Baptism of Iberia, or Georgia (cargo. Christianization of Kartli, kartlis gakrist'ianeba) - Conversion to Christianity of the Georgian kingdom of Kartli, known in antiquity as Iberia. Baptism took place in the 4th century thanks to the enlightener of Georgia Saint Nina: she convinced King Mirian III to be baptized, who became the first Christian Georgian ruler and, according to historian Sozomen, convinced all his people to be baptized.
Later, the king made great efforts to spread Christianity in his lands: according to Socrates Scholasticus, The Iberians were the first of the peoples of the lands known at that time to adopt Christianity as an official religion along with the Abyssinians and Armenians (in modern science Armenia is considered the first country, adopted Christianity as the state religion). Before the first Christian schisms began, Christianity in the Caucasus was all-inclusive, pluralistic and flexible, and rigid ecclesiological hierarchies were formed much later, when national churches appeared in the 6th century. Despite the ethnic diversity of the region, The baptism of Georgia was a pan-regional and cross-cultural phenomenon in the Caucasus. Jews from Mtskheta, capital of Kartli, played a big role in the baptism of the kingdom and gave a powerful impetus to deepening ties between Georgia and Palestine, and also marked the beginning of the Georgian pilgrimage to the Holy Land - evidence of this is the pilgrimage of Peter Iver and the appearance of inscriptions in Bir el-Kut.
Iberia was a factor in competitive diplomacy between Byzantium and the Sassanid State, and later became a major player in the Byzantine-Sassanian wars. In many ways, the culture of Iberia was similar to the culture of the Iranians and the Achaemenid power: relations with the Iranians developed through various military campaigns, trade, dynastic marriages, but King Mirian III’s choice of Christianity had much deeper and more important international consequences even though, that this choice was not made under the influence of Byzantine diplomacy. Iberia went from education in the Hellenistic era to the adoption of Christianity and entered the path of centuries-old processes, leading to the formation of Georgian self-determination.
A source : https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Крещение_Иберии
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