View source for Bishops and archbishops of Bolnisi

[[File:Bolnisi.jpg|thumb|right|[[Bolnisi Sioni|Bolnisi Sioni Cathedral]], the oldest extant church building in Georgia and the seat of the bishops of Bolnisi]]
[[Bolnisi]] is a city in the country of [[Georgia (country)|Georgia]], the capital of [[Bolnisi district]], which has long been the seat of either a [[bishop]] or an [[archbishop]].

Bolnisi has been a center of Georgian Christianity since early Christian times, being the site of an early and important monastery.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Mahe |first1=J. P. |last2=Thomson |first2=R. L. |title=From Byzantium to Iran: Armenian Studies in Honour of Nina G. Garsoian |series=Occasional Papers and Proceedings (Scholars Press) |year=1997 |publisher=Peeters Publishers |isbn=978-0788501524 |page=142}}</ref> The Bolnisi Cathedral was built in 478–493 under the rule of [[Vakhtang I of Iberia]]<ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Nutsubidze |editor1-first=Tamar |editor2-last=Horn |editor2-first=Cornelia B. |editor3-last=Ostrovsky |editor3-first=Alexey |title=Georgian Christian Thought and Its Cultural Context: Memorial Volume for the 125th Anniversary of Shalva Nutsubidze (1888-1969) |series=Texts and Studies in Eastern Christianity |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XpMXAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA42 |access-date=March 8, 2015 |year=2014 |publisher=Brill Academic Publisher |isbn=978-9004263376 |page=42}}</ref> and is the source of the [[Bolnisi cross]], which came to be a national symbol of Georgia.

In 2009, the Bishop of Bolnisi was summoned to [[Tbilisi]] and advised to see to it that the large number of crosses which had been erected around Muslim areas of Bolnisi as a provocation were removed, which he was partly but not entirely successful in doing.<ref>{{cite book |title=Country Reports on Human Rights Practice for 2009 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sD1lq4Mim0sC&pg=PA1498 |access-date=March 9, 2015 |year=2012 |publisher=United States Government Printing Office |volume=II |page=1498}}</ref>

==Bishops of Bolnisi==
{{Expand list|date=March 2015}}
*{{circa}} late 5th century: '''David'''. Nothing is known of this person, but there is an ancient inscription in Bolnisi Sioni: "Christ, have mercy on David the Bishop with his congregation..."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Silogava |first1=Valeri |last2=Shengelia |first2=Kakha |title=History of Georgia from the Ancient Times Through the 'Rose Revolution' |year=2007 |publisher=Caucasus University House |isbn=978-9994086160 |page=69}}</ref>
*{{circa}} early 9th century: '''St. John of Khakuhli''', a learned theologian, translator, and calligrapher was, according to some sources, Bishop of Bolnisi before moving to Khakuhli. Another manuscript casts this into dispute.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.holytrinityorthodox.com/calendar/los/March/10-06.htm |title=St. John of Khakuhli, also called Chrysostom |author=St. Herman of Alaska Brotherhood |date=2006 |publisher=Holy Trinity Russian Orthodox Church |location=Moscow |access-date=March 8, 2015}}</ref>
*1748 or 1749–?: '''[[Timote Gabashvili]]'''. He was given the Diocese of Bolnisi by the Patriarch Anton. He was simultaneously Archbishop of Kutaisi, at least in title (in practice he had been deposed by the Turks).<ref>{{cite book |last1=Ebanoidze |first1=Mzia |last2=Wilkinson |first2=John|title=Pilgrimage: Timothy Gabashvili's Travels to Mount Athos, Constantinople and Jerusalem, 1755-1759 |series=Caucasus World |date=19 November 2013 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4cQeAgAAQBAJ&pg=PP36 |access-date=March 8, 2015 |publisher=Curzon |isbn=978-0700712649 |pages=36–37}}</ref>
*21st century: '''Jegudiel''' ({{lang-ka|ტაბატაძე}}, Tabatadze){{citation needed|date=March 2015}}
*Present ({{asof|2015|lc=y}}): '''Ephrem''' ({{lang-ka|გამრეკელიძე}}, Gamrekelidze).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.tabula.ge/en/story/74620-the-patriarch-for-new-times |title=The Patriarch for New Times |author=Levan Sutidze |date=September 16, 2013 |work=Tabula |access-date=March 8, 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402132607/http://www.tabula.ge/en/story/74620-the-patriarch-for-new-times |archive-date=April 2, 2015 }}</ref>

==Archbishops of Bolnisi==
{{Expand list|date=August 2008}}
*1995–2004: '''Thaddeus''' ({{lang-ka|თადეოზ}}, Tadeoz or Tadeozi; full name Mirian Ioramashvili) (born 1946). Thaddeus was ordained in 1977, elevated to bishop in 1979, archbishop in 1984, and [[Metropolitan bishop|metropolitan]] in 2003. He was Archbishop of Bolnisi from 1995 to 2004.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.orthodoxresearchinstitute.org/hierarchs/georgia/bios/bio_thaddeus_metr_tianeti.html |title=Metropolitan Thaddeus of Tianeti and Pshav-Khevsureti |work=Orthodox Research Institute |access-date=March 8, 2015}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:Bishops of the Georgian Orthodox Church]]
[[Category:Eastern Orthodox archbishops|Bolnisi]]
[[Category:Bolnisi]]


{{orthodoxy-stub}}