mention that in the inscription Merab Tsulukidze addresses not to the Icon of Agara or to St. George, but to “Savior of Khotevi”. Accordingly, the builder of Agara Church considers himself responsible not towards St. George, but towards the Savior of Khotevi. In the inscription, Merab Tsulukidze says that he supplied the church with the icon, the cross and the book. Hence, it is hard to say if he meant St. George Icon of Agara, which later appeared to be the main relict of Agara church. Merab Tsulukidze is not mentioned in the inscription of St. George Icon of Agara [Takaishvili, 2017: 296-8]. On the other hand, Merab Tsulukidze mentions St. George Icon of Agara in the inscriptions of the silver items (2 patens, 1 spoon and 1 vault), which he donated to St. George Church of Agara [Takaishvili, 2017: 295-6]. Accordingly, it should be considered that St. George Icon was taken to Agara Church and declared as the main relict during the life of Merab Tsulukidze.

Therefore, according to the above-mentioned data,  the following conclusions can be drawn:

In 1688, Merab Tsulukidze built the church in Agara and supplied it with different religious service items. The same person moved Icon of St. George to the newly built church in Agara from Mtis St. George Monastery, which owned the whole settlement. This Icon of St. George was declared as a main relict of the church. This event should happen the same year or a little bit later. 

After solving the problem of the location of St. George Icon (before Agara) and after finding out the date and the reason of its transportation to Agara, it is time to discuss one more issue related to it - the above mentioned oral conveyance kept in the family of 80 years old Giorgi Momtsemlidze. This issue is presented only in A. Khelaia’s work. Naturally, the described event cannot be considered as a true story, as this oral conveyance written down in 1902-1903 presented the events that could have happened about 900 years before. Furthermore, there are not even similar notes about this kind of story in other sources. Hence, there are several hints according to which the episode of this oral conveyance about the origin of the icon from Samegrelo region can be very close to the real history of this artifact[5].

Merab Tsulukidze described his biographical episodes (the feudal conflicts, the achieved successes) in the inscription (in Mkhedruli script) of the silver paten, which he donated to St. George Icon of Agara. One episode of this inscription is especially important for this article. According to its text, when Merab Tsulukidze’s influence spread over Samegrelo, he appointed one of his brothers as a bishop of Nikortsminda and another - as a bishop of Khobi. In this part of the inscription, Merab Tsulukidze mentions the villa (residence) in Khorga [Takaishvili, 2017: 295-6]. At the same period, the Catholicos of Abkhazia (Western Georgia) also had a villa (residence) in Khorga [Gaprindashvili, 2015: 134]. This is already the second precedent, when the village Khorga is mentioned in relation to St. George Icon of Agara. This fact can be considered as a coincidence, because the inscription of the paten presents other geographic places of western Georgia, which were under the influence of Merab Tsulukidze. However, in my opinion, the following consideration should also be acceptable: perhaps, there is the connection between Merab Tsulukidze’s period and the note about the origin of Agara St. George’s Icon that was described in the oral conveyance written down by A. Khelaia. Unfortunately, I do not have an opportunity to confirm this consideration with additional historic sources. Therefore, this problem remains unsolved. In my opinion, it is possible that Merab Tsulukidze took Icon of St. George to Racha from the village Khorga at the time when he had a big influence in Samegrelo and appointed his brother as a bishop of Khobi (Merab Tsulukidze often mentions that he grew up at the courtyard of Levan II Dadiani [Takaishvili, 2017: 295]). One of the oldest historic roads, which connected Racha and Upper Imereti (Okriba), passed through St. George Mountain, where Mtis St. George Monastery is located. If we consider Merab Tsulukidze as an initiator of the transportation of St. George Icon from Samegrelo, it seems possible that he used this road to return to Racha. Initially, he left the icon in Mtis St. George Monastery and afterwards, by 1688 he transported it to the newly built church in Agara. These processes with the incorrect chronology and personalities could be reflected in the oral conveyance written down by A. Khelaia.

It is important to mention that the village Khorga is the ancient and the most important settlement with its archaeological monuments of old Colchis period. As I have already mentioned, one of the residences of Catholicos of Abkhazia was in Khorga.  It is especially important that there was the church of “Misaroni” St. George in Khorga, which was destroyed during the first years of the Soviet government [Chitaia, 2017: 139]. If the notes about the Megrelian origin of St. George Icon of Agara are truthful and it was kept in Khorga before transportation to Mtis St. George Monastery, we can suppose that it could be the property of “Misaroni” St. George Church.

There is one more note that can lead us to the special relation of Mtis St. George Monastery and Samegrelo region in the context of St. George Icon of Agara.

Chevalier Jean-Francois Gamba – Russian Emperor’s French consul in Tbilisi –  traveled in Transcaucasia in 1820-1824 and later published the book about this trip. One part of the 10^th chapter of the book is about Jean-Francois Gamba’s brother’s trip to Racha in 1823. This part contains especially important information: “In the middle of Racha’s forest there is a small, very old chapel constructed with stones. It is blessed in the name of St. Gregory (Grégoire) and the people of Colchis worship it. Many people come here to pray from Imereti and even from the most distant places of Samegrelo. They have the tradition to leave in the chapel the provisions that they cannot eat. A feast usually follows the prayer” [Mgaloblishvili, 1987: 200]. T. Beradze identified this chapel with Mtis St. George Monastery[6] [Beradze, 2004: 125].

According to Jean-Francois Gamba’s report, even in 1823 the pilgrims not only from Imereti, but even from Samegrelo were still coming to pray and celebrate the main feast day of Mtis St. George Monastery. This is a unique information, which gives us an opportunity to draw an interesting parallel between this note and the above-mentioned issues. Gamba’s report directly reflects the relation of the Megrelians to Mtis St. George Monastery – one of the most sacred places of Racha, far away from Samegrelo. The reason  should be the story of transportation of  St. George Icon from village of Samegrelo (Khorga) to  Mtis St. George Monastery on St. George Mountain described in oral conveyance written down by A. Khelaia.

As a result of the research of above mentioned historic sources, the story of St. George Icon of Agara can be reconstructed in the following way:

St. George Icon of Agara, the earliest layer of which should belong to the 11^th c., originally was the property of St. George Church of Khorga located in Samegrelo.

Afterwards, the icon was carried to Mtis St. George Monastery located on Racha ridge. The exact date of the occurrence of this event remains unknown. It can be supposed that it happened during the reign of Bagrat III Curopalate (according to the oral conveyance written down by A. Khelaia) or in the period of Merab Tsulukidze, in the 2^nd half of the 17^th c. However, due to the lack of sources, this problem remains unsolved. As a matter of fact, even in 1823 the Megrelians followed the pilgrimage tradition of the monastery in Racha, where the icon carried from Khorga was kept by 1688 (before transportation to Agara).

Factually, before Agara this icon was kept in Mtis St. George Monastery. This information provided by the local villagers of Agara was written down by three scholars (A. Purtseladze, A. Khelaia and E. Takaishvili) in different periods. Moreover, the village Agara has been the property of Mtis St. George Monastery since the ancient times.

In 1688 Merab Tsulukidze constructed the small church in Agara, where the icon was transported from Mtis St. George Monastery. It was declared as a main relict of the newly built church. From this period, the icon has been named as “St. George of Agara”.

This icon cannot be reliably identified as the main sacred relict of Mtis St. George Monastery, St. George Icon, which is mentioned in historic documents and other written sources as “mtis mtavar motsame” – “The Arch-martyr of the Mount”. The reasons of this consideration are: 1. Mtis St. George Monastery was an active monastery even after 1688. The Monastery stopped its functioning only in the 19^th c. [Kakabadze - B, 1921: 107-109; Khelaia, 2011: 407]. It is hard to imagine that someone could take the main icon from Mtis St. George Monastery and move it to one of the villages owned by still functioning monastery; 2. It is also hard to imagine the renaming of the main icon of the monastery as “St. George of Agara” instead of “mtis mtavar motsame” – “The Arch-martyr of Mount”[7]. Accordingly, in my opinion, the 11^th c. St. George Icon of Agara was one of the important, but not the most important icons of Mtis St. George Monastery. It is noteworthy that the brother of Merab Tsulukidze (initiator of moving the icon to Agara) – Simon bishop of Nikortsminda - granted the deed of donation to Mtis St. George Monastery in 1682-1685. In this document he often mentioned St. George’s Icon – the main icon of the monastery [National Archives of Georgia, doc. 1448-1533; Kakabadze - B, 1921: 81-82; Gaprindashvili, 2015: 240]. The possibility of moving this icon from Mtis St. George Monastery to Agara by Merab Tsulukidze and Simon bishop of Nikortsminda (whose eparchy comprised this monastery) is almost inconsiderable.

The peculiarity of worshiping St. George Icon of Agara is very interesting. As it was already mentioned, during the drought local villagers of Agara carried this icon back to Mtis St. George Monastery and prayed for the rain. It is possible that this icon had the same worshiping tradition even when it was kept at Mtis St. George Monastery or in Khorga.

In the end, I want to pay attention to the archaic meaning and importance of Mtis St. George Monastery.

Despite the fact that  the monastery was named after St. George, its  main feast day is celebrated on 28 August  (the old style - August 15), on the Dormition day of Virgin. Several historic documents of the monastery contain the notes. According to them, it can be said that this tradition comes from the early centuries[8].

Mtis St. George Monastery is not an exception. The Dormition of the Virgin, as the main feast day of the churches dedicated to St. George, is celebrated also in the so-called White Giorgi Church of Atskuri in Kakheti region, in St. George Church of Arbo in Kartli region, in St. George ruined church in the village Nagvazao in Samegrelo, in St. George ruined church in the village Latchepita in Lechkhumi, etc. Iv. Javakhishvili considered that this tradition comes from the lunar cult of the antique Georgian pagan pantheon, the main feast day of which was 15 August (a waxing crescent phase) and coincided with the Dormition day of Virgin [Zhgenti, 2017: 275-278].

According to the various historic materials, thematic analogies and folkloric-mythological issues, I consider that during the heathen period, an important temple dedicated to the moon stood on the place or in the area of later Mtis St. George Monastery. Afterwards, during Christianization of Georgia, this temple was replaced with St. George Monastery. Despite this act, the main heathen feast day of the sacred place (15 August, present - 28 August) was maintained and adapted to the Christian feast day - Dormition of Virgin. It may be considered that the Megrelians’ tradition of pilgrimage at Mtis St. George Monastery on the Dormition day of Virgin reflects the pre-Christian tradition, which was maintained in later Christian period and was confirmed  even in 1823. This consideration seems more truthful if we consider that originally St. George Icon of Agara was kept at “Misaroni” St. George Church of Khorga, in Samegrelo. Similarly to Mtis St. George Monastery, “Misaroni” St. George Church of Khorga should  be related to “Jege-Misaroni” pagan cult. After spreading Christianity, Jege-Misaroni cult was replaced by St. George’s cult.

[1] The technical description of the Icon: Type: repousséd; Materials: wood, gold plated silver, amalgam; Size: 126,5X75,5 cm. There were 14 repousséd icons of different saints on the frame of the icon. Only eight of them have survived. These icons are: Holy Virgin, Apostle John and two more unidentified icons on the right side and the icons of St. Nicolas, St. John the Baptist, Apostle Marcus and one unidentified on the left side. The surface of the icon was decorated with 55 jewels, from which only 9 have survived. Iconography: St. George is engraved in standing pose with a sword in his right hand and a scabbard in his left hand. As for the shield, it is located behind his left leg. According to E. Takaishvili, the first layer of the icon should be dated with the 11^th c. In later period, the Icon has been renewed. Supposedly, 5-line inscription (in Mtavruli script) of the 16^th-18^th cc. should have been made in the same period underneath the right foot of St. George. It says: “St. George! Have mercy on priest Saba Evnukidze and his sons – Zosime and Gavashel. St. George! Help Mamia and Davit.” The icon has also the original explanative inscriptions (in Mtavruli script) of the frame icons, made in the same period with the first layer of the icon. The explanative inscriptions of St. George’s main figure is on both sides of the upper part of his body. There is also the fragment of the inscription on the lower right corner of the icon mentioning only the name “George” that was placed there during the restoration. 

[2]Khorga is a village in western Georgia, in Khobi municipality of Samegrelo-Upper Svaneti region, in Akhalsopeli community. The village is located on Odishi lowland, on the right side of the river Khobi, 10 meters above the sea level. The distance from Khobi is 28 km and 19 km from Senaki.

[3] We should not be surprised because in contrast to other scholars, G. Botchoridze had to work in worse conditions. He visited village Agara and described the icon during the Soviet antireligious movement. In his report, we can read only the description of the icon as he did not have an opportunity to collect other kind of information from the local villagers. Moreover, to preserve the icon from other persons involved in this antireligious movement, G. Botchoridze took it to Kutaisi and donated it to the museum in 1926 [km3160/g. 577 Artifact’s document]. The silver surface of the icon, divided into multiple pieces, was restored by the staff of Kutaisi Historical-Ethnographic Museum.

[4]Even in the deed of 1465-1467, each donated settlement had its own specified list of places (a mill, a riverside copse, a mowing land, an arable land, etc.). In case of Agara, the specified list does not mention the church of this settlement. However, in case of the next donated village Shaori, it is mentioned that it was restored from ruins, settled by King Bagrat and was also fully donated to Mtis St. George’s Monastery. The church is mentioned among the specified list of the donated places of Shaori [Zhgenti, 2011: 205].

[5]It is worth mentioning that in 1660 the duke of Odishi (Samegrelo) Vamek Dadiani became a king of Imereti [Rekhviashvili, 1989: 112-113]. The next year, on the day of Dormition of Virgin (15/28 Aug.) – the main feast day of Mtis (Mount) St. George’s Monastery (see: beneath) – Vamek visited the monastery to worship St. George’s Icon [National Archives of Georgia, doc. 1448-2148; Kakabadze - A, 1921: 64-65].

[6]The fact that Gamba names this church after St. Gregory should not confuse us. It seems that Gamba or his brother could not differ the names of St. George and St. Gregory from each other because of the similar spelling of these names in the Georgian language (Giorgi - Grigoli). Accordingly, there should be the mistake in Gamba’s report about the naming of the church as: 1. There is not a church or even a chapel in Racha, which is named after St. Gregory; 2. In the description of  famous St. George Church of Gelati, Gamba writes that this church carried the name of St. Gregory (Grégoire) as well [Mgaloblishvili, 1987: 186].

[7]For instance, neither Khakhuli Icon, nor Ancha Icon were renamed after moving away from their traditional locations – Khakhuli and Ancha Monasteries.

[8]In the deed of 1660 Vamek Dadiani says that when he became a King of Imereti he visited the monastery on the Dormition day of Virgin [National Archives of Georgia, doc. 1448-2148; Kakabadze - A, 1921: 64-65]; In the deed of 1682-1685, Simon bishop of Nikortsminda expected from the brotherhood of the monastery to hold a liturgy for him on the eve of Dormition day of Virgin as a response of the donations he gave to the monastery [National Archives of Georgia, doc.1448-1533; Kakabadze - A, 1921: 81-82]; In the deed of 1795 Queen Mariam expected from the chief priest, priest and chief deacon of the monastery to hold the liturgy for her on the Dormition day of Virgin as a response of renewing the old deed of donation [Kakabadze - B, 1921: 34-35].

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