Erusheti Eparchy

Erusheti Eparchy — an eparchy in medieval Georgia, located in the historical region of Artaani.

According to Leonti Mroveli, upon the adoption of Christianity, King Mirian (4th century) asked the Roman Emperor Constantine to send priests and church builders to Georgia. In response, Constantine sent Bishop Ioane with the mission to build churches in Kartli wherever he deemed necessary. The first church they built was in Erusheti. There, they left part of the treasury and the Holy Nails of the Lord — the very ones with which Christ had been crucified. From the onset, this greatly increased the authority of the Erusheti Church.

King Mirdat, son of Bakari (in the 460s–470s), contributed to the construction and adornment of this church. According to Juansher (11th century), Vakhtang Gorgasali (5th century), when founding episcopal sees, appointed one bishop “in Artani Erusheti.”

As the historian and geographer Vakhushti Batonishvili (18th century) explains, the bishop of Erusheti was the shepherd of Erusheti and Artaani, located along the right bank of the Mtkvari (Kura) River. According to the historian Juansher, during the Byzantine Emperor Heraclius’ campaign in Georgia in 628, despite the pleas of Adarnase, the ruler of Kartli, the Emperor took away the sacred relics of the Erusheti Church — the nails of the Lord.

In the 9th century, the bishop of Erusheti was an active participant in the church council, convened in Javakheti, where the issue of electing the Catholicos of Kartli was decided. During the 13th century, in times of assembly, among Georgian prelates, the bishop of Erusheti held the 15th rank, and in the 16th century, among the bishops of southern Georgia, the 8th rank.

According to a document from the early 16th century, the Erusheti bishop’s diocese included the left bank of the Mtkvari River, extending to the border of Artaan-Kola.

In the 1570s, during the Ottoman invasion, a monk from Erusheti was mentioned among the heroic defenders of Mgeltsikhe. After the Ottoman conquest of southern Georgia in the 16th century, the Erusheti Eparchy was abolished.

According to the “Great Register of the Vilayet of Gurjistan” (16th century), the village of Erusheti (changed to Orusheti) belonged to the wooded district of the Great Artani Liva.

Sources: ქართლის ცხოვრება, ს. ყაუხჩიშვილის გამოც., ტ. 1, თბ., 1955; ძველი ქართული აგიოგრაფიული ლიტერატურის ძეგლები, ილ. აბულაძის რედ., წგ. 1, თბ., 1963; ჯიქია ს., გურჯისტანის ვილაიეთის დიდი დავთარი, წგ. 2, თბ., 1941.

Literature: ბერძენიშვილი დ., ნარკვევები საქართველოს ისტორიული გეოგრაფიიდან. ზემო ქართლი, თბ., 1985.

D. Berdzenishvili