Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia Shio III conducted a rite of mass baptism in Upper Adjara. Some 1,300 people, both children and adults, became godchildren of the head of the Georgian Orthodox Church. The ceremony took place on October 25 in the courtyard of the Church of the Iveron Icon of the Mother of God in the village of Khichauri.
The patriarch visited mountainous Adjara for the first time since his enthronement. In his sermon, he noted that Georgia's conversion to Christianity began in Adjara in the first century, and called the sacrament of baptism "the door to the Church of Christ." Shio III also said that in recent decades the residents of Adjara have begun returning to the Orthodox faith, and he particularly acknowledged the contribution of his predecessor, Patriarch Ilia II, to this.
If we stand firmly and unshakably on the foundations of our faith and our national values, God will always be with us, we will overcome all trials, and Georgia will grow stronger and regain its wholeness.
— Shio III, Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia
The service was attended by President of Georgia Mikheil Kavelashvili, Chairman of Parliament Shalva Papuashvili, and Head of the Government of Adjara Zurab Pataradze. The patriarchate explained that this baptism was not connected with the tradition under which the patriarch personally baptizes the third and subsequent children in married families. Those rites take place several times a year in Tbilisi.
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