Metropolitan Shio elected 142nd Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia
Baku, May 11, AZERTAC
At the expanded council of the Georgian Orthodox Church, Metropolitan Shio has today been elected as the new, 142nd Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia, 1tv.ge reports.
The new Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia, Archbishop of Mtskheta-Tbilisi and Metropolitan of Bichvinta and Tskhum-Abkhazia, shall bear the name Shio III.
The enthronement of the new Patriarch of Georgia is scheduled for May 12 at Svetitskhoveli Cathedral.
The bishops cast their votes amongst three candidates. The results of the ballot were as follows: the locum tenens of the Patriarchal throne, Metropolitan Shio of Senaki and Chkhorotsku (Mujiri) received 22 votes; Metropolitan Iobi of Mroveli-Urbnisi (Akiashvili) received nine votes; and Metropolitan Grigoli of Poti and Khobi (Berbichashvili) received seven votes.
Only members of the Holy Synod were entitled to vote at the expanded council. Thirty-nine members of the Synod participated in the ballot; one vote was declared invalid.
The chorepiscopus of the Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia, known in secular life as Elizbar, son of Teimuraz Mujiri, was born on February 1, 1969, in Tbilisi. Having completed his studies at Tbilisi Secondary School No. 53, whilst simultaneously attending a music school, Elizbar Mujiri went on, from 1988, to study at the Tbilisi State Conservatoire. In 1991, Elizbar Mujiri entered the Shio-Mgvime Monastery as a novice. On February 5, 1993, the novice Elizbar was tonsured a monk and given the name Shio. He was appointed trapezar of the monastery, and subsequently its oeconomos. In 1995, the monk Shio was ordained as a deacon, and in 1996, His Holiness and Beatitude Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia Ilia II ordained the monk-deacon Shio to the priesthood. In 1997, the hieromonk Shio was appointed priest of the Church of Saint George in the Kldisubani district of Tbilisi.
In 1998, he completed his studies at the Batumi St. John the Divine’s Theologian Seminary and continued his education through the correspondence department of the Moscow Theological Academy. On April 3, 1998, the hieromonk Shio was elevated to the rank of hegumen with the right to wear a golden cross and was appointed priest of the Church of the Prophet Elijah. From March 6, 1999, Hegumen Shio served at the Anchiskhati Basilica in Tbilisi. From September 20 of that same year, he became a priest of the Church of Saint Nikoloz at Narikala Fortress. From October 2001, he served as priest of the Church of Saint George at the Georgian Community in Moscow, whilst concurrently studying at the Saint Tikhon Orthodox Theological Institute in Moscow.
On August 18, 2003, the Holy Synod of the Georgian Orthodox Church (Urbnisi) selected Hegumen Shio as the head of the newly established Diocese of Senaki and Chkhorotsku. On September 7, his consecration as bishop was performed at the Patriarchal Cathedral of Svetitskhoveli by Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia, His Holiness and Beatitude Ilia II, with the co-participation of members of the Holy Synod. On December 25, 2007, Metropolitan Shio was awarded the Order of Saint George. In 2009, Metropolitan Shio was elevated to the rank of archbishop. On August 2, 2010, he was appointed chorepiscopus of the Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia. On November 23, 2017, Metropolitan Shio was appointed locum tenens of the Patriarchal throne of the Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia, and on June 21, 2018, at a session of the Holy Synod, he was awarded the right to wear a diamond cross upon his skufia.
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