Catholicos-Patriarch of Georgia Turns 87

Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia and the spiritual leader of the Georgian Orthodox Church Ilia II has turned 87 today.

Ilia II was born as Irakli Ghudushauri-Shiolashvili in Vladikavkaz, Soviet Russia's North Ossetia on January 4 of 1933.

He was given the name Ilia at the Moscow Theological Academy. Having graduated from the academy in 1960, he returned to Georgia, where he was assigned to the Batumi Cathedral Church as a priest.

Now-the-Catholicos-Patriarch Ilia was made the bishop of Tskhumi and Abkhazeti in 1967, and then the metropolitan in 1969. After the death of Patriarch David V, he was elected the new Catholicos-Patriarch of Georgia on December 25, 1977.

On December 25, 2019, Ilia II celebrated the 42nd anniversary of his appointment to the position.

By Nini Dakhundaridze