Ilia II, the Catholicos-Patriarch of the Georgian Orthodox Church who led the institution for more than four decades through the final years of the Soviet era and Georgia’s independence, has died aged 93.

The spiritual leader died on Tuesday after being hospitalised for massive internal bleeding the previous evening according to seniro cleric Metropolitan Shio.

Born Irakli Ghudushauri-Shiolashvili on 4 January, 1933 in Vladikavkaz, then part of the Soviet Union, he studied at the Moscow Theological Seminary and later the Moscow Theological Academy before returning to Georgia to serve in the church.

In 1977, he was elected Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia, becoming the spiritual leader of the Georgian Orthodox faithful at a time when religious institutions operated under strict Soviet control.

Following the collapse of the Soviet Union and Georgia’s independence in 1991, the church expanded significantly. Hundreds of churches and monasteries were reopened or built, and the institution gained a more prominent role in public life in Georgia.

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During periods of political instability and conflict in the 1990s and 2000s, Ilia II occasionally acted as a mediator or appealed for calm. The Georgian Orthodox Church also became one of the most influential institutions in the country.

In 2002, a constitutional agreement between the Georgian state and the church formally recognised the Georgian Orthodox Church’s special status in the country.

Ilia II remained head of the church for more than four decades, one of the longest patriarchates in the Orthodox world.

His leadership spanned major transformations in Georgia’s political and social life, from the late Soviet period through independence and into the 21st century.

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