Patriarch blesses nation on New Year: “Wishing you peace and happiness”
Tweet 
Share
Catholicos Patriarch of Georgia Ilia II has expressed his warm wishes to the nation on the New Year and wished everyone happiness.
The country’s spiritual leader gave an explanation of his own view of real happiness is and said that happiness is when a person is satisfied spiritually and materially, when he/she is blessed by God and his/her parents.
Catholicos Patriarch of Georgia Ilia II warned people to pay more attention to their children.
"I wish you peace. May you find peace in your heart and healing in your soul. Be happy. God bless you and all of Georgia,” Ilia II said.
"Our supreme goal is to have Georgia united with the Abkhazian and Ossetian people” Georgian President Giorgi Margvelashvili said while sending his wishes to everyone in his New Year message.
"I want to wish all the best to everyone who does their best to serve our country and people. I want to send my special wishes to those who are carrying out their duties now”, this is how the Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili wished Georgian citizens a happy new year.
Georgian President Giorgi Margevlashvili went to the occupation line between Georgia and its Russian occupied region of Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) to send New Year wishes to a family living behind the barbed wire fence.
Public transport will be free on New Year’s Eve in Tbilisi so that people attending outdoor celebrations can later get home more easily. The metro system, buses and cable cars at Rike Park will be free of charge from 11am on December 31 through 4am on January 1, Tbilisi City Hall said.
Members of the Georgian Orthodox Church, together with part of the Orthodox world, celebrate Christmas today according to the Julian calendar. The special liturgy commenced at Tbilisi's Holy Trinity Cathedral at midnight as Georgia's Patriarch Ilia II led the annual ceremony.
The Georgian Orthodox Church is celebrating Christmas today according to the Julian calendar.
Georgian top officials, the prime minister, the president and parliament speaker have sent kind wishes on a New Year holiday. “I wish you a Happy New Year 2020! I wish happiness and success to all of you and to our homeland. We welcome the New Year with hope and anticipation of beneficial change. May all our wishes-those of all our citizens, the younger and the elder alike-come true,” Georgian PM Giorgi Gakharia said.
Georgian Patriarch Ilia II has addressed Russian President Vladimir Putin in his New Year video and stated that the “occupation of the historic Georgian territories [by Russia] should end.”
The State Security Service officials have visited the families of fallen officers in Tbilisi and in the regions, wishing them a happy New Year.