A priest has been arrested on his way to visit Patriarch Ilia II (pictured) -AFP photo
TBILISI: Georgia’s Orthodox Church was rocked Monday after police announced the arrest of a priest over a suspected poisoning plot targeting a high-ranking Church figure.
Prosecutors in the Caucasus nation said they caught archpriest Giorgi Mamaladze with sodium cyanide on February 10 as he boarded a plane to Berlin, where Patriarch Ilia II was awaiting a gallbladder operation.
The country’s chief prosecutor said in a statement that Mamaladze was in pre-trial detention on “suspicion of plotting to murder a high-ranking Church official”.
The statement did not specify the target of the plot but the prime minister responded by ordering increased security for 83-year-old Ilia.
Mamaladze, who is director general of the Georgian Church’s medical clinic, “had systematic contacts” with the patriarch, prosecutors said.
Ilia — who has long suffered ill health — successfully underwent the gallbladder operation in Germany on Monday, Georgian media reported.
The conservative Georgian Orthodox Church — followed by more than 80 percent of the 4.5 million population — is one of several distinct Eastern Orthodox Churches, which also include the Greek and Russian Churches.
Ilia II — who has led the Church such since 1977 — wields significant influence on Georgia’s social and political life.
He oversaw a major revival of the Church after Georgia regained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.
The Church was severely repressed during the Soviet era and Tsarist Russia’s occupation of Georgia. -AFP