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| The Church of Saint Nicholas in Batumi |
ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΑ: Γεωργία: 200.000 μουσουλμάνοι επιστρέφουν στην Ορθοδοξία
In 1991, 75% of Adjarians in Georgia were Muslims. Today, they have become 75% Orthodox Christians. How can these conversions be explained, which is apparently unique in the world?
"What time do services begin at
Saint Nicholas in Batumi on Sunday morning?" The question embarrasses
the employee of the President Plaza, one of the largest institutions in
the city, a seat of the Autonomous Republic of Adjara and the Iranian
consulate. It is true that in this province of Georgia, washed by the
Black Sea, the population speaks little English. All signs, such as
signs in the streets, are in Georgian or Russian. The employee
eventually suggests joining the Church of Saint Nicholas at 9:00 AM. In
fact, the Service works strangely like a self-service. The faithful men,
women (head always covered) and children come and go as they please,
after long embracing of the icons and after they have crossed themselves
multiple times.
This curious to and fro takes
most of the morning. The priest can hardly talk to us, since he speaks
only Russian and Georgian. A female student, smiling, who graduated in
the language of Shakespeare, came to our rescue. We ask her the
question: "How is it that the majority of the inhabitants of the
Autonomous Republic of Adjara in Georgia, have in two decades abandoned
Islam for Orthodoxy?" The girl apologizes, caught unaware, and prefers
to dodge quickly.
Ottoman and Russian province
But the facts are there, Adjara,
conquered by the Ottomans in the seventeenth century, becomes
overwhelmingly Muslim. In 1878, this province of 3000 km2 falls into the
lap of the Russian Empire. In 1991, after the fall of communism and the
independence of Georgia, Adjara seceded. Until 2004, this "independent"
Republic is ruled by a dictator, a Muslim, Aslan Abashidze, now on the
run. Since then Adjara (400,000) has returned to the bosom of Georgia.
According to official documents,
in 1991, 75% of Adjarians were Muslims. They are now 75% Orthodox. How
can this mass conversion be explained? In a long interview published in
December 2012, Metropolitan Dimitri of Batumi (the capital of Adjara),
also nephew of Ilia II, Patriarch of Georgia, says he was appointed
parish priest of St. Nicholas in Batumi in 1986. At that time, there was
only one Orthodox church in Batumi.
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| The Great Mosque in Batumi |
"It is God's will"
Dimitri states that "the
metamorphosis of an entire region, this conversion from Islam to
Orthodoxy, or rather the return to basics, to the faith of their
ancestors," took place before his eyes. On 13 May 1991 "5000 Muslims and
atheists became Orthodox. The same year the Church opened a school in
Khulo, an ecclesiastical high school named Saint Andrew, the first
religious high school in the USSR." The Metropolitan of Batumi says that
Adjarians were forcibly converted to Islam by the Ottomans though, in
fact, they remained Christian at heart. According to his statement, they
continued to secretly wear a cross, they painted Easter eggs, and they
retained the icons in their homes.
Dimitri adds that many priests
come from Muslim families. The rector of the seminary is the grandson of
a mullah, formed in Istanbul. How can one explain the conversions
brought forward on the website Provoslavie i mir (Orthodoxy and
the World): "It is God's will. It is a miracle of God, for unexplained
reasons that could not have been predicted," says Dimitri.
Missionaries from Turkey
The Great Mosque of Batumi is a
few blocks from the Church of Saint Nicholas, near the port. First
observation: it is actually a lot less crowded than the Orthodox place
of worship. Nevertheless, some local publications were denouncing a
"return to Islam supported by Turkey." But during our stay in Adjara, we
have not seen this "Islamic Turkish fairly consistent presence" due to
"the influx of missionaries," including disciples of the Turkish
preacher Süleyman Hilmi Tunahan.
The Sarpi border entrance with
Turkey is only twenty kilometers from Batumi. If the capital of Adjara
became overwhelmingly Christian, however, the small villages in the
mountains of Adjara have not yet denied the Prophet. The village of
Khulo, more than two hours away from the Black Sea, has a mosque and a
madrasa. We were told that some seniors continue to speak Turkish, but
we cannot verify it.
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| Peaceful coexistence of Muslims and Christians in Batumi |
A national and Orthodox state
For the visitor from the
outside, the two religions appear to coexist smoothly. The Adjarians
tell you without hesitation directions to the church or the nearest
mosque. Nobody mentions any persecution vis-à-vis minority religions.
However, these mass conversions remain taboo. Especially as the other
Muslims of Georgia (about 10% of the population) do not seem to adopt
Orthodoxy as quickly. Including Kistins, ethnic Chechens near the border
with Chechnya and Dagestan, and Shiites in eastern Georgia, neighboring
Azerbaijan.
"We must understand that the
Orthodox Church is a fundamental pillar of our national identity. In the
past, we have been invaded by all our great neighbors, the Persians,
the Ottomans, the Russians. If there had not been the cement of
religion, there would be no longer any people of Georgia," said Alina
Okkropiridze, former journalist and translator. After seventy years of
state atheism, at the time of the USSR, Zviad Gamsakhurdia, the first
Georgian president, wanted to create a "national and Orthodox" state.
His successor, Eduard Shevardnadze, former Minister of Foreign Affairs
of the USSR, took care "to announce his conversion to Orthodoxy, to be
baptized and to choose as his spiritual director Patriarch Ilia II, the
head of the Georgian Church since 1977," says the Swiss website Religioscope.
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| Batumi, the city of the future |
Dismantling of a minaret
Clearly, over the last two
decades, the powers, the media, and nationalist parties have have
constantly repeated that a true Georgian must foremost be Orthodox. Is
it enough to explain, as stated by Metropolitan Dimitri, "the return to
the faith of their ancestors" of the Adjarians? At the end of August, in
the district of Adiguéni, in southwest Georgia, the authorities
dismantled a minaret on the grounds that customs duties were not paid
for construction materials. Muslims who opposed the destruction of the
building were arrested. "A very 'unrthodox' way to act that just aims
for the exile of the Muslim people," complains one local site in an
article titled "Georgia: the minaret of discord."
Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
An Interview With Metropolitan Dimitri of Batumi and Lazeti
Orthodoxy in Georgia
St Nino (Nina), Equal of the Apostles and Enlightener of Georgia
Saint Ekvtime Taqaishvili of Georgia, the Man of God (1863-1953)
Many Muslims Baptized After the Death of Fr. Daniel Sisoev
Paul, the Christian equivalent to Mohammed
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