Georgian Patriarch’s Christmas epistle: today’s conflicts pose “real danger” of turning into “global catastrophe”, we must care for peace

The world has always been contradictory, but today's conflicts and wars pose “a real danger of turning into a global catastrophe and destroying all of humanity”. That is why we should all care for peace, the Catholicos Patriarch of Georgia Ilia II said in his annual Christmas epistle ahead of Christmas mass last night.

May God bless Ukraine, the Middle East and the whole world with peace”, His Holiness added.

The Patriarch stressed that “in the constant struggle between good and evil”, people would “constantly need more and more efforts to protect holiness”, noting “true faith has weakened” in recent centuries, a man “replaced the Creator”.

Today, more than ever, there is a real danger that human self-centeredness will threaten the purpose for which we were born, because the world is developing technologically, but our spiritual progress is lagging behind it, and we are facing many psychological and bioethical challenges”, his Holiness said in his epistle.

The Christmas epistle also referred to the “potential” of artificial intelligence, created by “collective knowledge of mankind”, to make “a huge change” in people’s lives, but emphasised that “without human spiritual development”, the “negative consequences” had to be also considered.

God is “above logical categories” and the human mind can not reach him even with the “collective knowledge of mankind”, the Patriarch said, noting to strive for personal perfection, “one should desire to know God with the cognition of his truth”.