Georgia is one of those countries where religion has played a key role in the development of national statehood. It is enough to say that Georgia became the second in world history (after Armenia), in which Christianity received the status of the state religion, and this happened back in 326. The state of Georgia, religion are almost inextricable categories at an early stage of their historical development.
Modern Georgians, whose religion is represented by almost all faiths of world religions, remain a very tolerant and tolerant people, as they have been for many centuries. Despite the fact that Christianity plays a predominant role in the country, each Georgian church is respected by representatives of other religious communities. And today there are several of them in the country, the confessional differentiation of the population is determined mainly by their ethnicity and territorial distribution. So, Abkhazians and Adzharians mainly practice Islam, Azerbaijanis and Kurds living in the country adhere to the same religion. The Russian, Armenian and Greek populations of Georgia profess mainly Orthodoxy. There are Catholics in the country, but their numbers are small.
The largest religious community in Georgia is the Orthodox, which is organizationally represented by the Georgian Apostolic Autocephalous Orthodox Church. This is an autonomous church organization led by the patriarch. Today, the patriarch of all Georgia (Catholicos) is the Archbishop of Mtskheta and Tbilisi, Ilia II. He has held this post since 1977. Georgian Orthodoxy is one of the oldest Christian denominations in the world. According to religious traditions, Georgia is the apostolic choice of the mother of God. Religion in this country has always been significant in the development of culture, for example, many scholars associate the emergence of a peculiar Georgian writing - Mrglovlovani - precisely with the spread of Orthodoxy in the territory of this country and Armenia, in which this type of writing is still preserved. The Orthodox Church of Georgia is a fairly large denomination; it ranks sixth among the local churches of the Slavic peoples. The jurisdiction of Georgian autocephaly, and it was designed by the church in the 9th century, extends not only to the entire territory of the country, but also to all Georgians, wherever they are. In 2001, a concordat (agreement) was signed between the government of the country and the leadership of the Orthodox Church, according to which the Orthodox Church was given certain advantages over other faiths. But in 2011, a law was passed that granted all religious categories the right to legal entities. The Georgian Constitution declares complete freedom of religion, emphasizing the special role of Orthodoxy in the history of the country. And today, in connection with major Orthodox holidays in Georgia , amnesties are announced and other state actions are held. Georgia, whose religion is multiconfessional, has given shelter to other representatives of Christianity.
One of the most common denominations is the Armenian church, whose representatives profess Monophysitism. There are quite a lot of them; in Tbilisi alone, more than a quarter of a million Armenians live. The spiritual high priest for them is the Patriarch-Catholicos of All Armenians Garegin II. Recently, there have been cases of misunderstanding between representatives of the Orthodox Autocephaly of Georgia and the Armenian Church regarding the resolution of worship in some churches, the affiliation of which is recognized as controversial.
Catholicism in Georgia is represented by a small community - about 100 thousand people. But the second largest is the Muslim community. Professing Islam in Georgia - more than 400 thousand people. In the state of Georgia, religion is also represented by the Jewish faith, and, according to some reports, the first Jews appeared in the country immediately after the fall of Jerusalem as a result of Nebuchadnezzar’s campaign, and this, as is known, happened back in 586 BC!
Today, Georgia has many wonderful monuments that reflect the religious cultures of all world religions. Many of them are active shrines to which hundreds of thousands of people make pilgrimages annually.