Nekresi Monastery Complex

Have you ever heard of the first monotheistic religion that perceived fire as the light of God? This religion is called Zoroastrianism, and it originated 4,000 years ago. The main god in Zoroastrianism is called Ahura Mazda, and some call it Mazdeizm according to the god's name. "Fire worshiping" is another common name for it. The religion has interesting forms of worship, and yes, it still exists with over 100,000 followers, but it was much stronger during Achaemenid Iran. This religion is considered the foundation of many modern beliefs. Except for being the first monotheistic religion, it also had the first ideas of judgment after death, good against evil, and so on. You will ask me, "What does this religion have to do with a strongly Christian country like Georgia?" Well, Georgia hasn’t always been Christian, and many religions and beliefs were spread in our country before. Old Georgian religions were filled with many gods and mythological beliefs. We can use the religion of Uplistsikhe as an example. Other countries were spreading religious beliefs of their own for political purposes. One of such religions was Zoroastrianism, and a country trying to spread it in Georgia was the above-mentioned Persia. We can see the traces of such influence in many places in Georgia, and among them is this very interesting ruin of a fire temple. It is also called a big square of Nekresi because of its shape. According to archeologists, it was built around II c. A.D. as a fire temple but was destroyed in IV c. A.D., and the latest is a date when Georgians adopted Christianity, the religion that prevails until today in Georgia. This fire temple is an example of a battle between two different religions, a battle between an ancient empire and a small country, and it remains a unique and important monument of Georgian culture. Another reason to visit this fire temple is that it is located very close to the Nekresi Monastery Complex, which is already a very old example of Georgian churches and monastery complexes. This is a building immersed in legends, narrations, a green forest, and the mountains. The location of Nekresi is unbelievable. It is located right on top of mountains and in the middle of a huge and dense forest. It has a basilica from the IV century, and it represents one of the oldest examples of Christian construction in Georgia. Not only that, but it also has many buildings for agricultural and storage purposes. This is the only church in the country where animal sacrifices are allowed, and they are allowed because of one part of its history. According to the narrations of locals, in the VIII century, when Arabs decided to conquer Nekresi, the local population fled to the church and found shelter there, but the conquerors wouldn’t stop and continued the destruction of the monastery. Therefore, local monks decided to capture wild boars in a nearby forest, slaughter them, and spill their blood on the walls of the monastery, after which the Arab army gave up on the idea of the conquest of this church and people were saved. There are other versions of this story, but all of them are connected with pigs or boars saving the people there, for pig sacrifices are still allowed in this church today, and they normally happen during Christmastime.

Nekresi has a very good location as well. If you are going to Kvareli, this is one of the best places to visit. You can see the itineraries here.