Georgian Parliament Speaker: Georgia made civilisational choice 1 700 years ago by adopting Christianity

Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili said on Friday that Georgia made a civilizational choice 1 700 years ago by adopting Christianity, adding that the country’s task today is to understand the significance of that choice and turn its accumulated spiritual and cultural experience into a resource for building the future.

Speaking at a conference on the foundations of European civilization and 1 700 years of Christianity in Georgia, Papuashvili discussed how Georgia can transform the civilizational choice it made 1 700 years ago into a resource for shaping its future

“Our wish is for this anniversary year to become not only an occasion to commemorate Georgia’s history, but also an opportunity for a broader European discussion - a discussion about the place of Christian heritage in modern Europe; how dialogue between parliaments and churches can be open, regular and based on mutual respect; how politics can protect and strengthen the family; and ultimately, how a free and pluralistic society can preserve the value-based foundation without which freedom easily loses its sense of responsibility, while politics loses its human dimension”, he said

“1 700 years ago, Georgia made a civilizational choice by adopting Christianity. Over the past 1 700 years, defending this choice has required countless sacrifices”, Papuashvili noted.

He emphasised that every generation in Georgia has faced the same choice: whether to continue the path chosen by its ancestors while taking contemporary challenges into account, or to fully adapt to changing political and cultural circumstances.

“Our task is to understand what this choice means in the modern world and how we can turn the spiritual and cultural experience accumulated over centuries into a resource for building the future”, Papuashvili concluded.