Many inhabitants of Abkhazia are Orthodox Christians, with significant minorities adhering to Islam and the Abkhaz neopaganism, or the "Abkhazian traditional religion". The influence of this last has always remained strong and has been experiencing a revival through the 1990s and 2000s.George Enteen, ABKHAZIA versus GEORGIA: Implications for U.S. Policy toward Russia There exists a very small number of adherents to Judaism and Jehovah's Witnesses, as well as non-believers. The Jehovah's Witnesses organization has officially been banned since 1995, though the decree is not currently enforced.Georgia: International Religious Freedom Report 2005. The United States Department of State. Retrieved on May 24, 2007. According to the constitutions of both Abkhazia and Georgia, the adherents of all religions have equal rights before the law. Constitution of the Republic of Abkhazia, art. 12 Крылов А. Б. Секрет абхазской веротерпимости. НГ-религия от 17 марта 2004.
Abkhaz native religion
The Abkhaz native religion has undergone a revival in recent decades. As of 2003, 8% of the population of Abkhazia (thus a higher percentage among ethnic Abkhazians) declares to be "pagan". It is worthwhile to note that the equivalent of the term "pagan" in Abkhazian (as well as Russian) language, язычник yazychnik, means "ethnic" rather than "country dweller" like its Western counterpart. One scholar has asserted that the Abkhazian traditional religion has become so well established and intertwined with the government to be almost the state religion of the country.Agababyan, Arusyak. "What Do We Believe?" Rebirth of "Traditional Religion" in Post-War Abkhazia. Государство, религия, церковь в России и за рубежом, № 2 (34) / 2016.
In the Abkhaz native religion, Antsua (also spelled Antzva) is the supreme God and the creator of life. The native religion is animistic, there are deities that represents thunder and the weather like Afy, others that represent the forests, wild animals, and hunting like Ayerg and Azhvepshaa. The religion has a host of different Gods that cater for each aspect of the world. Abkhaz gods have "Apaimbari" meaning angels and observers that function as representatives of the Gods on earth. They keep track of everything that is done amongst the people, while reporting everything back to the Gods.
The followers of this religion have 7 holy temples among which 6 have been restored "Dydrypsh-nykha", "Lashkendar-nykha", "Ldzaa-nykha", "Lykh-nykha" and "Ulyr-nykha". The sixth sanctuary "Inal-Kuba" is located in a mountain valley of Pskhu, which is now populated by Russians. However, the name of the 7th temple is still disputed.
Abrahamic religions Christianity
In a 2003 survey 60% of respondents identified themselves as Christian; according to a report published by UNPO in 2015, 75% of the population were Christian. The two main churches active in Abkhazia are the Abkhazian Orthodox Church and the Armenian Apostolic Church. There are approximately 140 church buildings in Abkhazia, most of which date to the first millennium.
The Abkhazian Orthodox Church operates outside the official Eastern Orthodox ecclesiastical hierarchy, as all Eastern Orthodox churches recognise Abkhazia as belonging to the jurisdiction of the Georgian Orthodox church.Witness through troubled times : a history of the Orthodox Church of Georgia, 1811 to the present, Abashidze, Zaza.A long walk to church: a contemporary history of Russian Orthodoxy, 2nd ed, Davis, Nathaniel The Georgian Orthodox Church lost effective control over the Sukhumi-Abkhazian eparchy following the 1992-1993 war in Abkhazia, when ethnically Georgian priests had to flee Abkhazia. It maintains its structures in exile, where the current head is Archbishop Daniel. The Abkhazian Orthodox Church came into existence when the ethnically Abkhaz branch of the Sukhumi-Abkhazian Eparchy declared on 15 September 2009 that it no longer considered itself part of the Georgian Orthodox Church and that it was re-establishing the Catholicate of Abkhazia disbanded in 1814.
The Georgian Orthodox Church has accused the Russian Orthodox Church of interfering in its internal affairs, thereby violating Orthodox canon law, by training and sending into Abkhazia priests, publishing translations of the Gospels into the Abkhaz language and annexing Georgian Orthodox property in Abkhazia.The Georgian Times on the Web: Comprehensive news site, daily international, national and local news coverage, breaking news updates, sports, reviews The Russian Orthodox Church claims that the priests it has sent serve in Abkhazia only temporarily while the local Orthodox believers do not have contacts with the Georgian Orthodox Church.
May 15, 2011 at the National Assembly of the Church in the city of New Athos (Anakopiya), proclaimed the establishment of a new church organization - the Holy Metropolis of Abkhazia.
The Catholic Church in Abkhazia is the third largest Christian denomination, and mostly consists of mainly Armenians, Poles, and expatriates living in Abkhazia. The Holy See does not have diplomatic relations with Abkhazia, but has enjoyed two high level visits from the apostolic nuncio.
There are also small Protestant congregations.
History of Christianity in Abkhazia
The earliest accounts of the introduction of Christianity into the present-day Abkhazia date to the 1st century AD, and from 325, when the bishop of Pityus (present day Pitsunda) participated in the First Ecumenical Council in Nicaea.EXTRACTS FROM THE SYRIAC MS. NO. 14528 IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM. WRITTEN A.D. 501. Names of Bishops From around the 9th century onwards, the Orthodox dioceses of Abkhazia were governed by the Catholicate of Abkhazia, subordinated to the Georgian Orthodox Church. The Catholicate of Abkhazia and the Georgian Orthodox Church were abolished in 1814 and 1811. The dioceses were taken over by the Russian Orthodox Church. The Georgian Orthodox Church regained its independence in 1917, after the fall of Tsar Nicholas II.
Caucasus Germans migrated to Abkhazia largely in the first half of the 19th century. Most of them were Lutherans or Baptists. There were three German colonies: Neudorf, Gnadenberg, and Lindau. Estonians in Abkhazia settled mostly in the late 19th century. By 1887, the first Lutheran church-school had been completed in the village of Estonia which operated as a school and a prayer house. The St. John's Lutheran Church was built in Sukhumi in 1913–15 which attended to the local Estonians, Germans and Latvians.
The first Adventist missionary, Vagram Pampanyan, arrived in Sukhumi in 1904 and began his ministry among the local Armenians.
During the 1992-1993 war in Abkhazia, the Georgian Orthodox church effectively lost control of Abkhazian church affairs, as ethnically Georgian priests had to flee Abkhazia. The Abkhaz Priest Vissarion Aplaa became acting head of the Sukhumi-Abkhazian eparchy. In the following years, recently consecrated clerics from the neighbouring Russian Maykop Eparchy arrived in Abkhazia, who eventually coming into conflict with Vissarion. Through the mediation of Russian church officials, the two sides managed to reach a power-sharing agreement at Maikop in 2005, but this did not hold.Вновь обострился конфликт внутри православной общины Абхазии. Blagovest.info May 15, 2006. Retrieved on June 26, 2007
In April 2008, the last Georgian Orthodox priest remaining in the predominantly Georgian-populated Gali district was expelled, reportedly by Abkhaz security officers, after a "special decree" of the Sukhumi-Abkhazian Eparchy, effectively leaving the local Georgian community without access to clergy.Abkhazia: Only Georgian Orthodox priest expelled.. Forum 18 News service, April 23, 2008. After the capture of the Upper Kodori Valley during the August 2008 war, the two remaining monasteries of Georgian Orthodox monks and nuns there were pressured by the Abkhazian authorities to submit to the Abkhazian Orthodox authorities or else leave Abkhazia. The Abkhazian Deputy Foreign Minister Maxim Gvinjia said the Abkhazian authorities did not plan to defend Georgian monks and nuns.ABKHAZIA: "Of course" authorities won't defend Georgian monks and nuns. Forum 18. September 4, 2008. The monks and nuns refused, and in April 2009, they were expelled from Abkhazia.Abkhazia expels clergymen to Georgia for refusing to recognize local church - official. Interfax. 6 April 2009
On 15 September 2009, the Sukhumi-Abkhazian Eparchy led by Vissarion declared that it was no longer a part of the Georgian Orthodox Church, that it was re-establishing the Catholicate of Abkhazia, and that it would henceforth be known as the Abkhazian Orthodox Church.
Representatives of the Holy Metropolis of Abkhazia, a new church organization in Abkhazia, are quite successful at dialogue with the Ecumenical Patriarchate about the decision of the Abkhazian Church.
Islam
In a 2003 survey 16% of respondents identified themselves as Muslim. There are two mosques in Abkhazia, one in Gudauta and one in Sukhumi.
History of Islam in Abkhazia
Islam spread in Abkhazia during the times of Ottoman rule in the region from the 16th until the 18th century. The first evidence of Abkhazian Muslims was given by the Turkish historian Evliya Çelebi (whose mother was Abkhazian), in the 1640s. Throughout the 19th century Russo-Turkish wars, Abkhazian nobility was split along religious lines, with Christians being generally pro-Russian, and Muslims siding with the Ottomans against Russia. Russia's final victory in the area in the 1860s-1870s and two Abkhazian revolts forced most of Muslim Abkhaz to emigrate to the Ottoman Empire as Muhajirs in the 1870s.
Thousands of Abkhaz, known as muhajirun, fled Abkhazia for the Ottoman Empire in the mid-19th century, after resisting the Russian Empire's conquest of the Caucasus. Today, Turkey is home to the world's largest Abkhaz diaspora community. Size estimates vary: diaspora leaders say 1 million people while Abkhaz estimates range from 150,000 to 500,000.
In 2009, Muslims in Abkhazia received for the first time an invitation from the King of Saudi Arabia to go on Hajj to Mecca.
On 19 December 2011, the Spiritual Board of the Muslims in Abkhazia held its fourth congress, after the death of its Chairman First Mufti of Abkhazia Adlia Gablia. Salikh Kvaratskhelia was elected the new chairman, Roman Jugelia and Timur Dzyba Deputy Chairmen.
Murders in the 21st-century