Georgia Declares Mourning: Archbishop Ilia II of All Georgia Has Passed Away

At the age of 93, Ilia II, the Archbishop-Patriarch of All Georgia, has passed away. The patriarch's secular name was Irakli Shiolashvili, and he was born in 1933. After receiving spiritual education, including at the Moscow Spiritual Academy, he dedicated his life to serving the church.

During the 1950s and 1960s, he rose from a cleric to a bishop and then to a metropolitan. Ilia II was elected Archbishop-Patriarch of All Georgia in 1977. Throughout his years of service, he became a symbol of the unity and spiritual revival of the Georgian people.

Until a new leader is elected, the Georgian Orthodox Church will be led by the locum tenens of the Patriarchal Throne, Vladika Shio Mujiri.