On April 23–24, Tbilisi State University hosted an international scientific conference dedicated to the 150th anniversary of Ivane Javakhishvili. The conference brought together scholars from leading universities around the world, who presented their latest research findings and discussed current developments across various academic fields.

Professor Tengiz Verulava of Caucasus University, Director of the Health Policy Institute, delivered a presentation titled “Monastic Medicine and the Ethical Matrix of Healthcare: From Christian Anthropology to Contemporary Politics of Solidarity.”

The presentation highlighted several key ideas:

• The modern hospital system is not solely the result of technological progress; it is rooted in the Christian worldview, in which caring for the sick is understood as an act of restoring human dignity.
• As early as the fourth century, Saint Basil the Great’s Basiliad and the decisions of the Council of Nicaea helped lay the foundations for a model of social solidarity.
• Medicine developed as a public good through the tradition of monastic xenones (hospitals) and and nosocomia (hospices).
• The Georgian monastic tradition, including the xenones of the Iviron Monastery, formed an integral part of this wider historical process. Georgian monasteries were not only places of prayer; they also represented early examples of organized solidarity and care.
• Today, at a time when healthcare is often reduced to market-based logic, it is especially important to remember its axiological foundation: medicine is a public good, no a mere service.

Health Policy Institute, Caucasus University.