The Tadzrelebi
have been inappropriately linked to the Crusading Knights Templar who
fought with King David IV Arghdamenishabeli at the Battle of Didgori to defeat the Seljuk Turks and capture Tbilisi. But the Tadzrelebi
tradition is much older than the Christian Crusades. What follows is a
description of the history of the original Tadzrelebi and its
connections to Europe. These connections support the intent of
Georgia to rejoin the Euro-Atlantic community through NATO and the
European Union. There have been some misunderstanding of the purpose of
the Tadzrelebi and this article will answer some the questions as to why
the Tadzrelebi are truly a Georgian tradition that supports the nation
of Georgia and supports the traditions of the Georgian Orthodox
Church. The Original Tadzrelebi. According to some Georgian historians
(literal Georgian: ‘people of the temple’), predates the founding of the
Knights Templars of the Crusades. The Tadzrelebi probably began to
organize between the 5th but may have even older roots. As Georgian
monks founded monasteries in Palestine and Jerusalem as early as the
early 5th century.
The oldest
Georgian monastery discovered so far may be the one of St. Tevdore
[Theodore] in the Jordan desert near Bethlehem in Palestine. Abbot
Anthony left Georgia in 532 and worked in Palestine until 552 before
becoming a bishop elsewhere. He renovated or improved an
even older Georgian monastery whose royal and saintly founder is
mentioned in an inscription: ‘Saint Theodore, Maruan and Burzen … en’
and ‘… and born by breasts, Bakur and Griormizd, Christ forgive them.
Amen.’ Maruan was born in 409; son of Georgian King Bakur’s daughter,
Bakurduxt, and Burzen (or Buzmir), king of Iberia and Kartli. Persia and
Byzantium were then fighting over Georgia, which leaned toward the
Byzantines and Emperor Theodosios II (408-450) demanded King Burzen’s 12
year old son Maruan as hostage. From 422 onward Maruan was raised in
Constantinople by the emporer’s wife, Evdocia. At 20 years of age,
Maruan ran away to Palestine, to become a monk called Peter, co-named
the Iberian. From 429-444, Maruan-Peter, built several churches in
Palestine, including one and 8th centuries, Century, the monasteries
were protected by the Tadzrelebi. In Jerusalem Maruan-Peter also built a
monastery in the Jordan desert, and it is here that the ruins with
Georgian writing were found which date between 429 and 444. From other
sources we know that the king provided guards for the churches and
monasteries. Ancient texts tell that these Georgian Templars were fierce
fighters feared by their enemies. Consequently, one may say, the
temple-related tradition in Georgia is much older than the Knights
Templar. This conclusion is the subject of much Georgian pride and may
be recognized for its inherent value.
The
Tadzrelebi fully support the traditions of the Patriarchy and the
Georgian Orthodox Church. The Tadzrelebi and its members individually
were blessed as warrior-protectors of the Georgian Orthodox Church by
Archimandrite Eqvitime in a centuries-old ceremony at Annanuri that had
not been conducted in over 200 years (before the Russian occupation of
1781).
Although
Christianity was introduced to the highlands of Georgia by St. Nino
during the early 4th Christianity in west Georgia, anciently known as Colchis or Lazica, is commonly believed to date to the time of the Apostles. There exist several traditions in Georgia. One maintains that Mary, the Mother of Christ, dispatched the Apostle Andrew, the century,
the history of First Called, to preach the gospel in Georgia. Andrew
came to Georgia to find the Mantle of the Prophet Elijah, brought to
Mtskheta by Jews persecuted by Nebuchodonosor in the 6th century B.C.
Also, a seamless Chiton of Christ had been obtained after the
crucifixion of Christ and brought to Mtskheta . The Apostles
Matthias and St. Simon of Canaan preached in Georgia and both are buried
on the Georgia Black Sea coast. In addition, the Apostles Bartholomew
and Thaddeus visited East Georgia and preached there. It is from
Andrew’s founding of the Christian Church in west Georgia that the
Georgian Patriarch claims autocephalous descent directly from the
Apostles of Christ. Finally, the robe of Mary the Mother of Christ has
been kept for centuries in a monastery in West Georgia (now the museum of the Dadiani Palace in Zugdidi, Georgia) Tadzrelebli connections to the Royal House of Georgia – Bagration-Mukhrani or Mukhraneli. The Tadzrelebi honor the traditions of the Royal House of Georgia. The Royal House of Georgia claims to be one of the oldest Royal Houses in the world.
Georgia has
long historical contacts with German speaking Europe dating from at
least the 4th Century A.D. Zebulon, the father of Saint Nino of
Cappadocia who brought Christianity to Georgia in around 330 A.D.
(Armenia and Georgia fight over the honor of being the oldest
monarchical state to adopt Christianity), is revered as a German Saint along
the Rhine River for converting pagans. There was contact between
Frankish and Georgian knights at least during the Crusades. For example,
recent evidence strongly indicates that King Baldwin II of Jerusalem
was present with 100-200 Frankish knights in Georgia in August 1121 to
assist Georgian King Davit Aghdamenishebili (the Builder) defeat the
Seljuk Turks at the Battle of Didgori. In 1189, during the 3rd in
Georgia Petritsioni to discuss relations between Germans and Georgians
with the Byzantine Empire. Holy Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa
wanted his son to marry Queen Tamara of Georgia. During the reign of
Queen Tamar’s son-King Giorgi IV Lasha, Pope Honorius III called on
Georgia to participate in the 5th Crusade with the King of Hungary
Ardrosh II, Duke Leopold IV of Austria (Babenberg) and Duke Otto of
Meran. Before the king of Georgia Giorgi Lasha prepared for this crusade
– he received a relic of the Holy Cross from the Pope. In 1219, the
Crusaders took the city of Damietta (in Egypt) and it is stated in the
ecclesiastical annals of the Vatican: “in 1219. Georgians infused the
spirit of victory in the army of the crusaders.” Monk-chronicler
Volaterano wrote: “when the Sultan of Damascus surrounded Damietta, the
city came to the Georgians to take part in a holy war, which involved a
large part of Christianity.” Elsewhere in the same Chronicle it is said:
“Saracens were afraid. All have seen the power of Christians. Georgian
Crusaders fortified the fighting spirit that at last freed Damascus
itself.” Fast forwarding to the 19th for religious reasons. As members
of the Pietist sect, they desired to go to the Holy Land and await the
Second Coming of Christ. Since political factors did not allow that,
they appealed to the Russian Czar, then the new overlord over Georgia,
for permission to settle as close to Palestine as possible and to wait
for an opportunity to migrate further at a later time. As the Czar’s
mother and Grand-Duke Mikhail Pavlovich’s wife had been former
princesses from Wuerttemberg, the wish was granted. Within a few years
several colonies were established: Marienfeld, Elisabeththal, New Tiflis
(now part of Tbilisi), Alexandersdorf, Petersdorf, Katharinenfeld,
Helenenfeld and more, all of Crusade, Frederick I Barbarossa met the
abbot of a monastery Century, some 20,000 Germans migrated to settle in
Georgia. Three later colonies were founded in what is now Abkhazia:
Neudorf, Gnadenberg and Lindau. (Merab Surguladze)
http://templargeorgia.com/en/
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