At the Holy Trinity Cathedral in Tbilisi, church hierarchs elected a new primate of the Georgian Orthodox Church (GOC). The Georgian publication Sova reported this on May 11.
He became the 57-year-old Metropolitan Shio (Mujiri). He chose for himself the spiritual name Shio III.
According to media reports, about 1,200 delegates took part in the ceremony, but only the highest church hierarchs – 39 people – had the right to vote. To become the new patriarch, a candidate had to get at least 20 votes. Shio received 22 votes, his competitors – nine and seven. One ballot was declared invalid.
Speaking at the church council, Shio said that the GOC must preserve its historical role as a unifying force and guardian of national identity.
The enthronement of the new primate of the Orthodox Church will take place on May 12 in the city of Mtskheta.
According to church regulations, the inauguration ceremony must take place on the first religious holiday after his election.
Shio is a graduate of the Moscow Theological Academy. In pro-Western social and political circles, he is perceived as a promoter of the interests of the authorities of the Georgian Dream and the Russian Orthodox Church, noted Echo of the Caucasus.
The new Catholicos-Patriarch of all Georgia for almost half a century is an event that can affect not only the internal processes in the Georgian Orthodox Church, but also the political vector of the country’s development, writes the BBC Russian Service. As the media notes, Shio is a figure whom some call a symbol of continuity and stability, others consider Moscow’s choice and a risk for church sovereignty. Journalists wondered whether Shio is the successor to the previous primate, Ilya II, or whether he is a “protege of Moscow.”
The BBC explains that in 2017 – unexpectedly for many – Shio was appointed locum tenens of Catholicos-Patriarch Ilia II. As journalists explain, in church practice, a locum tenens is usually appointed by the synod after the death or resignation of the patriarch.
Some theologians associated the appointment of the current patriarch with possible pressure from Moscow, the media notes. The reason for such suspicions was a visit to Tbilisi shortly before the appointment of the then head of the Department for External Church Relations of the Russian Orthodox Church, Metropolitan Hilarion (Alfeev). The Orthodox Church categorically denied the connection between Alfeev’s visit and Shio’s new position.
Metropolitan Shio himself, answering questions from journalists in 2017, called his appointment unexpected, and reports of connections with the Russian government as “gossip and slander,” the media writes.
