The Patriarch-Catholicos of All Georgia, His Holiness and Beatitude Ilia II, this week conveyed a letter of congratulations to the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, His Holines Kirill, on the occasion of the latter’s 75th birthday.
The Georgian patriarch also thanked the Primate of the Russian Church for abiding by the canonical order, and acknowledging the breakaway regions of Abkhazia and Tsknvali as integral Georgian territories.
A portion of the letter read: ‘…Our people and We are grateful to you for having repeatedly helping us release our compatriots, who were taken hostage for crossing temporary Georgia-Russia borders.”