TASS - 25/10/16 Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia Ilia II is expected to pay a visit to Moscow in November to mark Russian Patriarch Kirill’s 70th birthday, Georgia’s Patriarchate told TASS on Saturday, confirming media reports. Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, had sent an invitation to his Georgian counterpart, the ...
Pravoslavie.ru - 8/4/15 Results of the new survey research carried out by the International Republican Institute (IRI) in Georgia have been published. According to the survey, 91% of the respondents support the activity of the Georgian Orthodox Church. Church activity is not supported by 3% of the respondents, while 6% of them had no settled opinion on the matter. ...
17/1/15 One thousand Georgian children will become godchildren to the Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia, Ilia II, on the celebration of the Lord's Baptism. This will be the thirty-eighth mass Baptism in the Georgian capital. According to the “Tbilisi Week” publication, His Holiness, Ilia II, is already godparent to 22,059 children. According to the modern tradition of the ...
Pravoslavie.ru - December 2014 On the occasion of the 37th anniversary of his patriarchal enthronment, Catholicos-Patriarch Ilia II of All Georgia together with the Holy Synod members celebrated a festal Liturgy at the Patriarchal Svetitskhoveli Cathedral in the city of Mtskheta, which earlier this year the Georgian Orthodox Church declared as the “Holy City”. During his sermon Ilia ...
Civil Georgia - September 2014 Archbishop Dominique Mamberti, Secretary for Relations with States of the Holy See, met Georgian leadership in Tbilisi on September 15 and also held talks with head of the Georgian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Ilia II, on September 14. President Giorgi Margvelashvili and PM Irakli Garibashvili thanked the Vatican for supporting Georgia’s territorial integrity and invited Pope ...
Kisha D Dorado - (OCP Delegate of Serbia, Balkan and East European Region) 25/7/14 Tbilisi: The Georgian Orthodox Church has condemned the attack made on the Armenian Orthodox Church- the Armenian Surb Etchmiadzin Church in Tbilisi. The Armenian and Georgian Orthodox Prelates met to discuss the incident and stated that it has nothing to do with religious or ethnic issues. “The ...
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May 2014 Workers of a road brigade in Ingushetia have discovered an ancient cave after a landslide, which may contain either treasures of the capital of Alania or tomb of the Georgian queen Tamar, reported deputy director of E.I. Krupnov’s Archaeological Centre UmalatGadiev to RIA-Novosti. According to preliminary information, during construction of the road to the international ...
May 2014 “How can illegality be legalized? Legalizing illegality is a huge sin and that’s exactly what I have spoken out about" - Patriarch Ilia II. Head of the Georgian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Ilia II, said of anti-discrimination legislation, adopted by the Parliament last week, that legalization of “illegality is a huge sin” and it will not ...
18/12/13 Award-winning author and philanthropist John M. Simmons recently traveled to Tbilisi, in the former Soviet State of Georgia, to meet with His Holiness and Beatitude Ilia II of All Georgia Mtskheta. Eighty-year-old Ilia has been the Patriarch and leader of the Georgian Orthodox Church since 1977. Because of health conditions common to his advanced age, meetings ...
By Paul Rimple - 14/12/13 The charitable State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic, or SOCAR, has begun providing free gas to some 200 churches throughout Georgia at a value of about $600,000. While it is still unclear whether Armenian churches will also be recipients of this giveaway, we do know the Georgian Orthodox Church will benefit the ...
31/8/13 A group of Orthodox Christians in Georgia's southern Samtskhe-Javakheti Province are protesting the restoration of the minaret of a local mosque. Activists in the region's capital, Akhaltsikhe, blocked a road leading to the village of Chela on August 29 in an attempt to stop the return of the dismantled minaret. Local authorities removed the minaret ...
31/7/13 While gay rights have been gaining ground in the West, they’ve been facing a strong backlash in many countries of the former Soviet Union. Russia recently passed a law that makes it a crime to give information about “non-traditional sexual relationships” to minors. Gay rights advocates say the wording of the law is so vague that it can be used to ban ...
1/7/13 - BBC When several dozen Georgian Orthodox priests led tens of thousands of people on a violent attack against a small group of gay rights activists in Tbilisi earlier this year, much of the rest of the country was horrified, writes journalist Paul Rimple, who has been based in the country for 10 years. Georgians pride ...
Giorgi Lomsadze - June 2013 When Tea Tsulukiani became Georgia’s justice minister her task seemed tough, but straightforward: Take former corrupt officials to task and build an apolitical, widely trusted institution. She worked hard, and, finally, made a chilling discovery: Many of Georgia's government-issued personal IDs contain the number 666, which is, of course, the mark of the ...
12/6/13 In Egypt, violent clashes between Copts and Muslims have been on the rise since the 2011 ouster of former President Hosni Mubarak, with many Christians reportedly preferring to leave than experience continuing harassment and discrimination. Earlier this month, the US Commission on International Religious Freedom announced that Egypt "is failing to meet international religious-freedom standards." Copts, ...
Nicholas Clayton - 24/5/13 Anti-gay mobs and opposition arrests are raising concerns about the country’s direction since a new government took power last year. TBILISI, Georgia — Two dozen stunned pro-gay rights protesters stood in a stranger’s kitchen last week. Blood streamed down a young woman's face where it had been struck by a rock. Outside the building, ...
Civil Georgia, Tbilisi - 6/5/13 Patriarch of the Georgian Orthodox Church, Ilia II, has called on the Georgian authorities in his Easter epistle for adopting anti-abortion law, saying that it would contribute to resolving country’s “grave demographic situation.” “Abortion is a heinous murder of an innocent creature committed with a decision and intent of parents. A doctor ...
Civil Georgia, Tbilisi - 10/4/13 PM Ivanishvili said on April 10 that “problems exist” in the Georgian Orthodox Church too and speaking publicly on these issues should not be a taboo. Ivanishvili was speaking during a press conference, held for a group of senior editors from some print media and major television channels. He made these remarks ...
19/2/13 Georgian Orthodox Church has declared 2013 the year of Queen Tamar. Patriarch of All Georgia Ilia II made this statement during a Sunday sermon. He said 2013 is the anniversary year, as scientists believe that this year marks the 800th anniversary of Georgian queen's death. "There are other assumptions, but most scientists think that way, so we ...
On 21 January 2013, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia met with Holiness and Beatitude Catholicos-Patriarch Iliya II of All Georgia and with the delegation of the Georgian Orthodox Church. The meeting took place at the Patriarchal residence in St. Daniel Monastery. Meeting His Holiness and Beatitude Iliya II at the entrance to ...
20/1/13 The Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia Ilia II is headed to Moscow on the occasion of him being awarded the Prize of the International Foundation for the Unity of Orthodox Christian Nations. The visit to Russia will last until January 26th, 2013. Ilia II will meet with the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Kirill. It is also expected ...