December 23, 1977 will be written
in golden letters in the centuries-old history of the Apostolic
Orthodox Church of Georgia. On this day, the XII Church Council
elected Metropolitan of Tskhum-Abkhazeti Ilia, as the
Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia, Archbishop of Mtskheta and
Tbilisi. His enthronement took place on December 25 in
Svetitskhoveli Cathedral. In the history of the Georgian Apostolic
Church in the 19th and 20th centuries, there were two cases when
Svetitskhoveli Cathedral was so full of people that no more room
was left there for more to be admitted. The first of the two was
March 12, 1917 - the day of the restoration of autocephaly to the
Apostolic Orthodox Church of Georgia, the other was December 25
1977, when the 44-year-old Metropolitan of Tskhum-Abkhazeti Ilia
(Shiolashvili), who was named Ilia II, was enthroned on the
patriarchal throne. On that historic day at Svetitskhoveli
Cathedral, the newly elected young foremost hierarch of the
Apostolic Orthodox Church of Georgia addressed his people with
these words: “God’s Providence is infinitely miraculous, and His
mercy knows not any bounds. Truly, this Providence and mercy put my
humility before you as the Father of the Apostolic Church of
Georgia. I am aware of the most difficult and, at the same time,
honorable duty that the Almighty God has placed upon me today,
under the arches of this holy temple of God. I bow my knees before
His power and worship His name arrayed with everlasting light. I
bow my head before the Church of Georgia and its parish - the
Georgian nation, which my strength and my mind must serve with all
my trust.”
The foremost hierarch of
the Apostolic Orthodox Church of Georgia had to inherit the legacy,
which at that time was the most devastated: In the 1920s and 1960s,
the atheist rule cut off the people from the Church, which led to a
catastrophic decrease of parishioners and functioning churches and
monasteries. The number of functioning churches and clergy did not
exceed 70, there were only 15 dioceses. The Church did not have its
journal, publishing house, radio or television, the center of
theological higher education. The issue of the recognition and
diptych of the historical autocephaly of the Orthodox Church of
Georgia was unresolved. The Orthodox Church of Georgia did not have
intensive relations with the other local Orthodox Churches. The
Georgian intelligentsia was completely alienated from the Church.
The process of revival began with the great efforts of His Holiness
and Beatitude Ilia II, Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia. Despite
the resistance of the existing atheist government, dioceses were
revived, new priests were ordained, closed churches and monasteries
were opened, many young people joined the newly opened monasteries,
the number of monks increased rapidly, diocesan houses, new
cathedrals were built. As of 2020, the 49 dioceses of the Georgian
Orthodox Church have 44 hierarchs, more than 2,000 functioning
churches and monasteries and more than 2,100 clergy.
After the collapse of the Soviet
Union and the opening of the borders, at the end of the 20th
century and the beginning of the 21st century, more than a million
citizens left Georgia for foreign countries. With the blessing of
the Catholicos-Patriarch, Georgian parishes of Germany and Austria,
Belgium and the Netherlands, Western Europe, North America and
Canada were established for the purpose to help them to maintain a
strong connection with their homeland, the Mother Church and
national roots. The parishes of Lazeti were added to the Diocese of
Batumi, that of Tao-Klarjeti joined the Akhaltsikhe Diocese, the
Lore-Tashiri parish became part of the Dmanisi Diocese as the
parish of Kari became that of Akhalkalaki and Kumurdo, the Hereti
parish were added to the Dedoplistskaro Diocese. Today, parochial
schools, study circles of Georgian folk songs and dance and church
singing function with Georgian churches in these parishes. Our
compatriots living temporarily abroad are the subject of special
concern of the Catholicos-Patriarch of Georgia. An expression
of this care was numerous meetings that the Catholicos-Patriarch
had with the Georgians living in European and American countries,
Turkey, the Russian Federation, Armenia and Azerbaijan. The words
which he addressed with the Georgians living in Turkey were
particularly impressive: “With special love and fervent feeling I
address you, our brothers, living outside our homeland, I address
you, Muslims and Christians. We are one in blood and flesh, despite
our different religious beliefs. Remember that your ancestors are
buried in the sacred land of Georgia. Do not forget who you are,
the land you come from, remember the God-blessed Georgian language
and Georgian traditions blessed throughout centuries. We always
remember you and pray night and day for you and for the unification
of our nation.” In a modern, conflicting world, globalization is
putting a small number of nations to a trial. According to His
Holiness and Beatitude Ilia II, “If a person, a people, a state
does not have the right religious and national ideology, liberalism
will definitely work in favor of the enemies and will completely
destroy the country internally. It drives the society towards
pseudo-democracy and false freedom, devalues national values, and
violates its form and essence. Therefore, a Georgian person, along
with “language, homeland and faith” must firmly imprint in his mind
“God, homeland and human being.”
Owing to the great efforts of the
foremost hierarch of the Apostolic Orthodox Church of Georgia, we
successfully accomplished the process of difficult negotiations on
the recognition of the historical autocephaly of the Church of
Georgia, which had lasted for many years with the World
Patriarchate of Constantinople.
On March 4, 1990, His All
Holiness, Dimitrios signed two charters.
1. “A Charter of the Recognition
and Confirmation of the Autocephaly of the Most Holy Orthodox
Church of Georgia”.
2. “A Patriarchal Synodic Decree
on the Recognition and Bestowal of the Patriarchal Title upon the
Foremost Hierarch of the Most Holy Church of Georgia”. By the
decree of the Archbishop of Constantinople and Ecumenical Patriarch
Demetrios: “The Holy Orthodox Church of Georgia, as autocephalous
and independent, included in the system of Orthodox Churches and a
self-governing institution, be given a brotherly consent and
recognition by our Holy Church of Constantinople that the Holy
Church of Georgia is honoured with patriarchal dignity and place.”
As his title, “Archbishop of Mtskheta and Tbilisi and
Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia” was mentioned in the ancient
chronicles and other ecclesiastical sources, so also henceforth, be
it mentioned in Orthodox Divine and Sacred decrees.” “At present,
we have the documents that Georgia has been waiting for 1500 years,
they are documents of such significance that, with God’s blessing,
no one will ever be able to overstep the autocephaly of the
Georgian Church,” - said His Holiness and Beatitude, Ilia II. The
revival of theological education is related to the work of the
Catholicos-Patriarch. Mtskheta Theological Seminary could no longer
respond to the challenges, which our Church had to face. In
1988, Tbilisi Theological Academy was opened in Tbilisi where, as
he himself said, “not only the clergy should be educated and
trained for their future ministry, but also this school should
become a center of research which both clergymen and scholars will
be engaged in. We will have contacts with both higher educational
institutions and Orthodox and Christian higher educational centers
in general.” Today, Tbilisi Theological Academy of the Patriarchate
of Georgia is a distinguished center of higher theological
education. Through the efforts of the Catholicos-Patriarch, in 2013
the Academy gained the right to establish the Doctoral Dissertation
Council in the field of theology, a doctoral program in theology
was compiled, and the defense of the first doctoral dissertation
took place. In 1995, Gelati Theological Academy was restored,
Gelati Academy of Sciences was established. Theological seminaries
were established in Akhaltsikhe, Nekresi, Poti, Batumi, Gori,
Tsageri, Gremi. With the blessing of the Catholicos-Patriarch, St.
Giorgi the Athonite Higher School of Church Singing was founded
which functions at the Patriarchate of Georgia. Also, Euthymius the
Man of God Educational Professional collage, Akhalkalaki St.
Zosimius of Kumurdo Public College, St. Nino Theological School of
Akhalkalaki, as well as secular universities: St. Andrew the
First-Called Georgian University, St. Queen Tamar University, the
Khichauri St. Abuseridze of Tbeti University in Khulo, “New
Georgia” University in Poti were estsblished. Parochial schools
were founded, publishing activities reached a new height. With the
blessing of the Catholicos-Patriarch, a number of significant works
were published, among them are: the complete Bible in Modern
Georgian, the first volume of the multilingual Bible (Bible
Polyglota), a number of dogmatic-liturgical monuments of great
value. These publications have significantly raised the level of
spiritual education of the Georgian nation.
By the order of His Holiness and
Beatitude Ilia II, of July 10 2009, a Standing Commission for the
study of the actual History of Georgia was established (the head of
the Commission - Metropolitan Anania Japaridze). The Commission
published a number of works on the problems of the history of
Georgia and the history of the Church of Georgia in 2009-2020,
according to which the arguments of the so called “Theory of
Georgianization” were negated. Through the Catholicos-Patriarch’s
efforts, the state recognized the historically established legal
status of the Orthodox Church of Georgia in the constitutional
treaty signed between the Church and the state on October 14, 2002.
The relationship between the state and the Church was regulated at
the legal level. The role of the Orthodox Church of Georgia is
special in the rise of the national liberation movement since the
1980s. On July 20, 1987, with the blessing of His Holiness and
Beatitude Ilia II, the Holy Synod canonized the great Georgian
writer and public figure Ilia Chavchavadze as saint and named him
“St. Ilia the Righteous” for his special service to the Georgian
nation and the Church of Georgia. The canonization of Ilia
Chavchavadze is a recognition not only of his personality, but also
of the great work and ideals, he has faithfully served throughout
his life. On the personal initiative of the Catholicos-Patriarch of
Georgia and according to the decision of the Holy Synod, secular
and ecclesiastical persons with special merits before the Georgian
nation and the Church of Georgia were canonized as saints. The
Orthodox Church of Georgia regained its historic mission. His
Holiness says: “As a patriarch, first of all, I considered the
unification of the nation and the Church as my main duty. The
Church was almost cut off from the nation, especially from the
government and intelligentsia. In order to rectify this situation,
we contacted prominent representatives of the Georgian
intelligentsia in all fields. Happily for us, they also showed
great interest in the life of the Church. At that time, God’s grace
was coming upon them, which is the cause of the birth of true
faith.” The patriarch is the spiritual father of the nation. “To
have people’s true and cordial love, you have to be chosen by God
and arrayed with His grace. Your deeds should be guided by God and
your way should be lighted with His loving kindness... Your
Holiness, you have been bestowed with such a reward by the Most
High God, and so unselfishly do the faithful Georgian people, the
people of good heart and honesty, love you.” These words were
addressed to His Holiness 40 years ago on the day of his
coronation. Now, as 43 years have passed since his enthronement, it
can be said with all confidence that: His Holiness and Beatitude,
the Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia Ilia II is not only an
outstanding spiritual leader of the Georgian parish, the Orthodox
world, but also of the modern era, in general. He has gained great
authority all over the world with his multidimensional work. The
foremost hierarch of the Orthodox Church of Georgia is highly
appreciated by the leaders of various local Orthodox Churches, as
well as by the political leaders of the world’s leading countries,
and the ambassadors of foreign countries, accredited in Georgia.
What does the patriarch mean in our time (and not only in our
time)? The epoch that the Georgian nation is going through now is
very difficult and dangerous ... It is full of opposition,
disloyalty, lack of love... Great strength more support and prayer
are needed. God’s mercy is boundless! The Saviour Himself teaches
us: “For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and
to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.” (Matthew 7:
7-11).
Today, the spiritual height of
the Church of Georgia is outstanding, which is the result of the
work of the Catholicos-Patriarch. This achievement of the Apostolic
Church of Georgia is the greatest consolation and the strength
bestowed by God upon all the people who belong to its bosom, as
well as upon the entire Georgia.
Your Holiness and Beatitude,
Rector of Tbilisi Theological Academy and Seminary, the Academic
Council, professors, teachers and students, with great reverence,
respect and gratitude, congratulate you on the 43rd anniversary of
your enthronement, and wish you good health and many more years of
life.