Georgian authorities struggle against the Church
Georgian authorities struggle against the Church giving church officials jeeps as presents – expert
bilisi, June 28, Interfax – Georgian authorities weaken the Church encouraging it materially, Gulbaat Rtskhiladze, D.Sc. (Political Science) and head of the Tbilisi Eurasia Institute, said.
“Acting authorities have found a simple and most effective way to struggle against Orthodoxy. They encourage the Church materially, giving it money from the budget, easing tax burden, allotting land for church buildings, sometimes giving expensive jeeps to high church officials as presents,” Rtskhiladze said in his interview to Interfax-Religion.
According to him, acting likewise, Georgian authorities “show the priority of Orthodoxy in the country thus putting society and the Church off guard.”
At the same time, Rtskhiladze believes that as far as priority of Orthodox teaching is concerned, the authorities “almost don’t do anything,” but on the contrary favor “prevocational raids” of various organizations “financed from the West.”
“They want to limit Orthodoxy in Georgia to rituals, external effects, deprive it of real content and place in people’s life,” Rtskhiladze believes.
