As the fact of the passing of the Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia at the age of 93 has caused the Georgian hierarchs to be unable to participate in such an important conference at your side today.
This is precisely why I am writing to you, the members and guests of the symposium, to extend my warmest greetings and blessings.
Allow me to express my great respect for the conference participants, as I am convinced of the timeliness of the conference’s objectives and the importance of the chosen scientific topics.
Yes, this meeting is important, and here’s why:
1. For the first time in years, the Western dioceses of the Georgian Orthodox Church, its ruling bishops, and Georgian theologians working in Europe are jointly organizing a conference.
2. We must obviously mention and thank the faculty of the Faculty of Theology at the University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt, and especially the head of the Chair of Theology of the Christian East, Professor Dr. Thomas Kremer, who is the host of our symposium in Eichstätt, a symposium dedicated to the “1700th Anniversary of the Proclamation of Christianity as the State Religion in Georgia.”
3. I would also like to add that the support of Metropolitan Gerasime (Sharashenidze) of the local German-Austrian Diocese of the Georgian Orthodox Church is of great importance and deserves special emphasis within the framework of this event. This is a matter of great importance. I would even say, of paramount importance.
4. The high culture of scholarship that you, the young Georgian theologians represented here, have shown at the recent meetings has borne fruit.
5. You, the youth, were the first to take the first step toward cooperation with the Mother Church. This is a great culture and, I would say, spirituality as well.
6. You are the church of the future. You have proven to be stronger, more prudent, and more consistent in every respect than we hierarchs would have believed.
I am grateful to the organizations supporting the event, among which I especially want to single out Renovabis and its delegation, which is among you today, As well as Collegium Orientale, which has become an alma mater in the field of theology for Georgian students.
Today these students are the most sincere supporters of the Mother Church; we see them in its service, and these students are capable of academic discourse not only on theological topics, but also on current, institutional church problems.
We wish you fruitful academic work and pleasant meetings.
His Eminence Dositheos (Bogveradze),
Bishop of the Diocese Belgium and Holland (Georgian Orthodox Church)