I congratulate the head of the Mother Church on the date of restoration of the autocephaly of the Orthodox Church, to His Holiness and Beatitude, the Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia Ilia II, writes the Chairman of the Parliament of Georgia on the social network.

“Restoration of the autocephaly of the Georgian Orthodox Church on the most difficult path to the sovereignty and identity of the Georgian state is an event of greatest importance, as a defining act of our identity, culture and history.

First of all, I congratulate the head of the Mother Church on this truly historic date; To His Holiness and Beatitude, Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia Ilia II, who devotedly continued the path of the great fathers of the Georgian Church. I congratulate our clergy and representatives of the clergy.

I congratulate every Georgian, every true patriot of this country, because today represents the freedom of faith and the cornerstone of state independence of our homeland.

It is our duty, the duty of future generations to never again allow the foundation of the Georgian state to be broken, the independence of the Georgian Orthodox Church to be shaken and declined, to remember the merits of our great ancestors for Mother Church, as a firm guarantee of the existence of the Georgian state and statehood”, - writes Shalva Papuashvili.