With the Highest approval of the Sovereign Emperor and under the supreme patronage of the Empress Maria Alexandrovna, the Society for the Restoration of Orthodox Christianity in the Caucasus was established in Tiflis.
The title of members of the Society is acquired by all those pious zealots of the faith who undertake to make an annual contribution to achieve this holy goal. According to the size of donations, four categories of membership with special insignia have been established, so that the faithful children of the Church clearly serve the Holy Cross before people and before God.
In many regions of the Caucasus, Orthodoxy has existed since apostolic times. Georgia served as a constant theater of bloody trials; but strong in faith, preached here by the holy Apostle Andrew the First-Called and in the 4th century by Saint Nina, Equal to the Apostles, she has preserved true piety through the centuries.
Having voluntarily annexed the Georgian kingdom to the Russian state, Russia assumed a sacred duty: to protect the shrines of Christianity and restore the true faith in those gorges where it had weakened under the centuries-old pressure of the conquerors.
This holy goal must be pursued not by destruction, not with sword and fire, but with the word of gospel love, patience and mercy. The duty of the Society is to restore the ancient holy temples that have fallen into disrepair; erect new churches; ensure decent maintenance for clergy and the training of zealous preachers; translate liturgical books into local languages of mountain tribes; establish primary Christian schools in parishes.
"God! I have loved the beauty of Your house and the dwelling place of Your glory. It is better to be at the threshold of the House of God than to live in the villages of wickedness!” And just as faith without works is dead, so the creation of shrines in the Caucasus is a great work of evidence of living faith.
Orthodox sons of our native Church! Let us lend a hand of spiritual help to our brothers and devote part of our God-given wealth to a cause so Christ-loving, holy and dear to every Christian heart.