The judgment of the Holy Synod of the Georgian Orthodox Church has been published.
Another meeting of the Holy Synod was held at the Patriarchate of Georgia. The Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia and the Archbishop of Mtskheta-Tbilisi and Metropolitan Bishop of Bichvinta and Tskhum-Abkhazia, His Holiness and Beatitude Ilia II presided over the meeting. Metropolitan bishop of Gori and Ateni Andria Gvazava was elected as a secretary of the Synod session.
He talked regarding the significance of the topics to be discussed and initially directed the attendant's attention to the issue of David Gareji and Chichkhituri monastery. The Holy Synod ruled that the Chichkhituri monastery and the David Gareji desert monastic complex located in the section subjected to territorial disputes between Georgia and Azerbaijan are integral elements of the Georgian nation's historic, religious, and cultural identity. To these days, the Protocol of 13 June 1996 constitutes the principal legal document determining the state border, and the Protocol was approved and signed by the authorized officials designated by the presidents of both countries.
The document says that the state border between the two countries was determined in 1938 when the legitimate cartographic material was the 1937-38 topographic map with a scale of 1: 200 000. All Georgian specialists in Cartography with the required competence and qualifications are of the same opinion and unanimously agree on this fact.
We do appeal to the Georgian government to launch negotiations with our partner Azerbaijan, and without prejudice to the principles of fairness, restore the status quo which existed before 2007 in relation to the Chichkhituri monastery and 2019 in relation to David Gareji desert monastic complex.
The Holy Synod also discussed the COVID-19 pandemic and vaccination issues and ruled that the church deems health as a fundamental right of man and, correspondingly, supports all measures aiming to protect this right, which are not again Christian ethics. Additionally, the Synod urges the government to answer the public's vaccination-related questions.
The Holy Synod discussed a total of 12 matters and delivered the judgment.
