GEORGIA |
Published in Georgia 
- Social interactions and entertainment - 1 - 28 Jan 21 03:49
Georgia the country (officially the Republic of Georgia) is a rising destination for its mountains, wines, beaches, and rich culture at the crossroads of Europe, Asia and the Middle East.
1. Georgia Basics: Where What?Georgia the country is geographically located in southwest Asia, identifies itself as European, and can be geopolitically considered the Middle East. Which gets confusing. As a shape, it resembles a squashed panini crammed between the Sochi part of Russia and eastern Turkey, with a short coastline on the east edge of the Black Sea. It’s about half the size of Georgia the state with about a third of the population (3.7 million to over 10.5 million).
It uses its own alphabet. Literally nobody else uses the Georgian writing except the Georgians. Are they being stubborn? Probably. And incidentally, Georgia doesn’t call itself Georgia. Its official name is Sakartvelo. So the easiest way to tell the difference between the Georgias is to call the country Sakartvelo (as Lithuania started doing this year) and let Georgia the state keep its name. Easy.
Georgia the state is so fond of toast that its chefs concocted a peach French toast using the state’s famed fruit. But Georgia the country takes toast to far greater heights. No country toasts food and drink and friends the way the country does.
To toast, or dalotsva, literally means to say a prayer. Toasts come at each course of sprawling meals that last hours, often with a set toastmaster, or tamada, giving philosophical, quick-witted, emotional stories with every raising of the goblet.
The Katskhi complex is unique. Atop the column is a church built in the 6th to 8th centuries dedicated to Maximus the Confessor, a 7th century monk. Theres also a burial chamber, a wine cellar, a curtain wall and three hermit cells.
Each day, monks living below make the nerve-jangling 20-minute ascent via a thin metal ladder bolted to the side of the rock. The daily pilgrimage to say prayers at the top is said to bring them closer to God.
Until 2015, theyd also encounter Father Maxime Qavtaradze, who spent most of his time there for 20 years and was the last monk to live on top. Qavtarade built a new church on the rock in 1995.
Beneath the column or rock stands the newly constructed church of Simeon Stylites, the monastery and the ruins of an old wall and belfry.
Today, the pillar is still celebrated for being one of the most sacred landmarks on Earth. Local monks are now the only people on the planet who are allowed to take the 20-minute climb up the steel ladder on the side of the column to the very top.
Climbing from the monastery positioned below to the church above is a daily pilgrimage they believe is the best way to offer themselves to God.
Only men from a religious order are now allowed to climb the stairway to the heavens. Women have not been allowed to scale the column at any point in history.
The head of the monastery, Leader Ilarion, tells CNN Travel that since 2018, the public have been banned from scaling the pillar to visit the church on top by an edict from Patriarch Ilia II, the spiritual leader of the Georgian Orthodox Church.
The Patriarch passed an order stating that only the monks can enter the church at the top of the pillar. Until he overturns that order, we are not allowed to let any visitors up, Ilarion says.
Though theyre now among those banned from the top, residents are proud of their local landmark, venerated the world over as a pillar of life and a symbol of the true cross.
Local George Tsertsvadze says the restrictions will help preserve Katskhis sanctity.
Only religious people can go up and we respect that decision, he tells CNN Travel. Its partly to protect the buildings, but also to ensure that the site remains holy.
The pillar itself remained unclimbed by anyone from outside Katskhi until 1944, when an expedition led by Georgian mountaineer Alexander Japaridze and writer Levan Gotua headed to the top for a more comprehensive study.
At that time the buildings on top of the pillar were thought to have been constructed in the 5th to 6th centuries, but that estimate was later revised to the 9th and 10th centuries by the Georgian National Museum.
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Comments (1)
31 Jul 25 00:22
Sir BarbodGeorgia is beautiful country...
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