Georgian, Ecumenical Patriarchs not expected in Abkhazia

Sukhum, May 23, Interfax – The head of self-proclaimed Abkhaz Orthodox Church Priest Vissarion Aplia, said that the visit of Catholicos-Patriarch Ilia II of Georgia and the Ecumenical Patriarch to Abkhazia was impossible.

“The visit of Ilia II to Abkhazia is out of the question. He allows himself to make political statements and says that Abkhazia is an inseparable part of Georgia and that Abkhazia will never be separated from Georgia,” Father Vissarion told Interfax.

“We have not invited him to Abkhazia,” Father Vissarion said.

He disagreed with the Georgian Patriarch’s statement on the allegedly difficult state of Orthodox churches in Abkhazia. “We are renovating churches everywhere, new parishes, which were neglected during the post-war period, are opening. The number of Christians grows annually,” he said.

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