“The Georgian people have found their true face through the living word of God. For centuries, our country has struggled, fought, has been torn apart, but still unites, falls but gets back on its feet,” said Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia, Archbishop of Mtskheta-Tbilisi and Metropolitan of Bichvinta and Tskhum-Abkhazia, His Holiness and Beatitude, Shio III, during his sermon at the Svetitskhoveli Cathedral.

According to Shio III, he was enthroned on the Day of Saint Andrew the First-Called, while the expanded meeting of the Georgian Orthodox Church granted him the greatest honor and responsibility by the election as the new Patriarch.

“Two thousand years have passed since Saint Andrew the First-Called, blessed by Virgin Mary, departed for Georgia so that the nation, possessing the Lord’s robe, might share in the light of Christ. The Georgian people have found their true face through the living word of God. For centuries, our country has struggled, fought, been torn apart, but still unites, loses its dear sons, but continues to multiply, falls, but gets back on its feet, because, enlightened by the apostle’s merit, it buried the word of the Lord deep in its heart and will never see death. After all, he made Christianity the orientation of his own identity, thinking, and self-existence.

Also, symbolically, today our church celebrates the Day of Georgia’s Allotment to the Virgin Mary and glorifies Saint Andrew the First-Called. In such moments, we especially honor them and pray that the grace and power of the words from God’s first-called disciple may never diminish for our nation and Church,” he said.