The Ecumenical Patriarchate has announced that Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew will travel to Tbilisi to attend the funeral of Ilia II, personally offering his condolences to the devoted nation.

“His Holiness the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew will travel early on the morning of Sunday, March 22, 2026, to the Capital of Georgia, Tbilisi, in order to attend the funeral procession of the late Patriarch of Georgia, His Holiness Ilias II, which will be held at the Holy Trinity Cathedral, and to express from close quarters the sympathy and condolences of the Mother Church to the holy Hierarchs, the holy clergy, the monks and nuns, the Authorities and the faithful people of the country.

His Holiness will be accompanied by Metropolitan Emmanuel, Elder of Chalcedon; Great Aetios, Director of the Patriarch’s Personal Office; Grand Archdeacon Alexander, Primate of the Georgian Parish of Constantinople; Archimandrite Ilia Jinjolava; as well as Nikolaos-Georgios Papachristou, Director of the Press and Communications Service of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, and Patriarchal employee Panayotis Grafiadelis.

The Ecumenical Patriarch and his entourage will return to the City on the same day, God willing,” reads the statement by the Ecumenical Patriarchate.