Synod in Georgia has identified candidates for patriarchs

The Holy Synod in Georgia has appointed Locum Tenens Shio and Bishops Job and Grigol as candidates for Catholicos-patriarchs. This was announced on April 28 by the head of the Georgian Patriarchate's Public Relations Service, Deacon Andria Jagmaidze.

"In the near future, a patriarch will be elected from these three candidates at an expanded meeting of church representatives," Interfax quoted him as saying.

According to him, 20 synod members voted for Shio, while Job and Grigol received seven each. He also recalled that to be elected, a candidate must be a Georgian between the ages of 40 and 70 and have an education.

Playing with the throne: confrontation escalates in Georgia over the election of a new patriarch

According to the statute, the head of the GOC can be an ethnic Georgian tonsured monk between the ages of 40 and 70.

The election of a new Catholicos-patriarch to head the Georgian Orthodox Church began on the same day. Alexey Poltoranin, a correspondent for Izvestia, clarified that the synod would select a new patriarch from three candidates at the expanded meeting.