While the Orthodox Church has enjoyed special status since 2002 through a concordat-like agreement, the ruling Georgian Dream party, which won the October parliamentary elections with 53.9 percent of the vote, is proposing to make Orthodox Christianity the state religion through a constitutional amendment, reports special correspondent Thomas Guichard in La Croix International (Dec. 2). The current 91-year-old Catholicos-Patriarch, Ilia II—who enjoys the highest level of respect and trust among all Georgian figures—officially rejected the proposal in August. But it is assumed that only 5 out of 43 bishops actually support Ilia II’s position. Most of the bishops are said by unnamed sources to be siding with Bishop Shio Mujiri, who also favors closer ties with the Moscow Patriarchate. “Russia is trying to exert ideological influence on the Church and through it on Georgian society, especially by exploiting ‘moral issues,’” says Sopiko Zviadadze (Ilia University). Support for close ties with Europe is strong in Georgia, but issues such as LGBTQ+ rights are used to promote anti-Western views. Since Georgia regained its independence in 1991, the church has played a complex role in the European integration process, writes Mariam Khakhutaishvili (Tbilisi State University) in the Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe (vol. 44, no. 3). Indeed, since the collapse of the Soviet Union, Georgian national identity has been shaped by two main elements: Orthodox Christianity and the desire to “return to the European family.” The church officially supports integration but has also expressed concerns about Western values as opposed to traditional ones.
The church’s position is thus characterized by a mixture of support and ambivalence, reflecting both internal divisions within the church and wider societal tensions between traditional values and European aspirations. During the last election campaign, the Georgian Church stated that it could not take sides, but that it would “unequivocally support any choice that brings long-term peace to Georgia and strengthens the values that promote Christian and family traditions.” According to journalist Shota Kincha (Open Caucasus Media, Oct. 23), this was seen by some as a tacit endorsement of the Georgian Dream party, “especially because it echoed key phrases from the party’s conservative talking points and election promises, repeating them twice in a short statement.” On the other hand, during the recent demonstrations in Georgia, the church was careful to keep a balanced approach and not take sides. The project is far from done. The Georgian Dream party lacks the 75 percent parliamentary majority required to amend the constitution. It would have to persuade other MPs to back the move to make the Orthodox Church the state church. But whatever the short-term outcome, the issue must be seen from the wider perspective of potential divisions within the church and society in Georgia, where the increasingly frail Ilia II may not remain at the head of the church for long.
(Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe, https://digitalcommons.georgefox.edu/ree/; Open Caucasus Media, https://oc-media.org/)
