Catholic Church in Georgia

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The Coat of Arms of Catholic Church in Georgia

The Catholic Church in Georgia, since the 11th-century East–West Schism, has been composed mainly of Latin Church Catholics; a very large community of the Armenian Catholic Church has existed in Georgia since the 18th century.

A small

particular church of any level (exarchate, ordinariate, etc.), within the communion of Catholic Churches, and accordingly has never appeared in the list of Eastern Catholic Churches published in the Annuario Pontificio
.

History

Christianity in Georgia began in earnest with the

Georgian Orthodox Christianity then developed in the Byzantine Orthodox tradition, although contact with Rome did occur. The East–West Schism did not immediately sever communion between Georgia and the Holy See, although the break was recognized by the mid-13th century
.

Around this time, Catholic missionaries became active in Georgia, setting up small Latin communities. A Latin Church diocese was established at Tbilisi in 1329, but this was allowed to lapse after the appointment of the fourteenth and last of its line of bishops in 1507, owing to few numbers of Catholics.

In 1626, the

Theatine and Capuchin orders established new missions in Georgia. In the following centuries a community of Latin Catholics began to form, members of this community commonly being referred to as "French", which was the dominant nationality of the missionaries. Both orders were expelled by Tsar Nicholas I
in 1845.

However, an agreement between

Diocese of Tiraspol. This was based in Russia, but all Transcaucasian Catholics, including ethnic Georgians, were aggregated to it. The Russian part of that diocese is now called Saint Clement in Saratov
.

Towards the end of the 19th century, some Georgian Catholics wished to use the Byzantine Rite in Old Georgian, but were thwarted by the outlawing of Byzantine "Uniate" groups. Accordingly, since the tsars forbade their Catholic subjects to use the Byzantine Rite–and the Holy See did not promote its use among the Georgians–some clergy and laity adopted the Armenian Rite..

At

Montaubon, France. Both congregations survived until the late 1950s. The building that housed the male congregation of the Servites, Fery-Quoa, still stands in Istanbul, but is now in private ownership. Their clergy gave Georgian Catholics in Constantinople the possibility to worship in the Byzantine Rite in Old Georgian
, but, as is common for Eastern Catholics without a Hierarchy of their own, they were under the authority of the local Latin Catholic bishop.

Roman Catholic priest, and political emigre Fr. Michel Tamarati was the first to study the history of Catholicism in Georgia, eventually producing the oft-cited L'Église géorgienne des origines jusqu'à nos jours in French in 1911.[2]

Some Georgian nationalists associated the Georgian identity with the Orthodox faith and Catholics were called French to underline that they were not true Georgians.[3]

Inside the Roman Catholic cathedral of Tbilisi

Only after the granting of religious freedom during the Russian Revolution of 1905 did some Georgian Catholics resume the Byzantine Rite, without reaching the stage of having a separate diocese (particular Church) established for them.

At the outbreak of the

Volga River
.

In the brief period of Georgian independence between 1918 and 1921, some influential Georgian Orthodox expressed interest in reunification with the Holy See, and an envoy was sent from the Vatican in 1919 to examine the situation. As a result of the onset of the civil war and the Soviet invasion, this came to nothing.

In 1920, it was estimated that of 40,000 Catholics in Georgia, 32,000 were Latins and the remainder of the Armenian Catholics.[4]

According to Father Christopher Zugger, nine Servite missionaries from Constantinople, headed by

Soviet secret police in 1928, their imprisonment in the Gulag at Solovki prison camp, and their subsequent murder by Joseph Stalin's NKVD at Sandarmokh[6] in 1937.[7]

Organisation

St. Peter and Paul cathedral, Tbilisi

After the collapse of the

Azerbaijan. Since 1996 this has been headed by bishop Giuseppe Pasotto, who arrived in Tbilisi in 1993 and has lived in Georgia ever since. In an interview with Aid to the Church in Need, the bishop described the situation of the Catholic Church on his arrival, soon after the country had gained independence. "The only thing that was left of the Catholic Church was one open place of worship (the Church of St. Peter and St. Paul in Tbilisi). The communities that were scattered across rural areas had all been abandoned. The first thing we did was re-establish contact and then find additional priests from other countries and local churches to come and help us. And so we gradually began to rebuild the most important structures. It seems to me that the rosary saved the Catholic faith not only in Georgia, but in all Communist countries. The people came together in the houses to pray and the grandmothers were the ones who took responsibility."[8]

In the same interview, the bishop ranked ecumenical work as the main priority for the Church at present. "This is our first task and it is a very difficult one. Due to the legacy of its past, the Orthodox Church still has a hard time being open to this. The Catholics are well aware that they are a minority and often face discrimination and unfair treatment. You just need to remember the six churches that were confiscated and never given back, or the prohibition of interfaith marriages. The ecumenical path requires a great deal of patience and the constant search for new and potential opportunities for establishing relationships that could develop into bridges. Our university, where most of the students are non-Catholics, plays an important role in this."[9]

Armenian Catholic Georgians are in the care of the

Armenian Catholics in Eastern Europe, which was established on 13 July 1991, covering a vast area including Russia and Ukraine, much vaster than Georgia, which has some 400,000 faithful in all (Annuario Pontificio
2012).

Georgian Catholics of the Byzantine rite are said to have numbered 7,000 in 2005.

Theatine and Capuchin missionaries worked for reunion in Georgia, but under Imperial Russia in 1845, Catholics were not allowed to use the Byzantine Rite. Many Catholics adopted the Armenian Rite until the institution of religious liberty in 1905, which allowed them to return to the Byzantine Rite. In 1937, the Georgian Catholic exarch, Shio Batmanishvili (or Batmalishviii), was executed by the Soviets
.

Demographics and major churches

In 2020, 85.84% of the population adhered to Christianity; 1% were Catholic.[10] This is approximately 37,000 Catholics in Georgia.

They are mostly found either in

St Paul, and Mar Shimon Bar Sabbae Assyrian Chaldean Catholic Church in Saburtalo. A Neocatechumenal Way Mission involving priests, families in mission
and lay persons has been present in Sts Peter and Paul church since 1991, helping and leading the parish.

The Catholics in Tbilisi are mostly Georgians and Armenians, as well as a small Assyrian community of the Chaldean Rite.

This church also provides mass in English, catering for the growing Catholic expatriate population of

Europeans, Indians and Maltese. There are only about 1000 practicing Catholics in Tbilisi. Many other Catholic churches were confiscated by the Georgian Orthodox Church after the fall of communism when the state gave all church property back to the Georgian Orthodox church. Recently, a new seminary has been completed on the outskirts of Tbilisi

A Catholic church is also present in Sukhumi, in Abkhazia. Other Catholic Churches are found in Vale, Gori and in Batumi.

See also

References

  1. ^ Kaya, Önder (9 January 2013). "İstanbul'da GÜRCÜ Cemaati ve Katolik Gürcü kilisesi". Şalom Gazetesi (in Turkish). Retrieved 2020-04-13.
  2. .
  3. , retrieved 2023-10-25
  4. ^ "䍎䕗䄠☣ㄵ〻⁅慳瑥牮⁃慴桯汩挠䍯浭畮楴楥猠坩瑨潵琠䡩敲慲捨楥". www.cnewa.org. Archived from the original on 22 June 2006. Retrieved 11 January 2022.
  5. ^ Zugger 2001, p. 213.
  6. ^ Zugger 2001, p. 236.
  7. ^ Zugger 2001, p. 259.
  8. ^ ACN (2022-02-17). "Msgr. Pasotto: a protagonist in the rebuilding of the Catholic Church in Georgia after the Communist era". ACN International. Retrieved 2022-11-07.
  9. ^ ACN (2022-02-17). "Msgr. Pasotto: a protagonist in the rebuilding of the Catholic Church in Georgia after the Communist era". ACN International. Retrieved 2022-11-07.
  10. ^ World Religion Database 2020 at the ARDA website, retrieved 2023-08-03

Bibliography

External links