Agrarian Reform and Georgian Churches and Monasteries (1917- 1920)

After the February Revolution in Russia in 1917, the implementation of an agrarian reform _ initially planned for once the Constituent Assembly was convened _ was delayed. The provisional laws passed by the regional authorities of the South Caucasus in 1917–1918 were incomplete and insufficient.
Following Georgia’s declaration of independence on 26 May 1918, the government of the Democratic Republic of Georgia finished creating the legislative framework for agrarian reform in 1919.
Under the law of 28 January 1919, all ecclesiastical lands became subject to redistribution because the government deemed that clergy did not support themselves through agriculture. Instead, their income came from state treasury wages and fees charged for performing church services. The Government of the Democratic Republic of Georgia, by a decree of 20 May 1919, considered it possible to leave the land ration in the possession and not in the ownership of monasteries, if the land of a monastery had not yet been distributed. However, if the monastery’s land had already been distributed, it was no longer subject to return.
When distributing land, Georgia’s democratic government did not treat the Church as equal to other landowners. Consequently, agrarian reform significantly worsened the situation of Georgia’s churches and monasteries.