TBILISI, May 11 – Georgia’s Orthodox Church has elected Metropolitan Shio Mujiri as its new leader, making him the country’s 142nd Catholicos-Patriarch after the death of longtime church head Ilia II.
The vote was held Monday at an expanded church council at Sameba Cathedral in Tbilisi.
Shio, who had served as locum tenens of the patriarchal throne and Metropolitan of Senaki and Chkhorotsku, received 22 votes. Metropolitan Job of Urbnisi and Ruisi received 9 votes, while Metropolitan Grigol of Poti and Khobi received 7 votes. One ballot was annulled.
Under church rules, a candidate needed 50% plus one vote to win in the first round. With 39 bishops taking part, that meant 20 votes were enough to avoid a second round.
The newly elected patriarch will be known as Shio III.
After the result was announced, Metropolitan Anania Japaridze, chairman of the vote-counting commission, asked Shio whether he accepted the burden of serving as Catholicos-Patriarch.
“I accept my election as Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia with obedience, by the grace of God and with hope,” Shio III said.
Metropolitan Anania announced the new patriarch’s full title after the vote: “The head of the Holy Apostolic Autocephalous Orthodox Church of Georgia is His Holiness and Beatitude, Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia, Archbishop of Mtskheta-Tbilisi, Metropolitan of Bichvinta and Tskhum-Abkhazia, Great Lord, our Father Shio the Third, Axios!”
The enthronement of the new patriarch will be held Tuesday, May 12, at Svetitskhoveli Cathedral in Mtskheta. Shio III said the service will begin at 10:00.
The election followed the death of Ilia II on March 17 at the age of 93. His death put the question of church succession on the agenda after decades in which he had been one of Georgia’s most influential public figures.
The Georgian Orthodox Church is one of the country’s most trusted institutions and plays an important role in public life.
