Flash-poll: How would you comment on the statements of the head of the Georgian Orthodox Church Ilia II, who during the last visit to Moscow once again could not refrain from the political rhetoric, saying he was "confident in the return" of South Ossetia and Abkhazia to Georgia?
Archpriest of the Tskhinval churches, Father Jacob (Khetagurov):
Nothing new has happened to us, the rhetoric is the same. Georgia`s unwillingness to face the reality is obvious. They have been ignoring us for 15 years, pretending we do not exist.
On the other hand, this event – is the affair, the policy of the Russian and the Georgian Orthodox churches. Of course, it concerns us indirectly, we know their position, but obviously it has nothing to do with us. We have our national church, and there is no reason for panic.
I would have thought in a different way, if they had declared that the Georgian and Russian Orthodox churches, recognizing the reality, had decided to act christianly, establishing the autocephalous church in Ossetia. We have a right, not making this up - we had a metropolitanate, our own national church.
Authorized Representative of the President of South Ossetia on Religious Affairs Sonya Khubaeva:
The visit of the Patriarch of Georgia Ilia II to the Russian Federation can be considered as another provocation against South Ossetia and Abkhazia. On the other hand Ilia II's visit to Russia, in principle, does not change anything. He simply acts as a peacemaker between the president and the new prime minister of Georgia.
So today we should not feel a sense of tension in connection with his visit, as it will not lead to serious consequences. In South Ossetia everybody believes that as long as Vladimir Putin and Dmitry Medvedev are in power, Russian policy towards Abkhazia and South Ossetia will not change.
But, nevertheless, the welcome of Ilya II in Russia is, at least, puzzling. The man, who played a negative role in the recent history of Georgia, should not have received this award. It is condemned by our people.
Inal Pliev, an independent expert:
People of South Ossetia remember well the extraordinary order of the Catholicos-Patriarch of the Georgian Orthodox Church Ilia II, which prohibits killing only the Georgians. Killing people of other nationalities the extraordinary order of His Holiness and Beatitude not only condemns and prohibits, but even does not blame. This extraordinary order Ilia II issued during the reigning in Georgia of Zviad Gamsakhurdia, during the anti-Ossetian and anti-Russian hysteria and active preparation for an armed invasion of South Ossetia. And in the reign of Mikhail Saakashvili the Georgian Orthodox Church blessed the Georgian military banner and encouraged the Georgian soldiers to plant the banner in Tskhinval and Sukhum. Formal order to attack South Ossetia was given by President Mikhail Saakashvili. And Ilia II gave the internal, spiritual confidence to the Georgian soldiers and officers that killing the Russian peacekeepers, the Ossetian civilians (and all non-Georgians) is not a sin, and that a full-scale military assault on tiny Tskhinval with all the power of the Georgian army in the name of hoisting the Georgia banner over the defeated town, is a holy thing. With the name of their "God" on the lips (not the God who calls for love and peace, but the "God", who enjoys killing and evil), with the words of Ilia II the Georgian tankers shot the civilians in Tskhinval, burning their houses, cars, whole families ...
Such kind of "Christian" morality has been spreading for more than twenty years by the Georgian Orthodox Church headed by Ilia II. This religious leader neither by word, nor by half a word has expressed condemnation of murders committed by the Georgian military forces in South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
On the contrary, he is one of the most active apologists of the withdrawal of the Russian troops from South Ossetia, knowing that before Russian troops were brought in South Ossetia, there had been constant shelling and shooting, which claimed many lives both Ossetians and Georgians, not to mention the three-month summer war in 2004 and a full-scale Georgian military aggression against South Ossetia and Russia in 2008, and knowing that only the Russian troops prevent the Georgian army to re-attack South Ossetia and complete the earlier started destruction of South Ossetian people. Ilia II actually stands for the war (that is so far from the Jesus' teachings!). And this man has been awarded for ... peacemaking!
Awarding Ilia II for peace-making, of course, has compromised the prize. With this award has happened the same thing as with the Nobel Peace Prize, which was awarded to persons guilty of war, the death of people.
