The head of the public relations department of the Georgian Patriarchate, Archpriest Andria Jagmaidze, announced the official reaction of the GOC to the official reception of the delegation of Abkhazia led by Aslan Bzhania by Patriarch John X of Antioch, held in Damascus on May 18. The Georgian Patriarchate, says fr. Andria, is waiting for official explanations from the Antiochian Patriarchate. In any case, he calls the incident an “unpleasant event”, informs Sova.News.

“Of course, this is a negative event, this is a strange fact, and we will definitely react to it, but before that we need some communication, clarification of details, so we need to wait for our department of external relations. There has been no communication [with the Patriarch of Antioch] yet,” he said.

It is reported, however, that the cleric of the parishes of the Georgian Patriarchate in Great Britain and Ireland, archpriest Ilia Chigladze, made accusations against church Damascus. Opinion of fr. Ilya about the founding of a structure close to the Phanar in Abkhazia is still unknown.

At the diplomatic level, Syria does not recognize the independence of Abkhazia.