Mirian III ( Georgian მირიან III ; 4th century ; also known as St. Mirian [1] ) - the king of Iberia , who is revered as the first Christian king of Georgia , who established Christianity as the state religion of the country [2] [3] . He built a cathedral in Mtskheta , on the site of which is now the Cathedral of the Patriarchal Cathedral of Svetitskhoveli .
| Mirian III | |||||||
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| მირიან III | |||||||
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| Predecessor | Aspagur | ||||||
| Successor | Saurmag II | ||||||
| Birth | 265 | ||||||
| Death | 360/361 Mtskheta , Georgia | ||||||
| Burial place | Samtavro Church, Mtskheta | ||||||
| Kind | Khosrovids | ||||||
| Father | Shapur I (?) | ||||||
| Spouse | Nana | ||||||
| Children | son: Roar II | ||||||
| Religion | Orthodoxy , Georgian Church | ||||||
Biography
Before the adoption of Christianity
Mirian III was born in 265 in a royal family. According to the Leonti Mroveli Chronicle Life of the Kartli Kings ( Kartlis Tskhovreba ), his father was Shapur I , the Shah of Iran from the Sassanid dynasty . According to the same chronicle, Mirian was appointed king of Iberia in 318 [2] . According to some historians, Mirian came from a branch of the Mihranid dynasty , known as the Khosrovids [1] [4] . During the reign of Mirian, Iran, which dominated the Caucasus, waged war on the Roman Empire . Mirian believed that an alliance with Rome would be the right choice for his kingdom. However, the traditional religion of Iveria came from Iran, made it difficult to break with it and significantly influenced the political situation in Iberia. At the same time, Lazika and Armenia have already adopted Christianity as a state religion. , thereby falling under the protection of the Roman Empire.
Adoption of Christianity
During the reign of Mirian Christianity quickly spread throughout the Caucasus and Asia Minor. His wife, Queen Nana , was baptized in 314 from St. Nina of Cappadocia , and the number of Christians in the region grew rapidly. In this situation, Mirian took the opportunity to break with Iranian influence and destroy the rich estate of pagan priests. According to legend, when the king was hunting in the vicinity of Mtskheta, pitch darkness fell on the ground, and the king stopped seeing anything. In desperation, he asked the "god Nina" for help. At the end of the prayer, the light returned, and Mirian was able to return to Mtskheta. Upon his return, he met with Nina and shortly afterwards was baptized.
Presumably in 327, King Mirian proclaimed Christianity the state religion of Iveria and forbade the worship of pagan gods. On the advice of St. Nina, he then sent a messenger to Emperor Constantine I with a request to send bishops and priests to Iberia. Constantine the Great fulfilled the request, and also allocated a place in Jerusalem for the construction of the Georgian monastery [5] .
According to some sources, Mirian personally visited Constantinople and met with Emperor Constantine I. Before his death, he also visited Jerusalem. Mirian III died in 360 or 361 . He is buried in Mtskheta, in the Samtavro church, together with Queen Nana.
Honor
Tsar Mirian was canonized by the Georgian Orthodox Church as an equal apostle. On May 14, 2018, at a meeting of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church, the name of St. Mirian was included in the month of the Russian Orthodox Church [6] . Memorial Days - January 14 and October 1 .
Notes
- ↑ 1 2 David Marshal Lang . The Georgians. - United States: Friederick A. Praeger. - P. 95.
- ↑ 1 2 Theodore Edward Dowling . Sketches of Georgian Church History. - United Kingdom: Elibron Classics series. - P. 14.
- ↑ David Marshal Lang . The Georgians. - United States: Friederick A. Praeger. - P. 91.
- ↑ David Bagrationi, History of Georgia, p. 79
- ↑ Theodore Dowling, The Sketches of Georgian Church History, Adamant Media Corporation, 2003 p 52
- ↑ The months of the words of the Russian Orthodox Church include the names of ancient saints who worked in Western countries, and saints, since ancient times revered in the Georgian Orthodox Church