Coordinates: 43°05′26″N 40°48′59″E / 43.09056°N 40.81639°E / 43.09056; 40.81639

Church of St. Simon the Canaanite, New Athos

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Likhni Church Aba-Ata
ლიხნის ეკლესია აბა-ათა (in Georgian)
Лыхнытәи ауахәама Абаҭаа (in Abkhaz)
Church of St. Simon the Canaanite, New Athos
Religion
AffiliationGeorgian Orthodox
ProvinceAbkhazia[1]
Ecclesiastical or organizational statusruins
Location
LocationGeorgia (country) New Athos, Gudauta District, Abkhazia, Georgia
Church of St. Simon the Canaanite, New Athos is located in Abkhazia
Church of St. Simon the Canaanite, New Athos
Shown within Abkhazia
Church of St. Simon the Canaanite, New Athos is located in Georgia
Church of St. Simon the Canaanite, New Athos
Church of St. Simon the Canaanite, New Athos (Georgia)
Geographic coordinates43°05′26″N 40°48′59″E / 43.09056°N 40.81639°E / 43.09056; 40.81639
Architecture
TypeChurch
Completed9th-10th century

The Church of St. Simeon the Canaanite (Georgian: წმინდა სვიმონ კანანელის სახელობის ტაძარი) is located near the town of New Athos in Gudauta District, Abkhazia/Georgia, dating from the 9th or 10th century.[2] Not to be confused with St Simon the Canaanite Basilica in Psirtskha village.[3]

History

The church is dedicated to St. Simon the Canaanite, who, according to the 11th-century Georgian Chronicles, preached Christianity in Abkhazia and Egrisi and died and was buried at the town of Nicopsia, to the north of Abkhazia.[4][5][6] A nearby grotto is associated by popular legends with the site of martyrdom of St. Simon.[7]

The church before the 1880s reconstruction

The design of the extant church dates to the 9th or 10th century[6] and is influenced by the Byzantine and Georgian art traditions,[8][6] but the church site seems to be two centuries older.[6] At the time when the Georgian historian Dimitri Bakradze visited it in the 1850s, the church was abandoned, but still standing except for the collapsed dome.[8] The church suffered greatly when the local landlord, Major Hasan Margani removed its blocks of stone for the construction of his own mansion.[7] Later, in the 1880s, the church was reconstructed, using blocks of white hewn stone, to its current state. The church is adorned with images of Christian symbols such as a fish, lion, and cross curved in relief.[6]

Current condition

Georgia has inscribed the church on its list of cultural heritage and treats it as part of cultural heritage in the Russian-occupied territories with no known current state of condition.[6]

References

  1. ^ The political status of Abkhazia is disputed. Having unilaterally declared independence from Georgia in 1992, Abkhazia is formally recognised as an independent state by 5 UN member states (two other states previously recognised it but then withdrew their recognition), while the remainder of the international community recognizes it as as de jure Georgian territory. Georgia continues to claim the area as its own territory, designating it as Russian-occupied territory.
  2. ^ St Simon the Canaanite church in Akhali Atoni settlement Historical monuments of Abkhazia — Government of the Autonomous Republic of Abkhazia.
  3. ^ St Simon the Canaanite Basilica in Psirtskha village Historical monuments of Abkhazia — Government of the Autonomous Republic of Abkhazia.
  4. ^ Lang, David Marshall (1976). Lives and legends of the Georgian saints. Mowbrays. p. 167.
  5. ^ Hewitt, George (2013). A Reassessment of the Georgian-Abkhazian and Georgian-South Ossetian Conflicts. Brill. p. 10. ISBN 978-9004248939.
  6. ^ a b c d e f Gelenava, Irakli, ed. (2015). Cultural Heritage in Abkhazia (PDF). Tbilisi: Meridiani. pp. 58–59.
  7. ^ a b Vvedensky, A.N. (1871). "Религиозные верования абхазцев [Religious beliefs of the Abkhaz]". Сборник сведений о кавказских горцах [Collection of reports about the Caucasian mountainous peoples] (in Russian). 5. Tiflis: 273–274.
  8. ^ a b Anchabadze, Zurab (1959). Из истории средневековой Абхазии [From the history of medieval Abkhazia]. Sukhumi: Abkhazia State Publishing. p. 152.
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