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1922 – Catholicos-Patriarch Ambrosi Khelaia addresses the Genoa International Conference and urges the international community to support the struggle of Georgians against the Russian occupation

1922 – Catholicos-Patriarch Ambrosi Khelaia addresses the Genoa International Conference and urges the international community to support the struggle of Georgians against the Russian occupation

Religion and the State in Georgia

 

Principles of secularism in the constitution of independent Georgia and the Georgian church

against Soviet occupation

Chapter 16 of the first constitution of Georgia, adopted in 1921, was titled “The State and the Church.” It consisted of three articles:

“Article 142 – The state and the church shall be separate and independent.

Article 143 – No religion shall enjoy privileges.

Article 144 – Payment of expenses relating to religious matters from the state treasury and local self-government funds shall be prohibited.”

Strictly formulated secular principles did not prevent the Orthodox Church of Georgia from taking  a strongly      negative stance towards the occupation of Georgia by Soviet Russia.

Catholicos-Patriarch Ambrosi Khelaia petitioned the 1922 Genoa International Conference:

“In 1918, the Georgian people proclaimed their independence and immediately began       to rebuild       the      political, national, and spiritual life of the country…      Obviously, Russia, the former master of Georgia and oppressor of smaller nations, could not tolerate this. It sent troops to the Georgian borders, and on February 25, 1921, the      humiliating yoke of slavery was again imposed on the small and wounded       Georgia, the worst it had ever experienced in its centuries-long      history.

It is true that the aggressors are trying to demonstrate to everyone , both at home and abroad, that they have liberated and benefited the Georgian nation. However, as the spiritual father of the Georgian nation, I know how “happy” they are… Without any exaggeration, let me say that the experiments to which the Georgian nation has been subjected will inevitably lead to its physical and moral degradation!

The Georgian nation is wounded, but it cannot even raise its voice. Under these circumstances, I, as the chief shepherd of the Georgian nation, consider it my duty  to declare to civilized mankind: I, as a representative of the Church, do not enter into      debates regarding comparative merits of various forms of political life; however, I cannot dissociate myself from such aspirations of our nation as to create relatively favorable      conditions for its material and spiritual development.

Therefore, I am asking:

  1. That the occupying armed forces of Russia leave the territory of Georgia without delay and that Georgian territory be protected from violence and seizure by foreigners.
  2. That the Georgian nation be given the opportunity to freely organize its life and pursue it as it decides to be appropriate.”

Because of this petition, the Bolshevik regime arrested the Patriarch and executed him.