Overview
- Ilia II was admitted to a Tbilisi hospital on Tuesday morning with massive stomach bleeding, according to the medical center.
- His death was announced later that day by Metropolitan Shio Mujiri, who will oversee the church until a new patriarch is elected.
- Authorities plan to transfer his body to Tbilisi’s Sameba Cathedral on Wednesday, and nationwide mourning has been declared.
- Over nearly five decades as patriarch since 1977, he rebuilt church institutions and expanded the church’s influence in Georgian public life and state affairs.
- Critics say the church under his leadership was too restrained toward government crackdowns and too close to the ruling Georgian Dream party, as high-profile figures such as billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili visited him shortly before his death.