Georgia (country) Church Records

For information about records for non-Christian religions in Georgia (country), go to the Religious Records page.

Historical Background
The wide variety of peoples inhabiting Georgia has meant a correspondingly rich array of active religions. Today most of the population in Georgia practices Orthodox Christianity, primarily in the Georgian Orthodox Church whose faithful make up 82.4% of the population. Around 1% belong to the Russian Orthodox Church, while about 3.9% of the population follow the Armenian Apostolic Church (Oriental Orthodoxy), almost all of which are ethnic Armenians. Adherents of Islam make up 10.7% of the population[3] and are mainly found in the Adjara and Kvemo Kartli regions and as a sizeable minority in Tbilisi. Catholics of the Armenian and Latin churches make up around 0.8% of the population and are mainly found in the south of Georgia and a small number in Tbilisi. There is also a sizeable Jewish community in Tbilisi served by two synagogues.

Parish registers
Research use: Uniquely identifies individuals based on their vital data and connects them to the previous generation.

Record type: Church records kept by parish priests of births/baptisms, marriages, and deaths/burials; term also used to mean religious vital records of denominations without parishes.

General: The material was created after the establishment of the Georgia-Imeretia Orthodox Synod in 1814. In registers before 1875, multiple parishes are filed for each year. After 1875, there are multiple years for the same parish.

Time period: 1817-1921.

Contents: Names of the person and other family members, residence, relationships, dates and place of birth and baptism, marriage, death and burial. Baptisms include names of godparents; marriages include the ages of the bride and groom; burials include the age of the deceased and cause of death.

Location: Most centralized at the National Archive in Tbilisi.

Percentage in Family History Library: 100% (1817-1921).

Population coverage: 55% coverage for early periods; 80% coverage for the 19th century.

Reliability: High.

Armenian Catholic Church
The Armenian Catholic church in the Transcaucasian region had four deaneries, (Akhaltsykh-Atskhur [previously part of the Tiflis province of Russia, now in Georgia], Akhalhalak [previously part of the Tiflis province of Russia, now in Georgia], Lori [previously part of the Tiflis province of Russia, now split between Georgia and Armenia], and Alexandrapol [previously part of the Erivan province of Russia, now in Armenia) within the the Diocese of Tiraspol. This diocese was originally created on 3 July 1848 and was called the Diocese of Kherson until 1852. Prior to 1848 the area belonged to the Archdiocese of Mohilev.

Roman Catholic Church
Roman Catholics in Georgia belonged to the Tiflis deanery which was also in the Diocese of Tiraspol.