GEORGIAN PATRIARCHATE AND THE KORDI VILLAGE

Abstract

For centuries the Georgian patriarchate owned lands in the Patara Liakhvi Gorge. The lands were donated to the patriarchate by the king’s family, as well as noblemen. The active relations between the church and the villages of the region are proved in various documents and sources. One of the oldest historical documents that has reached us is the tax exemption charter of 1392 of the patriarchate villages of Kartli-KakhetiMeskheti, where various villages of Patara and Didi Liakhvi Gorges are mentioned. Among them was the Kordi village. In the charter of Alexandre I the Great (dated 1431) the king gave Virsha monastery and the Kordi village to Svetitskhoveli church. The Kordi Village is also mentioned in the charter dated by 1532-1548, according to which, Levan, king of Kakheti, gave to archbishop of Kartli, Malakia, lands in Shida Kartli, including the Kordi village. It is interesting that the kings of Kakheti had significant rights over the villages in Shida Kartli, which is attested by various historical sources. It seems that for some time the Kordi village, along with some other villages, was not owned by the patriarchate, which is proved by the document of the first half of the 16th century, which refers to the lost lands of the patriarchate. According to the documents of the later period, the Kordi village was given to the house of Gedevanishvili by the patriarchate. The Gedevanishvilis were regarded as “Mtskhetishvilebi” and they even commanded the catholicos’ army. During the 2nd half of the 18th century the Georgian Orthodox Church controlled 13 peasant families in the Kordi village. The presence of the ecclesiastic peasants is attested by the 1802 census.