Paschal Epistle of Metropolitan Shio (Mujiri) Locum Tenens of the Patriarchal Throne of All Georgia Metropolitan of Senaki and Chkhorotsku Easter 2026

Paschal Epistle of Metropolitan Shio (Mujiri) Locum Tenens of the Patriarchal Throne of All Georgia Metropolitan of Senaki and Chkhorotsku Easter 2026

To the God-blessed spiritual children of the Georgian Orthodox Church,

Most Reverend Hierarchs, Venerable Fathers, Deacons, Monks and Nuns, all inhabitants of Georgia, and our compatriots living abroad!

Christ is Risen!

Today the whole world rejoices and celebrates! The Savior of the world, the Beginning and Source of life, our Redeemer, has risen from the dead and shattered the gates of hell!

The Lord has risen -the bonds of evil are broken and the power of the devil is destroyed!

The Lord has risen and shed eternal light upon the entire earth!

The Lord our God has risen, and love has opened every closed door that was inaccessible to humanity!

Today humanity has been revealed the incomprehensible mystery -the Resurrection of the Savior, the cornerstone of our faith. As the Apostle Paul declares: “If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile” (1 Cor. 15:17).

Today, for our sake, the incarnate, crucified, and buried Savior raises human nature from the dead, destroys the dominion of hell, and grants to man -freed from the captivity of sin -the original paradisiacal blessedness once again.

Great is the joy awakened by this event. Rational creation celebrates, and together we cry out with the words of Saint Gregory the Theologian: “Today salvation is given to the world, both visible and invisible. Christ is risen from the dead -rise with Him!.. Be freed from the bonds of sin! The gates of hell are opened and death is destroyed, the old Adam is put away and the new is accomplished” (Oration XLV).

We have completed the period of Holy Great Lent, when Christians prepare to meet the Savior risen from the dead. Through prayer and fasting we strove to purify our souls, so that, drawing near to the Most Merciful Lord, we might become worthy to hear His words: “Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Mt. 11:28).

Yet during this time of preparation our hearts were filled with sorrow. On the week of the Veneration of the Cross during Great Lent, the Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia, His Holiness and Beatitude Ilia II, fell asleep in the Lord.

Therefore now, as we behold death defeated by Christ’s Resurrection while feeling orphaned by the departure of our beloved Father, the words of the Psalmist David bring us special consolation: “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints” (Ps. 116:15). For Christians, death is not destruction, but the path leading to salvation and eternal blessedness. This is the very meaning of the joy of the Resurrection -the foundation of every person’s hope and joy…

The 49-year ministry of His Holiness and Beatitude was a path that brought this joy and hope to each one of us. His fatherly love, prayer, and care embraced the whole of Georgia and every individual person…

The long years of the Catholicos-Patriarchate were not easy; the cross was heavy. His daily life, every deed, every thought was a path of martyrdom and self-sacrifice. He inherited a Church that had been persecuted, diminished, and constricted under the atheist regime, and he left us a rebuilt Church that today plays a most important role in the life of the country and society.

His patriarchal wisdom reminded us of Moses, who, like him, in times of trial led the people as if across a bridge of hair -encouraging the fallen, uniting the scattered, and turning their hearts toward the Lord. His word and prayer were that pillar which showed the nation the way out of spiritual captivity (cf. Ex. 13:21).

Even after his repose, the Most Holy Patriarch continues, as it were, to turn the people, to unite them, and to preach.

We can boldly say that, following in the footsteps of his predecessors and by fulfilling God-pleasing works, Catholicos-Patriarch Ilia II breathed new life into the Georgian Orthodox Church.

His teachings and his labors continue uninterrupted and ceaselessly today in every believer whose heart, turned toward God, together glorifies the Savior risen from the dead…

Much has been said, much has been written, and much more will be written about his labors. But perhaps the most precious thing His Holiness accomplished is the chief Christian virtue -love.

It is precisely the fruit of this boundless love and faith that became the miracle we witnessed in the days following the repose of His Holiness and Beatitude. The whole of Georgia -a sea of people -flowed in an unbroken stream with reverence to pay their last respects to the departed Patriarch. The nation, united as one, accompanied their weary spiritual father to the very end in silence, with tears, love, and gratitude…

We thank the Lord and each of you for this unity!

We thank those who could not take direct part in the services, but who were spiritually with us and strengthened us with their prayers…

It is precisely this standing shoulder to shoulder, prayer, unity, and love that guarantees we will worthily continue our ecclesiastical and national life.

May the Savior risen from the dead grant us firm faith, love, peace, unanimity, and wisdom!

Therefore, let us rejoice and together glorify the Lord, for “This is the day of Resurrection: let us be radiant for the feast, and let us embrace one another… And thus let us cry out with radiance: Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death, and upon those in the tombs bestowing life!” (Paschal troparion).

Christ is Risen!

Tbilisi

The Resurrection of Christ, 2026