A new patriarch with old orders

The hasty enthronement of the new Georgian Patriarch Shio expectedly attracted the attention of church observers. They emphasized not only the haste-the enthronement took place the day after the election, which is not typical for such events-but also the fact that the event was organized, so to speak, in a close circle. On the day of the festive Liturgy in the ancient Svetitskhoveli church, representatives of other Local Churches were absent from the celebrations.

The Georgian side is generally understandable. The reason for this decision is the ongoing conflict between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Patriarchate of Constantinople over the interference of the head of Phanar in church affairs in Ukraine. To put it simply, if the enthronement were to be done «as it should be,» then we would have to invite both to the event. At the same time, as we can see from the recent enthronements in Bulgaria and Albania, Patriarch Bartholomew likes to attend and lead such celebrations personally. The Russian side, in turn, tries to avoid any contacts and joint events attended by representatives of the Phanar.

In addition, judging by the information already available in the media, the new Georgian Patriarch Shio is not a supporter of the recognition of the OCU, and if Bartholomew were to visit Georgia and lead the service, he would inevitably mention Epiphany Dumenko during the service. Accordingly, the participation of Patriarch Bartholomew in the service and enthronement — even if there was no one from the Russian Orthodox Church — is still a kind of taboo for the Catholicos. They say, «We have not broken off relations with you, but as long as you are commemorating Dumenko, we will not concelebrate.»

At the same time, Tbilisi is in no hurry to exalt the ROC over Phanar. Although Patriarch Shio is very familiar with church life in the Russian Orthodox Church, has been to Russia, and even studied at the Moscow Theological Academy and the Orthodox St. Tikhon’s Humanitarian University, we do not see any curtsies to the Moscow Patriarchate from the new head of the GOC. This is not surprising, because the Georgian Orthodox Church has its own path and history, and accordingly, the diplomatic relations of the new Patriarch of Georgia will be built in the paradigm of his own interests and taking into account the church-political situation.

Since the Georgian Church has not yet decided whom to support in the Ukrainian church issue, it is clear that Tbilisi plans to continue to stay «above the fray.» In other words, of course, no one in Georgia will recognize the OCU, but Tbilisi is not going to make any judgments on this issue, for example, at the Synodal level. Thus, although there will now be a new Patriarch in the Georgian Church, the procedures will remain the same. This, in fact, was demonstrated by the enthronement of the Primate of the GOC.