Former Georgian Premier: Today, pain and love live in every Georgian heart

Bidzina Ivanishvili. Photo: Union of Orthodox Journalists

Bidzina Ivanishvili, founder of the Georgian Dream party, offered condolences following the repose of Catholicos-Patriarch Ilia II of All Georgia. The politician called the departed Primate a spiritual father whose passing has echoed with pain in the hearts of all his compatriots.

According to Ivanishvili, this day is filled with profound emotion for every resident of the country. “Today we bid farewell with deep sorrow to our spiritual father,” he said. “Today, in the heart of every Georgian, there is both pain and love that need no words, because they are shared by all of us.”

The former prime minister stressed that the scale of Ilia II’s personality went far beyond any private life story and touched the destiny of the entire state. “The death of His Holiness, the Catholicos-Patriarch of Georgia, leaves behind an unfillable void,” the party founder said. “This loss is immense and irreparable, because the rupture is felt not only in people’s hearts and minds, but reaches into an era and the history of a great love.”

Ivanishvili also recalled the “second birth” of a person, which comes when one becomes aware of the meaning of life. “It is difficult even to imagine how great a man must be for his ‘second birth’ to go beyond the personal and concern an entire people,” Ivanishvili said, reflecting on the spiritual path of the departed hierarch.

The UOJ is providing a live online broadcast of the events.

Read also