“this step enabled Georgia to preserve its people, Christian identity and European culture

“in the 18th century the Georgian ruler made a fundamental decision grounded in religion and faith when he signed the Treaty of Georgievsk with the Russian Empire

“before this, Christian Georgia had spent decades in vassal dependence on a Muslim state

“When you have a culture that is dedicated to the principles Western civilization -- which is what the South is -- Orthodoxy doesn't fit very well into that. Orthodoxy is more or less an ethnic religion. You have Russian Orthodoxy. You have Ukrainian Orthodoxy... so forth and so on. It's ethnic.

“Vučić had discussed the spiritual ties between the peoples of Serbia and Georgia with Patriarch Shio.

“such unity is what carried the country through its hardest historical trials

Patriarch Kirill ›

Patriarch

Reported

“the ancient monastery a symbol of enduring statehood

Andrii Sybiha ›

Ukrainian Foreign Minister

Reported

“a cultured nation does not demolish – it builds