05:40, 14 March 2018

Vandals burn down Catholic books and icons in Georgia

Book burnt on the surface in the Saint Nino Chapel. Photo: Shota Gikashvili, News of Georgia

In the village of Vale, near the Saint Nino Chapel, unidentified people burned down Catholic books and icons. Local residents suggest that someone is trying to sow enmity between the Catholic and Orthodox believers.

On March 13, unidentified persons brought Catholic icons and books out of the Saint Nino Chapel in the village of Vale in the Akhaltsikhe District of the Samtskhe-Javakheti Region. Later, they burned down the books and icons next to the Chapel.

"I believe that those who have done that seek a confrontation between the Catholic and Orthodox believers," the "New-Georgia" quotes Mikhail Surmava, Rector of the Catholic Church of the Assumption of Virgin Mary in village of Vale.

Meanwhile, Mikhail Surmava noted that he had not filed a complaint to the police.

Akhaltsikhe and Tao-Klarjeti Metropolitan Theodore Chuadze called the incident "a crime and an insult to the church, the icons and the shrines we worship."

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.