Ambrosius of Georgia (Khelaia)
Ambrosius of Georgia (Besarion Khelaia) (b. September 7, 1861, Martvili – d. March 29, 1927, Tbilisi) was the Catholicos-Patriarch of Georgia from 1921 to 1927.
He was born in Martvili. He graduated from Tbilisi Theological Seminary in 1885. From 1887 to 1896, he was a priest in Sochi and then in Sokhumi. He was also a supervisor and a teacher of the Georgian language at the ecclesial-parochial schools of Sokhumi, New Athos and Likhni.
In 1897, he studied at the Kazan Theological Academy and was ordained as a monk there in 1900. After graduating from the Academy in 1901, he was appointed as the Archimandrite of the Chelishi Monastery (Racha). In 1904, he was transferred to Tbilisi as a member of the Synodal office and as the abbot of the Monastery of Transfiguration.
In the 1890s, Ambrosius fought against the tsarism policies in Abkhazia.
Ambrosius actively fought for the restoration of the independence (autocephaly) of the Georgian Church. Because of this, he was exiled to Russia in 1905 with other supporters of autocephaly. In 1908, Ambrosius was accused of participating in the murder of Exarch Nikon. He was acquitted in 1910, but was not allowed to return to his homeland. After his arrival in Georgia (August 1917), Ambrosius was the Metropolitan of Chkondidi, and then of Abkhazia and Sokhumi, Catholicos of Georgia from September 1921.
Ambrosius collected and researched Georgian historical antiquities, published letters about the political, cultural and ecclesiastical past and contemporary situation of Georgia in the St. Petersburg and Georgian periodical press under the pseudonym “Amberi”. The description and study of manuscripts and other antiquities found in Racha by Ambrosius in 1902–1903 is noteworthy. He printed this material in the magazine “Gantiadi” and “Tskhovreba”.
Ambrosius discovered the Chelishi version of The Conversion of Kartli. He talked about it at the session of the Historical and Ethnographic Society of Georgia in 1907, and printed it as a separate book in 1911.
Ambrosius often preached in different parts of Georgia, his speeches contributed to the consolidation of the Georgian nation. Ambrosius's speech, which he delivered at the funeral of I. Chavchavadze in the Sioni Cathedral (September 8, 1907), is noteworthy.
In February 1922, Ambrosius sent a memorandum to the Genoa International Conference demanding the withdrawal of the Red Army from Georgia. As a result, he was arrested.
He was released in 1926 and became the Catholicos again, but died soon after.
He is buried in Sioni Cathedral.
In 1995, he was canonized by the Georgian Orthodox Church and named Saint Ambrose the Confessor (2013). He was granted the title of National Hero of Georgia.
Literary works: ჭელიშის ვარიანტი „ქართლის მოქცევისა“, ტფ., 1911; მე შევასრულე ჩემი მოვალეობა, «მნათობი», 1988, № 10.
Literature: ჭიჭინაძე ზ., ნიკოლოზ ბესარიონის ძე ღოღობერიძე და ქართული სტამბა. 1672–1913, ტფ., [1913]; Духовный вестник Грузинского экзархата. Проложение, 1900, № 6.
B. Lominadze
