The Diocesan Commission of the Patriarchate of Georgia appeals to His Holiness and Beatitude Ilia II, Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia, to relieve Archimandrite Dorote Kurashvili of his duties as head of the Church of the Nativity of Our Lord in Lower Bethlehem and assign him to priestly service at the Holy Trinity Patriarchal Lavra due to his disregard for the commission, insults, and repeated non-appearance for dishonorable reasons.

This is stated in a statement released by the Patriarchate.

"On October 29, 2025, a session of the Mtskheta-Tbilisi Diocesan Commission was held at the Patriarchate of Georgia. The Mtskheta-Tbilisi Diocesan Commission once again reviewed the case of Archimandrite Dorote Kurashvili, head of the Church of the Nativity of Our Lord in Lower Bethlehem. As is known to the public, Archimandrite Dorote Kurashvili was summoned to the Mtskheta-Tbilisi Diocesan Commission on October 16 of this year, where he was given the opportunity to meet and speak with the bishops, but he did not appear for dishonorable reasons. As a result, he was given a strict warning and summoned again to the commission for explanations on October 29 of this year, to which he again set his own conditions, that he would attend the commission only accompanied by media outlets. The commission refused this demand and explained that holding the commission session in such a format is unprecedented and unacceptable. Based on the non-satisfaction of this condition, Archimandrite Dorote Kurashvili again did not attend the session, which the commission members considered a dishonorable reason. It should be noted that Archimandrite Dorote Kurashvili, both after the first and second summons, continues to make insulting and defamatory statements against the church hierarchy and the commission members themselves. For illustration, here are relevant quotes from his speeches: 'The church would have been very happy... and the state would have been very pleased if I had saved the people, even the police and even his people, from some sacrifice, but both were very angry, and why? They wanted sacrifice.' 'I am cleansing the church of sin and shame; I am cleansing the church of the shamelessness committed by some through their silence.' 'When a priest has another superior, then he carries out the orders of that superior and not Christ's orders. We are at that point today; today, we have a church superior, regardless of the fact that no state position gives authority, but the state government has been made superior, and here the fact that Christ is our superior has been lost...' 'Today, I am being judged by the Russian Church and Bidzina Ivanishvili—this is their order...'

The diocesan commission concluded that Archimandrite Dorote Kurashvili continues to exhibit disciplinary and moral violations, specifically: defamatory statements, as well as other actions unbecoming of a priest and monk.

Based on the above, the diocesan commission appeals to His Holiness and Beatitude Ilia II, Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia, to relieve Archimandrite Dorote Kurashvili of his duties as head of the Church of the Nativity of Our Lord in Lower Bethlehem at this stage as punishment due to his disregard for the commission, insults, and repeated non-appearance for dishonorable reasons—which constitutes a serious disciplinary violation under Canon 74 of the Apostles—and assign him to priestly service at the Holy Trinity Patriarchal Lavra, of which he is a member," the statement reads.