Levan Bezhashvili on Metropolitan Iobi: He is not a supporter of the United National Movement and always criticises our party, but the nation, the clergy and our church can see where the country is heading

“The nation can see, the clergy can see, and our Church can see where our country is heading,” Levan Bezhashvili, one of the leaders of the United National Movement, told journalists while commenting on Metropolitan Iobi’s position.

According to Bezhashvili, Metropolitan Iobi is not a supporter of the United National Movement and has consistently criticised the party, but has now made an important statement.

“He is not a supporter of the United National Movement; he constantly criticises our party. However, he has now made a very good statement. The Georgian Dream propagandists’ claims that the Metropolitan made a political statement are irrelevant. We all remember 2012 and the years that followed, when the Georgian Dream government enjoyed the support of the clergy and the Patriarchate. It is clear why and for what reasons they supported it. But we, as a nation, can see this government’s criminal conduct, its governance based on Russian narratives and, so to speak, its betrayal of national interests. The nation can see, the clergy can see, and our Church can see where our country is heading.

An economy and an environment built around casinos, drugs, call centres and banking oligarchy have been created in this country, leaving citizens and members of the congregation with virtually no room to live here even under basic conditions. Evidence of this was presented by former senior Georgian Dream official Soso Gogashvili, who revealed that there were ‘Kremlin-style’ groups through which the government monitored clergy and their representatives and used the information to exert pressure on them. Naturally, this information has now come to light in society, including the negative attitude among Church representatives towards the Georgian Dream government,” Bezhashvili said.

For reference, Metropolitan Iobi (Akiashvili) of Mroveli and Urbneli recently stated that Georgia’s current government had “fully exhausted its capabilities.” He made the remarks during a sermon published on the Diocese’s social media page.

The Metropolitan said that “we must sound the alarm” because the situation cannot continue as it is. He noted that, just as governments change elsewhere in the world, Georgia should also choose a better government in the future, as national interests are not being upheld in the country today.

Metropolitan Iobi also said that the government was lacking in faith.

He also spoke about relations between the government and the Church, referring to what he described as an “attempt to merge the Church and the government.”