By Iya Barateli, journalist, publicist, analyst
The Georgian Orthodox Church has, without any surprises, approved the new patriarch – the vicar of Ilia II, who died in March, has become such. It seems that Shio III has no intention of changing the foreign policy of the Georgian Patriarchate and will continue the tradition of avoiding decisions on the acute issues facing the Church. Such are, for example, the recognition of the autocephaly of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine or taking sides in the conflict between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Ecumenical Patriarch. As for domestic politics, the new patriarch has a chance to increase his authority if he manages to obtain from the authorities an amnesty for at least some of the political prisoners. For their part, the opposition Georgian media are not criticizing Patriarch Shio for now, but on the contrary, they are pinning great hopes on him.
Successor to the Apostolic See
A new chapter in the history of the Georgian Orthodox Church began, as befits, with shouts of the Greek “Axios!”, that is, “Worthy!”. After an enthronement ceremony that lasted several hours in the ancient church of Svetitskhoveli in Mtskheta, which ended with the rite of presenting the symbols of the patriarchate, the Georgian Orthodox Church has its 142nd Catholicos-Patriarch Shio III. He had been preparing for this for the past nine years, since in 2017 the previous, legendary Patriarch Ilia II declared him the vicar. Usually, the vicar is determined by the Synod after the death or resignation of the patriarch for the time until the organization of elections. Therefore, many then perceived Ilia II’s decision as an attempt to prevent disputes and opposition within the church elite.
According to the procedure, the status of a vicar does not yet guarantee that its holder will necessarily occupy the patriarchal throne. Therefore, after the death of Ilia II in March, Metropolitan Shio participated in the election of a new head of the Church on an equal footing with the other hierarchs. The Holy Synod acted according to the established rules: first, three candidates were determined, and at the second, final stage, in the presence of about fifteen hundred delegates from monasteries and parishes from all over the country, the members of the Synod voted once more – which of the three would be the patriarch. In the end, Bishop Shio won, but received, as many observers note, a “rather modest mandate”: at the first stage he collected only the required minimum of 20 votes, and at the final stage 22 bishops voted for him. The enthronement ceremony took place extremely quickly, the very next day after the election. It was said that this haste was allegedly connected with the reluctance to invite again to Georgia the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, with whom the Russian Orthodox Church is in conflict.
On the other hand, the statute prescribes that the ascension to the patriarchal throne should take place on the nearest church holiday after the end of the election. And in this case, it would be difficult to think of a more suitable date than May 12, the day on which the secular authorities of Georgia, together with the Church, commemorate St. Apostle Andrew the First-Called, considered the Christian enlightener of Georgia and the founder of the Georgian Church. According to church tradition, the lot of the Most Holy Theotokos fell to preach Christianity in Georgia, but she sent the Apostle Andrew. As a missionary, the first apostle called by Christ visited the Black Sea coast in the western and southwestern parts of Georgia, in Adjara and Samegrelo. That is why Georgia is called the share of the Holy Mother of God, the Church is called the Apostolic, and the church cathedral is called the “throne of St. Andrew the First-Called”. May 12 is considered the day of the apostle’s arrival in Georgia, it is celebrated in the country as a public holiday and is a non-working day.
Cellist and Internet user
The first thing that catches the eye: the new Georgian patriarch is very tall – his height is 190 centimeters. Moreover, he walks quickly. This is a significant contrast to Ilia II, who in recent years moved around in a wheelchair and spoke with difficulty. Patriarch Shio is only 57 years old, i.e. by the standards of hierarchs who rule until the end of their lives, he is a very young head of the Church and may remain on the throne for another 30 years.
The secular name of the patriarch is Elizbar Mudzhiri. He is practically the first Georgian patriarch who was born and raised in the center of Tbilisi, and then became the metropolitan archbishop. Shio also became the first Georgian Catholicos who speaks English and actively uses the Internet – journalists are already calling him the “patriarch of the third millennium”.
The father of the future patriarch was an archaeologist, his mother – a doctor of philology, and his grandparents – doctors. Elizbar studied at a school in the prestigious Vera district. School friendships also explain his wide circle of acquaintances, which includes such diverse people as the former president of Georgia, the liberal Giorgi Margvelashvili, and the leader of the ultraconservatives, the pro-Russian millionaire Levan Vasadze.
Childhood friends and classmates described Elizbar Mujiri as a handsome, serious and friendly young man. One of his classmates, who later became a director, recalls that no one on the street dared to tease Elizbar when he went to practice his musical instrument.
After school, the young man entered the conservatory and even won several student competitions. However, he did not graduate from the music college, because he unexpectedly decided to go to a monastery in Mtskheta. He returned to Tbilisi only after his monastic tonsure, which he took in 1993 at the age of 24.
The popular name Shio in Georgia comes from the legendary Shio Mgvimski, the founder of monasticism in Georgia, one of the thirteen Assyrian fathers who preached in Georgia in the 6th century, and one of the most revered saints of the Georgian Orthodox Church. It was during his stay at the Shio-Mgwime Monastery that Elizbar Mujiri decided to dedicate himself to service to the Church.
Priest of the Church of St. George in Gruzini
The future patriarch began his theological education at the seminary in Batumi and completed it at the correspondence department of the Orthodox St. Tikhonovsky Humanitarian University in Moscow. In 2015, Shio Mudzhiri defended his thesis and received the degree of candidate (equivalent to doctor) of theology.
During his studies in Moscow, Shio was the head of the parish at the Church of St. George in Gruzini. In 2010, he was sent to the parishes of the Georgian Orthodox Church in Australia and New Zealand. In 2011, he became a metropolitan, and six years later, unexpectedly for the general public, he was appointed the vicar of the patriarch.
Shortly before this, the chairman of the Department for External Church Relations of the Russian Orthodox Church, Metropolitan Hilarion Alfeev, arrived in Tbilisi. There are versions that the appointment of Mudzhiri was an attempt by Moscow to strengthen “its” person in the entourage of the often ill Georgian patriarch. The Georgian Patriarchate, of course, denies such a possibility, and Bishop Shio himself calls these reports “slander”.
However, Moscow itself reminded of itself immediately before the election of the new Georgian patriarch. The Press Bureau of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service published a message with the angry title “Bartholomew forgot himself in his arrogance”, in which it accused the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of interfering in the election of the head of the Georgian Orthodox Church.
The SVR suspects that the Church of Constantinople has its own candidate for the patriarchal post – Metropolitan of Poti and Khobi Grigol Berbicashvili, who is actually among the three candidates selected in the first stage. And after the elections, Moscow Patriarch Kirill expressed hope that the Georgian Church would not change its position on the Ukrainian issue, that is, it would not recognize the autocephaly of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine as it has done so far.
In fact, Shio Mudzhiri is not the only Georgian hierarch who could be considered an interesting candidate for Russia. The foreign policy of the Georgian Orthodox Church shows that both Shio’s predecessor and the majority of the Synod do not intend to enter into an open conflict with Moscow. For example, in 2016, the Georgian Orthodox Church ignored the Pan-Orthodox Council of Crete, convened for the first time in almost a thousand years. All Orthodox churches were represented at the council, except for the Bulgarian, Georgian, Russian and Antiochian, which, according to the official version, did not agree with the draft documents.
As for the recognition of the Ukrainian Church, in the current Synod of the Georgian Orthodox Church it is difficult to find more than two or three people who would support such recognition. Therefore, most likely, the new patriarch will continue the advantageous position of strategic waiting for the Georgian Church, so as not to spoil relations with either Moscow or Constantinople.
Chance for trust
Until recently, Shio III avoided any political comments in his sermons. At the same time, however, he supports the discussion of threats to traditional family values and welcomes the rejection of the term “gender identity”, as well as the law adopted by the authorities, limiting the rights of the LGBT community.
While the other two contenders for the patriarchal throne, Metropolitan Job Akiashvili and Metropolitan Grigol Berbichashvili, presented a plan or at least a vision of their role in this post during the election, Metropolitan Shio personally did not talk about his ideas. He rarely communicates with journalists at all and almost never makes public statements that do not directly affect the life of the Church. It is not surprising that because of this, the media, especially the opposition ones, have a lot of questions for him.
Usually, the speakers on opposition television channels explained this restraint by his desire to be a candidate acceptable to both the “Georgian Dream” government and the Moscow Patriarchate.
However, after Shio’s enthronement, the same commentators still hope that the new patriarch will find the strength not to become a puppet and to pursue an independent policy. Otherwise, he would quickly squander his inheritance – the phenomenal authority of the Georgian Orthodox Church, built by his predecessor.
In addition, the newly elected Patriarch Shio has a good chance of winning the trust of the entire society precisely now, when many in Georgia are outraged by the appearance of political prisoners in the country – several dozen young people deprived of their liberty for participating in pro-European protest actions.
It is believed that in the near future the newly elected patriarch will ask the authorities to declare an amnesty, which should become the first step towards reconciliation in society.
The head of the Public Relations Department of the Georgian Patriarchate, Andria Jagmaidze, confirmed that the patriarch intends to raise the issue of the release of citizens detained during the pro-European protests: “I said earlier that we will raise this issue again and discuss it with the authorities. I confirm – yes, it will be so… These people [the detainees] are not strangers to us.”
The government has so far ignored the Patriarchate’s requests to release or reduce the terms of those detained during the protests or on charges of plotting a coup. It is possible that Georgian Dream will now respond to the newly elected patriarch’s request – at least to increase his authority.
Source: Novaya Gazeta Evropa, 13.05.2026
