Ilia II of Georgia

ილია II Ilia II
His Holiness and Beatitude, Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia, the Archbishop of Mtskheta-Tbilisi and Metropolitan bishop of Bichvinta and Tskhum-Abkhazia
Ilia II in 2004
Church	Georgian Orthodox Church
Installed	December 25, 1977
Term ended	Incumbent
Predecessor	David V
Personal details
Birth name	Irakli Ghudushauri-Shiolashvili (ირაკლი ღუდუშაური-შიოლაშვილი)
Born	(1933-01-04) 4 January 1933 (age 84) Vladikavkaz, Russia
Denomination	Eastern Orthodox Church
Occupation	Catholicos-Patriarch
Profession	Theologian
Alma mater	Moscow Theological Academy
Signature

Ilia II (Georgian: ილია II), also transliterated as Ilya or Elijah (born January 4, 1933), is the current Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia and the spiritual leader of the Georgian Orthodox Church. He is officially styled as Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia, the Archbishop of Mtskheta-Tbilisi and Metropolitan Bishop of Abkhazia and Bichvinta, His Holiness and Beatitude Ilia II.

Ilia II was born as Irakli Ghudushauri-Shiolashvili (Georgian: ირაკლი ღუდუშაური-შიოლაშვილი) in Vladikavkaz, Soviet Russia's North Ossetia. His parents hailed from Georgia, particularly, the Kazbegi district; his father, Giorgi Shiolashvili, was from the village Sno, and his mother, Natalia Kobaidze, from the village Sioni. The Shiolashvili were an influential clan in the highlands of Khevi.

Irakli Ghudushauri graduated from the Moscow Theological Seminary and was ordained, under the name of Ilia, a hierodeacon in 1957 and hieromonk in 1959; he graduated from the Moscow Theological Academy in 1960 and returned to Georgia, where he was assigned to the Batumi Cathedral Church as a priest. In 1961, he was promoted to hegumen and later to archimandrite. On August 26, 1963, he was chosen to be the bishop of Batumi and Shemokmedi and appointed a patriarchal vicar. From 1963 to 1972 he was also the first rector of the Mtskheta Theological Seminary—the only clerical school in Georgia at that time.

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