Abkhazian Eparchy: there are no Georgian churches and monasteries in Abkhazia

The Abkhazian Eparchy has refuted the statement of President of Georgia Saakashvili about liquidated Georgian Orthodox churches and monasteries in Abkhazia, and declared that there are no Georgian churches and monasteries as such in Abkhazia.

According to Leon Adzindzal, Office Secretary of the Eparchial Administration of Abkhazia, the New-Athon Monastic Complex was built in the 19th century by the Russian monks who arrived from the Athon Sacred Mountain.

"Not a single day, the Monastery was under protection of the Georgian Church," he has emphasized.

As to the Kamanskiy Monastery, according to Adzindzal, it was restored before 1917 by the Russian Orthodox Church and was called the Women's Vasilisko-Zlatoustovskiy Monastery. The Drandskiy and Mokvskiy Monasteries were also under protection of the Moscow Patriarchy.

"The history knew a period of coexistence, namely, the Abkhazian-Imereti Catholicosate, but today the Abkhazian Eparchy exists by its own. Although the Eparchy is still experiencing certain difficulties of canonical formation, there are no problems with evangelism, restoration of temples, and inflow of believers and cloisterers in Abkhazia. What kind of desolation can we talk about?" Leon Adzindzal has emphasized.

The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent reports that today Abkhazia has two large working monasteries - the New-Athon and Kamanskiy Monasteries, and 132 Orthodox communities.

Before the 1992-1993 Georgian-Abkhazian war, Abkhazia had one working Kamanskiy Monastery and six communities.