Sameba-Jikheti nunnery in the village of Jikheti. The village is located on the southern slope of the Guria ridge, 250 m above sea level. 12 km from Lanchkhuti, 3 km from Nigoit. The monastery is located 6 km from the central highway, on Nigoiti mountain.The monastery was founded at the end of the 19th century. The main temple of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary was built in 1896…
The main temple of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary was built in 1896 by Hilarion Menabde from Ozurgeti.
Every December 4th, on the day of the Ascension of the Mother of God to the Cathedral, a great festival of Jikhetoba is held in the monastery. According to the tradition, there is a tradition regarding the current location of the monastery: a monastery named after Menelsatsaksheble nuns was built on Jikheti mountain, in a permanent place. The inhabitants of the monastery were worried about lack of water and decided to choose a new place for the temple. They give permission pigeons to choose from. Pigeons flew to the foot of the mountain. That place was called Sameba, and the new temple was called Sameba-Jikheti Monastery.
The old church was dissolved with prayers and supplications and moved to a place selected by pigeons. Young deacon Epifane Khonelia will perform the first solemn service in the new church.
Mother Elene (Mgaloblishvili) was the founder and first superior of the nunnery. The nun, blind Martha, was an amazing singer. There was also a school in the monastery, they taught reading and writing, household chores and handicrafts.
The period after the revolution was the most difficult, the doors of the temple were rarely opened. At night, prayers were held silently, and during the day, the doors of the temple were still covered with trees. Despite the brutality of the Bolshevik and Communist regimes, the Sameba-Jikheti Monastery never stopped working.
In 1989, Mother Sabania was ordained in Jikheti Monastery, where she was met by two elderly nuns: Mother Eudokia (1994) and Mother Anastasia.
From the historical sources of the monastery, we learn that the mothers of the Guria monastery had a close relationship with the monastery of John the Evangelist in Athos. In 1905, priest-monk Iona, the abbot of John the Evangelist Monastery, sent an icon of the Mother of God from Athos to Sameba-Jikheti Monastery.
Archimandrite Andria (Kbilashvili) has been the head of the monastery since 1984, under whose leadership many reconstruction works were carried out in the monastery.
In 1987, a bell tower was added to the main church of the Virgin Mary. In 1988 St. Basilica type temple named after George. Painted by Ioseb Bajelidze.
In 2002, during Lent, St. Small Church of the Assumption of John the Baptist. There, in the yard nearby, they brought a spring from four sides, arranged a baptistery and called it “Jordan spring”. They made a baptismal pool into which spring water flows. Water has healing properties. On Epiphany Day, many believers bathe there, although at other times the ritual of washing is performed. The kankel of all three temples was made by Zaur Tsirekidze.
A museum was established in the monastery by Archimadrite Andria, a stone wall was built in the courtyard, and cells are being built.