Abkhazia is among the first countries where Christianity was spread. In the 1st century A.D. Saint Andrew, Simon the Canaanite and Apostle Matthew arrived in Abkhazia to preach Christianity. It was over two thousand years that Christianity faced many enemies. The followers of Christianity were persecuted in the days of the Roman Empire, Ottoman Empire and Soviet Union. The first church community was created in Pitiunt in the 4th century A.D. (modern-day Pitsunda). The most ancient Christian churches are located in Pitsunda. On the territory of Abkhazia there are temples which never interrupted worship, even in the most difficult of times. One such temple is located in the village of Ilor. The worship was served even during the Soviet Period. The temple at Ilor is one of the most popular temples visiting by tourists among the current churches in Abkhazia. In the village of Likhny, there is also a temple of Saint Mary. It is the only temple on the Black Sea coast of the Caucasus, which was able to preserve its original appearance. The roof of the temple was made of tile. Such sacred places like the Cathedral of the Saint and Apostle Andrew in Pitsunda, the temple of Saint Mary in Mokva and the cathedral of St. Panteleimon in New Athos, are all examples of Christian architecture in Abkhazia. Valuable relics and monuments were kept in many temples. There’s an ancient golden bowl dated back to 990 in the Bedia temple. It’s decorated with figures of the Savior, Saint Mary and the Apostles. In the 19th century, the monastery was built in New Athos. It’s famous not only in Abkhazia, but also far beyond its borders. One hundred and sixty temples were built in Abkhazia. Nowadays, parishioners can attend 16 current temples.

Tsandripsh Сhurch
The Tsandripsh church was built in the VIth century A.D. It is located on the Black Sea coast, between the rivers Khashupse and Mekhadir in the village of Tsandripsh. An ancient fortress and a settlement were located here before the construction of the church. In the Middle Ages the trading port Abaza was situated in this place.
The Tsandripsh church is the most significant, large and architecturally complicated monument of the Justinian epoch on the territory of Abkhazia. The church was decorated with Byzantine marble. It was a three-nave basilica with three protruding apses, narthex and the adjoining portico. The external dimension of the church -27.5 x 16.8 meters. It was built of rough-hewn stones, but the building attracts your attention with its beauty. The base of the church was built of the huge hewn blocks of the white limestone. The church was plastered inside. One can see the small fragments of the ancient plaster. The architecture and acoustics are wonderful. Obviously the church was constructed by excellent architects.
The church was rebuilt several times. Three destroyed towers are situated in the distance of 150 meters to the east of the church. The towers were constructed of rubble stones with flat bricks. There were walls between the towers. It means that the church was situated on the territory of the fortress.
Cathedral of Dormition in the village of Mokva
In the end of the Xth century king Leon III erected the famous Cathedral of Dormition of Theotokos. The Mokva Cathedral is situated on a hill at the confluence of Mokva and Duab rivers. The Mokva Cathedral is the only five-naval cross-domed church in Abkhazia. The Cathedral is a sample of church architecture of early medieval in Abkhazia, which began in the VII-X centuries in Pitsunda.
The Cathedral has an amazing interior architecture. There were rare mural paintings, a marble iconostasis with columns, beautiful cornices. In the middle of the floor decoration there was a circle made of red marble in the form of descending rays. Patriarch of Jerusalem Dositheus visited Mokva in 1659. He found an inscription here, according to it the church was “painted in the time of the great Abkhazian King David”, i. e in the end of XIth century.
In 1640 Russian ambassadors and priest Paul Zakhariev attended the Mokva Cathedral. In their report they wrote: “On February 9, we with bishops Andrey and Maxim were in the monastery of Mokva; they showed us the remains of martyr Stephen Archdeacon: both of hands, foot bones and a cross of wood on which Christ was crucified”.
In the XVIIth century, the Turks invaded Abkhazia and began forcibly to spread Islam. The Mokva Cathedral was emptied and plundered. Many precious things and relics were taken out from Abkhazia. Thus, a silver icon of the Mokva temple is in a monastery of Dormition, Khobi; the ancient Gospel and the Psalter of XI century on a parchment is in the Martvily Monastery, the Archbishop’s staff is in the Mtskheta Cathedral.
Restoration
In the fifth decade of the XIXth century, the church was restored. The floor was made of limestone slabs again. A side-chapel and a small rotunda were erected from the west. As a result of the restoration the architecture of temple was badly damaged. Soon the cathedral was turned into a place of burials. The last sovereign prince of Abkhazia Michaell Shervashidze, his son George are buried here and many Abkhaz warlords.
Revival of the Mokva cathedral
In 1902, the nuns of the Bogodukhovsky monastery of the Kharkov guberniya founded the Caucasian (Mokva) convent of Dormition. In 1920 the church was again robbed. The valuable gospel of the Mokva Cathedral was stolen and taken abroad. It had been written on 328 pages and decorated with unique miniatures and ornaments, made by the Mokva’s monk Ephraim in 1300.
In the end of XX century the Mokva’s Gospel was returned to the Soviet Union. In 1968 the 1000th anniversary of the Mokva Cathedral was celebrated, the church was partially restored. In 2002 the Mokva Cathedral of Dormition of the Virgin Mary was again opened. At the opening of the church the all-night vigil and Divine Liturgy were served. Nowadays the Church service in the cathedral is rarely conducted, but the temple doors are always open.

Cathedral of St. Panteleimon
The most magnificent building of the New Athos monastery is the Cathedral of the Holy Great Martyr and Healer Panteleimon. It is the largest temple in the monastery.
It was built in 1888-1900 under the project of N. Nikonov, with the participation of the abbot of the monastery Hieron. All stone works were made by Greeks, led by Christopher Pulo who had arrived in Sukhum from Trabzon. Nikonov designed the cathedral in the neo-Byzantine style. This style used in the church architecture of the Russian Empire in the late XIX – early XX century.
The construction of the cathedral began solemnly with the laying of a foundation stone on September 24, 1888. The Emperor Alexander III participated in the ceremony. The temple was being built within 12 years. It was consecrated on September 29, 1900. More than three thousand people could attend church service for a day.
Architectural and stylistic features of cathedral church
An important innovation of the architect is the location of four lateral heads. They were installed on the axes of the spatial cross, which reminds the Greek church architecture. One can rarely see such architecture in buildings of the Byzantine style. The architect also took care of some domestic aspects that contributed relief to the monastic life, increased the interior space through the creation of choirs, and expanded the space of the central apse.
The temple is surrounded by two-storey buildings with domes and a 50-meter bell tower located over the entrance to the monastery. The cathedral was built in the center of the spacious courtyard inside the quadrangle, its four chapels dedicated to St. Nicholas, St. Alexander Nevsky, St. Mary Magdalene and St. George. A model of the cathedral was placed on the throne of the main altar and behind the throne there was a cypress, silver cross. A precious icon of St. Panteleimon is placed at the right kliros. In 1876 the icon was transmitted from the Old Athos in the blessing of the new monastery. A silver tomb with a particle of the True Cross was located before the icon, the relics of St. Panteleimon and other saints. The icon of the Savior was placed in the right aisle of St. Nicholas. The rich murals were created in 1911-1914, at that time the abbot of the monastery was Archimandrite Hilarion. The works were carried out by builders from the Vladimir guberniya and a group of Moscow artists headed by N. Molov and A. Serebryakov.
There is an image of the Mother of God blessing all the worshipers in the temple. It is placed on the apse in the central aisle. The scene of the Last Judgment is depicted on the west wall above the main entrance to the cathedral. The plots of all main Orthodox feasts are reflected on the walls of the cathedral. Frescoes are distinguished by a combination of blue, brown and gold colours.

Annunciation Cathedral in Sukhum
The Sukhum Annunciation Cathedral is located in the center of Sukhum. In 1909, the Greek community of Sukhum started to build a church on their own money. In 1915 the construction was completed, the temple was consecrated in honor of St. Nicholas, bishop of Myra. At the same time Catholic (1908) and Lutheran (in 1915) churches were being built next to the Cathedral. Nowadays all of three churches operate.
In 1917, the Sukhum Eparchy had 125 parish churches: 61 Abkhazian, 36 Russian, 16 Greek, 4 Georgian-Mingrelian and 8 mixed, that is Russian, Greek and Russian-Mingralian. After the occupation of Abkhazia by the Georgian Mensheviks in 1919, the Georgian Church opened its Tskhum-Abkhazian Eparchy. Since then the existence of the Sukhum Eparchy has been ceased but till the end of the third decade bishops secretly ordained for the Cathedral. In the 20-40th years of XXth century six temples operated on the territory of Abkhazia, among them there was the Greek Church of St. Nicholas. The Church was transferred to the Sukhum-Abkhazian Eparchy. In the mid of 50th the temple became a cathedral.
In the 80th, the construction works were held on in the temple, several lateral outbuildings were built. All clergy of Abkhazia ordained here, it was the residence of the Abkhaz metropolitans.
The cathedral is a cross-domed three-nave church with dome of Byzantine style. The interior of the church is modest, on the whitewashed walls hang icons of the Orthodox saints: St. Nicholas, St. Apostle Simon the Canaanite, St. Andrew the Apostle, Saint. John Chrysostom, St. martyr Basilisk, a copy of the icon of the Iverian Mother of God, icon of St. Michael the Archangel and St. Archangel Gabriel. There is also an icon of St. Panteleimon the Healer in the temple. Church service is conducted in three languages: Abkhaz, Greek and Church Slavonic. Since 1993, the abbot of the cathedral is the head of the Sukhum-Pitsunda Eparchy priest Vissarion Apliaa, AOC.

Сell (grotto) of St. Apostle Simon the Canaanite
Christian shrines in Psyrtskha
The place of Psyrtskha attracts people not only with the beauty of its nature but there are many famous Christian shrines there. One of the most popular places of New Athos among tourists and pilgrims is situated there. This is a grotto of St. Apostle Simon the Canaanite.
The path leading to the cave starts near an ancient church dated back to IX-X centuries. The path goes near an artificial waterfall and a small lake. En route one can see some Christian shrines it’s a spring of holy water; a small granite boulder footprint, according to the Christian tradition these are feet of the Apostle; St. Apostle Simon the Canaanite was martyred here.

St. Apostle Simon the Canaanite visited the land of Abazgs
The source of IX century which belonged to the monk Epiphany informs that St. Andrew arrived in Abkhazia with St. Apostle Simon the Canaanite (Simon the Zealot). The Liturgical tradition and the text of the life’s description of the Saint which is given in the Greek Synaxarion justify that Apostle Simon was from Canaan, as well as our Lord Jesus Christ together with Theotokos and his disciples attended his wedding.
Apostle Simon the Canaanite left by Apostle Andrew in Sebastopolis (in a modern – day Sukhum) preached Christian religion but apparently, residents of the city were not pleased with him. The head of the Roman legion heard about the Apostle Simon. The Apostle left Sebastopolis and was hiding in Anakopia. Rumors about the preaching activity of ap. Simon the Kanaanite in Anakopia forced the Roman legionaries to take drastic measures. Apostle Simon the Canaanite was martyred.
Local residents (abazgs) who adopted Christianity buried the body of apostle Simon the Canaanite and they told their descendants about the place of burial of the apostle. Later in the place of burial after the conversion of Abkhazians to Christianity, a church was built there.

Twenty centuries later
The grotto of Simon the Canaanite acquired a modern appearance after the death of the apostle. Monks-hermits made an entrance to the cave (the apostle entered his cell through a narrow hole in the cave), built a ladder of limestone slabs. Later mosaic icons of Jesus Christ, the Mother of God and Simon the Canaanite appeared on the walls of the cave.