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Bodbe Monastery Bodbe Monastery has a special significance in Georgia as it is the burial place of the holy missionary Nino, who converted Georgia to Christianity in the 4th century. Bodbe Monastery enjoyed a special status with the Georgian kings and several kings of Eastern Georgia were crowned here. The monastery was also an important cultural centre of Eastern Georgia for centuries, with a very rich library. Monastery Complex 1. Three-nave Basilica from the 8th and 9th centuries. History of Bodbe Monastery As early as the 4th century, King Mirian had a first chapel built in Bodbe over the tomb of St Nino. In the 5th century, when Georgia was granted autocephaly (ecclesiastical independence), King Vakhtang Gorgasali had the church enlarged. In the 8th and 9th centuries, a three-nave basilica was built in Bodbe, which was thoroughly renovated in the 12th century under King Demetre I (son of King Davit the Builder). From the 15th century, Kakhetian kings were crowned in Bodbe, including King Alexander I in 1492 and Teimuraz I in 1605. In the 17th century, a theological school was opened in Bodbe, where scientific subjects were taught alongside religious literature. Bodbe also had the richest library in the country at that time. In 1811, Ioane Makashvili was appointed Metropolitan of Kakheti. Although Georgia was already part of the Russian Empire, Ioane managed to expand the monastery and fresco the church. The Russian-style iconostasis was also built during his time, and both the frescoes and the iconostasis are still well preserved in the church. After the death of Ioane Makashvili in 1837, the theological school, the office of the Hegumenos* and the diocese of Bodbe were dissolved. From then on, the archimandrites** administered the monastery. * In the Orthodox Church, a hegumen is the head of a monastery, comparable to an abbot or abbess in the Roman Catholic Church. ** The archimandrite is one level above the hegumenos (abbot) in the hierarchy, and unlike the hegumenos, the archimandrite can administer several monasteries at the same time. Although the church of Bodbe no longer had the same status as before the 19th century, it continued to be maintained and restored. In the period between 1837 and 1888, two people were most involved with Bodbe Monastery: The first was Archimandrite Makari. He founded a school of hymnody in the monastery and invited the best teachers in the country. It was during his time, in 1862, that the construction of the new bell tower in the classicist style began, which was completed after a good 20 years (1885) under Archimandrite Nikoloz Mikeladze. The second person was the Russian-Georgian monk, historian and hagiographer Mikhail Sabinin. Among other things, he replaced the old tombstone of St Nino with a new marble one and campaigned hard for the opening of a nunnery in Bodbe. In 1888, the monastery was visited by the Russian Tsar Alexander III and his family, and exactly one year later a nunnery and a women's grammar school were opened in Bodbe by his personal order. The abbess (hegumene) of the convent was Yuvenalia from Russia, who had brought seven other nuns from her homeland to Georgia. The Bodbe convent was so popular that the seven nuns soon grew to 200. The only thing that bothered people in Bodbe, and in Georgia in general, was that the liturgies were in Russian and not Georgian, but this soon changed when Tamar Marjanishvili, a Georgian from a noble family, was appointed abbess (hegomene) in 1902. She devoted all her energy and strength to the convent, and succeeded in making Georgian compulsory in high school and in having church liturgies held in Georgian. During her time, the monastery was expanded and the stone wall around the monastery was built. (Later, when Tamar Marjanishvili was in charge of a nunnery in Russia, she was arrested by the Soviets and deported to Irkutsk). In the course of time, until the beginning of the 20th century, the Bodbe Monastery became a special place of pilgrimage not only in Georgia, but in the whole of Tsarist Russia, and as a sign of special recognition, the Russian Tsar Nicholas II proclaimed the Bodbe Monastery a monastery of the first rank in 1906. After Georgia was occupied by the Bolsheviks in 1921, the situation in the whole country changed, including Bodbe: the monastery was closed by the Soviets in 1924. The last hegumene (abbess) of the monastery before its closure was Elene Wachnadze, a very committed figure for the Church and society. After the closure of Bodbe, she spent the last years of her life in Tbilisi in the courtyard of the Anshishati Church and was buried in Bodbe. Her tomb is located at the southern entrance of the church. During the Soviet era, Bodbe's church was turned into a warehouse and then a museum. The buildings belonging to the convent, such as the secondary school and the nuns' dormitories, were converted into a hospital. Bodbe's church and convent were not reopened until after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, and have since been run by the Georgian Hegumene Theodora and some 50 other nuns. Things to know The main church, a three-nave basilica containing the tomb of the missionary Nino, is dedicated to St George. The Bodbe monastery was a men's monastery and only became a nunnery in 1889. The monastery was so popular that the Shah of Persia, Abbas I, personally attended the coronation of the Georgian king, Teimuraz I, at Bodbe. There is an icon of the Virgin Mary in the church, which is of great religious value to Georgians. During the Soviet era, this icon was used as a table in the hospital ward and was cut several times with a scalpel. The icon now hangs on the north wall of Bodbe Church. During the Soviet era, especially in the 1970s and 1980s, several nuns from different parts of the Soviet Union worked at Bodbe Hospital. Although they were not allowed to perform liturgies, they secretly performed short church rituals, fasted and prayed. Frescoes in the three-nave basilica Bodbe's three-nave basilica was decorated with frescoes in the 19th century. In addition to scenes from the Old Testament, the walls of the church depict the lives of St George and St Nino. Tomb of St Nino - Located in the three-nave basilica on the right, south side of the altar. Bell tower - The classicist brick bell tower stands about 10 metres west of the three-nave basilica. Completed in 1885 after 23 years of work, it is almost twice the height of the church. According to oral tradition, the new bell tower was built on the site of its older predecessor. The spring of Saint Nino and the ritual bath are located in the valley below the monastery, about 1 kilometre away. It can be reached on foot via the steps or by car via a small detour. According to oral tradition, the spring here was created by Saint Nino after long prayers and was used by the faithful for several centuries as holy water for healing. During the Soviet era, when the monastery was converted into a hospital, it was decided to set up a laundry on the site, but the water dried up and after several years the spring reappeared a few metres further down the valley. In 2004, a small chapel was built at the spring, dedicated to the parents of Saints Nino, Zabulon and Sosana. Next to the chapel is a small house with a ritual bath, where the water of the spring is poured in and the faithful are cured of spiritual and physical ailments by bathing three times. Newly built cross-domed church Work on the new cross-domed church in Bodbe began in 2012 and it will be dedicated to St Nino in 2019. It is located about 30 metres south-east of the three-nave basilica. Location The nunnery is located in the Kakheti region, 2 kilometres from Sighnaghi, in the village of Bodbe. On following trip, you will visit Kakheti |
