One of the oldest and most remarkable places in the eparchy of Borjomi and Bakuriani is the village of Tadzrisi. As the name suggests, the settlement received it for its abundance of churches (tadzari). Their founding is linked with the name of the holy father Grigol of Khandzta and his disciples. The history of the Tadzrisi monastery is bound up with two spiritual leaders: Grigol of Khandzta and Giorgi Mtatsmindeli. Church life began here as early as the ninth–tenth centuries. According to historical records, Tadzrisi very soon became an important center of culture and learning; its name was famed throughout Georgia, and every noble strove to bring his firstborn to be raised in this holy hearth of spirituality and culture. Children of well-known lay figures lived in the monastery, which speaks to its high repute. First among them, by his labors and his immense service to the Georgian Church, is the venerable father of the Georgians — St. Giorgi Mtatsmindeli. "And they took him to Samtskhe, to the convent called Tadzrisi"... "when he turned seven, they took him to the monastery of Tadzrisi to his sister," writes the saint's hagiographer Giorgi Mtsire. At that time the superior of the Tadzrisi convent was the venerable and holy nun Sabiane, who received the little boy like a son. The venerable father spent 3 years in the monastery. According to historical records, at that time the Tadzrisi monastic complex consisted of the monastery churches, the superior's residence and a fortress. Today only two churches survive on the site: the single-nave basilicas of St. Giorgi Mtatsmindeli and of the Most Holy Mother of God. Monastic life at Tadzrisi lasted until the 16th century. In 1550, in the wake of the Ottoman Turkish conquest, the Tadzrisi monastery was destroyed. In the 18th century the region again became part of the Georgian kingdom, but the monastery was not revived. With the blessing of Ilia II, Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia, divine service was restored at Tadzrisi for the 1000th anniversary of the birth of St. Giorgi Mtatsmindeli. On July 10, 2009, the saint's feast day, the festal liturgy was celebrated by the head of the Georgian Church himself.