“Georgia’s five-cross flag is the simplest, clearest and most vivid embodiment of our nation’s history, of 1,700 years of Christian civilisation, of its struggle and fortitude, which tells us who we are,” the Speaker of Parliament, Shalva Papuashvili, wrote on social media.

According to him, today Ilia Chavchavadze’s soul rejoices when it sees its homeland, free, proud, independent, self-reliant and the one he dreamed of.

“Today is the day of our state’s main symbol — National Flag Day! Twenty-seven years ago, in 1999, His Holiness and Beatitude, Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia Ilia II addressed the Georgian Parliament and emphatically and loudly called for the restoration of the image under which the Georgian people fought for centuries, with which Georgian kings were blessed, and which became the symbol of our nation’s unity, strength and indivisibility as the state flag of Georgia.

Georgia’s five-cross flag is the simplest, clearest and most vivid embodiment of our nation’s history, of 1,700 years of Christian civilisation, of its struggle and fortitude, which tells us who we are.

‘We have bared our breast for this little Georgia, and upon this breast, as upon a rock, we have erected a sanctuary for Christianity. We used our bones as stones and our blood as mortar. And the gates of hell could not prevail against it,’ wrote Ilia Chavchavadze in his New Year’s address 130 years ago. His soul rejoices today when it sees its homeland, free, proud, independent, self-reliant and the one he dreamed of.

Once again, I congratulate everyone on the New Year, 2026, and on the day of our statehood’s pride, Georgian Flag Day,” wrote Shalva Papuashvili.