The political coalition Strong Georgia – Lelo has congratulated Shio III on his election as Catholicos-Patriarch of the Georgian Orthodox Church.

“The Georgian Orthodox Church has a new leader – by the decision of the Holy Synod, Shio III (Mujiri) was elected Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia, Archbishop of Mtskheta-Tbilisi and Metropolitan of Bichvinta and Tskhum-Abkhazia. The “Strong Georgia – Lelo” coalition congratulates the Georgian Orthodox Church, the clergy and the election of the new Patriarch of All Georgia.

Today, we commemorate with special honor the great contribution of Ilia II to the Georgian state, the Church and the Georgian people. His many years of activity are associated with the strengthening of national self-awareness, the revival of church and spiritual life, and constant efforts to unify society at the most difficult historical stages.

We believe that under the leadership of the new Patriarch, the Georgian Orthodox Church will worthily continue this historical mission and will play an important role in achieving national unity, public harmony, spiritual peace and stable development of the country.

We firmly believe that a strong and modern Georgian state is based on respect for democratic institutions, protection of religious freedom and cooperation between the state and the church based on mutual respect, where each institution serves the well-being of the country and society with its own responsibility.

May the Georgian Orthodox Church, the newly elected Catholicos-Patriarch and all of Georgia have peace, unity and a dignified future,” the statement reads.

The Georgian Orthodox Church recently elected His Holiness Shio as the 142nd Catholicos-Patriarch of Georgia.

The bishops cast their votes amongst three candidates. The results of the ballot were as follows: the locum tenens of the Patriarchal throne, Metropolitan Shio of Senaki and Chkhorotsku (Mujiri) received 22 votes; Metropolitan Iobi of Mroveli-Urbnisi (Akiashvili) received nine votes; and Metropolitan Grigoli of Poti and Khobi (Berbichashvili) received seven votes.