The Patriarchate of the Georgian Orthodox Church suspended Archimandrite Dorote Kurashvili from his priestly duties. Order No. 105, published by the Patriarchate's Public Relations Department, is signed by the Catholicos-Patriarch of Georgia Ilia II.
News
Trending stories
- 1 BBC investigation: WWI–Era Chemical Weapons Used to Disperse Tbilisi Protests
- 2 Starting in 2026, First-Year Students at Private Universities Will No Longer Receive State Grants
- 3 NGOs Demand Answers on Which Chemical Substances MIA Used Against Protesters
- 4 Zurabishvili Appeals to International Organisations to Investigate Possible Use of “Camite”
- 5 The Strasbourg Court Has Begun the Substantive Hearing of Gela Mtivlishvili's Case
- 6 Kobakhidze and Putin Attend International Forum on Neutrality in Turkmenistan
The order states that Archimandrite Dorote Kurashvili had his right to serve as a priest at the Holy Trinity Cathedral in Tbilisi suspended due to “repeated violations of church canonical ethics, despite warnings.”
Before this decision was made public, Archimandrite Dorote Kurashvili said that he had been summoned to the Patriarchate Commission on Tuesday, 16 December, at 2:00 PM.
“I am also shocked — not because this was unexpected. I can’t understand why they made this decision without a commission. Their audacity has crossed all limits, and I believe that unless these individuals, specifically Patriarch’s locum tenens Shio, (Andria) Jagmaidze, and (Mikheil) Botkoveli, are removed from the Georgian Apostolic Church, the Church will collapse and is already on the brink of death.
I was the only person in this church who consistently opposed and spoke the truth about the Russians, and I will keep doing so, no longer as a priest but as a citizen.
But there is complete silence in the church; the church is dying, the country is dying, and a priest remains silent. Everyone who stays silent is guilty, and no one can justify themselves for being silent when the church was taken from us.
This decision will not stop me from doing anything. It might simply encourage the government to put me in prison, but prison is freedom to me. An honest man is a free man in prison, “stated Dorote Kurashvili on Rustaveli Avenue, in front of the Parliament, where he had been holding public prayers for the last few weeks.
On 29 October, based on the appeal of the diocesan commission, Ilia II dismissed Dorote Kurashvili from the leadership of the Lower Bethlehem Church and appointed him as a priest of the Holy Trinity Patriarchal Cathedral. The diocesan commission accused the Archimandrite of committing “slanderous acts, as well as other actions inappropriate for a priest and a monk”
Dorote Kurashvili often criticises the Georgian Dream party for repression. He also criticises Metropolitan Shio, whom he refers to as being sent from Russia.
On 5 November, by the order of Ilia II, Archimandrite Ilia Toloraia, a supporter of Dorote Kurashvili, was also prohibited from performing priestly duties. He was summoned to the Patriarchate after referring to Metropolitan Shio as an “Exarch,” a term meaning a ruler appointed by the Russian Church.
