Saint Mamas Rides Lion & Borjgali 10 Tetri Georgia Authentic Coin Money for Jewelry and Craft Making (Patron Saint of Tax Evasion)

Saint Mamas Riding Lion & Borjgali 10 Tetri Georgia Authentic Coin Charm for Jewelry and Craft Making (Tax Evasion)

Obverse: Borjgali, a Georgian symbol of the Sun with seven rotating wings, over the Christian Tree of Life. "REPUBLIC OF GEORGIA" shows in both Roman and Georgian characters.

Lettering: საქართველოს რესპუბლიკა
REPUBLIC OF GEORGIA
Translation: Republic of Georgia
Republic of Georgia

Reverse: Saint Mamas riding a lion, a depiction on an 11th century silver plate gilded with gold from the Gelati monastery
Lettering: 10 თეთრი
Translation: 10 Tetri

[While living on the mountain, he was called before a judge for not paying taxes. On the way, a sheep chased by a lion ran across his path. Mamas saved the sheep and the lion became docile, allowing Mamas to ride him to court, carrying the sheep. Mamas gave the sheep to the judge, who forgave him his non-payment of taxes (which accounts for Mamas being the patron saint of tax evaders.]

Features
Issuer Georgia
Period Republic (1991-date)
Type Standard circulation coin
Year 1993
Value 10 Tetri
0.10 GEL = USD 0.034
Currency Lari (1995-date)
Composition Stainless steel
Weight 3.00 g
Diameter 21.9 mm
Thickness 1.27 mm
Shape Round
Technique Milled
Orientation Coin alignment ↑↓
Number N# 2852
References KM# 79, Schön# 10

From https://russianicons.wordpress.com/tag/st-mamas/
Mamas was a boy born in Paphlagonia. His parents, Theodotos and Rufina, lived in Gangra, and were Christians imprisoned in Caesarea for their faith. Both died in prison, but the mother managed to give birth to Mamas before her death.

Mamas was taken and raised by a rich Christian widow named Ammia. His name is said to be derived from his calling her “Mama” (actually, Mamas was a rather common name in those days). The boy Mamas became an evangelizer among the people, converting them to Christianity. That brought him to the attention of the authorities, and he was arrested and tortured under the persecution of the Emperor Aurelian. An attempt was made to drown him, but he was rescued by an angel, who told him to live on a mountain. There he befriended wild goats and deer, and survived on goat milk and doe milk, from which he also made cheese that he distributed to the poor. He lived the life of a shepherd.

Eventually, however, a group of soldiers came to where he was living. He gave them milk to drink and told them who he was. He was arrested and tortured and thrown to wild beasts in the arena, but the beasts became peaceful and would not harm him. His death finally came at age 15 when he was stabbed with a trident — some say by a pagan priest, in 275 c.e., and that while wounded, he managed to get to a cave, where he died.

The “lion” motif appeared in later accounts of his life, and it is variable. Some say that while living on the mountain, he was called before a judge for not paying taxes. On the way, a sheep chased by a lion ran across his path. Mamas saved the sheep and the lion became docile, allowing Mamas to ride him to court, carrying the sheep. Mamas gave the sheep to the judge, who forgave him his non-payment of taxes (which accounts for Mamas being the patron saint of tax evaders). Others say that after the soldiers found him, he told them he would meet them in Caesarea, and arrived riding on a lion. In either case the lion-riding motif, which in his iconography dates to at least the 6th century, is obviously as fictional as that of the slaying of the dragon by St. George.

From the sources, it can easily be seen that the story of the saint varies in a confused manner in the time, arrangement, place, and nature of events in his life, depending on which source one consults, but that is not unusual in the legends of saints.

In the Church Calendar, Mamas is called Mamas of Caesarea, but that is not the Caesarea of the Gospels. Instead it is the city of Kayseri in modern-day Turkey. Nonetheless, the people of the island of Cyprus have quite a different tradition that takes Mamas out of the 3rd century and puts him on Cyprus in the 12th, saying he lived as a hermit in a cave near the town of Morphou. Mamas is particularly popular on Cyprus, being considered something of a national patron, and there are some 60 Cypriot churches dedicated to him. His earliest churches appeared in Cappadocia.

Mamas is also considered the patron of shepherds, sheep and goats, etc. He is sometimes depicted simply as a martyr holding a cross or a palm branch, but his most appealing icons are those that show him riding the lion, with a sheep at one hand and a shepherd’s staff or a cross in the other.

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Wikipedia:
Borjgali (Georgian: ბორჯღალი; also Borjgala or Borjgalo) is a Georgian symbol of the Sun with seven rotating wings around a tree of life. The borjgali can be considered as a main symbol of Georgian culture.

Etymology
The term Borjgali is believed to derive from Megrelian word ბარჩხალი (barchkhali), which literally means "strong shining". Some other scholars believe that it has different origins. In old Megrelian borj means "time" and gal means "pass" or "flow". So the whole phrase would mean "the flow of time".

Usage
This pre-Christian symbol was widely used in both western (Colchis) and eastern Georgia (in Georgian architecture's Dedabodzi (pillar) as part of the Kura–Araxes culture) as a holy symbol. During the medieval period, this symbol was incorporated as a part of Christian symbolism Nowadays, the symbol is used in Georgian IDs and passports, as well as on currency and by the Georgian Rugby Union. Georgian rugby team players are called ბორჯღალოსნები (borjgalosnebi), which means "Men bearing Borjgali". It was also used on the naval ensign of Georgia during the late 1990s and early 2000s. Georgian nationalists often use symbol to emphasize national pride.

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WIkipedia:
The tree of life is a fundamental widespread mytheme or archetype in many of the world's mythologies, religious and philosophical traditions. It is closely related to the concept of the sacred tree.

The tree of knowledge, connecting to heaven and the underworld, and the tree of life, connecting all forms of creation, are both forms of the world tree or cosmic tree, and are portrayed in various religions and philosophies as the same tree.