Church & Politics
OPED
The Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia is going to visit Moscow. Again. According to the official statement, Ilia II of Georgia only plans to take part in the ritualistic side of events to congratulate the Patriarch Kirill of Moscow on his upcoming 70th birthday. However, if we recall the time five years ago, when Ilia visited Kirill for his birthday and also met Prime Minister Medvedev, there discussing the issue of IDPs returning to Abkhazia and Tskhinvali, we can assume that apart from the clergy, Ilia II will also be meeting a number of others. The same thing also happened two years later, when Ilia II visited Kirill to celebrate his own 35 Coronation Jubilee… and also met President Vladimir Putin.
The current visit will continue for an extended period this time, starting November 18 and ending November 24. As Ilia II will return only the following day, he will not be in Georgia to attend the nation’s favorite St. George’s Day celebration. This further enhances interest towards the planned visit, and the Russian media has already made the first comments to the belief that, apart from the brotherly love of our Patriarch towards Kirill, he will also be “taking” Georgian Dream (GD) with him.
Nezavisimaya Gazeta is confident that the triumph of the GD in the parliamentary elections is the biggest gift that Georgia could present to Moscow, not only to Patriarch Kirill but to the Kremlin. Compared to the United National Movement, the current political party is in fact very interested in building relations with Russia. Today, everyone in Tbilisi is well aware that, without tight relations with Russia, the “ship” of the Georgian State won’t be able to “float.”
Of course, the Georgian Patriarch also needs to discuss Ecclesiastic issues, not only political ones. In particular, the fate of Georgian churches and monasteries located in the occupied territories which are under the subordination of the Georgian Orthodox Church de jure, since, in fact, the high priests working there do not obey its rules and nor do they mention it during sermons.
Whether the visit of the Patriarch of All Georgia signals an enhancement of relations between Tbilisi and Moscow is hard to say. It is significant that before the visit to Moscow representatives of the Orthodox Church of Georgia visited Brussels and held meetings in NATO Headquarters, bringing a message from Ilia II regarding the Black Sea security project and the role of Georgia in it. NATO is expected to make a decision about Georgia’s participation in the new military project by the end of this month. Whether the intensification of the Georgian Orthodox Church on the political front is accidental or not will probably become clear in the near future. However, almost everyone acknowledges the political role it plays in the processes, Brussels among them.
“It is a great privilege for me to meet with archbishops and members of Georgia’s Holy Synod, here for the first time,” said James Appathurai, NATO Secretary General's Special Representative for the Caucasus and Central Asia, at the meeting. “When the Deputy Secretary General of NATO was in Georgia he met head of the Georgian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Ilia II. The delegation members said that their position is to support of the will of the Georgian people. We know what an important role the Church plays in Georgian society.”
Explaining the reason behind the political intensification of the Georgian Orthodox Church is not hard, since, when accused of rotating on a Russian orbit, it tries to deny sympathies towards Russia and to support the Georgian Dream in the declaration of its pro-Western course. This narrative, as well as the actions of both sides, once again proves that the Georgian Dream is the number one partner of the Georgian Orthodox Church.
The GD knows that being in harmony with the Church will guarantee its power and vice versa. The Church also owes a toast to the GD for upholding its privileges and authority.
Zaza Jgarkava