Georgian Orthodox Church

The Apostolic Autocephalous Orthodox Church of

Apostolic Autocephalous
Georgia (Georgian: საქართველოს სამოციქულო
ავტოკეფალური მართლმადიდებელი ეკლესია, Orthodox Church of Georgia
romanized: sakartvelos samotsikulo avt'ok'epaluri
martlmadidebeli ek'lesia), commonly known as the
Georgian Orthodox Church or the Orthodox Church of
Georgia, is an autocephalous Eastern Orthodox church in
full communion with the other churches of Eastern
Orthodoxy. It is Georgia's dominant religious institution,
and a majority of Georgian people are members. The
Orthodox Church of Georgia is one of the oldest churches
in the world. It asserts apostolic foundation, and that its
historical roots can be traced to the early and late
Christianization of Iberia and Colchis by Andrew the
Apostle in the 1st century AD and by Saint Nino in the 4th
century AD, respectively. As in similar autocephalous
Eastern Orthodox Christian churches, the church's highest
governing body is the holy synod of bishops. The church is Coat of arms of the Orthodox Church of
headed by the Patriarch of All Georgia, Ilia II, who was Georgia
elected in 1977.
Classification Eastern Orthodox
Eastern Orthodox Christianity was the state religion Scripture Septuagint, New
throughout most of Georgia's history until 1921, when the Testament
country, having declared independence from Russia in
1918, was conquered by the Red Army during the Soviet Theology Eastern Orthodox
invasion of Georgia, becoming part of the Soviet Union.[3] theology, Palamism
The current Constitution of Georgia recognizes the special Polity Episcopal polity
role of the Georgian Orthodox Church in the country's Primate Ilia II of Georgia
history, but also stipulates the independence of the church
from the state. Government relations are further defined and Language Georgian
regulated by the Concordat of 2002. Headquarters Tbilisi, Georgia
Territory Georgia
Possessions Western Europe,
Russia, Turkey,[1]
Azerbaijan, Australia,
Armenia
Founder Saint Andrew (Colchis);
Saint Nino, Mirian III
(Iberia)
Independence From Antioch dates vary
between 467-491 and
1010,[a]
The Georgian Orthodox Church is the most trusted From Russia in 1917,
institution in Georgia. According to a 2013 survey, 95% 1943
respondents had a favorable opinion of its work.[4] It is Recognition Autocephaly gradually
highly influential in the public sphere and is considered
conferred by the Church
Georgia's most influential institution.[5][6]
of Antioch and
recognized by most of
History the Church, dates vary
between 467-491 and
1010. Autocephaly
Origins quashed by the Russian
Orthodox Church in
Traditions regarding Christianity's first 1811 on orders of the
appearance in Iberia and Colchis Tsar, partially restored
in 1917, fully restored in
According to Georgian Orthodox Church tradition, the first 1943. Recognized by
preacher of the Gospel in Colchis and Iberia (modern-day the Ecumenical
Western and Eastern Georgia) was the apostle Andrew, the Patriarchate of
First-called. According to the official church account,
Constantinople in 1990.
Andrew preached across Georgia, carrying with him an
acheiropoieta of the Virgin Mary (an icon believed to be Separations Abkhazian Orthodox
created "not by human hand"), and founded Christian Church (2009)
communities believed to be the direct ancestors of the Members 3.5 million (2011)[2]
[7]
church. However, modern historiography considers this
Official website www.patriarchate.ge (htt
account mythical, and the fruit of a late tradition, derived
from 9th-century Byzantine legends about the travels of St. p://www.patriarchate.ge)
Andrew in eastern Christendom.[8] Similar traditions
a. See below, Autocephaly for details on
regarding Saint Andrew exist in Ukraine, Cyprus and
the process
Romania. Other apostles claimed by the church to have
preached in Georgia include Simon the Canaanite (better
known in the West as Simon the Zealot), said to have been buried near Sokhumi, in the village of
Anakopia, and Saint Matthias, said to have preached in the southwest of Georgia, and to have been buried
in Gonio, a village not far from Batumi. The church also claims the presence in Georgia of the Apostles
Bartholomew and Thaddeus, coming north from Armenia..

Conversion of Iberia

The propagation of Christianity in present-day Georgia before the 4th century is

still poorly known. The first documented event in this process is the preaching of
Saint Nino and its consequences, although exact dates are still debated. Saint
Nino, honored as Equal to the Apostles, was according to tradition the daughter
of a Roman general from Cappadocia. She preached in the Caucasian Kingdom
of Iberia (also known as Kartli) in the first half of the 4th century, and her
intercession eventually led to the conversion of King Mirian III, his wife Queen
Saint Nino of
(later Saint) Nana and their family. Cyril Toumanoff dates the conversion of
Cappadocia, baptizer
Mirian to 334, his official baptism and subsequent adoption of Christianity as the
of the Georgians. official religion of Iberia to 337.[9] From the first centuries C.E., the cult of
Mithras, pagan beliefs, and Zoroastrianism were commonly practiced in
Georgia.[10] However, they now started to gradually decline, even despite Zoroastrianism becoming a
second established religion of Iberia after the Peace of Acilisene in 378, and more precisely by the mid-fifth
century.[11]

The royal baptism and organization of the church were accomplished by priests sent from Constantinople
by Constantine the Great. Conversion of the people of Iberia proceeded quickly in the plains, but pagan
beliefs long subsisted in mountain regions. The western Kingdom of Lazica was politically and culturally
distinct from Iberia at that time, and culturally more integrated into the Roman Empire; some of its cities
already had bishops by the time of the First Council of Nicea (325).

Expansion and transformation of the church

The conversion of Iberia marked only the beginnings of the formation of the Georgian Orthodox Church.
In the following centuries, different processes took place that shaped the church, and gave it, by the
beginning of the 11th century, the main characteristics that it has retained until now. Those processes
concern the institutional status of the church inside Eastern Christianity, its evolution into a national church
with authority over all of Georgia, and the dogmatic evolution of the church.

Autocephaly

In the 4th and 5th centuries, the Church of Iberia was strictly subordinated to the Apostolic See of Antioch:
all of her bishops were consecrated in Antioch before being sent to Iberia.[12] Around 480, "[i]n an attempt
to secure K'art'velian support and to acknowledge local support of the empire, the Byzantine government
recognized – and perhaps itself instigated – the change in status of the K'art'velian chief prelate from
archbishop to catholicos".[13]

"According to the Antiochene canonist and patriarch Theodore Balsamon (1140–95), 'When the Lord Peter
was the Holy Patriarch of the great and godly city of Antioch, the Synod decided to make the Church of
Iberia autocephalous.' The patriarch he refers to must be Peter the Fuller (ca. 488). Even so, the church in
Iberia did not gain complete independence from the mother church of Antioch." The church remained
subordinate to the Antiochian Church; the Catholicos could appoint local bishops, but until the 740s, his
own election had to be confirmed by the synod of the Church of Antioch, and even after the 8th century,
annual payments were made to the Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch. "This situation of continuing
canonical dependence was altered after the 11th century, when the catholicos of Mtskheta spread out his
jurisdiction over western Georgia. Since then, the head of the Autocephalous Church of Georgia has been
the catholicos-patriarch of all Georgia, and the church has been fully independent in its domestic and
foreign affairs, with the exception of the period between 1811 and 1917. Melchisedek I (1010–33) was the
first catholicos-patriarch of all Georgia."[14]

However, other sources state that the autocephaly was given to the Church at other dates. Ronald Roberson
gives 467 for the year the Church became autocephalous.[15] The Encyclopedia Britannica states that the
autocephaly of the Church "was probably granted by the Eastern Roman emperor Zeno (474–491) with the
consent of the patriarch of Antioch, Peter the Fuller." [16] Other sources indicate 484 for the year the Church
became autocephalous.[17][18] Rapp states that "Fully-fledged autocephaly [of the Georgian Church] would
not be achieved [...] until the Arab conquest or later."[13]

Territorial expansion and birth of a national church

 At the beginnings of the church history, what is now Georgia was
not unified yet politically, and would not be until the beginnings of
the 11th century. The western half of the country, mostly
constituted of the kingdom of Lazica, or Egrisi, was under much
stronger influence of the Byzantine Empire than eastern Iberia,
where Byzantine, Armenian and Persian influences coexisted. Such
division was reflected in major differences in the development of
Jvari Monastery, near Mtskheta, one Christianity.
of Georgia's oldest surviving
monasteries (6th century) In the east, from the conversion of Mirian, the church developed
under the protection of the kings of Iberia, or Kartli. A major factor
in the development of the church in Iberia was the introduction of
the Georgian alphabet. The impulse for a script adapted to the language of the local people stemmed from
efforts to evangelize the population. A similar dynamic led to the creation of the Armenian alphabet. The
exact origin of the script is still debated, but must have happened in the second half of the 4th century or the
early 5th century.[19][20] The introduction of monasticism, and its tremendous development, in Iberia in the
6th century encouraged both foreign cultural inputs and the development of local written works. From that
moment, together with translations of the Bible, ecclesiastical literature in Georgian was produced in Iberia,
most prominently biographies of saints, such as the "Martyrdom of the Holy Queen Shushanik" and the
"Martyrdom of Saint Abo". Many of the saints from the first centuries of the church were not ethnic
Georgians (Shushanik was an Armenian princess, Abo an Arab), showing that the church had not yet
acquired a strictly national character.[21]

This changed only during the 7th century, after the wide political and cultural changes brought about by the
Muslim conquests. This new menace for local culture, religion, and autonomy, and the difficulties to
maintain constant contact with other Christian communities, led to a drastic cultural change inside the
church, which became for the first time ethnically focused: it evolved into a "Kartvelian Church".[22] The
bishops and Catholicos were now all ethnic Georgians, as were the saints whose "Lives" were written from
that period.[22]

In the western half of Georgia, ancient Colchis, which had remained under stronger Roman influence, local
churches were under jurisdiction of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, and were culturally and
linguistically Hellenistic. Bishops from the port cities took part in ecumenical councils, from the Council of
Nicea (325) together with those from the Byzantine territories. From the 6th century, those churches, whose
language remained Greek, were headed by a metropolitan in Phasis.[23][24] The integration of the Black sea
coastal regions into what came to be known as Georgia was a long process. A first step came with the Arab
invasions of the 7th and 8th centuries, which mostly affected Iberia. Refugees, among them noblemen such
as Archil of Kakheti, took shelter in the West, either in Abkhazia or Tao-Klarjeti, and brought there their
culture. Such movements led to the progressive merge of western and eastern churches under the latter, as
Byzantine power decreased and doctrinal differences disappeared.[25] The western Church broke away
from Constantinople and recognized the authority of the Catholicos of Mtskheta by the end of the 9th
century.[26] Political unification under the Bagrationi dynasty consolidated this evolution by the end of the
10th century: in a single, unified Kingdom of Georgia, there would be a unified Georgian Church.

Relations with the Armenian and Byzantine churches

During the first centuries of Christianity, the South Caucasus was culturally much more united than in later
periods, and constant interactions between what would become the Georgian and Armenian churches
shaped both of them.[27][28] The Armenian Church was founded two decades earlier, and, during the 4th
century, was larger and more influential than the Church in Iberia. As such, it exerted strong influence in
the early doctrine of the church.[29] The influence of the Church of Jerusalem was also strong, especially in
liturgy. The Georgian-Armenian ecclesial relationship would be tested after the Council of Chalcedon
(451), whose christological conclusions were rejected by the Armenian Church and important portions of
the Church of Antioch, as well as the Coptic Church based in Alexandria.

At first, the Catholicoi of Iberia chose the anti-Chalcedonian camp together with the Armenians, even
though diversity of opinions was always present among the clergy, and tolerated by the hierarchy.[30] The
king of Iberia, Vakhtang Gorgasali, who sought an alliance with Byzantium against the Persians, accepted
the Henotikon, a compromise put forward by the Byzantine Emperor Zeno in 482.[31] Such conciliation
was attempted again at the First Council of Dvin in 506, and the status quo was preserved during the 6th
century.

Around 600 however, tensions flared between the Armenian Apostolic Church and the church in Iberia, as
the Armenian Church attempted to assert prominence in the Caucasus, in both hierarchical and doctrinal
matters, whereas the Catholicos of Mtskheta, Kirion I, leaned towards the Byzantine, Chalcedonian side of
the debate, as Iberia was once again seeking imperial support against the Sassanid Empire, who had
abolished the Kingdom in 580. The Third Council of Dvin, in 607, sanctioned the rupture with the
Armenian Church.[31][32]

The following centuries confirmed the Byzantine orientation of the Georgian Church, and its estrangement
from the Armenian Church. Confessional disputes remained impossible to overcome, and were a staple of
theological literature in both areas. The integration of western and eastern Georgian churches from the 9th
century also sealed the Orthodox nature of the Georgian Church, as Byzantine liturgy and cultural forms
spread to the detriment of traditional Oriental practice.[33]

Georgian Church during the Golden Age of Georgia

Between the 11th and the early 13th centuries, Georgia experienced a political, economical and cultural
golden age, as the Bagrationi dynasty managed to unite western and eastern halves of the country into a
single kingdom. To accomplish that goal, kings relied much on the prestige of the Church, and enrolled its
political support by giving it many economical advantages, immunity from taxes and large appanages.[34]
At the same time, the kings, most notably David the Builder (1089–1125), used state power to interfere in
church affairs. In 1103, he summoned the council of Ruisi-Urbnisi, which condemned Armenian
Miaphysitism in stronger terms than ever before, and gave unprecedented power, second only to the
Patriarch, to his friend and advisor George of Chqondidi. For the following centuries, the Church would
remain a crucial feudal institution, whose economical and political power would always be at least equal to
that of the main noble families.

Cultural influence of Christianity in Medieval Georgia

During the Middle Ages, Christianity was the central element of

A page from a rare 12th century
Gelati Gospel depicting the
Nativity
Georgian culture. The development of a written Georgian culture was
made possible by the creation of the Georgian alphabet for
evangelization purposes. Monasticism played a major role in the
following cultural transformation. It started in Georgia in the 6th
century, when Assyrian ascetic monks, known as the Thirteen
Assyrian Fathers, settled in Iberia and founded a series of monasteries,
most notably David Gareja.[35] They were soon joined by local
monks, which led to the creation of significant works of hagiographic
literature in Georgian, such as the "Life of Saint Nino" and the
"Martyrdom of the Holy Queen Shushanik". The golden age of
Georgian monasticism lasted from the 9th to the 11th century. During that period, Georgian monasteries
were founded outside the country, most notably on Mount Sinai, Mount Athos (the Iviron monastery, where
the Theotokos Iverskaya icon is still located), and in Palestine.[36] The most prominent figure in the history
of Georgian monasticism is judged to be Gregory of Khandzta (759–861), who founded numerous
communities in Tao-Klarjeti.

Specific forms of art were developed in Georgia for religious

purposes. Among them, calligraphy, polyphonic church singing,
cloisonné enamel icons, such as the Khakhuli triptych, and the
"Georgian cross-dome style" of architecture, which characterizes
most medieval Georgian churches. The most celebrated examples
of Georgian religious architecture of the time include the Gelati
Monastery and Bagrati Cathedral in Kutaisi, the Ikalto Monastery
complex and Academy, and the Svetitskhoveli Cathedral in
Mtskheta.
The Khakhuli triptych
Outstanding Georgian representatives of Christian culture include
Peter the Iberian (Petre Iberieli, 5th century), Euthymius of Athos
(Ekvtime Atoneli, 955–1028), George of Athos (Giorgi Atoneli, 1009–1065), Arsen Ikaltoeli (11th
century), and Ephrem Mtsire, (11th century). Philosophy flourished between the 11th and 13th century,
especially at the Academy of Gelati Monastery, where Ioane Petritsi attempted a synthesis of Christian,
aristotelician and neoplatonic thought.[37]

Division of the church (13th–18th centuries)

The Mongol invasions in the 13th century and Tamerlane in the 14–15th century greatly disrupted
Georgian Christianity. The political unity of the country was broken several times, and definitely in the
1460s. Churches and monasteries were targeted by the invaders, as they hosted many treasures. As a result
of those devastations, many fell into disrepair or were abandoned.[38] In the western half of Georgia, the
Catholicate of Abkhazia was established following the Mongol rule. It seceded from the Mtskheta see as
the Kingdom disintegrated, and the western Catholicos thereafter assumed the title of Patriarch. This rival
seat, based first in Pitsunda, then at the Gelati Monastery near Kutaisi, subsisted until 1795.[39] During
those times, contacts with the Catholic Church increased, first as a way to liberate itself from meddling by
the Byzantine Church, then to find stronger allies against invaders. Between 1328 and the early 16th
century, a Catholic bishop had his see in Tbilisi to foster those contacts. However, formal reunion with
Rome never happened, and the church remained faithful to Eastern Orthodoxy.[38]

In the next centuries, Georgia, weakened and fragmented, fell under the domination of the Ottoman and
successive Persian (Safavid, Afsharid, and Qajar) Empires: mostly, the Ottomans ruled the West of the
country, the Persians the East, while generally allowing autonomous Georgian kingdoms to subsist under
their control. With the fall of Constantinople in 1453, Georgian Christians had lost their traditional recourse
against Muslims, and were left to themselves.

New martyrs were canonized by the church after each invasion, most notably Queen Ketevan of Kakheti,
who was tortured to death in 1624 for refusing to renounce Christianity on the orders of Abbas I of Persia
(Shah-Abbas). Not all members of the royal families of Kartli and Kakheti were so faithful to the church,
though. Many of them, to gain Persian favor, and win the throne over their brothers, converted to Islam, or
feigned to, such as David XI of Kartli (Daud Khan). Other noblemen, such as Sulkhan-Saba Orbeliani, left
the weakened local church for Catholicism, as missionaries were bringing the printing press and western
culture to Georgia around 1700. Only the emergence of a strong Orthodox power, the Russian Empire,
could reinforce during the 18th century the status and prestige of the Church among the elites, and the
shared Orthodoxy was a potent factor in the calls for Russian intervention in the Caucasus, to liberate
Georgia from Muslim domination.[40]

Under Russian and Soviet rule

In 1801, the Kingdom of Kartl-Kakheti (Eastern Georgia) was

occupied and annexed by the Russian Empire. On 18 July 1811,
the autocephalous status of the Georgian Church was abolished by
the Russian authorities, despite strong opposition in Georgia, and
the Georgian Church was subjected to the synodical rule of the
Russian Orthodox Church. From 1817, the metropolitan bishop, or
exarch, in charge of the church was an ethnic Russian, with no
knowledge of the Georgian language and culture.[40] The Georgian
liturgy was suppressed and replaced with Church Slavonic, ancient
frescoes were whitewashed from the walls of many churches, and
publication of religious literature in Georgian heavily censored. The
19th century was a time of decline and disaffection, as the church
buildings often fell into disrepair, and the trust of people in the
institution was diminished by its Russification and corruption. Calls
for autocephaly became heard again only after the intellectual
national revival that started in the 1870s; the local clergy made such Patriarch Anton II of Georgia was
calls during the 1905 revolution, before being repressed again.[41] downgraded to the status of an
archbishop by the Russian Imperial
Following the overthrow of the Tsar Nicholas II in March 1917, authorities.
Georgia's bishops unilaterally restored the autocephaly of the
Georgian Orthodox Church on 25 March 1917. These changes
were not accepted by the Russian Orthodox Church. After the Red Army invasion of Georgia in 1921, the
Georgian Orthodox Church was subjected to intense harassment.[42] Hundreds of churches were closed by
the atheist government and hundreds of monks were killed during Joseph Stalin's purges. The
independence of the Georgian Orthodox Church was finally recognized by the Russian Orthodox Church
on 31 October 1943: this move was ordered by Stalin as part of the war-time more tolerant policy towards
Christianity in the Soviet Union. New anti-religious campaigns took place after the war, especially under
Nikita Khrushchev. Corruption and infiltration by the security organs were also plaguing the church. First
signs of revival can be seen from the 1970s, when Eduard Shevardnadze, then secretary of the Georgian
SSR's Communist Party, adopted a more tolerant stance, and new Patriarch Ilia II could from 1977 renovate
derelict churches, and even build new ones. At the same time, nationalist dissidents such as Zviad
Gamsakhurdia emphasized the Christian nature of their struggle against Communist power, and developed
relations with Church officials that would come to fruition after 1989.[43]

Present-day status

On 25 January 1990, the Patriarch of Constantinople recognized and approved the autocephaly of the
Georgian Orthodox Church (which had in practice been exercised or at least claimed since the 5th century)
as well as the Patriarchal honour of the Catholicos.[44][45] Georgia's subsequent independence in 1991 saw
a major revival in the fortunes of the Georgian Orthodox Church.

The special role of the church in the history of the country is recognized in the Article 9 of the Constitution
of Georgia;[46] its status and relations with the state were further defined in the Constitutional Agreement,
or Concordat, signed by President of Georgia Eduard Shevardnadze and Patriarch Ilia II on 14 October
2002. The Concordat notably recognizes church ownership of all churches and monasteries, and grants it a
special consultative role in government, especially in matters of education.[47][48]

Many churches and monasteries have been rebuilt

or renovated since independence, often with help
from the state or wealthy individuals. The church
has enjoyed good relations with all three
Presidents of Georgia since independence was
restored. However, tensions subsist within the
Church itself regarding its participation in the
ecumenical movement, which Patriarch Ilia II had
endorsed (he served as head of the World Council
of Churches between 1977 and 1983). Opposition
to ecumenism was fueled by fears of massive
proselytizing by Protestant denominations in
Georgia. In 1997, faced with open dissension
from leading monks, Ilia II rescinded church
participation in international ecumenical Eparchies of the Georgian Apostolic Autocephalous
Orthodox Church as of 2010
organizations, though he stopped short of
denouncing ecumenism as "heresy". Opposition
against Protestant missionary activity has
remained strong in contemporary Georgia, and even led to episodes of violence.[49] Separatism in
Abkhazia has also affected the church: the Eparchy of Sukhumi, regrouping Abkhaz clergy, proclaimed in
2009 its secession from the Georgian Orthodox Church to form a new Abkhazian Orthodox Church; this
move remained however unrecognized by any other orthodox authorities, including the Russian Orthodox
Church.[50] The relations with the neighboring Armenian Apostolic Church have also been uneasy since
independence, notably due to various conflicts about church ownership in both countries.[51] 83.9% of
Georgia's population identified themselves as Orthodox in the 2002 census.[52] In 2002, it was reported that
there were 35 eparchies (dioceses) and about 600 churches within the Georgian Orthodox Church, served
by 730 priests. The Georgian Orthodox Church has around 3,600,000 members within Georgia[2][53] (no
sources attempt to count members among the Georgian diaspora).

Structure

Holy Synod

The Georgian Orthodox Church is managed by the Holy Synod, headed by the Catholicos-Patriarch of All
Georgia. The Holy Synod is the collective body of bishops of the church. In addition to the Patriarch, the
Synod comprises 38 members, including 25 metropolitan bishops, 5 archbishops and 7 simple bishops. As
of 2012, the following bishops are members of the Holy Synod, in such hierarchical order:[54]

Metropolitan of Kutaisi and Gelati: Calistratos (Margalitashvili)

Metropolitan of Chiatura and Sachkhere: Daniel (Datushvili)
Metropolitan of Western Europe: Abraham (Garmeliya)
Metropolitan of Tianeti and Pshav-Khevsureti: Tadeos (Ioramashvili)
Metropolitan of Manglisi and Tsalka: Anania (Japaridze)
Metropolitan of Margveti and Ubisi: Vakhtang (Akhvledani)
Metropolitan of Tsilkani and Dusheti: Zosimas (Shioshvili)
Metropolitan of Tqibuli and Terjola: Giorgi (Shalamberidze)
 Metropolitan of Urbnisi and Ruisi: Job (Akiashvili)
Metropolitan of Alaverdi: David (Makharadze)
Metropolitan of Nekresi: Sergios (Chekurishvili)
Metropolitan of Shemokmedi: Joseph (Kikvadze)
Metropolitan of Nikozi and Tskhinvali: Isaiah (Chanturia)
Metropolitan of Borjomi and Bakuriani: Seraphim (Jojua)
Metropolitan of Nikortsminda: Elise (Jokhadze)
Metropolitan of Poti and Khobi: Grigori (Berbichashvili)
Metropolitan of Akhalkalaki and Kumurdo: Nikoloz
(Pachuashvili)
Metropolitan of Akhaltsikhe and Tao-Klarjeti: Theodore
(Chuadze)
Metropolitan of Khoni and Samtredia: Saba (Gagiberiya)
Metropolitan of Batumi, Lazeti, North America and Canada: The Holy Trinity Church
Dimitri (Shiolashvili)
(Tsminda Sameba) of Gergeti,
Metropolitan of Vani and Baghdati: Anton (Buluhiya) in the mountains of Khevi
Metropolitan of Zugdidi and Tsaishi: Gerasimos
(Sharashenidze)
Metropolitan of Samtavisi and Gori: Andria (Gvazava)
Metropolitan of Chkondidi and Martvili: Petre (Tsaava)
Metropolitan of Senaki, Chkhorotsqu and Australia: Shio (Mujiri)
Archbishop of Tsageri and Lentekhi: Stepan (Kalaidzhishvili)
Archbishop of Bodbe: David (Tikaradze)
Archbishop of Stepantsminda and Khevi: Iegudiel (Tabatadze)
Archbishop of Rustavi and Marneuli : Ioane (Gamrekeli)
Archbishop of Dmanisi, Agarak-Tashiri, Great Britain and Ireland: Zenon (Iaradzhuli)
Bishop of Mestia and Upper Svaneti: Ilarion (Kitiashvili)
Bishop of Gurjaani and Velistsikhe: Euthymos (Lezhava)
Bishop of Ninotsminda and Sagarejo: Luka (Lomidze)
Bishop of Skhalta: Spiridon (Abuladze)
Bishop of Bolnisi: Ephrem (Gamrekelidze)
Bishop of Dedoplistsqaro and Hereti: Melchisedek (Khachidze)
Bishop of Gardabani and Martqopi: Jacob (Iakobishvili)
Bishop of Surami and Khashuri: Svimeon (Tsakashvili)

Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia

The first head bishop of the Georgia Church to carry the title of Patriarch was Melkisedek I (1010–1033).
Since 1977, Ilia II (born in 1933) has served as the Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia and Archbishop of
Mtskheta and Tbilisi. Here is a list of the Catholicos-Patriarchs since the church restored autocephaly in
1917:[55]

Kyrion II (1917–1918)
Leonid (1918–1921)
Ambrose (1921–1927)
Christophorus III (1927–1932)
 Callistratus (1932–1952)
Melchizedek III (1952–1960)
Ephraim II (1960–1972)
David V (1972–1977)
Ilia II (1977–Present)

See also
Secularism and irreligion in Georgia
Christianity in Georgia
Culture of Georgia
Georgian Byzantine-Rite Catholics
Georgian Catholic Church
Georgian churches in Armenia
Religion in Georgia
Eparchies of the Georgian Orthodox Church

References
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p?id=393). Archons of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. 29 April 2010.
2. Grdzelidze 2011, p. 275
3. "A Retrospective on the 1921 Constitution of the Democratic Republic of Georgia" (https://we
b.archive.org/web/20170703172653/http://www.fed-soc.org/publications/detail/a-retrospectiv
e-on-the-1921-constitution-of-the-democratic-republic-of-georgia). Archived from the original
(http://www.fed-soc.org/publications/detail/a-retrospective-on-the-1921-constitution-of-the-de
mocratic-republic-of-georgia) on 3 July 2017. Retrieved 5 March 2015.
4. "Georgia's mighty Orthodox Church" (https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-23103853).
BBC News. 2 July 2013.
5. Funke, Carolin (14 August 2014). "The Georgian Orthodox Church and its Involvement in
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Works cited
Rapp, Stephen H. Jr (2007). "Georgian Christianity" (https://books.google.com/books?id=fW
p9JA3aBvcC&pg=PA137). The Blackwell Companion to Eastern Christianity. John Wiley &
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com/books?id=JmFetR5Wqd8C&pg=PA264). In John Anthony McGuckin (ed.). The
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External links
Official Web Site of the Patriarchate of the Orthodox Church of Georgia (http://www.patriarch
ate.ge/)
Georgian-language Web Site regarding Georgian Orthodoxy (http://www.orthodoxy.ge/)
 Georgian Orthodox Church – Encyclopædia Britannica (https://www.britannica.com/EBchec
ked/topic/230317/Georgian-Orthodox-church)
Georgian Orthodox Churches in USA (http://georgianamerica.com/eng/information2/church)
Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20191219001800/http://georgianamerica.com/eng/inf
ormation2/church) 19 December 2019 at the Wayback Machine
Article on the Georgian Orthodox Church by Ronald Roberson on the CNEWA website (http
s://cnewa.org/eastern-christian-churches/toc/orthodox-church/the-autocephalous-churches/t
he-orthodox-church-of-georgia/)
The Orthodox Church of Georgia and the Ecumenical Movement, article from the peer-
review journal: http://eprints.iliauni.edu.ge/9925/1/Tinikash-Ecumenism-Georgia-
%5BOffprint%5D.pdf
Open database - Territoriality of the Georgian Orthodox Church (https://toc.ge/map/en/)

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