- Orthodox Remembrance Day: May 1 and 3rd Sunday of Easter
- Name means: the living (Hebrew)
- Queen of Georgia
- Born 1166 in Georgia
- Died on 18 January 1213 at the castle in Kojori near Tbilisi, Georgia
Tamara was the only child of King George III of Georgia and his wife Burdukhan and thus great granddaughter of David III “the restorer”. In order to avoid a fratricidal war over his succession, George appointed his daughter queen as early as 1178, when she was twelve years old.
After five years of joint regency, George died in 1184, Tamara took over the state business alone and the Catholicos crowned it. At the beginning of her reign, she called a synod at which she called on those gathered to keep the faith immaculate; Unworthy bishops were deposed and replaced by godly men, the liturgy was purified.
Tamara ruled in the Golden Age, when Georgia reached the peak of its economic and cultural development and political power, often referred to as the Georgian Renaissance. She is for the Georgians the proverbial good queen, praised in numerous poems and legends. The Georgian Orthodox Church canonized Tamara.
