The Kamani Monastery ( ka, კამანის ეკლესია, ab, Камантәи ауахәама)is located at the village of Kamani in

Abkhazia Abkhazia, ka, აფხაზეთი, tr, , xmf, აბჟუა, abzhua, or ( or ), officially the Republic of Abkhazia, is a partially recognised state in the South Caucasus, recognised by most countries as part of Georgia, which vi ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

, north of

Sukhumi Sukhumi (russian: Суху́м(и), ) or Sokhumi ( ka, სოხუმი, ), also known by its Abkhaz name Aqwa ( ab, Аҟәа, ''Aqwa''), is a city in a wide bay on the Black Sea's eastern coast. It is both the capital and largest city of ...

. The monastery building is a 1980s construction on the foundations of a medieval church.

History

The locale of Kamani, also known as Komani, is associated in the local Abkhaz-Georgian legends with Saint

John Chrysostom John Chrysostom (; gr, Ἰωάννης ὁ Χρυσόστομος; 14 September 407) was an important Early Church Father who served as archbishop of Constantinople. He is known for his homilies, preaching and public speaking, his denunciat ...

, who allegedly died there after being exiled from

Constantinople la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه , alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis (" ...

to the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Roma ...

coast. In 1884, the Greek scholar Konstantinos Vrissis visited the area and conjectured that it was Kamani, not

Comana Pontica Comana Pontica ( grc, Κόμανα Ποντική, translit=Komana Pontika), was an ancient city located in ancient Pontus, now in modern Turkey. History Comana Pontica was located in the region of Pontus (now part of modern Turkey). It was lo ...

, where John Chrysostom died and was initially buried. Only the foundation survived of a medieval stone monastic building, a hall church design without a protruding

apse In architecture, an apse (plural apses; from Latin 'arch, vault' from Ancient Greek 'arch'; sometimes written apsis, plural apsides) is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical vault or semi-dome, also known as an ''exedra''. In ...

. In the 1880s, under the

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

rule, a Christian convent was founded there, but it fell in disuse with the arrival of the Soviet power in the region. In the late 1980s, the church was rebuilt through the efforts of the Abkhaz Yuri Anua. In 1990,

Ilia II Ilia may refer to: Science and medicine *''Apatura ilia'' or lesser purple emperor, a butterfly *Ilium (bone) (plural: "ilia"), pelvic bone People * Ilia (name), numerous **Ilia II Ilia may refer to: Science and medicine *''Apatura ilia'' or ...

Catholicos Patriarch of Georgia ''Catholicos-Patriarch'' has been the title of the heads of the Georgian Orthodox Church since 1010. The first Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia was Melkisedek I (1010–1033). In the 15th century the Georgian Orthodox Church was divided into th ...

, consecrated the church. In July 1993, during the War in Abkhazia, the monastery was stormed by the Abkhaz separatist forces; Yuri Anua and the Georgian priest Andria Kurashvili were killed. In 2001, a group of Abkhaz monks returned to the Kamani monastery, which was transferred by the Sukhumi government, in 2011, in possession of the self-proclaimed

Abkhazian Orthodox Church The Abkhazian Orthodox Church (russian: Абхазская Православная церковь) is an Eastern Orthodox church outside the official Eastern Orthodox ecclesiastical hierarchy. It came into existence when the ''Sukhumi-Abkhazian ...

. Georgia has inscribed the church on the list of cultural heritage and reported, in 2015, the physical condition of the monument as poor.

References

{{Authority control Churches in Abkhazia 20th-century Christian monasteries