მართლმადიდებლური ეკლესიის პოლიტიკური როლი თანამედროვე საქართველოში: პატრიარქის ეპისტოლეების თვისებრივი ანალიზი

The Constitution of Georgia recognizes the special role of Orthodox Church in the
history of the country. The aim of the presented Master’s Thesis is to determine the political
role of the Orthodox Church in modern Georgia. Georgia is a secular state, therefore, the
church and the state must be separated from each other, though we often meet opposite
occasions. The in-depth analysis of these cases is my research interest. According to the
research hypothesis, the Church authority in the society determines its role in politics.
The Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia Ilia II has great authority in the country;
therefore its assessments have particular importance for Georgian society. Based on this, it is
important to analyze the epistles of the Patriarch. During the study is used the qualitative
research methodology: Patriarch’s epistles of the 1978-2017 is analyzed through the content
analysis. In addition, using experimental interviews, I tried to determine the authority of the
Church in the conditions of a secular state, its conditional factors and the political role of the
Orthodox Church in modern Georgia.
By a certain sense of scientific literature, secularism diminishes the Church’s authority
in society and its role in politics. However, on the basis of the research it was established that
Georgia is a state where the Church's authority isn’t decreased in secularism conditions;
moreover the Church's role in politics rises along with its authority.