Lali and myself visited Luka in his monastery a few weeks ago, when a light snow was falling. He has been living there for several years, after moving from another beautiful and famous monastery in the same region, Gremi. He is the youngest resident of this ancient town, despite being nearly 30 years old.
Nekresi contains parts dating back to the 6th, 8th, 9th, and 12th centuries. It is an old building that has been beautifully restored. The magnificent frescoes were defaced by the Russians, then the atheist Soviets who took over. Other features include a well equipped winery, a large cistern, and an ossuary. Lali and her younger sister were not allowed to enter the residential area of the monastery, but I was. I briefly met some of the other Monks who live a simple, contemplative life, focusing on prayer and contemplation. They also run the monastery and its many churches. They sell their Kidzmarauli wine and beeswax candle products, which they make themselves, to support themselves.
Nekresi is located high above the flatlands in Kakheti. A steep, winding road (nicely repaved during Saakashvili’s frenetic times) takes you to its top. The valley below is a vast expanse of greenery. The ruins of an enormous Zoroastrian Temple in someone’s Vineyard, the walls almost down to the ground level and the layout of a nice diagonal triangle against the horizontals or verticals of your position are all included.
We stayed about an hour to catch up with our niece, who was fifteen at our wedding and a great singer; he still retains that characteristic, joining his fine singing with the other men. He took us through the entire facility and was very knowledgeable about its history. He rarely leaves his home, and they only have one cellphone between them to communicate. But we can still call him and visit him whenever we want. His parents and his sister can also do this. We last saw him outside at Lali’s parents home in Leliani a few years back, when his grandfather, Lali’s father, passed away. He spent time in our home in Svaneti as well, keeping Lali company during the month I used one of my free Christmas tickets from my English teaching job to visit family and friends in Canada. This was before he became a monk, and he was already ready to leave the snow-bound isolation of the place.
Luka seems to be quite happy where he is now, and I expect that he will grow into it over time and stay there for the rest of his life. It means (like me and Lali’s uncle’s brother), the male line of his father will end with him. There are compensations. His faith appears solid, and there seem to be few distractions from the busy, disinformed, and confusing 21st century life. There is much to admire and even to envy, but I do think that you must feel a strong calling to it. You are also renouncing a lot. (A Mother Teresa’s Nuns chapter once called the Mother House for advice when they were threatened by an African revolution. They were told to “die well”.
We bid each other farewell and drove down, silently reflecting on the young man and what he had given up and achieved.
BLOG by Tony Hanmer
Tony Hanmer is a writer and photographer who has been working for GT since 2011. He has lived in Georgia and Svaneti, respectively, since 1999. He runs the “Svaneti Renaissance” Facebook group, now with nearly 2000 members, at www.facebook.com/groups/SvanetiRenaissance/
He and his wife also run their own guest house in Etseri: www.facebook.com/hanmer.house.svaneti
Read More @ georgiatoday.ge