Authorities and the Patriarchate of the Georgian Orthodox Church have reached an agreement on specific wording to be included in the Georgian Constitution regarding the special role of Orthodoxy, Protopresbyter Giorgi Zviadadze said in a comment to InterpressNews on September 1.
Earlier, the Georgian authorities proposed declaring Orthodoxy the state religion, enshrining this status in the Constitution. On August 29, following a meeting of hierarchs, the Patriarchate proposed, instead of the status of the state religion, to introduce into the Constitution an entry on strengthening and increasing the role of the Church.
According to Zviadadze, following the meetings held at the Patriarchate on August 26 and 29, it was decided to amend Article 8 of the Constitution, which speaks of relations between the state and the Georgian Orthodox Church. The protopresbyter reported that an agreement on this issue had been reached between the Georgian authorities and the Patriarchate.
“The proposal is such that the first paragraph would include the following entry: “Orthodox Christianity is the pillar of the identity of the Georgian state,” and the second paragraph would be formulated as follows: “Along with freedom of religion, the State recognizes the special role of the Autocephalous Apostolic Orthodox Church of Georgia in the history and modernity of Georgia and its independence from the state. [К записи] Only one word is added, namely, “modernity” is supposedly added to the history of Georgia, with which the Holy Orthodox Church of Georgia has expressed its fundamental agreement.”“, Zviadadze said.
He added that the first proposal of the Georgian authorities suggested an initiative to declare Orthodoxy as the state religion, but the unequivocal response of the Georgian Orthodox Church is that this is unacceptable for the Church.
“The unequivocal response of the Georgian Orthodox Church is that this is unacceptable for the Church, as the Church believes that the legal model of relations with the state, which exists today in the form of a constitutional agreement between the State of Georgia and the Apostolic Church of Georgia, the Autocephalous Orthodox Church, is unique.”said.
According to the protopresbyter, the meeting held on August 30 was attended by Prime Minister of Georgia, Irakli Kobakhidze, and the executive secretary of Georgian Dream, Mamuka Mdinaradze. From the church side, the meeting was attended by the Patriarchal Locum Tenens Metropolitan Shio, the chorebishop of the Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia, Metropolitan Theodore, the secretary of the Patriarch, Archpriest Mikhail Botkoveli, the head of the public relations service of the Patriarchate, Archpriest Andria Dzhgamaidze, and the protopresbyter himself.
Recall that parliamentary elections will be held in Georgia on October 26. The ruling Georgian Dream party has announced its intention to obtain a constitutional majority in parliament after the elections in order to ban Mikheil Saakashvili’s United National Movement party and the promotion of non-traditional relations, as well as to enshrine in the constitution the status of Orthodoxy as the state religion.
On August 31, Honorary Chairwoman and founder of the ruling Georgian Dream party Bidzina Ivanishvili said at a pre-election event in Ozurgeti that consultations with the Patriarchate of the Georgian Orthodox Church on amending the constitution in relation to the status of Orthodoxy had been successfully completed.
Source: Rossa Primavera
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