Building Name: | Likhni Church Aba-Ata ლიხნის ეკლესია აბა-ათა Лыхнытәи ауахәама Абаҭаа |
Coordinates: | 43.0906°N 40.8164°W |
Map Type: | Abkhazia#Georgia |
Location: | New Athos, Gudauta District, Abkhazia, Georgia |
Religious Affiliation: | Georgian Orthodox |
Province: | Abkhazia |
Status: | ruins |
Architecture Type: | Church |
Year Completed: | 9th-10th century |
The Church of St. Simeon the Canaanite (Georgian: წმინდა სვიმონ კანანელის სახელობის ტაძარი) is located near the town of New Athos in Gudauta District, Abkhazia/Georgia, dating from the 9th or 10th century.[1] Not to be confused with St Simon the Canaanite Basilica in Psirtskha village.[2]
The church is dedicated to St. Simon the Canaanite, who, according to the 11th-century Georgian Chronicles, preached Christianity in Abkhazia and Egrisi and died and was buried at the town of Nicopsia, to the north of Abkhazia.[3] [4] [5] A nearby grotto is associated by popular legends with the site of martyrdom of St. Simon.[6]
The design of the extant church dates to the 9th or 10th century[5] and is influenced by the Byzantine and Georgian art traditions,[7] [5] but the church site seems to be two centuries older.[5] At the time when the Georgian historian Dimitri Bakradze visited it in the 1850s, the church was abandoned, but still standing except for the collapsed dome.[7] The church suffered greatly when the local landlord, Major Hasan Margani removed its blocks of stone for the construction of his own mansion.[6] Later, in the 1880s, the church was reconstructed, using blocks of white hewn stone, to its current state. The church is adorned with images of Christian symbols such as a fish, lion, and cross curved in relief.[5]
Georgia has inscribed the church on its list of cultural heritage and treats it as part of cultural heritage in the Russian-occupied territories with no known current state of condition.[5]