Nowhere else in the world is there so great a variety of races and peoples, or such diversity of speech and custom in so small an area as here - writes one authority on the Caucasus region. "Here are cities bustling with industry... and tribes of mountain folk who have scarcely reached the perimeter of civilization..." Although each Caucasian republic has a distinctive character, Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaidzhan have in common a strong nationalistic spirit. Perhaps it emerged from several millennia of living as oppressed peoples; or maybe it was simply an awareness of the value of their ancient cultures.

Georgians trace their ancestry back to Noah's son Japheth, and it is in their homeland where Jason is supposed to have searched for his Golden Fleece. Extremely resourceful, Georgians are today just as legendary throughout the Soviet Union for doing just what the centrally planned state economy cannot seem to do, that is prosper. Socialism seems to have gained little more than a shaky foothold in this republic where "money talks too loudly to suit a proper Communist". In Georgia's rural mountain villages visitors can still find old men and women in traditional dress resembling that worn by ancient Hittites and Assyrians weaving carpets, making folk instruments and working with gold and silver. On Mt. Mtskheta they can listen to students sing polyphonic folk songs that have been passed down for seventeen centuries. The real place to see and hear it all, however, is the harvest festival of Tbilisoba. A million people - all the inhabitants of the Georgian capital of Tbilisi - are involved in the festivities. The city looks like an enormous stage and everybody sings, dances and feasts.

Like the Georgians, the Armenians highly value their own culture. When they lost their homeland, their freedom, and even their lives in earlier years, it was their national culture that kept alive their sense of who they were as a people. In the gentle minor chords of Armenian music one can discern a history of suffering. The national instrument of Armenia is the duduk, a kind of reed pipe that is similar to instruments played five millennia ago. Aram Khachaturian, a renowned Armenian composer, believed Armenia's rocky and mountainous topography has helped forge an indomitable and creative spirit. "Armenians have a kind of flavour," he said, "something individual."

Armenians have been famous for their hospitality since 400 B.C. when Xenophon, the Greek soldier of fortune, recorded being treated very well on his march through Armenia. Much of what Armenians eat today comes out of their own fields. They are particularly fond of salads, and Armenian farmers will often eat a whole head of lettuce fresh from the fields. Apricots and cherries originated in Armenia, and their homegrown lamb and paper-thin baklava pastry are famous for their quality.

Azerbaidzhan is the odd sister of the three Caucasian republics. Here in Azerbaidzhan's high mountain passages Christianity and Islam met, but never mingled. High in the Talysh Mountains the local inhabitants weave colourful homespun carpets that are many times too exquisite to be priced. Azerbaidzhani culture as a whole is similar to those carpets: Through the centuries the people of Azerbaidzhan have taken bright threads from Persian and Turkish art and strong threads from Islam and have woven them into the more muted colours of their own cultural expression. The Azerbaidzhanis are a people of movement and song. The art of ashugi, who improvise songs to their own accompaniment on stringed instruments called kobuz, remains extremely popular. In the afternoons and evenings Azerbaidzhani men resort to Turkish-style coffee houses where they listen to the haunting tones of Middle Eastern music.

* Spiritual interest abounds among Armenian youth. In one secondary school for gifted students several new converts created a prayer list of schoolmates they wanted to see saved. Within months every one had come to Christ! PRAY: for their continued growth and witness.

PRAY:
-that many nominal members of the Georgian Orthodox Church would come to know Christ personally.

* There have been reports of God using modern-day signs and miracles to bring Muslims in Azerbaidzhan and surrounding areas to Himself.

PRAY:
-that God will continue to do whatever is necessary to captivate the attention of these Muslims. PRAY also that Azerbaidzhan's dozen or so believers (out of a population of 4.7 million) will grow spiritually.

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