On April 3, the Holy Synod of the Georgian Church met to discuss the rules by which the three candidates for the patriarchal throne will be nominated, as well as other technical issues regarding the elections. The metropolitans did not reach an agreement on whether the elections will be held according to the requirements for candidates in the statute or whether they can be changed – Georgia has no tradition of electing the head of its Church in freedom, since Patriarch Ilia was elected in 1977 at the height of the totalitarian communist regime in the country. The difficult intra-church debates are also indicated by the intervention of Russian foreign intelligence, which officially stated that the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew wants to “influence” the elections and has two preferred candidates – the Western European Abraham (Garmelia) and the Metropolitan of Poti Grigory (Berbichashvili).
According to the statute of the Georgian Church, a candidate for the patriarchate must be no less than 40 and no more than 70 years old – 30 out of 39 members of the Synod meet this criterion. However, this restriction is being discussed by the bishops and they have not agreed whether to comply with it. Theological education is also a requirement of the statute, however, it does not specify whether the education must be higher. The metropolitans have discussed that “the requirement of at least a seminary will probably remain”.
30 of the members of the Holy Synod have higher education. There is no information about seven members having received higher education, and 14 bishops do not have a theological education.
The rest received their education in theological seminaries and academies in Russia and Georgia. Of the current bishops, only three – Metropolitans Melchizedek (Khachidze), Sava (Intskirveli) and Zenon (Yarajali), received their education in Europe – in Greece, Serbia and Italy, respectively.
Two bishops have a musical education – Shio (Mujiri) and Anton (Buluhiya), three graduated from the Theater Institute – Daniel (Datuashvili), Nikoloz (Pachuashvili) and Isaiah (Chanturia). Two graduated from the Academy of Arts – these are Joseph (Kikvadze) and Ekvitime (Lezhava). One metropolitan was also a rock musician – Mamuka (Gabrididze), now Bishop of Tianeti, who was a guitarist in the rock band “Memento Mori” before the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Nine bishops graduated from the Polytechnic University, and three from the Pedagogical Institute. There is also one metropolitan with a military education – Andria (Gvazava), who graduated from the Military Aviation Engineering Institute in Kharkov. Eight of the metropolitans, according to a report in the Georgian media, served in the ranks of the Soviet Army, and one of them – Yegudiel (Tabatadze) – in the army of the GDR (1982-1984), and according to his official biography he participated in the peacekeeping operation “Samachablo”, and another – Vakhtang (Liparteliani) – fought in Abkhazia.
This diverse composition of the synod makes the debate relevant whether the requirement for at least some theological education – at the seminary or academy level – should be observed in elections.
There are three metropolitans who have walked the path from monasticism to episcopacy the fastest – these are the metropolitans of Tkibuli Giorgi (Shalamberidze) (1988), of Tsurgava Vakhtang (Akhvlediani) (1982) and of Shalteli Spiridon (Abuladze) (2006), who were ordained bishops the day after their ordination. The locum tenens, Metropolitan Shio, and Metropolitan Ephraim (Gamrekeli), with the longest monastic experience before ordination, are the vicar, Metropolitan Grigory Berbicashvili, and Metropolitan Job Akiashvili, with the latter in particular having a considerable number of supporters among the members of the electoral council. Another candidate with ambitions for the patriarchal throne is Metropolitan Andria Gvazava, who until recently did not have a theological education, but in 2023 defended his dissertation at the Russian Orthodox University “St. Tikhon”.
In addition to the official and written rules, there are also unwritten ones that are also effective, namely that the patriarch must be desirable for both the Georgian government and the Russian Church. These two requirements are currently met by Shio (Mujiri), who was the chairman of the St. George Church of the Georgian community in Moscow and graduated from theology in Moscow.
Over the past ten years, recordings and compromising information about discussions about a possible successor to Patriarch Ilia in the highest political and economic circles in the country have leaked into the Georgian public space. This is also one of the reasons why Patriarch Ilia appointed “his successor” in the person of Metropolitan Shio Mujiri during his lifetime, although neither the statute nor Georgian traditions provide for such a way of inheriting the patriarchal throne as a “testament”. Today, however, supporters of Metropolitan Shio Mujiri are calling on all candidates for the patriarchal chair to “relinquish it in favor of Metropolitan Shio,” because otherwise they would be “traitors” to the will of the late patriarch. Undoubtedly, one of the three contenders for the post will be the vicar Metropolitan Shio Mujiri, but his election is not predetermined.
At present, the Holy Synod has determined the commissions on the elections, the venue for the elections – the Holy Trinity Cathedral. The three candidates will be announced at the next meeting of the Holy Synod in the second half of April, probably on April 24.
According to information from “Radio Liberty Georgia”
