Christianity in Georgia (country)

In 2020, 85.84% of the population in Georgia adhered to Christianity (mainly Georgian Orthodox), 11% were Muslim, 0.1% were Jewish, 0.04% were Baháʼí and 3% had no religious beliefs.

Georgians remained mostly Christian despite repeated invasions by Muslim powers, and long episodes of foreign domination.

Soviet rule brought severe purges of the Georgian church hierarchy and frequent repression of Orthodox worship.

In the late 1960s and the early 1970s, opposition leaders, especially Zviad Gamsakhurdia, criticized corruption in the church hierarchy.

In 1988, Moscow permitted the patriarch to begin consecrating and reopening closed churches, and a large-scale restoration process began.

The ruling party presented this initiative as part of their commitment to uphold "national values and traditions," in line with their campaign promises to ban "LGBT propaganda" and reinforce the role of the Church.

[10] During the Conservative Political Action Conference in Hungary, Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze noted that Georgia adopted the Christianity as its state religion back in the 4th century, and emphasized that the Christianity has importantly shaped the Georgian national identity, using the slogan of the 19th century Georgian nationalist writer, Ilia Chavchavadze — "Language, Homeland, Faith".

[11] In contrast, the Georgian Orthodox Church has expressed skepticism, fearing that such a change could compromise its independence and increase government control.

High-ranking clergy members, including Metropolitan Shio Mujiri and Metropolitan Nikoloz Pachuashvili, have raised concerns about the potential implications of this proposal, arguing that it could alter the traditionally independent yet cooperative relationship between the state and the Church established by the 2002 Concordat.

He said that the proposed amendment by the ruling party would clarify the Orthodox Christianity as the "pillar of the Georgian statehood" and emphasize its role in the country's history and present.

In 2023, the head of the Armenian Apostolic Diocese in Georgia is the Very Reverend Archimandrite Father Kirakos Davtyan.

[16] A small number, estimated at 500 worldwide,[17] of Byzantine or "Greek" Rite Georgian Catholics do exist.