Georgy Kalatozishvili, Tbilisi. Exclusively to VK
Time is running out ahead of the parliamentary elections in Georgia. The country's society expects another “historic event” in the modern history of the country. It is a common courtesy to call these elections “fate-determining.” Probably this atmosphere made the most respected activist in the country – the head of Georgian Orthodox Church, Ilya II – urge politicians to gather in the reconstructed Bagrat Cathedral near the ancient capital of Kutaisi to demonstrate unity in supporting fundamental all-national values. Of course, the Patriarch didn’t mention the “common game rules” during or after the elections or the need for “a political compromise.” His aim was to create conditions for the meeting (at least in the cathedral) of bitter rivals, in order for them to understand their mutual responsibility for the country’s fate.
The Great Assumption Cathedral of the Mother of God was built in the late 10th and early 11th centuries during the reign of the first king of the united Abkhaz-Georgian kingdom, Bagrat III Bagration. It was considered to be a symbol of the territorial and spiritual integrity of Georgia, and that is why at various times the cathedral was a place where social representatives and state officials gathered to demonstrate unity and announce the most important treaties. But in the 17th century the cathedral sank into degradation, first of all because of inter-Georgian feudal wars. However, President Saakashvili, speaking about the need for the reconstruction of the cathedral last year, states that the Orthodox church was destroyed by Russian troops in the 19th century.
Historians engaged in heavy disputes, and UNESCO was against the reconstruction of the monument, as nobody knew how the cathedral looked in the 11th century, or even the 17th century. But the president ignored the warnings of the organization and the opinions of local skeptics and ordered the cathedral to be reconstructed, taking into consideration the architecture of other monuments of the same epoch.
Saakashvili wanted to be the initiator of the reconstruction of a pan-national symbol of state unity and territorial integrity. Considering his political interests, he acted within the same logic after the Patriarch called on the political activists: the next day, the president addressed the nation against the background of the reconstructed cathedral, calling on all citizens for unity “whatever their political views.” It appeared that all the people who came to the cathedral heard not only the Patriarch’s call, but also the president’s invitation. Billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili and the former parliamentary speaker Nino Burdzhanadze didn’t attend the cathedral on the day of national unity. But other opposition leaders were present.
