The enthronement of the new Patriarch of Georgia Sios III (12/5) ushers the Church of Georgia into a new era after almost half a century of the longest-lived previous Patriarch Ilias II. The ceremony took place in the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity Svetitskoveli, following the traditional formal, combining Byzantine and Georgian elements. In his speech, the new Patriarch spoke about the contemporary challenges facing the Church of Georgia, which needs to have “wide open doors”, with an emphasis on young people and children in an era of shaking moral values. At the conclusion of the speech, the new Patriarch Sios referred to the legacy of the long patriarchate of Blessed Elias II and asked for the unity of the Church through prayer.
Trying to apply church rules
The election of Hierarch Sio as Patriarch of Georgia marks a stay of the Patriarchate of Georgia in the Russian sphere of influence. Sio was the patriarchal commissioner of the previous Patriarch of Georgia Ilias II, during the last years of his life, and overseer after his ekdemia, so his election is considered as a choice of continuity. At the same time, his attempt to impose a greater canonical order in the Patriarchate of Georgia may require a difficult reconciliation with the “old school” of bishops who were close to the previous Patriarch of Georgia Ilias.
Studies in Moscow and anti-ecumenical tendencies
Patriarch Sio, born Elizbar Mujiri, born in Tbilisi in 1969, presented his doctoral thesis in Moscow in Historical Theology at the Orthodox University of St. Tikhon in 2015, while previously he did postgraduate studies at the Moscow Theological Academy until 2013. The topic of his thesis was the Georgian monk Saint Alexy Susania. His late studies are a sign of his inclusion in the Russian world. The new Patriarch has a reputation as a soft power with expertise in the interpretation of the Holy Bible with his academic career having been an important element of his candidacy. He also studied cellist at the Tbilisi State Conservatory, where he graduated in 1991.
He was ordained a monk in 1993 and ordained a hieromonk in 1996 at the Sio-Mgvime monastery, which was characterized by isolationist and anti-ecumenical tendencies. A spiritual movement around this monastery had led to the withdrawal of the Patriarchate of Georgia from the World Council of Churches and the Synod of European Churches. Sio had retired to the monastery during the critical years of his spiritual formation. In 2001 he moved to Moscow, where he served as the priestly superior of the Georgian Church of St. George. His close relationship with Russia dates from this time.
Connections to the “Georgian Dream”
In 2003, he was elected the first bishop of the diocese of Senaki and Tschorotskou, a newly formed diocese formed from parts of the dioceses of Tskondidi and Poti-Senaki in Migrelia. Significant is his long friendship with former Georgian president Giorgi Margvelashvili, who is close to the nationalist and pro-Russian ruling Georgian Dream party, as well as businessman Levan Vasatze, known for his conservative and anti-Western interventions. Vasatze is the chairman of the Fund for Demographic Revival of Georgia, with Sio as a member.
The significance of his election as “patriarchal commissioner”
Sia is distinguished for his conservative and traditional stance on matters of interpretation and ethics. The decision of the previous Patriarch Ilias to appoint him as a patriarchal commissioner in 2017 with the prospect of becoming an overseer after the Patriarch’s ecclesiastical act was an unusual ecclesiastical act that was seen as Sio’s anointment for the succession. As a patriarchal commissioner, however, he was based on an administrative circle of mainly married priests and not monks. His style of administration is characterized by distance and ecclesiastical authority.
The insistence on traditional family values
In his moral preaching he has given importance to traditional family values, characterizing abortion as “naturalized fascism” and stressing the character of marriage as a union of a man and a woman. He has also called for peace in Ukraine and the Middle East. Among his most important initiatives was the fight against gambling and gambling, which had been a major problem in Georgia, especially in the form of online gambling. The intervention of the Church was seen as creative, in order to impose legislation on online gambling following a government initiative. However, his attempt to build church media and communication has been seen as excessively pro-government and avoiding reference to issues of social protest. His efforts to bring about greater regular order, by organizing ecclesiastical courts and regularly convening synods, have also been appreciated. Now as Patriarch Shio is expected to promote greater compliance with church rules.
At a time when Georgia still has a dual orientation between the European Union and Russia in a critical position south of the Caucasus, i.e. between the important geopolitical and war theaters of Ukraine and Iran, Sio’s election cements a special relationship with Moscow in line with the orientation of the ruling party “Georgian Dream” at the same time as neighboring Armenia experiences a sharp division between the pro-Western prime minister and the ethnocentric “catholic” of the Armenian Church.
