Molit – Surb Gevorg (Saint George) church

The church was established in the 60s of the 19th century.

Establishment of the church: Surb Gevorg (Saint George) church in the village of Molit (27 km north-east of Akhalkalaki) was founded in the mid-60s of the 19th century. Data about this is provided by the archival documents of Georgia and Imeretian Dioceses of the Armenian Apostolic Church. The church was mentioned in the Diocesan church bulletins of 1867 with the name Surb Gevorg [1]. As of 1885, it was a structure built of stone and covered with wood [2].

Surb Gevorg church was badly damaged by the famous earthquake on December 19, 1899 [3]. In 1903 steps were undertaken in order to renovate the church [4]. During the first decade of the 20th century, the main capital of the church was 17 rubles and 4 kopeks in silver [5]; the number of parishioners was about 368 [6].

The church is standing now.

Besides Surb Gevorg church, the village also had one more church and a medieval chapel. The first one was built of hewn stone, tin-plated single-ship structure. The chapel was located on the northern high edge of the village [7].

Architecture: Surb Gevorg church was built of mixed stone. It has a hall-type. The external dimensions are 14.2×9.38 m. Semicircular windows are on the northern and southern walls. The entrance is from the western side. The walls are partially painted. On the eastern side, two stairs high is the Holy Altar.

Priests: Rev. Father Alexander Simonyants [8], Rev. Father Ter-Galustyants [9] were priests of Surb Gevorg church in Molit village in the 60s and 70s of the 19th century. The data are taken from the church registers.

School: The Diocesan schools bulletin of 1906 does not provide any information about church parish school in the village of Molit [10].

Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church in Georgia

Armenian Historical and Cultural Heritage Research Center in Georgia

[1] NAA, ֆ. 53, ց. 1, գ. 3851, թ. 12-ի շր.-13.

[2] ''Ardzaganq'', 1885, N 3, p. 43.

[3] S. Karapetyan, Javakheti, Yerevan, 2006, p. 402.

[4] NAA, ֆ. 53, ց. 1, գ. 3423, թթ. 1-3 և շրջ.

[5] NAA, ֆ. 56, ց. 16, գ. 475, թ. 431-ի շրջ.-432.

[6] NAA, ֆ. 35, ց. 1, գ. 174, թ. 60.

[7] S. Karapetyan, in the same place.

[8] NAA, ֆ. 53, ց. 2, գ. 4003, թ. 1-ի շրջ.-2.

[9] NAA, ֆ. 53, ց. 2, գ. 4015, թ. 2-ի շրջ.-3.

[10] NAA, ֆ. 35, ց. 1, in the same place.