Prime Minister of Georgia Irakli Garibashvili has praised the role of the Georgian Orthodox Church as “crucial” in the development of the nation, in comments marking an anniversary of the 1917 restoration of its independence from Russian religious authorities on Friday.
Speaking at the Sioni Cathedral in capital Tbilisi, where he attended a service celebrating the Day of the Restoration of Autocephaly of the Georgian Orthodox Church, the head of the Government told the parish “Orthodoxy for every Georgian is connected with the Georgian identity [and] culture”.
“We know very well that the Georgian Orthodox Church has always, throughout our history [...] passed down from generation to generation the core values that were related to our statehood, Georgian culture, the faith”, the PM said in remarks on the date.
Photo: Government's Administration.
Garibashvili also credited Ilia II, the Catholicos Patriarch of Georgia, for the international recognition gained by the Georgian church since the country restored its independence from the Soviet Union in the early 1990s.
March 25 marks the restoration of autocephaly - or self-governance - of the Georgian church from the Russian Orthodox structure. The country’s dominant religious confession had been granted autocephaly by Antioch in 457, before the status was abolished in 1811, following Georgia’s forceful incorporation into the Russian Empire.
Strongly opposed in Georgia, the move saw the local church structure subordinated to the synodical rule of the Russian Orthodox Church. The self-governance of the Georgian Church was restored in 1917, amid the disintegration of the Tsarist rule in Russia.