Aid to the Church in Need: Georgia: Building bridges between East and West

Georgia: Building bridges between East and West

Posted by ACN News on 12/9/2009, 4:03 pm
Board Administrator

Building bridges between East and West

by Reinhard Backes

Fairness, peace, reconciliation, justice – all these terms are part of the language that Vaja Vardidze likes to use. He is a Georgian, married, the father of a four-and-a-half-year-old boy, and a theologian as well. Speaking against the background of the continuing crisis and the recent fighting between his own homeland and Russia in August 2008, the 38-year-old insists, "The southern Caucasus needs peace. But there is no peace without justice and mutual understanding. Everybody loses in war". Vardidze, who studied in Lublin in Poland and later obtained his doctorate in the city of Münster in southern Germany, has been running the Orbeliani Theological Institute in Tiflis since the summer of 2008.

This is where Georgian men and women from the various different religious faiths can study theology, philosophy culture or history. They conclude their studies after four years with a bachelor’s degree. The plan now is to widen the appeal of the institute by offering additional activities. "This will interest many young people", explains Vardidze, who is rector of the institute. The background to his words is a Georgia facing not only a political crisis, but also an extremely difficult economic situation. And Dr Vardidze knows well that the Orbeliani Institute has only very limited resources and has to find a way of making ends meet.

At the same time the financial resources of the Catholic Church in Georgia are also very slender. Even for the seminarians who attend the Orbeliani Institute, the bishops can do very little. Hence these future priests are currently funded above all by the Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), which has been working for around two decades now to promote reconciliation between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church. This reconciliation is likewise one of the fundamental concerns of the Institute, which bears the name of a famous Georgian, Prince Sulkhan Saba Orbeliani, who lived in the late 17th and early 18th centuries and is today regarded as one of the most important writers of the nation. Sulkhan-Saba Orbeliani was among other things also a diplomat and a teacher. He maintained contacts with the major royal houses of his time and with the Vatican too, and strove for unity among Christians.

(Dr Vaja Vardidze)

Dr Vardidze describes the mission of his Institute as follows: "The Catholic Church in my country sees herself as a bridge between the Christian traditions of East and West, between Catholic and Orthodox Christians". Hence this Doctor of Theology regards it as not merely desirable but indeed essential that the Orbeliani Institute should engage in "scholarship of a high academic level". His desire is to publish fundamental theological works such as text books and professional journals and to promote academic and intellectual discourse, especially among the younger generation, while at the same time forging close contacts with Western and Eastern European faculties. He adds, "We want to show that there is no alternative to peace and mutual respect".

Just how audacious the ambition of the Orbeliani Institute is can be seen by taking a glance at the situation in Georgia today. The country is very nearly the size of the Republic of Ireland and currently has a very similar population of around 4.3 million souls. But well over 80% of Georgians belong to the Autocephalous – or independent – Orthodox Church of Georgia. And the number of Catholics, according to Dr Vardidze, lies at just around 50,000, who belong moreover to three different rites – the Armenian, Chaldean and Latin rites.

During the era of the Soviet Union it was impossible for people to live their faith openly. All religious practice of any kind was restricted to the purely private sphere. Yet, despite the communist persecution, in many families the Faith was nonetheless passed on to the next generation. Following the changes at the beginning of the 1990s religious life in the country experienced a revival. This was especially true of the Orthodox Church in Georgia but also of the Catholics. Many parishes began to flourish again and to this day they have practised a living catechesis.

Unfortunately however, the good relationship between the various different religions that had existed during the times of persecution began to suffer as a result of the new political order, because churches that had been confiscated from the Catholics during the time of persecution – especially in the rural areas – were not returned to them. Nonetheless, the different religions and Christian denominations are now seeking to find a modus vivendi, and the Catholics in particular are hoping for a new beginning. The city of Tiflis today has a number of different churches, among them Armenian, Catholic, Protestant and Orthodox, as well as Jewish synagogues and a mosque.

Editor’s Notes:

Directly under the Holy See, Aid to the Church in Need supports the faithful wherever they are persecuted, oppressed or in pastoral need. ACN is a Catholic charity – helping to bring Christ to the world through prayer, information and action.
Founded in 1947 by Fr Werenfried van Straaten, whom Pope John Paul II named “An outstanding Apostle of Charity”, the organisation is now at work in about 130 countries throughout the world.
The charity undertakes thousands of projects every year including providing transport for clergy and lay Church workers, construction of church buildings, funding for priests and nuns and help to train seminarians. Since the initiative’s launch in 1979, 46.5 million Aid to the Church in Need Child’s Bibles have been distributed worldwide.

For further information please contact the Australian office of ACN on (02) 9679-1929. e-mail: info@aidtochurch.org or write to Aid to the Church in Need PO Box 6245 Blacktown DC NSW 2148. Web: www.aidtochurch.org

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Aid to the Church in Need PO Box 6245 Blacktown DC NSW 2148 ABN: 62 418 911 594
Ph/Fax (02) 9679-1929 e-mail: info@aidtochurch.org web: www.aidtochurch.org