Tbilisi
The celebration of the 200 years of the establishment of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Georgia began on Saturday, April 8. A summer cafe (“The Martin Luther Cafe”) was opened up in the garden on the terrace; this was possible thanks to the equipment given to us by a congregation from the German city of Heppenheim. This cafe with live accordion music for accompaniment was at the center of the next two days’ events, even if the prices there didn't fully cover expenses. The children from the congregation in Rustaveli performed a German dance and two of them played on the flute. In the yard in the evening when it was cold and dark, music by a jazz trio was muffled by a storm.
In the first half of the day Temuri Bardavepidze and 12 representatives of the youth used Georgian to tell the story of the history of our church starting with German settlers in 1817 until 1917; they did the same thing in the evening, only in Russian. In the second half of the day Pastor Irina Solei spoke about the very difficult times between 1917 and 1991. She invited Nina Mindiashvili, the granddaughter of the last pastor from Tbilisi, the martyr Richard Maier, to join her for conversation. Earlier in the entryway an exhibition of artistic black and white photos was set up that, together with items from everyday life of German settlers, helped tell the history of the church.
Elena Ilinets presented her tri-lingual (Georgian, German, Russian) publication, the first attempt of our newsletter publishing team to print a book. Then Irina Solei and Kristina Hummel spoke about the time of rebirth of the church since 1991. Pastor Albina Zotova led evening prayer.
A joint worship service of all the congregations of the church was held on Sunday morning, April 9, also in 3 languages (or four if you count the prayer in Azerbaijani that was part of the service as well). Pastors Irina Solei, Viktor Miroshnichenko and I led the service which lasted two hours. Among those in attendance were a group of tourists from the Evangelical congregation in Heppelheim. The Tbilisi congregation shared the offering from that service with the congregation in Baku, which was represented by 4 congregational members.
Many people say that the celebrations went really well.
On the morning after the celebrations, I sat down to write a letter to the President of Georgia expressing my disappointment that the national government sent no state representatives even to the Saturday evening event. The only country represented was Germany – by Ambassador Heike Paich. However the Georgian Orthodox Church honored us with its presence in the person of Protopresbyter Georgia Zviadadze, who welcomed us with great appreciation for our tradition. Also with us were our friends from the Evangelical Baptist, the Armenian Apostolic. Roman Catholic, and Adventist churches. Of course Pastor Varlam Ramishvili from Batumi and Beka Mindiashvili from the Committee of Religions were also there.
Hans-Joachim Kiderlen
The celebration of the 200 years of the establishment of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Georgia began on Saturday, April 8. A summer cafe (“The Martin Luther Cafe”) was opened up in the garden on the terrace; this was possible thanks to the equipment given to us by a congregation from the German city of Heppenheim. This cafe with live accordion music for accompaniment was at the center of the next two days’ events, even if the prices there didn't fully cover expenses. The children from the congregation in Rustaveli performed a German dance and two of them played on the flute. In the yard in the evening when it was cold and dark, music by a jazz trio was muffled by a storm.
In the first half of the day Temuri Bardavepidze and 12 representatives of the youth used Georgian to tell the story of the history of our church starting with German settlers in 1817 until 1917; they did the same thing in the evening, only in Russian. In the second half of the day Pastor Irina Solei spoke about the very difficult times between 1917 and 1991. She invited Nina Mindiashvili, the granddaughter of the last pastor from Tbilisi, the martyr Richard Maier, to join her for conversation. Earlier in the entryway an exhibition of artistic black and white photos was set up that, together with items from everyday life of German settlers, helped tell the history of the church.
Elena Ilinets presented her tri-lingual (Georgian, German, Russian) publication, the first attempt of our newsletter publishing team to print a book. Then Irina Solei and Kristina Hummel spoke about the time of rebirth of the church since 1991. Pastor Albina Zotova led evening prayer.
A joint worship service of all the congregations of the church was held on Sunday morning, April 9, also in 3 languages (or four if you count the prayer in Azerbaijani that was part of the service as well). Pastors Irina Solei, Viktor Miroshnichenko and I led the service which lasted two hours. Among those in attendance were a group of tourists from the Evangelical congregation in Heppelheim. The Tbilisi congregation shared the offering from that service with the congregation in Baku, which was represented by 4 congregational members.
Many people say that the celebrations went really well.
On the morning after the celebrations, I sat down to write a letter to the President of Georgia expressing my disappointment that the national government sent no state representatives even to the Saturday evening event. The only country represented was Germany – by Ambassador Heike Paich. However the Georgian Orthodox Church honored us with its presence in the person of Protopresbyter Georgia Zviadadze, who welcomed us with great appreciation for our tradition. Also with us were our friends from the Evangelical Baptist, the Armenian Apostolic. Roman Catholic, and Adventist churches. Of course Pastor Varlam Ramishvili from Batumi and Beka Mindiashvili from the Committee of Religions were also there.
Hans-Joachim Kiderlen
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