St. George monastic and Episcopal complex, situated in Bodbe (Kakheti) is the national Georgian relic. In St. George cathedral are kept the remains of Nino of Kappadokia, Equal-to-the-Apostles, the great Baptist of Georgia, the harbinger of Christianity.
According to the legend, St.Nino, 60, died in Bodbe in 335. She crossed the entire country healing and preaching people the true God. St. Nino bequeathed to bury her in this land. Later when tsar Mirian wanted to move her body to Mtskheta, all efforts to shift the ark with Nino's hallows from its place were in vain. Originally, a little temple in honor of great martyr St. George was built on the burial place. But this temple did not survive. In 850 instead of the old temple the new Cathedral, the main building of the complex, was erected. It is a classic temple in the best traditions of Georgian architecture. The interior is decorated by the 9th-century paintings and fragments of the 12th – 17th-century pictures.
The cult complex in Bodbe was repeatedly repaired and restored. In the 16th – 17th centuries Bodbe was the important educational centre. In 1837 the monastery was abolished. And in 1889 the convent of St. Nino Equal-to-the-Apostles was opened and is active until now.
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