Why did Abkhazia’s president travel to Russia to be baptised? Several theories are circulating, all political
President of Abkhazia Badra Gunba and his wife and two sons have been baptised. The ceremony took place at the Sretensky Monastery in Moscow, prompting mixed reactions on social media.
Some saw it as a sign of the Kremlin tightening its control over Abkhazia. Others linked it to the church schism within the republic, while a third group pointed to the lack of fully fledged Orthodox institutions in Abkhazia.
The ceremony was initially due to take place at another Moscow monastery, the Donskoy Monastery. However, the organisers moved it to the Sretensky Monastery because the Donskoy site lacked suitable baptismal facilities.
Metropolitan Feognost, who also heads the Russian Orthodox Church’s (ROC) Synodal Department for Monasteries and Monasticism, baptised the Gunba family. He began his career as a priest in Abkhazia many years ago and later provided extensive support to Abkhaz students at the Moscow Theological Seminary.
Badra Gunba was baptised under the name Bogdan. Sergei Kiriyenko, first deputy head of the Russian presidential administration and the Kremlin’s official overseeing Abkhazia, attended the ceremony.
Gunba’s decision to be baptised as an adult reflects the relatively “democratic” approach to religion in Abkhazia. Some Abkhaz people are Orthodox Christians, others are Muslims, while some remain followers of the traditional Abkhaz belief in the god Anцэа. Even Orthodox parents often choose not to baptise their children as infants, allowing them to grow up and decide for themselves which faith to follow.
Abkhaz society generally welcomed the president’s baptism, but most people felt he should have undergone the ceremony in one of Abkhazia’s own churches rather than in Moscow.
Some social media users saw this as one of the consequences of a long-running conflict between the two unrecognised churches: the Abkhazian Orthodox Church, led by Father Vissarion, and the Holy Metropolis of Abkhazia, headed by Archimandrite Dorotheos.
In effect, Abkhazia currently has no officially recognised church. The republic’s religious institutions lack international recognition, just as Abkhazia itself does. The Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) does not even recognise the Abkhazian Church as autocephalous.
Archimandrite Dorotheos believes this is precisely why Badra Gunba travelled to Moscow to be baptised.
“This sends a signal to the entire Orthodox world: until the issue of the Abkhazian Church is resolved and a fully fledged institution of the Orthodox Church of Abkhazia is restored, even the republic’s top officials cannot receive the Sacrament of Baptism from an Abkhaz bishop, however much they might wish to. This is simply because the entire Orthodox community’s unwillingness to address the issue for 33 years has left our country, our people and its leadership without episcopal pastoral care,” Dorotheos said.
The terminology, place names and views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial position of this website.
