Restoration of the Georgian Orthodox Church’s autocephaly in 1917 laid the foundation to the independence of Georgian statehood one year later, said Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili.

According to the Speaker, the Georgian church has always represented the part of spiritual and national identity.

“In our country’s history, the independence of Georgian church and state has always been in tight correlation and represented the part of our people’s spiritual and national identity,” the Speaker said, and wished the Georgian church peace and development for the welfare of Georgian people and Georgia.

March 25 this year marks the 106^th anniversary of autocephaly restoration of the Georgian Orthodox Church.

The day marks the restoration of autocephaly from the Russian Orthodox Church on March 25, 1917. The Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople officially recognized the Autocephaly of the Georgian Orthodox Church in 1990.

On March 4, 1990, on the Feast of the Triumph of Orthodoxy, His Holiness Patriarch Dimitrios of Constantinople presented Catholicos-Patriarch Ilia II with an official declaration of the autocephaly of the Georgian Orthodox Church.