St. Minas Church in Tbilisi on the verge of destruction
The danger of destruction of St. Minas Church became more apparent recently, the Armenian Diocese in Georgia reported. On December 20, the fire service received an emergency call, and the firefighters saved the church from being completely destroyed. The church is in a critical condition; the neglected house of God is waiting for its final destruction, and the people living around enclose the fence, storage and turning the church and its surrounding area into an auxiliary building and leaving the unused spaces to homeless peoples' usage.
As Susanna Khachatryan the coordinator of media relations at the Armenian Diocese wrote on Facebook, following the fire, no actions have been taken by Georgian state bodies to preserve the ruins and prevent further destruction.
Yerevantsots St. Minas Armenian church is located in Avlabari district. In accordance with the preserved data, Yerevantsots St. Minas Church was built in 1790. Initially the church was not large building and in 1870 there was a necessity to enlarge the church building. On January 2, 1883, St. Minas Church was built at the place of the old church. During the Soviet era, the church dome was eliminated and it was used as a workshop. After the collapse of the USSR, Yerevantsots St. Minas Church was determined as one of the ''disputed'' churches.
The Armenian Diocese in Georgia and the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin had repeatedly appealed to the Georgian Orthodox Church to return Armenian churches to the Armenian Diocese to take care for them. Numerous letters were sent to the Georgian authorities, relevant state institutions, and the condition of the church was represented, but no changes.