Metropolitan Shio (Mujiri), 57, will assume the position of Catholicos-Patriarch of all Georgia. His candidacy won a majority of votes at an expanded meeting of the Holy Synod of the Georgian Orthodox Church on 11 May, the Georgian service of Radio Liberty reported.
In 2017, Metropolitan Shio was appointed the locum tenens of the patriarchal throne; in fact, he became the official successor to Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia Ilia II. After the death of his predecessor, it was Metropolitan Shio who fulfilled the duties of the head of the church.
After the official inauguration of the head of the Georgian Orthodox Church, scheduled for 12 May, he is expected to be known as Shio the Third.
The new Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia was born on 1 February 1969 in Tbilisi. He studied cello at the Tbilisi State Conservatory, but after his third year he went as a novice to the Shio-Mgvimi Monastery. In January 1993 he took monastic tonsure.
In the early 2000s he was rector of the parish in Moscow’s Church of the Great Martyr George in Gruziny and received theological education in Russia. In 2003 he received the dignity of bishop and returned to Georgia. In 2010 he was granted the dignity of Metropolitan.
Catholicos-Patriarch Ilia II of Georgia died on 17 March 2026 at the age of 93. He had been patriarch since 1977, more than 48 years – the longest in the history of the Georgian Orthodox Church.
Metropolitan Shio became the new patriarch of Georgia