The Pearl of Georgian architecture, the Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Ananuri, fortunately, has not yet been included in the list of 465 Georgian churches, on which Armenian nationalists have officially lodged their claims. But this does not mean at all that it will not be included in such "expanded" list in case insolent demands and claims of Armenian falsifiers start to be satisfied.  Moreover, the example of the church in Ananuri shows that Armenian forgers and "grabbers of alien things" stop at nothing to assert their rights and, under favorable circumstances, appropriate another's shrine.

The temple in Ananuri was built quite late, judging by the Georgian inscriptions on the temple in the second half of the 17th century, and is located quite far from those lands that Armenian nationalists on their maps regularly include in the notorious "Great Armenia". Nor were there any Armenian villages in the vicinity. Therefore, it was impossible to pass off the cathedral in Ananuri as "ancient Armenian".

Moreover, the cathedral in Ananuri is situated on a busy route - the Georgian Military Road. Thousands of travellers have visited it, exploring it thoroughly. Therefore, it was not possible to quietly remove Georgian inscriptions testifying to the foundation of the church and replace them with Armenian ones, as it was done in many other places.

However, Armenian forgers also made the first steps towards appropriation of something alien. They managed to organize another "proof" of claiming that "everything in Georgia was built by Armenians. They did it with their usual cunning.   They carved "inscriptions of builders" on the stones of the temple in Armenian and even dated them (naturally, by the Armenian calendar). Information about this forgery as "evidence of Armenian participation in the construction" was even published in the official edition of the Orthodox Encyclopedia of Moscow Patriarchate. Although the encyclopaedic article does not deny that the temple was Georgian, but especially emphasizes that it was built by Armenians:

"Ananuri [Georgian ანანური], a medieval fortress and town 66 km from Tbilisi along the Georgian Military Road, in the Aragvi River gorge (now a village in the Dusheti District of Georgia); in the 17th century, at its peak, one of the important points of the Aragvi Eristavos; in the 18th century, a centre of crafts and trade, the residence and burial place of local rulers. A. as a fortification retained its importance after the abolition of the Eristavtvo in 1743, when it was taken over by the sons of Irakli II, until the 19th century. An inventory of the 1770s notes that Georgians and Armenians, numbering 100 "households", lived in the town...

"The main building of the complex is a richly decorated cross-domed church in honour of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary (ღვთისმშობელი, Gvtismshobeli) with 2 western sub-dome pillars. The inscription on the southern facade in 1689, in Georgian lettering of Mkhedruli, says: "The son of Aragvi Eristavi, Mdivanbeg Bardzim had his hand in building of his grave in this Ananuri, the Church of Our Lady... and appointed me, the Bokaultukhutses (A high-ranking official of the police-administrative apparatus in late feudal Georgia) Kaihosro Bagsarashvili, as the sarkar (builder.- V.S.) of this monastery". Stonecutters' marks made by 7 Georgian letters (22 times) and 3 Armenian letters (3 times) testify that Georgian and Armenian craftsmen were working there; in the base of ornamental cross on the southern facade the name Grigory was written in dative case; on the eastern facade the date 1688 according to the Armenian calendar is written. Expressive plastics of carved reliefs (images of cross, archangels, vegetable and teratological ornamental compositions, etc.) put it in one of the best samples of Late-Medieval art in Georgia. Painting has survived in fragments: images of 13 saint fathers on columns and scenes from the "Last Judgement" on the south wall. The iconostasis of the temple (end of the XVIII-XIX centuries) was made by Nikolay Abkhazi, the court painter of the Georgian king Erekle II.”

The following conclusion can be drawn from this text. The church is undoubtedly Georgian, it was built by Georgian builders and made its markings in the Georgian language. But when in the 19th century under the Russian Empire began mass settlement of Armenians in Georgia and appropriation of Georgian churches by Armenian settlers, Ananuri also attracted their attention. Forgers followed "a proven scheme" of replacing Georgian inscriptions with Armenian ones, but in relation to Ananuri such process "to the end" failed. But the falsifiers have taken the first step. They stamped Armenian inscriptions next to Georgian ones. In addition, Armenian falsifiers everywhere emphasise that Armenians in the 18th century and earlier allegedly lived in Ananuri.

However, what to do with the position that the Georgian Orthodox Church has always considered the Armenian faith to be a heresy? After all, it was unacceptable for a heretical Armenian Church to leave 'marks' on an Orthodox church in a language accepted by it. It would be the same as if the Armenian stonecutters, for example, were allowed to leave their "marks" on the mosque. A stonecutter who made such "marks" on a shrine of a different faith, even if he was involved in the construction, would have been immediately suspended from the operation.

There is no doubt that the Armenian "marks of stonecutters" were not actually made during the construction of the temple, but much later. But the Armenian nationalists still consider the church to be "Armenian". They are just waiting for the right moment to appropriate it.

Moreover, none other than the extremist organisation "Armenian community of Georgia" reminds about "Armenianness" of the Georgian church in Ananuri. It organized celebration of its holiday "Vardavar" on July 25, 2022 exactly in Ananuri. And most likely, the young people taking part in the celebration were taught by its organisers that the church in Ananuri is "Armenian". As the Armenian nationalists consider Jvari Monastry in Mtskheta to be "Armenian".

 The "Armenian community of Georgia" regularly celebrates its holidays near the Georgian church as "Armenian". Given the extremism of the "Armenian community of Georgia" and its chanting of terrorism and political assassinations, we can conclude that this is not at all a harmless activity.

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