Today, the Georgian Orthodox Church is celebrating the enthronement day of the Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia, Ilia II.
The State Agency for Religious Issues says the Patriarch of Georgia had to work in the most difficult period, while he made an immeasurable contribution to the restoration of the autocephaly of the Georgian Church in the history of independent Georgia.
“The State Agency for Religious Issues congratulates the outstanding religious leader and public figure of the 20th-21st centuries, Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia, Archbishop of Mtskheta-Tbilisi, Metropolitan of Bichvinta and Tskhum-Abkhazia, Ilia the Second, on the day of his enthronement. We wish His Holiness long life, health and courage for the benefit of our country and people,” reads the statement.
Ilia II has been leading the spiritual life of the Orthodox Georgian Church for 46 years.
Ilia II was born as Irakli Gudushauri-Shiolashvili in Vladikavkaz, currently Russia’s North Ossetia, in 1933. In 1967 he was consecrated as the bishop of Tskhumi and Abkhazeti in the currently occupied western region, and elevated to the rank of metropolitan in 1969.
After the death of Patriarch David V, he was elected the new Catholicos Patriarch of Georgia on December 25, 1977.
