Epress.am News from Armenia
After discussing the issue of assigning legal status to religious groups in Georgia, the Holy Synod of the Georgian Orthodox Church urged the authorities to implement a number of requirements.
In a statement distributed Monday evening, the Holy Synod, the Georgian Church’s main decision-making body, reiterated the Patriarchate’s dissatisfaction that the legislative amendment was passed hastily without proper consultations with the Georgian Orthodox Church, reports Civil.ge.
The decision, however, does not contain any calls for revoking the legislative amendment or wording like “dangerous” and “contravening the interests of Church and state” used by the Georgian Orthodox Church previously in reference to these legislative amendments.
“Despite reasons for anxiety, the Holy Synod calls on the clergy and parish to keep calm and to refrain from any actions on their own initiative, as well as to intensify praying for the unity of the nation and for peace,” the decision reads.
While again expressing dissatisfaction that the decision was taken without thorough consultations with the Church, the Holy Synod called on the authorities: “In the future, when religion-related draft laws or similar issues [emerge], hold consultations with the Georgian Patriarchate beforehand in order to avoid any possible complications, considering that the issue is delicate.”
The written decision of the Holy Synod, however, makes a point of noting, “every religious group in Georgia is equal before the law… and the Georgian Orthodox Church’s special legal status, defined by the constitution and the constitutional agreement with the state [concordat], does not limit freedom of faith of other religious groups.”
The Holy Synod called on the authorities “to begin intergovernmental negotiations on the status of the Diocese of the Georgian Orthodox Church and on matters of property” as well as to set up a commission “to monitor implementation” of provisions of concordat.
Earlier, Catholicos Patriarch of All Georgia His Holiness and Beatitude Ilia II had asked Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili to veto the amendment to the Civil Code, but the president refused.
In the past few days, Orthodox Christians have organized large marches protesting the amendments in downtown Tbilisi. There were reports of Georgian church-goers attacking Armenians. Later, however, the Union of Armenians of Georgia denied these reports.