Traditions Concerning the Life-Giving Cross of the Savior and the Georgian Reality

Abstract

Numerous legends surround the sacred tree upon which the Savior of humanity, the incarnate Jesus Christ, was crucified—an association that is far from coincidental. With the spread of Christianity, this sanctified tree became an object of profound reverence among the faithful, and numerous miracles came to be attributed to it by the followers of the crucified Christ. In our view, the celebration commemorating the cutting of the sacred tree assumed a somewhat distinct form within the Georgian cultural and religious context. The holiday became associated with the site where, according to legend, Lot planted three trees, as well as with the location where Lot’s chapel once stood. This same site was believed to be the place where, supposedly during the reign of King Mirian, the Georgian people were granted certain religious rights, constructed a shrine, and, somewhat later, where the prominent ecclesiastical figure Petre the Iberian founded a monastery dedicated to the Holy Cross. It was from this sacred locus that the tradition of celebrating the cutting of the divine tree is thought to have spread throughout Georgia, particularly taking root in Mtskheta. This tradition likely found further expression in the construction of the Monastery of the Cross in Mtskheta – often referred to as the Second Jerusalem—which was intended to serve as a metochion (subsidiary monastery) of the principal Georgian spiritual center in the Holy Land. As for the omission by Petre the Iberian’s biographers of any mention of Lot or the site’s connection to the sacred tree, it is plausible that this was a deliberate choice. It is possible that a chapel dedicated to Lot had already existed on the site where Petre later established the Monastery of the Cross. By omitting this detail, the biographers may have sought to emphasize Petre’s singular spiritual insight and divine vision – an experience that, according to Rufus, served as the foundation for the construction of the monastery. Thus, the construction of the first Georgian shrine in the Holy Land is traditionally associated with the site of the Lot Chapel (or cave). According to legend, this was the very place where the sacred tree was planted and later felled, which explains why the Lot Chapel was established on the site where the Jvari Monastery would later stand. In time, the Georgian monastery came to feature frescoes depicting the miraculous appearance, growth, and felling of the life-giving tree. The legend concerning the sacred tree’s origin, as preserved and promoted by Georgian clergy serving in the Holy Land – along with the presence of a relic believed to be a living fragment of the True Cross – contributed to the monastery being dedicated to the Holy Cross. This major Georgian spiritual center maintained strong ties with the Kingdom of Kartli. It is therefore no coincidence that the principal feast day of the Jvari Monastery was eventually transferred to Mtskheta, and that the Monastery of the Cross near Mtskheta was constructed – allegedly as a metochion (subsidiary monastery) of the Holy Cross Monastery in Jerusalem.