Georgian Metropolitan deprived of diocese after his gay claims among priests

The Holy Synod of the Georgian Orthodox Church has pronounced a decision to remove Metropolitan Peter Tsaava from management of the Chkondidi Diocese because of his allegations of gays among priests.

At a meeting on October 31, the Synod made a decision to punish Peter Tsaava. The Synod deprived Peter Tsaava of his rank, removed him from the diocese, and sent him to a monastery for repentance.

Members of the Synod unanimously decided to punish the priest. They explained his accusations by malice and his inability to control himself.

"The Synod made an unprecedented decision: the Patriarch personally deprived me of the rank of bishop. I think that it is not fair," said Peter Tsaava as quoted by the "News Georgia".

Edisher Karchava, a lawyer of the Patriarchate, stated that Peter Tsaava wanted to trample the authority of the Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia Ilia II and the Georgian Orthodox Church.

The scandal arose against the backdrop of the fact that this year, the Synod of the Georgian Orthodox Church is to decide on the issue of Tomos provided to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church by the Ecumenical Patriarch, emphasizes theologian Mamuka Putkaradze.

He notes that the Synod has not yet made a decision. "It is extremely important for Georgia to accept the Tomos in order to get out of the influence of the Russian Orthodox Church," the theologian believes.