The temple of the Twelve Apostles Svetitskhoveli is located on the bank of the Kura river in the ancient city of Mtskheta, near Tbilisi. It is the main Cathedral of the Georgian Church, its Shrine. If you come to Georgia, you must visit the Svetitskhoveli temple in Mtskheta.
The word "Svetitskhoveli" means "Life-Giving pillar". According to Georgian legend, the chief Rabbi of the Georgian Jews, Elioz, went from Mtskheta to the Holy Land when he learned about the sermons of Jesus Christ. He promised his sister Sidonia to bring something from the Holy Land. According to legend, he was present at the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.
After the execution, the Mtskheta Jews bought the Seamless Robe of Jesus from the Roman soldiers. They gave it to Elioz, who brought it to Sidonia. She hugged the Robe to her and died of excitement. The Robe could not be separated from it, so Sidonia was buried with It. A few centuries later, a cedar tree grew near Sidonia`s grave. It grew on the territory of the garden of the Royal Palace, since Mtskheta was then the capital of the ancient Iberian Kingdom.
Saint Nina
Saint Nina was born in 280 in Cappadocia (now Turkey). Her father Zabulon was a relative of the Great Martyr George, and her mother Susanna was a sister of Patriarch Juvenal of Jerusalem. From the age of 12, Nina was in Jerusalem, where she converted to Christianity. There she learned that the Seamless Robe of Jesus was in Iberia, then a pagan country.
Once, in a dream, the Holy Virgin appeared to Nina. She handed her a cross made from a grape tree and told her to go to Iberia. When Nina awoke, she saw a cross in her hands. It is now kept in the Zion Cathedral in Tbilisi. Patriarch Juvenal blessed her for Apostolic service, and Nina went to Iberia.
In the Orthodox tradition, there is a dogma about the four earthly appanages of the Holy Virgin. The main appanage of the Virgin is Iberia - modern Georgia. Three other appanages of the Holy Virgin are located on mount Athos, in the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra and in the Seraphim-Diveyevsky monastery.
Coming to Mtskheta in 319, Nina first lived in thehouse of the Royal gardener. Nina was able to cure his wife of infertility, and she was the first to convert to Christianity. While living in the gardener`s house, she had dream that near the cedar in the Royal garden there is a Seamless Robe of Jesus. Nina cured the disease and Queen Nana, who also converted to Christianity. Many people began to come to her for help. King Mirian III remained a pagan and wanted to kill Nina, but one day while hunting, he was caught in a severe thunderstorm and was blinded by a flash of lightning. Nina was able to cure him of his blindness, and then king Mirian also decided to be baptized.
In 326, king Mirian asked the Roman Emperor Constantine and Queen Helena to send a Bishop from Constantinople to baptize Georgians in the waters of the Kura. Christianity was declared the state religion of Georgia. It became the second country after Armenia to adopt Christianity at the state level. In the Roman Empire itself, this only happened in 380.
After the baptism, king Mirian decided to build a Christian Church, and for this purpose, a cedar was cut down in his garden. The builders made 6 small pillars from cedar branches and 1 main pillar from its trunk. They were able to install 6 pillars, but could not move the main trunk. After that, pillar set itself exactly on the spot where Sidonia`s grave was, and began to flow myrrh. Therefore, it was called "Svetitskhoveli", the Life-Giving Pillar.
How the very first Svetitskhoveli temple looked like is unknown, since in those years there were no Christian churches yet. It may have been round in shape (6 pillars in a circle and 1 main pillar in the center).
Saint Nina is the most revered Saint in Georgia. Thanks to her, Christianity spread throughout Georgia. From Mtskheta, Nina went to Kakheti, where she persuaded Queen Sofia to convert to Christianity. Saint Nina died on January 27, 347, at the age of 67 (according to other sources, she died earlier – in 335). Her relics are kept in the Bodbe monastery in Kakheti.
Byzantine architecture of Svetitskhoveli
The ancient buildings of the Svetitskhoveli temple expanded over time, and additional walls were added to them. The extant Cathedral was built in the period 1010-1029. The layout of the temple inside has not exact symmetry, as some of the ancient walls and pillars were not destroyed.
Svetitskhoveli Cathedral has a cross-domed structure typical of Byzantine churches. Georgia was not part of the Byzantine Empire, but it accepted Orthodox rites of Church service from Byzantium, so the Church has the necessary structure for it. The temple has three naves, its size is impressive. The height reaches 54 meters.
In the center of Svetitskhoveli, there is still a cedar pillar. A stone pavilion decorated with frescoes is made around it. In the 14th century, a chapel was built in the Cathedral in the form of Aedicule, as in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. Most of the frescoes in the Svetitskhoveli Church have been preserved since the 15th and 16th centuries.
For more than a thousand years, the Setitskhoveli temple has hosted the coronation ceremonies of all Georgian kings, as well as the enthronement of Georgian Catholicos. This Cathedral also served as a Royal tomb, where many kings from the Bagrationi family are buried. In the 18th century, a fortress wall with towers was built around Svetitskhoveli Cathedral.
