Day I
On July 1, 2022, Giga
Dzamukashvili, a student of the Faculty of Ecclesiastical Law,
involved in the Master’s program of Theology, defended his thesis
on the topic – “Implementation of Ecclesiastical Justice in the
Orthodox Church”. The Supervisor of the thesis was Doctor of
Theology, Professor, Archpriest Alexi Kshutashvili, and the
Reviewer - Doctor of Theology Giorgi Andriadze.
The defense session was presided
over by the Rector of TTAS, Protopresbyter Giorgi Zviadadze.
Giga Dzamukashvili presented his
Master’s thesis to the audience, spoke about its structure and
content. The objective of the thesis was to study and outline the
basic norms of the Ecclesiastical Law, teachings rooted in the
bosom of the Church, Church traditions, based on which the nature
of justice within the Church is determined. “It extends to the fact
that the bodies of justice in the Church were formed directly on
the basis of the powers given to the apostles by Christ” - he
noted. The student extensively reviewed the three instances of
ecclesiastical court - episcopal, metropolitan and patriarchal
courts. He spoke about matters subject to ecclesiastical justice
and jurisdiction, about the grounds for bringing the case and the
persons, who can be accusers, about the importance of bearing the
burden of verification during the substantive consideration of the
case. He also spoke about the passing of judgment and appealing a
verdict, the importance of remorse when a sentence is being
executed, and more.
In his closing speech, the
scientific supervisor of the master’s degree student, Doctor of
Theology, Professor, Archpriest Alexi Kshutashvili spoke about the
merits of the work and the novelty it contains. He noted that the
Master’s degree student, along with other sources, used monuments
of ancient Georgian Law, which is a rare phenomenon in the field of
research done on Ecclesiastical Justice. In addition, he noted that
the attempt to systematize the studies suggested by the master’s
program student and the laws related to the discussed issues and to
understand them in a unified context is also a novelty.
The reviewer, Doctor of Theology,
Giorgi Andriadze, emphasized the actuality of the work and the high
scientific level of performance. He expressed significant opinions,
suggested notes, the consideration of which would make the work
even more complete.
After the public reading of the
review, a discussion took place. Giga Dzamukashvili answered the
questions interestingly and exhaustively.
Protopresbyter Giorgi Zviadadze,
Rector of TTAS, evaluated the work and gave interesting advice,
opinions and remarks about it. Doctor of Philological Sciences and
Theology, Professor Edisher Chelidze noted that it would be better
to replace the presbyter mentioned in the work with its Georgian
equivalent - priest/elder, and the informer - with the
complainant.
Master’s degree thesis was
evaluated and important opinions were expressed by Doctor of
History and Theology, Professor Sergo Vardosanidze, Doctor of
Philology, Professor Gvantsa Koplatadze.
The work aroused great interest
and got approval from the members of the commission and the
attending public. According to the joint decision of the commission
members, Giga Dzamukashvili’s thesis “Implementation of
Ecclesiastical Justice in the Orthodox Church” received the highest
grade and Giga Dzamukashvili was awarded an academic degree of
Master of Theology.