Patriarch’s funeral: farewell ceremony of unprecedented scale in Tbilisi. Photos/videos
Patriarch’s funeral in Georgia photo video
The Catholicos-Patriarch of the Georgian Orthodox Church, Ilia II, was buried on Sunday, March 22, at the patriarchal Sioni Cathedral.
After five days of mourning, the country bid farewell to a man who shaped the direction of the Church – and often society as a whole – for nearly half a century. The funeral of Ilia II became a масштабным, historic public event and a powerful expression of collective emotion.
The final journey
Ilia II was laid to rest at Sioni Cathedral in accordance with his personal wishes. The ceremony concluded in the afternoon, after the Patriarch’s coffin was carried in a пешей procession from Sameba Cathedral, where a civil memorial service had been held շուրջ-the-clock for four days.
The procession was marked by deeply emotional scenes. People chanted, “We love you, Patriarch!”, and waves of applause rolled through the crowd again and again.
Along the entire route – from Sameba Cathedral to Sioni Cathedral – servicemen stood in a continuous line holding Georgian flags. This detail gave the ceremony a symbolic dimension of state significance: the entire country stood united in bidding a final farewell to the man who led the Georgian Church for 49 years.
The city as a unified space of mourning
The procession in Tbilisi was striking in its scale not only from a church perspective, but also in terms of the social history of modern Georgia.
The streets were almost completely filled with people. The number of participants was so large that it is being described as unprecedented.
Not only residents of Tbilisi took part in the procession, but also tens of thousands of people from the regions, as well as guests from abroad who had come специально for this day.
For several days, the capital effectively turned into one vast space of mourning, where lines at the cathedral did not stop day or night. Many people stayed awake all night to bid farewell to the Patriarch.
The official ceremony
Before the funeral, a liturgy and the rite of laying the coffin cover were held at Sameba Cathedral, led by Metropolitan Shio Mujiri together with members of the Holy Synod.
Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I also took part in the ceremony, calling Ilia II a “wise and radiant brother.”
Representatives of other Orthodox Churches were also present in Tbilisi, including the Archbishop of Albania, the Patriarch of Bulgaria, the Metropolitan of the Czech and Slovak Republic, and the Metropolitan of America.
Georgian political leaders from both the government and the opposition were present at the ceremony.
One of the most moving moments came when an audio recording of the Patriarch’s voice was played over the loudspeakers, saying: “Georgia, I love you!”
In response, the crowd answered in unison: “We love you, Patriarch!”
The end of an era
Ilia II, born Irakli Shiolashvili, was elected Catholicos-Patriarch of Georgia in 1977. At that time, the Church was in a severely restricted condition. Only a few dozen churches and clergy were active in the country.
During his leadership, the Church underwent a profound transformation. The number of dioceses, churches, and clergy increased many times over, and the Church became one of the most influential institutions in the country.
For 49 years, Ilia II was not only a spiritual leader, but also a figure of major political and social authority—someone people often turned to in times of crisis.
His death on March 17 at the age of 93 is widely seen as the end of an era in which the Church was one of the main pillars of social stability.
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