Patriarchate of Georgia denies ROC influence on election of patriarch

A meeting between Patriarch Ilia and Metropolitan Hilarion (Alfeyev). Photo: Archpriest Andria Jagmaidze

The Georgian Church has refuted claims by some media outlets about the influence of the Russian Orthodox Church on Patriarch Ilia's decision regarding the choice of locum tenens in 2017, who became Metropolitan Shio, reports the UOJ in Georgia.

The head of the Patriarchate's Public Relations Service, Archpriest Andria Jagmaidze, published on his Facebook a video of the 2017 meeting between the head of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate, Metropolitan Hilarion (Alfeyev), and the Patriarch.

The priest emphasized that the entire meeting was recorded on video, that it was public and excluded the possibility of any secret agreements.

"The 9-year speculations and lies must stop, as if the Catholicos-Patriarch of Georgia had a one-on-one meeting with the guest during this visit and as if the election of the locum tenens was somehow connected to this day," the priest wrote.

As a reminder, the locum tenens of the Patriarchal Throne, Metropolitan Shio, is the main candidate for the patriarchate.

As the UOJ reported, the ROC unseated and suspended from office the ex-head of DECR. Metropolitan Hilarion (Alfeyev) is the former head of the Department for External Church Relations of the Russian Orthodox Church. In March 2026, he was part of the Russian Orthodox Church delegation at the funeral of Catholicos-Patriarch Ilia II in Tbilisi, after which versions appeared in Georgian media about possible Moscow influence on the upcoming patriarchal elections.

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