Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili arrived in Kiev for the Crimean Platform summit. He met with the leadership of Ukraine. Including, on August 22 – his meeting with Prime Minister Denis Shmygal and a joint briefing, according to the website of the Cabinet of Ministers. Interaction between Ukraine and Georgia is intensifying. With a high degree of probability, the Ukrainian leadership will take advantage of this to make an attempt to achieve recognition of the OCU by the Georgian Orthodox Church.

During the June visit of the Prime Minister of Ukraine to Georgia, he met with Catholicos-Patriarch Ilia II. Religious scholar Andrei Yurash, who took part in the visit, wrote then that the meeting was extremely informative, and the parties discussed “a large set of issues.” The prime minister said about the need to “act together in the spiritual and religious sphere.” On the part of the leadership of the OCU, hints were made about the possible early recognition of the OCU by the Georgian Orthodox Church.

Meanwhile, our sources in the Georgian Church reported on the real content of the June visit of the Prime Minister of Ukraine to Georgia. According to reliable information, the meeting was more of a protocol than a substantive one. It was mainly the prime minister who spoke. He spoke at length about the similarity of the historical paths of Georgia and Ukraine, the Georgian and Ukrainian Churches. Shmygal conducted a “political information lesson” with the Primate of the GOC, told him about the prospects for European integration of both countries and their upcoming entry into NATO, about Russia’s “armed aggression” against Ukraine. But one specific, albeit rather “streamlined” proposal from the Ukrainian side still sounded.

Shmygal proposed “to cooperate in the spiritual and religious sphere,” namely, to recognize the OCU. He referred to the fact that she had already been recognized by the Alexandrian, Greek, Cypriot Churches. And he handed over a letter and a proposal from the head of the OCU Epiphany: in exchange for her recognition – the joint creation of a Georgian vicariate in her for the Georgian diaspora in Ukraine. The Romanian vicariate, already established in the OCU, was mentioned as an example.

According to our source, the Catholicos-Patriarch did not react to the proposal, he did not express any interest. The Georgian Church is well aware of the fictitious nature of the Romanian vicariate created in the OCU and the almost complete absence of real Georgian communities within the OCU.

Let us remind you that in early June, Prime Minister of Ukraine Denis Shmygal paid a visit to the Georgian Patriarchate and met with Patriarch-Catholicos Ilia II. One of the members of the government delegation that met with the Georgian Patriarch Ilia II, Minister of Culture Alexander Tkachenko, stated in plain text that this meeting is “very important for the recognition of the OCU” by the Georgian Church, recognizing, thus, the lobbying of the OCU interests by the Cabinet of Ministers.