ნათლობის წარმოშობა და განვითარება
Tbilisi is considered the birthplace of Russian Baptism . It was here in 1867 that the German Baptist M.K.Kalveit, who moved to the Caucasus in 1863, gave baptism according to the Baptist rite to Nikita Voronin . Voronin became the first Russian Baptist, and the day of his baptism is considered to be the date of the founding of the Russian-Ukrainian Baptist movement [5] . Soon, a Baptist community was formed in Tbilisi, which consisted mainly of Russian Molokans . The community was one of the prominent centers for the spread of Baptism in the south of the Russian Empire.
A.Z. Khutsishvili is considered the first Georgian baptized according to the Baptist rite; his baptism took place in 1912 in Tbilisi. Since 1919, services for Georgians have been held at the Tbilisi Baptist community [6] . Subsequently, the Armenian (1926) and Ossetian (1966) Baptist communities were formed in Tbilisi [7] [8] . In Soviet times, communities of “unregistered Baptists” also emerged on the territory of the region .