The Georgian Orthodox Church’s expanded council will elect Georgia’s 142nd Catholicos-Patriarch today.

The council will be held at the Holy Trinity Cathedral [Sameba Cathedral] and is set to commence at 13:00.

Some 1,200 delegates are expected to attend the ecclesiastical assembly. The session will include addresses by candidates for the Patriarchal throne, as well as speeches from delegates representing various eparchies. A scholar will also deliver a historical overview relating to the title of Catholicos-Patriarch of Georgia.

The Georgian Public Broadcaster’s First Channel will partially broadcast the expanded Church council. Specifically, the opening of the assembly, as well as the voting process, will be aired live; the proceedings will be suspended during the counting of votes, and the final result will be announced on air. The chairman of the vote-counting commission, Metropolitan Anania (Japaridze), will announce the outcome of the ballot.

Attendance at the ecclesiastical council inside the Holy Trinity Cathedral will be restricted to those appearing on approved lists, drawn up in accordance with the provisions of the Church’s governing statutes.

It should be noted, however, that no such restrictions apply to the cathedral grounds; anyone wishing to be present in the courtyard of the cathedral during the council is welcome to do so.

Only bishops are entitled to participate in the vote to elect the Catholicos-Patriarch. The candidate who receives more than half of the votes cast by the participating bishops, in this instance, 20 votes, shall be deemed elected as Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia.

Should no candidate obtain an outright majority, a second round of voting will be held, in which only the two candidates who received the greatest number of votes in the first round will participate.

On April 28, at a session of the Holy Synod convened at the Patriarchate, Synod members selected three candidates for the Patriarchal throne.
The candidates for Catholicos-Patriarch are: the locum tenens of the Patriarchal throne, Metropolitan Shio of Senaki and Chkhorotsku (Mujiri); Metropolitan Iobi of Mroveli-Urbnisi (Akiashvili); and Metropolitan Grigoli of Poti and Khobi (Berbichashvili).

During the preliminary ballot to select the candidates, locum tenens Shio received 20 votes, whilst the remaining two candidates received 7 votes each.

The procedure for electing the Catholicos-Patriarch of Georgia is governed by the statutes of the Georgian Church’s governing body, adopted on September 18-18, 1995, at the 13th Expanded Council of the Georgian Orthodox Church, held at Svetitskhoveli Cathedral.

The date of the new Patriarch’s enthronement will be announced today. The elected Patriarch himself shall decide the date of the enthronement.
Georgia’s 141st Catholicos-Patriarch, Ilia II, passed away on March 17 at the age of 93.