As if the state mattered: Georgian Orthodox Church under Covid crisis

This chapter examines the nature of the interaction between the Georgian Orthodox Church (GOC) and the state during the pandemic. The article shows how the church’s gradual acknowledgment of the deadly character of the virus coincided with a strict adherence to certain highly risky religious practices (such as communion from the same spoon), while the Georgian government’s stance in defense of public health was unsystematic and accommodative to the church’s pressure. Despite numerous attempts of individual clerics, especially urban and youngers priests, the official statement of the patriarchate of the GOC did not change. The church remained abstained on the vaccination front by neither officially calling the religious population to vaccinate nor rejecting the positive effects of vaccination in the mitigation of virus. Suffice it to state that the Georgian government’s vaccination campaign has been inconsistent and unsystematic with several senior state officials and top medical experts sending mixed signals to the population about vaccination.