On Monday, April 19, 2004, His Holiness and Beatitude, Patriarch-Catholicos ILIA II and His Beatitude, Metropolitan HERMAN met with the Speaker of the Georgian Parliament, Nino Burdzanadze, at the Georgian Parliament Building. In November 2003, Mrs. Burdzanadze served as the country’s Acting President for 45 days after former president Eduard Schevardnadze stepped down.
Joining Nino Burdzanadze for the meeting with Patriarch ILIA and Metropolitan HERMAN was Georgian Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania and members of their official staff.
“We assign great importance to the relationship between the United States and Georgia,” Mrs. Burdzanadze said. “It is quite clear that the relationship between the Orthodox Church in America and the Georgian Orthodox Church is strong. Despite the fact that the Church and State are separate in both countries the Georgian Orthodox Church plays an important role in the social, political, and spiritual life of Georgia.”
