Sour Jokes

Last night I reunited with several of my Georgian friends here, including Luarsab and Nino who somehow made it back to Tbilisi from Holland where they had been visiting Luarsab's sister. They expected to tour Eastern Europ on a two week drive back to Tbilisi, but instead found themselves in the midst of organizing pro-Georgian rallies in the Hague.

We went to a chant rehearsal with the Didgori choir guys, who were full of sour jokes. I am notorious for not understanding jokes, but the gist of them went like: "the Russian fighter pilot is flying over Dighomi... no, no, Rustavi! and he says to his co-pilot, this must be the wrong, someone else has already bombed this place!" Another one: "Saakashvili has a new project: he is asking all Georgians to donate some garden tools, curtains, toilets, whatever you have lying around, and he is going to send it as a donation to the Russians. That way, they won't have to invade next time he attacks South Ossetia!"

Our buddy Givi, who we all call Poti because he is from Poti... is the best jokester in the group. But I can tell he is really worried. The Russians have occupied Poti now for the second time and are reportedly dropping bombs, looting, blowing up civilian boats in the harbor, destroying oil terminal infrastructure. The Georgian population is living in terror and Givi has no idea who is alive and who is dead. Still he can tell a joke.

Today we sang Matins-Vespers, tomorrow morning Divine Liturgy. I think in a way, the consistency of the Orthodox liturgy, and it's ability to bring people hope, serves an extremely important function right now. And I think the Orthodox faith has kept the Georgian people alive for many, many centuries by serving people in crisis situations in exactly this manner.



Samtavisi Church (near Gori)