Patriarch’s Nephew Says He will not Run for Patriarchy

TBILISI - Batumi and Lazeti Metropolitan Dimitry Shiolashvili, who is the nephew of Georgia’s Catholicos-Patriarch Ilia II, says that he does not intend to run for patriarchy.

Shiolashvili stated in his interview with newspaper Kviris Palitra that he has often been associated with the will of Patriarch as if he is the successor of Ilia II.

The metropolitan says this is not true.

“The Patriarch cannot name his heir, this is absurd. He can only name his acting person, who will organize Patriarch’s funeral, when he is gone,” Metropolitan said.

The archbishop also says that the Acting Patriarch will call for the Synod meeting, where new Patriarch will be elected.

“All 47 members of Synod are potential candidates for the patriarchy, but not me,” father Dimitry stated.

The metropolitan also commented on the church related scandal widely referred to as the Cyanide Case, when the prosecutor’s Office arrested a cleric on suspicion of the intention to murder.

The cleric believes that the organizer of the process will fail to cause controversy within the church.

“I think this process is targeted against the whole Orthodox Church of Georgia. The person who planned and carried out this process aimed to cause intense internal conflict within the church. If the organizer of this process is reading my words, I want to tell this person that the internal conflict between the Patriarchate will not happen," said the father Dimitry.

By Thea Morrison