St. George's Armenian Apostolic Church, Tbilisi

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St. George's Armenian Apostolic Church ^[1] is a main Armenian Apostolic cathedral in Tbilisi, Georgia. It is dedicated to Saint George (Surp Kevork or Surb Gevork in Armenian), located in the south-western corner of Vakhtang Gorgasali Square (Meidani) and is overlooked by the ruins of Narikala fortress. In front of the church is the tomb of the famous Armenian poet Sayat Nova. The first recorded account about the church on this site dates to the first half of the 18th century. It was later garrisoned by the Persian troops, but restored to local Armenian community by King Heraclius II of Georgia in the 1770s. Currently, the cathedral is a seat of the archbishop of Armenians of Tbilisi.

By initiative of the archbishop Comitas Ter-Stepanian, that was leader of the church 1957-1972, in 1957 the burials of four Armenian generals were transferred from the yard of the Vank Church to the St. George's Armenian Apostolic Church : Mikhail Tarielovich Loris-Melikov, Arshak Ter-Gukasov, Hovaness Lazarev and Beybut Shelkovnikov ^[2].

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