Georgian Patriarch Ilia II urges Russia, Georgia to take efforts to lift tension in relations

Moscow, December 11, Interfax - Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia Ilia II believes in normalization of Georgian-Russian relations and invites Russians to visit Georgia.

"Good feelings and brotherly relations that have formed between Russia and Georgia for centuries remain. In Georgia, Russians feel the same as Georgians, they have been using all conditions," he said at the meeting with the Union of Georgians in Russia on Wednesday evening in Moscow.

During the crisis in the Caucasus, many believers asked Ilia if they should leave Georgia, he said. "I asked them to stay because all this would pass," he said.

"The political tension existing between Russia and Georgia is unnatural for us and it is necessary to do everything possible so that this should go into the past. And I hope that it will be like that," he said.

"It is necessary to restore good relations existing between us," he said.

Ilia II said he came to Russia because of the death of Alexy II they had been friends for many years. Thus the Georgian Church commiserates with the Russian Orthodox Church and all Russian people, he said.