According to
The Georgian Chronicles,
Byzantine Emperor Constantine gifted Georgian priests parts of the
True Cross. Bishop Ioanne arrived to
Manglisi, started construction of a church and left part of wood there. Thus, the first church in Manglisi may appear already in the 4th century, thus making it one of the first Christian churches in Georgia. The second reference in the chronicles is connected with the time of
Vakhtang Gorgasali, when the king sent a bishop to Manglisi (6th century). In the reign of
Stepanoz I (7th century), Greeks took the True Cross back to
Constantinopolis. Its final appearance the cathedral received during the reign of
George II in the 11th century. The walls around the church with towers were built by bishop Arseni in the 17th century. A writing above the gate, carved in the rock, mentions this. The church documents mention 15 bishops, starting from the time of
Tamar in the 12th-13th century, until the arrival of the Russians in the early 19th century. == References ==