Bilateral Dialogues: Tbilisi, September 2016
Francis – Ilia II of Georgia

Meeting with his Holiness and Beatitude Ilia II Chatholicos and Patriarch of all Georgia and the Members of the "Holy Synod"

30 September 2016

I thank Your Holiness.  I am deeply moved on hearing the Ave Maria which Your Holiness yourself composed.  Only from a heart that loves the Holy Mother of God so much, from the heart of a son and indeed a child, can issue something so beautiful. 

It is a great joy and a special grace to be with you Your Holiness and Beatitude, and with the Venerable Metropolitans, Archbishops and Bishops, members of the Holy Synod.  I greet the Prime Minister and all the distinguished representatives of the academic and cultural world.

With the first historic visit of a Georgian Patriarch to the Vatican, Your Holiness opened a new chapter in relations between the Orthodox Church of Georgia and the Catholic Church.  On that occasion, you exchanged with theBishop of Rome a kiss of peace and a pledge to pray for one other.  In this way, there has been a strengthening of the meaningful ties that have existed between our communities since the first centuries of Christianity.  These bonds have been consolidated and are characterized by cordiality and respect, evident in the warm welcome given here to my envoys and representatives.  Our ties are also manifest in the study and research projects being pursued in the Vatican Archives and at the Pontifical Universities by members of the faithful of the Orthodox Church of Georgia.  So too, they are seen in the presence in Rome of a Georgian community who have received hospitality at a church in my own diocese; and in the cooperation with the local Catholic community, especially on a cultural level.  As a pilgrim and a friend, I have come to this blessed land as the Jubilee Year of Mercy for Catholics approaches its conclusion.   Saint John Paul II also visited here, the first among the Successors of Peter to do so in a moment of great importance on the threshold of theJubilee of 2000: he came to reinforce the “deep and strong bonds” with the See of Rome (Address at the Arrival Ceremony, Tbilisi, 8 November 1999) and to recall how necessary, on the verge of the Third Christian Millennium, was “the contribution of Georgia, this ancient crossroads of culture and tradition, to the building… of a new civilization of love” (Address, Meeting with the Catholicos-Patriarch and the Holy Synod, Tbilisi, 8 November 1999).

Now, Divine Providence allows us to meet again and, faced with a world thirsting for mercy, unity and peace, asks us to ardently renew our commitment to the bonds which exist between us, of which our kiss of peace and our fraternal embrace are already an eloquent sign.  The Orthodox Church of Georgia, rooted in the preaching of the Apostles, in particular that of the Apostle Andrew, and the Church of Rome, founded on the martyrdom of the Apostle Peter, are given the grace to renew today, in the name of Christ and to his glory, the beauty of apostolic fraternity.  Peter and Andrew were indeed brothers: the Lord Jesus called them to leave their netsand to become, together, fishers of men (cf. Mk 1:16-17).  Dear Brother, let us allow the Lord Jesus to look upon us anew, let us once again experience the attraction of his call to leave everything that prevents us from proclaiming together his presence.

We are sustained in this by the love that transformed the Apostles’ lives.  It is a love without equal, a love which the Lord incarnated: “Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (Jn 15:13).  The Lord has given this love to us, so that we can love each other as he has loved us (cf. Jn 15:12).  In this regard, it is as if the great poet of this land, Shota Rustaveli, is speaking to us with some of his renowned words: “Have you read how the Apostles write about love, how they speak, how they praise it?  Know this love, and turn your mind to these words: love raises us up” (The Knight in the Tiger’s Skin, verse 791).  Truly, the love of the Lord raises us up, because it enables us to rise above the misunderstandings of the past, above the calculations of the presentand fears for the future.

The Georgian people, over the centuries, have testified to the greatness of this love.  In it they have found the strength to rise up again after countless trials; it is in this love that they have reached the heights of extraordinary artistic beauty as another of your great poets has written:  Without love, “no sun rules in the dome of the heavens” and for men “there is no beauty nor immortality” (Galaktion Tabidze, Without Love).  Within love itself lies the raison d’être of the immortal beauty of your cultural patrimony expressed in so many different ways, such as in music, painting, architecture and dance.  You, dear Brother, have given worthy expression to your culture in a special way through your distinguished compositions of sacred hymns, some even in Latin and greatly cherished in theCatholic tradition.  They enrich your treasury of faith and culture, which are a unique gift to Christianity and to humanity; this gift deserves to be known and appreciated by all.

The glorious history of the Gospel lived in this land is owed in a special way to Saint Nino, who is considered equal to the Apostles: she spread the faith with a particular form of the cross made of vine branches.  This cross is not bare, because the image of the vine, besides being the most abundant fruit in this land, represents theLord Jesus.  He is, indeed, “the true vine”, who asked his Apostles to remain firmly grafted onto him, just as shoots are, in order to bear fruit (cf. Jn 15:1-8).  So that the Gospel may bear fruit in our day too, we are asked, dear Brother, to remain yet more firmly in the Lord and united among ourselves.  The multitude of saints, whom this country counts, encourages us to put the Gospel before all else and to evangelize as in the past, even more so, free from the restraints of prejudice and open to the perennial newness of God.  May difficulties not be an obstacle, but rather a stimulus to know each other better, to share the vital sap of the faith, to intensify our prayers for each other and to cooperate with apostolic charity in our common witness, to the glory of God in heaven and in the service of peace on earth.

The Georgian people love to celebrate, toasting with the fruit of the vine their most precious values.  Joined to their exaltation of love, friendship is given a special place.  The poet reminds us: “Whoever does not look for a friend is an enemy to himself” (Rustaveli, The Knight in the Tiger’s Skin, verse 854).  I want to be a genuine friend to this land and its beloved people, who do not forget the good they have received and whose unique hospitality is intimately united to a way of living that is full of true hope, even though there is no shortage of difficulties.  This positive attitude, too, finds its roots in the faith, the faith which leads Georgians, when gathered around their tables, to invoke peace for all, and to remember even one’s enemies.

By means of peace and forgiveness we are called to overcome our true enemies, who are not of flesh and blood, but rather the evil spirits from without and from within ourselves (cf. Eph 6:12).  This blessed land is rich in courageous heroes, in keeping with the Gospel, who like Saint George knew how to defeat evil.  I think of many monks, and especially of numerous martyrs, whose lives triumphed “with faith and patience” (Ioane Sabanisze, The Martyrdom ofAbo, III): they have passed through the winepress of pain, remaining united with the Lord and have thus brought Paschal fruit to Georgia, watering this land with their blood, poured out of love.  May their intercessionbring relief to the many Christians who even today suffer persecution and slander, and may they strengthen in us the noble aspiration to be fraternally united in proclaiming the Gospel of peace.

Thank you, Holiness.  May God bless Your Holiness and the Orthodox Church of Georgia.  Thank you, Holiness.  And may you always be able to advance along the path of freedom.

[…]

Thank you Holiness for your welcome and for your words.  Thank you for your kindness and also for this fraternal commitment to pray for one another after our kiss of peace.  Thank you.

Address of his Holiness and Beatitude Catholicos-Patriarch of all Georgia Ilia II on the occasion of the visit of his Holiness Pope Francis

October 1, 2016

Your Holiness, Pope Francis,

Your Excellency, Mr Prime Minister,

Distinguished Authorities and Representatives of the Diplomatic Corps, Dear guests, Ladies and Gentlemen,

We once again wholeheartedly greet you in the most ancient and important cathedral of the Church of Georgia Svetitskhoveli. This cathedral bears a special significance since it is a place of outstanding sanctities: the mantle of Saint Elijah the Prophet is here and the greatest of sanctities of the world - the Tunic of our Lord Jesus Christ - is in the cathedral, it was committed to the earth with one of the earliest saints, Sidonia.

Saint Sidonia belonged to a remarkable family of Georgian Jews: her brother Eliezer brought the Tunic to Georgia. Here, in the town of Mtskheta, their mother, devastated by the Saviour's sufferings, on the day of His Crucifixion on Great Friday, died, and after her death, the Church of Georgia consecrated her also as a saint. We are in the cathedral wheredown from the ancient times chrism has been sanctified, where lings of Georgia were crowned, and where catholicos patriarchs were enthroned and in this day they've been enthroned in this cathedral. This is also the place of the entombment of kings and foremost hierarchs.

The very first church in this place was built in the 4th century, and it was reconstructed into magnificent temple in the11th century. The Svetitskhoveli Cathedral is dedicated to the commemoration of the Twelve Apostles.

Mtskheta was the ancient capital of Georgia and to this day is maintained the status of the spiritual center of the country. The town and its vicinity were constructed in such a shape that it leaves an impression of another Jerusalem: Golgotha, Bethany, Gethsemane, Tabor, Eleon and other sacred places are all around this place.

Torrents of blood and tears have been shed here as Georgia was constantly the arena of invasion; however, this small oasis of Christianity has survived having maintained its identity, but at the cost of the heaviest sacrifice.

As our illustrious writer and statesman, now canonized as Saint Ilia the Righteous, writes, Christ accepted the Crucifision for our sake and so also Georgia accepted her Crucifision for the sake of Christ. Here, I will recall the event of the 13th century to illustrate this: 100.000 of the residents of Tbilisi were beheaded for having refused to renounce the Faith and tread on the icons of the Saviourand of the Mother of God, placed on the bridge in the veinity of the Sioni Cathedral.

Yes, our strength was and still is in fervent prayer and devoted ministry to the True God! But what is the reason for our weakness? The lack of both of these.

I remember the admonition of the Holy Fathers of old times. The prayer of the righteous can change the very order of nature and is a shield which steadfastly defends from corporeal and incorporeal enemies; besides this, such prayer stops the right hand of the Almighty God, lifted up for the punishment of the sinful.

The true faith, humility, contrition and charity make up the shortest way towards salvation. I think, today Humankind including us, is deficient in all of this. But God's mercy is boundless. He waits for every step, made towards Him by us. The most important thing is to show to the Lord the heart which in righteousness judges others, the contrite heart, the heart of a prayer; when this is achieved, the reality will be different. Therefore, I, always and now also, implore theCreator that He may grant all of us His grace to cognize our own selves, to be cleansed and walk in the path of the Truth. May God's will unify Christians on the foundation of the true faith, Amen!