Iberian Monastery in Jerusalem
Iberian Monastery in Jerusalem (later the Monastery of Saint John the Theologian). The time and place of the foundation of this monastery are controversial. Presumably, the Iberian Monastery in Jerusalem was one of the first and oldest Georgian monasteries built by Peter the Iberian. From the available information, preference should be given to the account of John Rufus, according to whom Peter the Iberian chose a place to build a monastery “above the Church of Zion (to the north), near the so-called “Tower of David” and built a monastery there, which is still called the Iberian Monastery today”. Procopius of Caesarea tells us that Justinian I (6th century) renovated the “Iberian Monastery in Jerusalem” along with other monasteries.
In 1932, a stone with a Greek inscription was found at the alleged location of the Iberian Monastery in Jerusalem: “The private tomb of the Iberian Bishop (Samuel) and the monastery there, which they (the Georgians) had in the Tower of David.” The content of the epitaph and the place where it was found accurately indicate the existence of a Georgian monastery near the Tower of David. The inscription on Samuel's tombstone allows us to determine that the monastery was destroyed in the 6th century, for unknown reasons, during Samuel's lifetime.
It is interesting that Peter the Iberian did not choose the place to build the monastery in Jerusalem by chance. For some time, before the Council of Chalcedon (451), he resided in the cell next to the Tower of David near the Church of Zion. This information from John Rufus allows us to somewhat determine the time of the construction of the Iberian Monastery - the second half of the 440s, or more precisely - 444-452.
Based on the materials obtained by A. Tsagareli, it is assumed that one of the oldest monasteries in Jerusalem, the Monastery of Saint John the Theologian, is the same as the Iberian Monastery founded by Peter.
Source: გეორგიკა. ბიზანტიელი მწერლების ცნობები საქართველოს შესახებ. ტ. 2, ს. ყაუხჩიშვილის გამოც., თბ., 1965; ძველი ქართული ლიტერატურის ქრესტომათია, I, შედგენილი სოლ. ყუბანეიშვილის მიერ, თბ., 1949.
Literature: მამისთვალიშვილი ე., ქართველები და ბიბლიური სამყარო, გორი, 1998.
E. Mamistvalishvili
