Georgian gov't tries to convince church to comply with self-isolation restrictions
The Georgian authorities made another attempt on the evening of April 13 to find common ground with the Georgian Orthodox Church, which has ignored state of emergency restrictions introduced in order to counter the pandemic.
There is not yet any information on the outcome of the negotiations. It remains unclear whether the authorities managed to convince the church to cancel the crowded celebration of the Resurrection of Christ (Easter) on April 19, as has already been done in other Orthodox countries.
Judging by the lack of commentary and the fact that Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia stayed with Catholicos-Patriarch Ilia II for some time after the other members of the government delegation had left the patriarchate, the church could not be convinced.
Previous attempts to come to an agreement with church leaders about making temporary changes to services proved unsuccessful.
At the same time, on April 14, news broke that one of the 30 new coronavirus patients is a clergyman who was supposed to conduct a crowded service on April 12. It is not clear whether he participated in the service or whether he was hospitalized on time.
He spread the virus to five employees of the Tbilisi Medical Institute, and allegedly also infected his family members and relatives.
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The church continues to hold crowded services across the country, although they recommend those who attend observe a distance of 1.5-2 meters and comply with other Ministry of Health recommendations. They continue to use shared dishes during communion.
Many experts in Georgia say that the authorities traditionally do not dare to butt heads with the country’s most influential institution, especially considering the important parliamentary elections scheduled for autumn 2020.
Almost all religious denominations worldwide have recognized the catastrophic danger of the COVID-19 epidemic and made significant changes to services and rituals. The Georgian church, however, does not wish to depart from tradition.
Moreover, one of the senior representatives of the Georgian Orthodox Church said that the fact that there are relatively few cases of infection in Georgia is due to the work of the priests. The church believes that their constant prayers have kept the epidemic in Georgia at a relatively controlled level.
Giorgi Volski, the First Deputy Chairman of the Parliament, confirmed on Imedi TV that they are continuing to hold intensive negotiations with the patriarchate.
As of April 14, there are 266 reported coronavirus cases in Georgia. 67 of them have recovered, and three people have died.
A state of emergency was declared in Georgia on March 21 to counter the coronavirus pandemic. People are not allowed to leave the house unless absolutely necessary. On March 31, a curfew was imposed throughout Georgia.
Due to the communal spread of the virus, the cities of Marneuli, Bolnisi and Lentekhi, have been put on lockdown, as well as four villages in the seaside Kobudetsky area — Gvara, Mukhaestate, Legva and Tskavruka.
