Georgien: Church calls nation to commemorate 1700th anniversary of Orthodoxy as state religion
On October 14, the Georgian Orthodox Church celebrated Svetitskhovloba, one of its most beloved feasts, honoring the Holy Robe of Christ and the Svetitskhoveli Cathedral. According to ancient tradition, Jesus’ Robe was buried in Mtskheta in the 1st century, and from its resting place a miraculous cedar tree—the Life-Giving Pillar—grew, giving the feast its name. In the 4th century, the Svetitskhoveli Cathedral was built on the site of the cedar tree.
His Eminence Metropolitan Shio of Senaki and Chkhorotsku, Locum Tenens of the Patriarchal Throne, led the celebration of the feast. During the Liturgy, he shared with the faithful an address from the commission established by the blessing and prayer of His Holiness Catholicos-Patriarch Ilia of Georgia for the proper commemoration of next year’s 1700th anniversary of the proclamation of Christianity as the state religion in Georgia.
The statement calls upon all Georgians, at home and abroad, to commemorate the anniversary. It emphasizes that Orthodox Christianity is inseparable from Georgian national identity and has sustained the nation through centuries of trials, producing countless saints and holy relics that demonstrate the Georgian people’s spiritual strength and capacity for sacrifice. However, the statement notes that recent centuries have seen many Georgians distance themselves from their Christian roots, causing social fragmentation, and emphasizes that this anniversary—preceded by commemorations of St. King David the Builder and St. Queen Ketevan—offers an opportunity for spiritual renewal and national unity.
Following Pat. Ilia’s call for peace, the statement urges all citizens, institutions, and organizations to use this jubilee year to strengthen awareness of Georgia’s religious and national heritage as a foundation for social unity and the country's peaceful future.
To the population of All Georgia and our compatriots living abroad
Regarding the jubilee anniversary of the 1700th year since the proclamation of Christianity as the state religion in Georgia
Dear compatriots living in Georgia and beyond its borders!
In 2026, it will be 1700 years since the proclamation of Christianity as the state religion in Georgia. These past 17 centuries bear witness to the fact that the Georgian people, possessing an ancient and unique culture, through Christianity came to share in the path of spiritual perfection, truth, and life—in Christ.
It is precisely Christianity that granted us the possibility of salvation, deification, and establishment in the Kingdom of Heaven.
It can be stated unequivocally that the history of Orthodoxy in Georgia is the spiritual history of the Georgian people; this profound appropriation of faith by the nation is the result of an exceedingly firm foundation, which manifests essentially in the inseparability of religious consciousness and national identity.
The portion of the Mother of God on Georgian soil has shone forth with the first saints from ancient times, whose multitude particularly demonstrates the spiritual fullness of the Georgian Church. It is precisely this fullness that bestowed upon Kartli that hagiological quality which implies its designation as “Mother of Saints,” as attested in the eighth-century work The Martyrdom of Abo of Tbilisi.
St. Ilia the Righteous proclaims: “The New Testament renewed our country for a new life. The Georgian people joined to this covenant, to this New Testament, everything from antiquity that is precious to humanity and which never grows old in its essence, as long as humanity exists: they joined to it homeland and nationality. These three worthy objects became so intertwined with one another that the protection of faith was transformed into the protection of Georgia’s land and waters, and the protection of land and waters—into the protection of faith.”
Despite numerous trials, through the special intercession of God and the All-Holy Mother of God, Georgia has repeatedly achieved both religious revival and state might. No less significant is the fact that in times of particular difficulty in our nation’s history, unprecedented examples of devotion to Christian values, and martyric labors fulfilled for faithfulness to God and homeland—both by individual persons and by the entire nation—are irrefutable testimony to the spiritual fortitude of the Georgian people in defending those eternal values which are the foundation of the saving faith.
Unfortunately, in recent centuries a significant portion of the nation has noticeably distanced itself from Christian roots. Estrangement from national distinctiveness causes the fragmentation and disconnection of society. In the words of St. Ilia the Righteous, “the very downfall of a nation... begins when it forgets its history.”
This is precisely why the commemoration of the 1700th anniversary of the proclamation of Christianity as the state religion in Georgia, along with thanksgiving to God, is also a remembrance of our country's 2000-year Christian history.
By God’s providence, the 1700th jubilee of the proclamation of Christianity as the state religion is preceded by two entirely exceptional figures from two most significant epochs in the nation’s history—the 900th anniversary of the repose of St. King David the Builder, which was fulfilled this year on February 8, 2025, and the 400th anniversary of the martyric death of St. Queen Ketevan, which was commemorated this past September 26, 2024.
The most significant date of the proclamation of Christianity as the state religion in Georgia also has its firmest foundation in the epochal labors of such most eminent saints, whose contributions were pivotal in the history of the Church of Georgia and the Georgian people: St. Andrew the First-Called, founder of the Church of Georgia, and, together with him, the Apostles who spread Christianity in Kartli: St. Simon the Canaanite, St. Bartholomew, and St. Matthias; Mother St. Sidonia and, together with her, the Proto-Martyrs who shone forth on Georgian soil from ancient times; the Enlightener of the Georgians, Equal-to-the-Apostles St. Nino; the first Christian king and queen, Equal-to-the-Apostles St. Mirian and St. Nana; St. Razhden the Proto-Martyr; St. Shushanik the Martyr; St. King Vakhtang Gorgasali; Venerable John of Zedazeni and the other Assyrian venerable fathers; St. Abo the Martyr of Tbilisi; St. Gregory of Khandzta and his co-laborers; those buried in the Holy City of Jerusalem and in various churches and monasteries abroad; Sts. John, Euthymius, and George of the Holy Mountain; St. Ephrem the Lesser; St. Arsenius of Ikalto; St. Queen Tamar the Beneficent; the 100,000 Georgian Martyrs; the holy New Martyrs tortured during the communist regime; and others.
Along with this, the greatest treasure of the Georgian people are the God-given holy relics, such as: the Robe of Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Spear that pierced the Crucified Lord, the Robe and Belt of the All-Holy Mother of God, the grapevine cross bound with the hair of St. Nino, the grave of the Holy Apostle Simon the Canaanite, the mantle of the Prophet Elijah, a holy portion of the Life-Giving Pillar; the most holy icons not-made-by-hands: of Anchiskhati, Atsquri, and others; unique Georgian manuscripts, frescoes, miniatures, and God-blessed churches and monasteries.
These saints distinguished by their labors and grace-filled holy relics, and, in general, all the saints and holy relics of the Church of Georgia, reveal with particular intensity the two most principal marks of our country’s distinctiveness—the nation’s unceasing striving toward spiritual perfection and its wondrous capacity for self-sacrifice for God and homeland.
Through these Divine qualities, the small Georgian nation, constantly standing before the question of to be or not to be, not only survived and preserved its distinctiveness, but also made a significant contribution to the treasury of world spirituality and culture.
Last year, on December 13, on the feast day of St. Andrew the First-Called and St. King Vakhtang Gorgasali, Catholicos-Patriarch Ilia II once again called upon the entire population of Georgia to preserve peace.
In his address we read:
My spiritual children, the events that have unfolded in our country over recent days clearly demonstrate that it is essential for each of us to make it our duty to care for peace.
...Our problem today is also that we fail to realize how we distance ourselves from God and act against His commandments.
...Through mutual hatred, malice, slander... we will not solve any national problem... Our Christianity ends where our love for our neighbor ends.
The commemoration of jubilee dates is the best means of fulfilling a peace mission and, accordingly, they have significant state importance. Therefore, it is natural and proper that the entire population of the country should commemorate these most significant dates.
In order for the jubilee days to encompass All Georgia, our citizens both within the country and beyond its borders must be involved in this process.
In cities and villages, in families and public gathering places, in higher and public educational institutions, in governmental and non-governmental organizations, throughout the jubilee year, it particularly behooves us to make the full awareness of religious-national values and distinctiveness and concern for strengthening a way of life founded upon them to be the main task of our society.
May the Lord help us, so that together we may all properly commemorate this most significant historical date, which will be a firm foundation for the spiritual unity of society, a worthy present, and a peaceful future for our country. (Quelle: www.orthochristian.com, 16. Oktober 2025)