Remonstrance: Some Georgians protest legalization of non-orthodox Churches
Armenian church of Norashen (Saint Mariam), Tbilisi, Georgia
By SIRANUYSH GEVORGYAN
ArmeniaNow reporter
11.07.11
Since Saturday, in Georgia, thousands of people have been holding demonstrations of protests, with calls against the “anti-Orthodox forces”, to show their anger at the legislation approved in the country’s parliament to grant legal status to five religious groups, including the Armenian Apostolic Church.
Last week the Georgian parliament introduced amendments in the country’s Civil Code under which all religious organizations that have status in Council of Europe member countries may also have similar status in Georgia.
From the very beginning Patriarch of All Georgia Ilia II has opposed these changes, saying that the haste with which the law was being passed was unacceptable and calling on President Mikheil Saakashvili to veto it, while holding additional discussions regarding the bill. A representative of the Armenian Apostolic Church stated that the change in the law was made also as a result of an arrangement made during Catholicos of All Armenians Karekin II’s pontifical visit to Georgia in June.
In his Sunday sermon the Georgian Patriarch talked about the need to stand next to the Georgian Church, which even more encouraged the citizens who opposed the law.
“Our patron on earth is the Orthodox Church. Often they struggle against the Church and try to humiliate it. Anyone who humiliates the Church must be punished and so, doing such a thing should be avoided,” said Ilia II.
As the newsgeorgia.ru website reports, a closed session of the Holy Synod of the Georgian Patriarchate began on Monday morning. It was expected that after the end of the session a statement would be made on the changes to the Civil Code.
In an interview with ArmeniaNow, however, political analyst Sergey Minasyan said that the protest actions were unlikely to lead to anything as Saakashvili would not back off.
“Saakashvili made a political decision and he knew that the Church was against it. In reality the Georgian opposition, which is against the pro-Western forces but at the same time has some problems with the Georgian Patriarchate, this time has stood next to the church and is taking part in these demonstrations,” the analyst said.
Minasian makes a negative assessment of these actions.
“It shows that religious extremism has serious grounds in Georgia,” he added.
