One Episode from the 17th Century history of Mtis (Mount) St. George Monastery – the Appointment of Bishop of Nikortsminda Svimon Chkhetidze in the Monastery

Abstract

The subject of the research is a lost deed of donation of 1637, granted by king of Imereti Giorgi III to some St. George’s church and the bishop of Nikortsminda Svimon Chkhetidze, who was appointed in the same church at the moment. Later Svimon Chkhetidze became the bishop of Kutaisi and after the Catholicos of Abkhazeti (western Georgia). He was known as one of the most important persons in the history of Imereti in 17^th century. The deed of donation of 1637 is the oldest historical source which includes biographical data about this person. Even though this document is well known in academic literature, there is no proper source-critical study of the document and its different issues.

This article is based on two main issues about this deed: The identification of the St. George’s church mentioned in the text and the reason of appointment of bishop of Nikortsminda in this church and not the Nikortsminda cathedral itself. 

In the National Archives of Georgia is preserved the 19^th century catalogue 1451-16 – the descriptions and anotations of Mtis St. George Monastery’s documents. Among these documents I found the desription and anotation of the abovementioned lost deed’s original of 1637. Accordingly, St. George’s church mentioned in this document was identified as the main church of Mtis St. George Monastery, located about 8-10 kilometers west from Nikortsminda Cathedral.

After solving the first problem of the article, I tried to solve second one. There is no direct information, any kind of source, mentioning the reason why Svimon Chkhetidze was appointed in this Monastery. But, according to the multiple historical sources of the period, I tried to restore the historical process which could indicate the real reason of this act:    

In 1630-es, the military conflict between King of Imereti and Duke of Odishi reached its highest level. Whole western Georgia was separated into two military camps – King Giorgi III with his supporters and Duke Levan II Dadiani with his supporters. The feudal house of Chkhetidzes, the representative of which was Svimon of Nikortsminda, were on King’s side. The first vizier of Levan Dadiani was Paata Tsulukidze – the representative of the feudal house which owned Nikortsminda Cathedral as the family crypt. Earlier Paata Tsulukidze has been expelled from his owned lands by King Giorgi III. The Catholicos of Abkhazeti – Malakia Gurieli – was also on Dadiani’s side. In the battle at Kaka’s bridge King Giorgi was imprisoned by Levan Dadiani, as a result of what the political initiative in western Georgia was ruled by Dadiani and his supporters.

 Supposadly in the same period, because of the demand of Tsulukidzes feudal house, the bishop of Nikortsminda Svimon Chkhetidze has been expelled from his Cathedral and was appointed in Mtis St. George Monastery in the same eparchy. Later, in 1637, newly released King Giorgi granted a deed of donation to this Monastery and Svimon, to compensate the loss which was caused by his recent political failure.