GTU Rector – May God bless Your Holiness, the Georgian Church, and all of Georgia

On behalf of the university community, Rector of the Georgian Technical University, Academician David Gurgenidze, congratulates the Georgian Orthodox Church, the Holy Synod, and the Orthodox parish on the election of the new Patriarch – the 142nd Catholicos-Patriarch of the country, Archbishop of Mtskheta-Tbilisi, Metropolitan of Tskhum-Abkhazia, His Holiness and Beatitude Shio III.

As Academician David Gurgenidze notes, the new head of the Georgian Orthodox Church is worthily continuing the great spiritual mission that His Holiness and Beatitude Ilia II had been fulfilling for decades.

“The Catholicos-Patriarchate of All Georgia, His Holiness and Beatitude Shio III, congratulates you on your appointment as the head of the Georgian Orthodox Church, which is not only an event of ecclesiastical, but also of historical and national significance, as the Georgian Church has been the pillar of our spirituality, cultural memory, national identity and integrity for centuries.

The pastoral ministry of Your Holiness is perceived as a mission full of great responsibility, which requires deep spiritual wisdom, calmness, support, fortitude, and Christian love. In the modern era, when the world faces numerous challenges and is threatened by spiritual alienation and the decline of human values, the peace-making and enlightening role of the Church assumes special importance. We believe that the ministry of Your Holiness will be based on those eternal Christian values ​​that have strengthened the Georgian nation for centuries: love of God and neighbor, humility, justice, and compassion.

I wish you good health, spiritual strength, God’s grace, and mercy on your most difficult path.

May God bless Your Holiness. May God bless the Georgian Church and all of Georgia.”

– Academician David Gurgenidze