1,700 years of Christianity in Georgia
An international academic symposium titled “God, Homeland, Human” took place at the Radisson hotel in Tbilisi to mark 1,700 years since Georgia declared Christianity its state religion.
The event was attended by Georgian Patriarch Shio III, Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze, Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili and President Mikheil Kavelashvili.
The main political message of their speeches was that Christianity, national identity and traditional values should form the foundation of the Georgian state and society. They presented the preservation of these values as a response to the challenges of the modern world.
Key points from the speeches
● Cooperation between the state and the Church: Irakli Kobakhidze said that the government would continue to protect Georgia’s Christian heritage and national values in close cooperation with the Church.
“The state pays particular attention to these enduring values. In close cooperation with the Church, we will firmly defend the heritage on which our national unity and development rest.”
● National identity and statehood: According to Shalva Papuashvili said, a state may temporarily lose its independence, but preserving its national identity leaves open the possibility of restoring it.
“The world has once again entered an era of great change. Technology, economic relations and the international order are changing rapidly. However, as history has taught us time and again, societies that preserve their identity stand firmest during periods of change,” Papuashvili said.
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● Seven eternal values: Mikheil Kavelashvili identified God, the Homeland, the Individual, the Native Land, Language, Faith and Family as the foundations of thinking rooted in Georgian statehood. In his view, these values help preserve national identity in the age of globalisation and artificial intelligence.
“Today, as the modern world faces a crisis of values and geopolitical upheaval, we have a duty to ask a fundamental question: what should form the foundations of the Georgian state, society and individual?
These seven symbols form the basis of our identity. Even today, as the age of globalisation and artificial intelligence seeks to devalue human identity, these eternal values serve as our main existential shield,” Kavelashvili said.
● Technology and spirituality: Patriarch Shio said that technological progress should serve humanity and that the growth of knowledge should not distance society from faith and spiritual values.
“Technology should serve humanity, not humanity technology. Knowledge should not distance us from faith, and progress should not make us forget spirituality,” Shio III said.
● Abkhazia and the Tskhinvali region: The Patriarch addressed the residents of these regions and expressed hope that peace, unity and brotherly relations between Georgia’s historic regions would be restored.
“We must continue to live peacefully alongside our homeland,” the Patriarch said, expressing hope that “brotherly unity and love will be restored between us”.
● Ties with emigrants: Shio III addressed Georgians living abroad, saying that the Church prays for them and awaits their return to their homeland.
1,700 years of Christianity in Georgia