In Defense of Metropolitan Shio
The Metropolitan of Senaki does not owe his place to Patr. Kirill of Moscow. He owes his place to his own saintly predecessor: Patr. Ilia II of Georgia.
Things aren’t looking so good for the “Orthodox Church of Ukraine.”
To date, only three churches recognize this schismatic body: the Ecumenical Patriarchate, the Patriarchate of Alexandria, and the Church of Greece. Taken together, they represent less than 10 percent of Orthodox Christians worldwide.
Meanwhile, there are eleven universally-recognized autocephalous churches that remain loyal to the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church. This includes the ancient Patriarchates of Antioch and Jerusalem.
Meanwhile, Orthodox Christians in Greece—including several bishops—are becoming more vocal in their dissent from the Phanar’s position. Many were already sympathetic to the UOC’s position, canonically speaking. But the Ukrainian government’s persecution of the UOC has caused waves of outrage across the Greek-speaking world.
The courage and charity displayed by the UOC faithful have transformed them from tragic victims to living martyrs. It is hardly surprising to hear a bishop of the Church of Greece declare his support for the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and its steadfast leader, His Beatitude Metr. Onuphriy of Kyiv.
The OCU’s supporters see the writing on the wall and are becoming increasingly desperate. On May 2, the Orthodox Times (a pro-Phanar website funded by the State Department) published an editorial on the upcoming patriarchal elections in Georgia.
In it, Orthodox Times editor-in-chief Efi Efthymiou claims that Patr. Kirill of Moscow issued a “warning” to the next Georgian patriarch that he should support the UOC. According to Efthymiou, this constitutes “direct intervention” by the MP into the Georgian election.
Yet look at what Patr. Kirill actually said:
Some Churches do not support the intervention of the Phanar in Ukraine. A special place is held by the Patriarchates of Antioch and Jerusalem. This stance carries particular weight in the Orthodox world. The Churches of Bulgaria and Albania, where new Primates have recently been elected, have not changed their position on the Ukrainian issue.
We hope that the same will be the case in the Orthodox Church of Georgia, which will soon elect its new Primate following the repose, in March of this year, of the late Catholicos-Patriarch Ilia II.
This is, in no sense, a “warning.” There’s no threat, explicit or veiled. There’s no suggestion of negative consequences. Patr. Kirill simply expressed his hope that Ilia’s successor will remain aligned with the 90 percent of Orthodox Christians who support the UOC rather than the ten percent who support the OCU.
It’s clear what the Orthodox Times is doing, isn’t it?
Georgia’s patriarchal throne was left vacant by the death of the great Ilia II on March 17, 2026. Upon his death, Ilia’s fame spread like wildfire. Non-Orthodox, and even non-Christians, were amazed by the man’s life and legacy. Videos of mourners in the streets of Tblisi—thousands and thousands of souls saying goodbye to their spiritual father—went viral. His cause for canonization is already in the works.
As it happens, the saintly Ilia was a loyal friend of Metr. Onuphriy and the UOC. This fact is deeply embarrassing to the OCU and its supporters in the Phanar.
What’s more, Metr. Shio of Senaki—the leading candidate to become Georgia’s next patriarch—also backs the UOC.
This is why Efthymiou and the Orthodox Times are trying to discredit Metr. Shio preemptively by implying that he’s a Muscovite puppet. They’re laying the groundwork so that, if he wins the patriarchal election, they can blame “Russian interference.”
What they won’t report is that Metr. Shio was, essentially, Ilia’s handpicked successor. In 2017, the late patriarch chose Shio as his locum tenens. This is why Metr. Shio was talked about as Ilia’s likely successor even before Russia invaded Ukraine. Most of Georgia’s bishops, priests, and laymen trusted that the venerable Ilia would not “leave them orphans,” as it were.
Of course, this isn’t the first time a supporter of the schismatic OCU has slandered their opponent as a Russian puppet merely for defending the UOC. Yet if Metr. Shio wins the patriarchal election, we may hope it’s the last. Hopefully the Orthodox Times and its ilk will realize these underhanded tactics don’t work anymore.
Michael W. Davis is General Editor of the Union of Orthodox Journalists, USA. Follow him on Twitter and Substack.
