The Patriarch of Georgia, His Holiness and Beatitude Ilia II, will be buried on March 22 in the Sioni Cathedral. The decision was announced following a meeting of the Holy Synod, UNN reports with reference to "News Georgia".
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Memorial services will be held in the Sameba temple starting today.
For its part, the Georgian government announced that it is creating a state commission to organize the funeral.
National mourning has been declared in Georgia and will last until the day of the funeral.
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Ilia II has been the primate of the Georgian Orthodox Church since 1977 - his patriarchate is the longest in the history of the Georgian Orthodox Church. He ascended the patriarchal throne at the age of 44. He stood at the head of the church for forty-nine years, and most of these years were a time of change in Georgia. Under him, in 1990, the GOC restored autocephaly, which was abolished by Russia in 1811.
The health of the 93-year-old head of the Church sharply deteriorated on the night of March 17: he was admitted to the Caucasian Medical Center with massive internal bleeding. Ilia II died in the hospital around nine in the evening on March 17.