Holy Synod meeting: top cleric dismissed, church to request release of convicted archpriest
Chkondidi Metropolitan Petre (L) and convicted archpriest Giorgi Mamaladze. First photo by Kvemo Kartli TV.
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A Holy Synod meeting earlier today has ended with the decision to dismiss Chkondidi Metropolitan Petre from the post and request the release of convicted archpriest Giorgi Mamaladze.
The synod meeting was called after the statements of Archbishop Iakobi made last week who said that former and current top officials and several clerics wanted to make Patriarch Ilia II resign allegedly last year.
Father Iakobi and Metropolitan Petre have been involved in controversies for many years, accusing one another of various wrongdoings, including fighting against the church and the patriarch [Iakobi accused Petre] and misspending the church’s funds [Petre accusing Father Iakobi].
Archbishop Iakobi (L) and Archbishop Petre (R). Photo: Tabula.
The two have also had disagreements regarding the high-profile case of Mamaladze, with Petre saying that the cleric was innocent and was convicted only because he [Mamaladze] uncovered Iakobi’s financial wrongdoings.
After leaving the synod meeting early, Petre told the media that his dismissal was “unprecedented and very unfair,'' adding that he was dismissed as he uncovered “sodomist sin within the church.”
He went on to state that the “Georgian church has a head possessed by the sin of homosexualism.”
It was also Petre who said that the synod has made a decision to request President Salome Zurabishvili release convicted clergyman Mamaladze.
Archbishop Jacob, who has been one of the most influential figures in the Georgian Patriarchate, has quit the position of Patriarch Ilia II’s assistant and the chief of the Economic and Financial Council of the Patriarchate amid political turmoil around him.
Georgian President Giorgi Margvelashvili attended a meeting today at the Patriarchate where clergymen and Patriarch Ilia II gathered to discuss the case of the murder plot against a high-ranking member of the Georgian Orthodox Church.
Georgia’s First Deputy Chief Prosecutor Mamuka Vasadze says that details related to an alleged murder plot against a high-ranking clergyman of the Georgian Orthodox Church will be revealed after Patriarch Ilia II returns to Georgia.
Police have detained an archpriest who was allegedly plotting the murder of a high-ranking clergy member of the Georgian Orthodox Church.
Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili made her first televised comments on the possible release of convicted archpriest Giorgi Mamaladze, after the Holy Synod requested her to do so.
A delegation of top Georgian clerics have stated in Brussels that NATO and the EU are the “firm choice” of the Georgian people and urged the international community to help Georgia peacefully settle its conflicts with Russia.
Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili has pardoned five inmates for Christmas, with convicted archpriest Giorgi Mamaladze not on the list. It is the first pardon act issued by the president after she declared a moratorium on pardoning prisoners in September 2019, following a turmoil surrounding two pardons of inmates convicted for murder.
Brother of convicted archpriest Giorgi Mamaladze has announced he and his family will begin releasing evidence of crimes against top Georgian clerics following a refusal to give amnesty by the president.
Georgian Public Defender Nino Lomjaria who visited convicted archpriest Giorgi Mamaladze in prison hospital yesterday said the latter has made a decision to temporarily stop his hunger strike due to health problems.
Five clerics expelled from the Salkino Monastery by Metropolitan of Chkondidi, Stepane Kalaijishvili, in October of 2021 for ‘an attempted revolt against the Patriarchate’ and ‘the daily violation of monastic vows’, were detained by police today, the Georgian Public Broadcaster (GPB) reports.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia has started an investigation after a video footage allegedly showing an assault on an Orthodox church member by his colleague was broadcast on TV on Sunday.
The European Court of Human Rights on Thursday published its judgment in the case of Giorgi Mamaladze, the convicted Georgian cleric sentenced to nine years in prison for plotting a murder and illegal possession of firearms, saying his right to fair trial had not been violated.
The Georgian prosecutor general’s office on Thursday said the recent ruling of the European Court of Human Rights, which found no violation of the right to fair trial in the case of a convicted Georgian clergyman, confirmed domestic agencies had acted “in full accordance” with mandatory procedures in the conviction.
Archpriest Giorgi Mamaladze, who was convicted in 2017 of plotting the murder of a high-ranking clergy member of the Georgian Orthodox Church, was released on parole on Wednesday.