Patriarch Shio calls on Georgians to transform their lives through faith

Georgian Orthodox Patriarch Shio III has called on believers to use faith as a means of transforming their spiritual lives, saying the essence of the Transfiguration is not the blessing of fruit but a personal change for the better.

Speaking during a sermon at the Transfiguration Church of the St Nino Monastery in Samtavro, Shio III said Jesus Christ came to earth so that people could "change their form" spiritually and move from worse to better.

"The Lord gave us faith because he saw in us the possibility of transformation," Shio III said. "Through this faith, we change our lives and our spiritual life is transformed."

The patriarch said Christ began preaching repentance at the start of his ministry, calling on people to repent because the Kingdom of Heaven was near.

He described repentance as recognising what needs to change in one's spiritual life and taking responsibility for that change.

Shio III urged believers to begin with their relationships with other people, calling on them to become more patient, avoid speaking badly about others, reject revenge and help people facing difficulties.

He said sustained effort and God's grace could gradually transform people's character - turning laziness into diligence, pride into humility, greed into generosity and anger into love and goodwill.

Such changes, he said, could also influence families and communities by encouraging kindness, patience and a willingness to help others.

Shio III said a life dominated by judgement, dissatisfaction and anger could become a form of "hell" from which God seeks to free people.

He urged believers to become participants in what he called the "light of Tabor", referring to the biblical account in which Christ revealed his divine glory to Peter, James and John on Mount Tabor.

The patriarch said the faith given to people should be treated as a talent whose fruits depend on how it is cultivated.

He also recalled a teaching frequently attributed to Patriarch Ilia II: a person cannot remain spiritually unchanged — they either move forward and develop or decline and move backwards.

"Transformation must be the work of our entire lives," Shio III said.

During his sermon, Shio III also referred to the historical significance of 19 August in Georgia, saying that according to accounts of the life of St Nino and the Georgian Chronicles, pagan idols in Mtskheta were destroyed on this day following St Nino's prayers.

He described the event as symbolic of the beginning of the decline of pagan belief in Georgia and the spread of Christianity.