January 4 is the Birth Day of Georgia`s Catholicos Patriarch of All Georgia. His Holiness has become 77 years old. The worshippers will be able to congratulate on the 77-th birth day to His Holiness at the Sioni cathedral today, where Illia ll will offer a paraklisis and bless the parish at 18:00.
His Holiness and Beatitude Ilia ll (Irakli Shiolashvili) was born in Vladikavkaz on January 4 1933, in the family of Giorgi Ghudushauri-Shiolashvili and Natalia Kobaidze.
After finishing the 22nd secondary school in Vladikavkaz, in 1952, he continued his study at the theological academy in Moscow.
The student Ilia the second was tonsured a monk with the name Ilia by Catholic Patriarch of Georgia Melkisedek III in Tbilisi.
He graduated from the theological academy in 1960 with the first grade diploma.
On August 25, 1963, Father Ilia was consecrated as Bishop of Shemokmedi and Vicar by the Georgian Patriarch Ephrem II. Ilia the second was appointed as Bishop of the Diocese of Sukhumi and Abkhazia in 1967.
On December 23, 1977 upon the death of the Catholicos-Patriarch David V, Metropolitan Ilia was elected the new primate of Georgian Orthodox Church. Ilia the second was enthroned on December 25, 1977 in Svetitskoveli cathedral.
