We have passed the holy period of Great Lent, when Christians are preparing to meet the Risen Savior - although during this preparation our hearts were filled with sorrow, during the week of the Veneration of the Cross of Great Lent, His Holiness and Blessed Ilia II passed away. Therefore, now, when we are orphaned by the death of our beloved father and see death defeated by the Resurrection of Christ, we are especially comforted by the words of David the Psalmist: “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints,” reads the Easter Epistle of Bishop Shio, the Catholicos-Patriarch of Georgia.

Bishop Shio assessed the Patriarch’s merit in his Epistle. According to him, the many years of service as the Catholicos-Patriarch were not easy; His Holiness seems to continue to unite the nation even after his death, the Catholicos-Patriarch has breathed new life into the Georgian Orthodox Church.

“Today the world rejoices and celebrates! The Savior of the world, the beginning and source of life, our Savior, has risen from the dead and has destroyed the gates of the hell! The Lord is risen, the bonds of evil are broken, and the power of the devil is scattered! The Lord is risen, and eternal light has shone upon the whole world! The Lord our God is risen, and love has opened all the doors that were closed and unopened to men! Today, the mystery that is beyond the comprehension of humanity has been revealed, the resurrection of the Savior, the rock of our faith, for the Apostle Paul says: “If Christ has not been raised, your faith is in vain” (1 Cor. 15:17). Today, the Savior, incarnated, crucified, and buried for our sake, resurrects human nature from the dead, destroys the power of hell, and again shares the original, heavenly bliss with man, freed from the captivity of sin. Great is the joy caused by this event”, reads the epistle.

According to him, “the 49-year path of His Holiness and Beatitude was a source of yjr joy and hope for each of us. His fatherly love, prayer and care extended to all of Georgia, to every person... The many years of service and cross of the Catholicos-Patriarchate were not easy. The path of martyrdom and self-sacrifice were his daily life, every deed, every thought. He inherited a legacy persecuted, degraded, and oppressed by the atheistic regime and left us a rebuilt Church, which today plays a crucial role in the life of the country and society. His patriarchal wisdom reminded us of Moses, who, like him, led the nation on a kind of fur bridge in times of ordeal, encouraged the fallen, united the scattered and turned their hearts to the Lord; His word and prayer were the pillar that showed the way to the nation in its spiritual escape from captivity”.