Georgian Patriarch wishes for peace in New Year’s Eve address
Ilia II, the Catholicos Patriarch of Georgia’s Orthodox Christian Church, on Monday congratulated citizens on New Year’s Eve by wishing them peace. Photo: Patriarchate Of Georgia
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Ilia II, the Catholicos Patriarch of Georgia’s Orthodox Christian Church, on Monday congratulated citizens on New Year’s Eve by wishing them peace.
In his message for the festive season, the leader of the Church noted a past custom of well-wishes between individuals in the country.
A few centuries ago there was a rule among people [where] they met each other and wished each other to ‘rejoice at home and outside of it’”, he said.
Extending the same wish to individuals across Georgia, the Patriarch added “peace be with you” in his end-of-year comments.
Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili on Sunday extended her congratulations to citizens for the New Year by expressing her “great hope” that 2024 would be a “more successful” year for the country.
Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili on Sunday highlighted a “truly elevated and festive” mood in his New Year's Eve message by saying the country had achieved “one of the greatest victories” in its modern history by receiving the European Union membership candidate status in December.
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili on Sunday congratulated citizens on New Year’s Eve by saying that 2023 had been a “truly special year of abundant success and progress in the recent history of our country”.
We should remember that the future of humans and nations should be peaceful, the Catholicos Patriarch of Georgia Ilia II said in his New Year address, while wishing Georgian people health and a peaceful future.
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili on Thursday congratulated Ilia II, the Catholicos Patriarch of Georgia’s Orthodox Christian Church, on his 91th birthday and highlighted the religious leader's role in continuing the “legacy” of the country's “greatest sons and daughters” as a “textbook example” for future generations to emulate.
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.