It is unethical to talk about the weakness of the current Patriarch and the change of the Patriarch - this is a gross interference in the affairs of the Church - the head of the public relations service of the patriarchate, Andria Jagmaidze, thus responded to the statement made by President Salome Zurabishvili at the Royal Institute of International Affairs in London.

According to Andria Jagmadze, it is sad to hear superficial and stereotyped attitude from the President.

"The last comment of Mrs. President regarding the Church raises many questions.

First of all, for the President, especially who considers herself a parishioner of the Church, it is unethical to talk about the weakness of the current patriarch and the change of the patriarch.

It is not clear what Mrs. President meant by the "old methods of the Church" as well as the "following of pro-Western rhetoric" by the Church. What does the church "close to power" mean?

It is sad to hear such a superficial and stereotyped attitude from the President, and talking about pro-Georgian, pro-European or pro-Russian choices in the Georgian Church casts a shadow and denigrates not so much the Church, but the author of the comment herself", Andria Jagmadze wrote on the social network.

For information, President Salome Zurabishvili, speaking at Chatham House about the Patriarch of Georgia and the Church, said that she hopes the Church will follow the pro-Western rhetoric.

"The situation regarding the Church is very complex. The reason for this is largely the current weakness of the Patriarch, who has kept the path of this Church very firmly. I think that the Orthodox Church here, as in any other Orthodox country, is very close to the Government in that it tends to follow changes in emphasis and nuances.

So I hope the Church will follow the pro-Western rhetoric in this case as well. Based on the fact that I am an optimist and am sure of Georgia's endurance, I also hope that the Georgian Church will also be able to elect a pro-Georgian and pro-European patriarch, not a pro-Russian one", Zurabishvili said.