The Litany for the deceased Georgian kings and princes was performed on Saturday at the Donskoy Monastery. The divine service was performed in Russian and Georgian.
The Divine Liturgy in the Sretensky Cathedral of the monastery was led by Metropolitan Theognost of Kashira. He was co-served by the clergy of the Don Monastery and St. George's Church in Georgia, as well as the priest of the Georgian Orthodox Church, Archpriest Konstantin Georgadze, rector of the church of the Shestokovskaya Icon of the Mother of God in St. Petersburg.
Church hymns during the liturgy were performed by the choir of the Donskoy Monastery and the choir of the Church of the Great Martyr George the Victorious in Georgians. Services in Georgian are held regularly in St. George's Church.
With the blessing of Metropolitan Theognost, the clergy and laity of the Georgian communities were invited to the Donskoy Monastery to honor the memory of the royal Georgian persons buried in the Sretensky Temple of the monastery. According to the Synodal Department for Monasteries and Monasticism, such services in the Donskoy Monastery have already become a tradition.
The Sretensky Temple of the Donskoy Monastery has served as a tomb for Georgian clergy, political and cultural figures since 1712. There is a tomb of the Georgian king Archil Bagrationi and his sons. The Imeretian tsar Archil II concluded an alliance with Russia at the end of the XVII century. Having lost the throne, he moved to Moscow and founded a Georgian community here. His son, Tsarevich Alexander, was a childhood friend of Peter I, studied military affairs with him, accompanied Peter the Great on his first trip abroad, and then commanded artillery in Peter's wars.
During the reign of Peter I, the Georgian colony in Moscow increased, and the Georgian Settlement was formed, where the Church of St. George the Victorious, the patron saint of Georgia, was built. This temple has been preserved to this day, and the names of the streets - Bolshaya and Malaya Gruzinskaya - have remained from the former Georgian settlement.