Georgia is situated on the crossroads of the geopolitical
and sociocultural boundaries of Eurasian civilization
and on the bipolar West-East and North-South
axes: historically, it has been the political and cultural
center of the region. Representatives of various ethnic
and religious groups have long lived in Georgia and a
tolerant attitude to “others” was generated. The various
religious communities always had normal conditions
for existence within the state. Differing ideas
and worldviews were familiar in Georgian society. In
the pre-Christian era period different indigenous cults
and religious beliefs existed as well as ones practiced
in Asia Minor and the Caucasus, including Zoroastrianism,
Mithraism, Manichaeism, Judaism and others.
The remains of Zoroastrian temples from ancient
times are still preserved in Georgia at Dedoplis Mindori,
Bagineti, Tsikhia Gora and other sites.
Christianity was first introduced into Georgia in
the 1st century, and was declared the state religion
in 326. Thus Georgia has been a Christian country
since the 4th century, with its population historically
adhering to Orthodoxy. During the early centuries of
its existence the Georgian Church was part of Eastern
Christendom, but in the 5th century the Georgian
Church became autocephalous. It accepted the rulings
of the Council of Chalcedon (451) and adopted
the diophysite position on the nature of Christ. As the
Church’s liturgical language was Georgian, Orthodox
Christianity had a great input in the formation and development
of the Georgian nation and its culture. The
nation’s educational and cultural centers were located
in monasteries and churches (e.g., the Gelati and Ikalto
academies, and centers such as Shiomgvime, David-Gareja,
Alaverdi, etc.) (R. Topchishvili, 2008, 55).