Malkhaz Songulashvili
In Georgia, beginning in the late 1980s, every faith group began to enjoy the freedom to revive religious life. Understandably, the Georgian Orthodox Church assumed a more prominent role in the life of Georgian society than others, but nobody minded since other groups were also given freedom to develop their own ministries. One of the clear symbols of this time of change was the publication in 1989 of the first complete translation of the Bible since 1742, with the blessing of the Georgian Orthodox Church and with the active participation of the Evangelical Christian Baptist Church.1
Catholic Renewal
In the late 1980s, Roman Catholics had only one active church for the three Transcaucasian countries of Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. Fr. Ian Sezinski, a Polish priest, served all three countries for almost two decades. In the late 1980s, the Catholic faith was revived in traditionally Catholic villages and towns, mostly in southern Georgia. After independence in 1992, a Vatican embassy was established in Tbilisi. Both the first papal nuncio, Archbishop Jean Paul Gobel, and his successors invested great energy in reviving the Catholic faith in traditionally Catholic areas. In 1992 Archbishop Gobel brought two Stigmatini monks from Italy— Giuseppe Passotto and Gabriel Bragantini. One was established in Tbilisi and one in Kutaisi to revive church life. Both learned the Georgian language. In 2000 Giuseppe Passotto was consecrated in Rome as the first Catholic bishop of Georgia.
Armenian Apostolic and Lutheran Renewal
In the Soviet era, the 300,000-strong ethnic Armenian community had only two churches in Georgia, both in Tbilisi. But after 1992, Armenian Apostolic church life was revived among ethnic Armenians. Closed Armenian churches were reopened in South Georgia where there is a compact Armenian population in the region of SamtskheJavakheti. After the death of Romanian-born Archbishop Gevork Seraidarian (1932-2002), who led the Armenian Diocese in Georgia for almost 20 years a new bishop, Vazgen Mirzakhanian, was appointed by the Catholicos of all Armenians, Karekin II. No active Lutheran Church was left in Georgia by the time of the collapse of the Soviet Union. The large Lutheran Church in Tbilisi was blown up in 1945. Paul Tillich’s disciple Gert Hummel, a professor of Saarland University, Saarbrüken, Germany, and honorary professor of Tbilisi State University, began the revival of the Lutheran Church among people of German ethnic background. Because of his and his wife’s tireless work, the Lutheran faith was revived and churches reestablished in Tbilisi (1992), Sukhumi (1995), and Rustavi (1998). Hummel even sold his personal property in Germany to build a new church on the grounds of the old Lutheran cemetery, which was returned to him by President Edward Shevardnadze’s special decree.
Evangelical Christian Baptist Renewal
The story of the Evangelical Christian Baptists (ECBs) in this period was entirely different from the revivalist work of other Christian communities in Georgia. Its missiology would not allow it to concentrate on any particular ethno-linguisticgeographical group. Instead, it worked with the entire Georgian population. Its primary concern was the revival of the Christian faith and preaching the Gospel to those who had never heard it; evangelism became its priority. On the verge of the breakup of the Soviet Union, the congregations of the Georgian Evangelical Christians-Baptists declared their independence from the All-Union Council of Evangelical Christians-Baptists (AUCECB). Within two years, they had shortened their name to Evangelical Christian Baptist Church of Georgia.
The Rise of Religious Nationalism
The void left by the abolition of Communist ideology in many parts of the Soviet Union was filled by religion. Majority religions in all the former Soviet republics made efforts to revive religious nationalism. In reaction to Soviet suppression, Georgian nationalism, as well, acquired strong religious characteristics. Religious nationalism emerged as part of political discourse during the reign of the first president of Georgia, Zviad Gamsakhurdia (1990-1992), and has been a principal feature of all the governments of Georgia since.
The Constitutional Agreement on Orthodoxy
In such a situation, the Georgian Orthodox Church acquired a political function in deploying religion to legitimize secular authority, but for this it sought something in return, namely formal recognition by the state. For the implementation of this project, the Orthodox Church first sought support from other religious groups. For the first time, both the state and the Georgian Orthodox Church agreed to designate as “traditional” the Armenian Apostolic Church, the Roman Catholic Church, the Evangelical Christian Baptist Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church, the Jewish community, and Islam. In return, the Orthodox and the government asked these groups to lend their support to the Constitutional Agreement that was to grant the Orthodox Church special privileges and rights. Subsequently, the state provided a venue in Georgia’s Parliament for negotiations between Orthodox and other traditional religious communities. As a result of the negotiations, individual common declarations were signed.
Ultimately, on 14 October 2001, the president and the patriarch signed the Constitutional Agreement at Svetitskhoveli Cathedral in Mtskheta in the presence of leaders of traditional churches and religious groups, giving the Orthodox Church legal status in the Georgian Constitution and granting it a number of rights and privileges. Some Georgian lawyers maintained that, as a result, the Georgian government was building a clerical state.2 But nobody would believe them. With the signing of the Constitutional Agreement, religious nationalism was ascendant and the Georgian Orthodox Church acquired legal means to strengthen its position in Georgian society.
Georgian Folk Christianity
Through the centuries, Georgians developed their own cultural and folk Christianity, including the very strange practice of animal sacrifice, which has not always been compatible with institutional Orthodox faith. In the mountains of Georgia, people still hold fast to their religious traditions and practices, which parallel Orthodox Church life. These beliefs and practices, which are especially strong in more isolated mountain communities, are identified in Georgia as mamapapebis rwmena (faith of the ancestors).
Faith in ancestors was also one of the main challenges for Evangelical Christian Baptists, even prior to the breakup of the Soviet Union. Evangelical Christian Baptists worked hard to return the religious character to the practices of folkloric Christianity, interpreting and reinterpreting them in the light of the Christian Gospel. Inspired by folkloric feasts, Evangelical Christian Baptists developed Gospeloriented Christian feasts that were celebrated in the open air. For instance, the Feasts of the Ascension and the Transfiguration and Easter morning worship are always celebrated in the open air. These services also attract many young people, both from the Baptist and Orthodox traditions. Very much like some traditional folk feasts, they are celebrated among picturesque mountains, which bring the beauty of creation and liturgy together.
The Cross, Icons, and Candles
Veneration of the cross has been particularly characteristic of Christianity from early times. However, in public worship, early Evangelical Christian Baptists in Georgia were heavily influenced by the iconoclastic tradition of Russian and East European Baptists. The cross in Russian ECB spirituality was, and still is, a particularly unacceptable symbol, which is associated with Orthodoxy and the Orthodox persecution of dissent. Nevertheless, while in Georgia the ECB discouraged the wearing of personal crosses, privately everyone owned and displayed crosses and icons at home. Reverend Giorgi Bolgashvili was the first Georgian Baptist minister who tried to reintroduce the cross in a worship setting, but because of pressure from Russian Baptists, he had to give up the attempt. With the breakup of the Soviet Union and the regaining of ecclesial independence from Moscow, Guram Kumelashvili, the first head of newly independent Evangelical Christian Baptists, reintroduced the cross on the façade of the cathedral of the Baptist Church in 1992. Further reforms in the church introduced icons as a part of artistic renewal in a devotional setting in 1997-1998. Candles were also legitimized as the liturgical movement within the church made headway. Thus, the most important obstacle to sharing the Gospel with the Georgian people— iconoclasm (opposition to the visual portrayal of images of the divine)—gave way to the Eastern spiritual practices that were embedded in Georgian culture and reinterpreted by Evangelical Christian Baptists.
Previous ECB iconoclasm was a clear indicator for Georgians that the message the ECB preached was foreign and therefore not worthy of even being heard. By giving up the iconoclastic tradition, Evangelical Christian Baptists came closer to the people. The language of art and symbols is the language that Georgian people listen to and understand. In the past, ECB evangelists had to argue with those whom they evangelized that none of the elements of the Georgian cultural expression of spirituality were valuable, and consequently the practice of using crosses, candles, and icons was idolatrous. In its new evangelistic practice, the ECB does not condemn icons, candles, or crosses; rather, its preachers interpret them in the process of sharing the Gospel. Something that was considered the enemy of evangelism in the Russian ECB tradition became a friend to evangelistic endeavor.
Georgian Baptist Institutional Revival
In the Soviet era in Georgia, 40 Orthodox churches, 13 Baptist churches, six synagogues, two mosques, and one Catholic church were officially registered.3 At that time, ten Baptist churches were Russian-speaking, one was Armenian-speaking, one was Ossetian-speaking, and only one was Georgianspeaking. The Communists were reluctant to let Georgian Baptists officially establish Georgianspeaking churches outside Tbilisi, forcing Georgians to travel from rural villages to attend services. Since Georgian Baptists from the beginning had strong sacramental aspirations and practices, every member of the congregation made the effort to be at the Tbilisi church for the Eucharist, which was celebrated once a month. This congregation, which was later to become the cathedral of the Baptist Church in Georgia, was the mother church for most ECB churches in the country.
With the arrival of religious freedom, almost all those who were attending services in Tbilisi once a month, because of the distance, requested that the Tbilisi church send ministers to their villages. In the early 1990s, the church office was receiving so many requests that the five ordained and four lay ministers were not able to accommodate them all. For this reason, the Theological Seminary in Gurjaani was established in 1993. Students, primarily from the Tbilisi Baptist congregation, traveled to Gurjaani once a month for intensive courses in biblical studies, theology, and pastoral ministry. The seminary was established by a medical doctor, L. Akhalmosulishvili, and Tbilisi State University lecturer Malkhaz Songulashvili. In ten years, 83 students graduated from the seminary, and most were immediately engaged in the ministry of the ECB. They became the core group that was responsible for the enculturation of reforms.
Liturgical Renewal
Liturgical renewal in the ECB community had strong evangelistic motivations. Very much like the Orthodox Church, the ECB considered the liturgy the main means of evangelism. The order of the liturgy was designed in such a manner that, regardless of when worshipers joined the service (at the beginning, middle, or end), they would be able to hear the core message about the unconditional love of God toward human beings. The Word and sacrament have become more prominent in the liturgical life of the church, since both are considered important means for communicating the message of the Gospel. In fact, the ECB considers both the Word and the Eucharist equally sacramental. This should not be considered in contrast to the ancient understanding of the Word and sacrament, since evidence exists that Word and sacrament were considered equally important in the early church. Theologian Steven R. Harmon studied this subject for the publication Baptist Sacramentalism. 4 In conclusion, Harmon wrote, “If the function of Scripture in Gregory of Nyssa’s Catechetical Oration points in the direction of a sacramentality of the word, then so does the function of scripture in the worship of Baptist churches.”5
Harmon also refers to the writing of the sixth-century Gallican bishop, Caesarius of Arles, a bishop of the undivided church, who was even more explicit about the sacramental meaning of the Word than Gregory of Nyssa in the fourth century: I ask you, brothers and sisters—tell me: What seems greater to you, the Word of God or the Body of Christ? If you will give a true reply, you surely must say that the former is no less than the latter. Therefore with as great anxiety as we show when Christ’s Body is ministered to us, lest nothing fall out of our hands onto the ground, with as great anxiety we should see to it that God’s Word which is dispensed to us may not perish from our hearts because we are thinking or talking about something else.6
New Prominence for the Word in Georgian Baptist Worship
In the renewed liturgical tradition of the ECB, following its independence from Russian Baptists, the Word became more prominent than it had ever been. Baptist churches in the former Soviet Union did not have any practice of liturgical reading of passages from the Bible lectionary. Preachers would read New Testament texts primarily as they preached, but there would be no specific place for Bible reading, especially with the participation of laity, as a distinct moment in the order of the service. By contrast, in the Georgian-speaking church, a liturgical dynamic developed around the Word (the Book of the Gospels), which is brought solemnly into the church in procession and placed at the altar. In the Evangelical Baptist Peace Cathedral, the reading of the Book of the Gospels is announced by blowing the shofar, a Jewish trumpet made of a ram’s horn, after which the book is read, preached, dramatized, and shared in the language of choreography, music, and iconography. One more characteristic of the evangelistic nature of the ECB liturgy is a clear commitment to the understandability of the entire celebration for those who attend the service, even for the first time. The language of the liturgy is modern, and ancient liturgical texts are translated into modern Georgian.
The Eucharist also became a more explicitly Gospel-proclaiming act, in which Christ’s saving and loving actions are solemnly celebrated. The entire setting of the Eucharist—the solemn procession of the Eucharistic elements, readings from the Bible lectionary, preaching, drama, liturgical dance, icons, chanting, and singing—all these have been instrumental in confessing Christ, both to the faithful and to the world, and in proclaiming the Gospel of salvation. An equally important aspect of the liturgy is sending—the dismissal at the end of the service when the minister or bishop blesses the faithful to go out of the church and act as agents of God’s love in the world.
In Georgian spirituality, beauty has always been an important means for communicating the message of divine love. The ECB realized that both “ephemeral” arts (dance, music, drama) and “lasting” arts (icons, liturgical objects, banners, and vestments) can be means for communicating the Gospel. Such has been especially true for iconography.
Notes:
- The translation of the Bible was commissioned by Catholicos Patriarch Ilia II in the early 1980s. The translators—Orthodox (Z. Kiknadze, B. Bregvadze); Baptist (Malkhaz Songulashvili); and Jewish (N. Babalikashvili)—were recruited by the catholicos patriarch from Tbilisi State University. The paper and cover material for the publication of the Bible were donated by the United Bible Society. Fifty-three thousand copies of the Bible were printed by the state press, out of which 50,000 belonged to the Orthodox Church and 3,000 to the Baptist Church.
- V. Loria and B. Gelashvili, “Beware, Georgian Government is Building a Clerical State,” Morning Newspaper, 24 March 2001, 9.
- Statistics on Religion in Georgia (Tbilisi: 1972), 3.
- Steven R. Harmon, “The Sacramentality of the Word in Gregory of Nyssa’s Catechetical Oration: Implications for a Baptist Sacramental Theology” in Baptist Sacramentalism, ed. by Anthony R. Cross and Philip E. Thompson, Vol. 2 (Milton Keynes: Paternoster, 2008), 238-53.
- Harmon, “Sacramentality of the Word,” 252.
- Caesarius of Arles, “Sermons,” Fathers of the Church, Vol.1 (Washington, D.C.: Catholic University Press, 1956), 361.
Edited excerpts reprinted from Malkhaz Songulashvili, Evangelical Christian Baptists of Georgia: The History and Transformation of a Free Church Tradition (Waco, TX: Baylor University Press, 2015), 230-41. Reprinted by permission of Baylor University Press.
Malkhaz Songulashvili is Associate Professor of Comparative Theology at Ilia State University, Tbilisi, Georgia, and Metropolitan Bishop of Tbilisi of the Evangelical Christian Baptist Church of Georgia. Editor’s note: The concluding portions of this article will be published in future issues of the East-West Church and Ministry Report.
Editor’s note: The concluding portions of this article will be published in future issues of the East-West Church and Ministry Report.