Georgian Jerusalem
Description:
The route to the Georgian monasteries of the past will begin in the monastery of St. George. Nicholas the Wonderworker in the Old City of Jerusalem near the Jaffa Gate. It is about this monastery that Archimandrite Leonid (Kavelin) mentions, informing that it was built by “Queen Helen of Kahetin, in monasticity Elisabeth.” Nikolsky Monastery is one of the few places where Georgian inscriptions remain. Having got acquainted with them and the amazing history of that very Helena-Elizabeth, we will proceed further.
The next point on our way is the monastery of St. Feodorov, which once served as a haven for pilgrims from the Trebizond Empire. Here we will talk about Theodoros themselves and, of course, about the connection of Trebizond with Georgia.
Bypassing the former Georgian territory, on which the Greco-Orthodox Vasilievsky Monastery stands today, where there is no access now, we proceed to the Franciscan Monastery (Holy Saviour), standing on land acquired from Georgian Christians in 1560.
The real pearl of Orthodox Jerusalem is the Catherine Monastery of Georgian construction. In the late nineteenth century, the monastery hosted Russian pilgrims, and now belongs to the Greek Orthodox Church.
The next stop is in the tiny amazing monastery of Little Panagia, from where we will proceed to the monastery of John the Forerunner, where one of the greatest shrines of Orthodoxy is stored here - a fragment of the relics of John the Forerunner, once belonging to the Georgian kings.
After examining the inscriptions left by Georgian pilgrims on the columns of the Temple of the Resurrection, we will go to the Jewish quarter, where the monastery of St. George, built according to the Georgian tradition by the princes of Dodiani themselves, is located.
If we have enough time, we will go to a modern Georgian restaurant in West Jerusalem for lunch, and if not, then after eating in the Old City, we will go to the famous Cross Monastery, which is the largest, most important and most majestic monument of Georgian presence in the Holy Land.
When I was doing this itinerary for the travel club of the portal loweisrael, they shot a small plot based on the materials of the walk.