To the surprise of our church, and suddenly to whole population, on July 1 the Parliament of Georgia adopted at first reading the law on assignment of existing in Georgia several religious organizations as a public legal entities. As it is expected, the second hearing of the bill is appointed tomorrow, on July 5.

As known to the public, the status of the Orthodox Church and the Constitutional Treaty has been the subject of wide discussion for many years. This issue also was the subject of an international expertise. On the other hand, the Church has never opposed and has always supported other religious organizations existing in Georgia and the exercise of their rights. But this process has not led to a sequel, because the Government has not been created multilateral commission that could study the issue and draw the appropriate conclusions.

We would like to note, that in other states the issue of the status and ownership of the Georgian Orthodox Church is not yet even raised.

Against this background, it is absolutely unclear why the Parliament of Georgia tries to accelerate the adoption of such an important document without a public discussion on this issue.

We believe that it is necessary to suspend the procedure for adoption of the law (the second and third readings) and hold a public debates on this issue (at least in a live telecast), in order to form the public opinion and held the consensus with the Georgian Orthodox Church, because the vast majority of our population is an Orthodox Christian.

We would like to remind our citizens about the great importance of this issue, because it essentially defines the basic principles of the structure of our state.