Viewed over the last two or three decades religious life in Georgia can be
described as a process during which its religious organizations have been
adjusting to the changing historical and social contexts. They have gradually
shed the old Soviet ideas and moved toward so-called market principles.
During this process there have been elements that could be described as
radicalization. Georgian society stepped into the new reality after independence.
Some groups in and out of the church have had a hard time adapting
to that reality. There were reactions in society, which caused confrontation
between religious groups. However, seen as a whole, the process has never
reached the level of religious radicalization and is better described as a
process of transformation.
Georgia, a small country in South Caucasus, has frequently been the subject
of religious discussion. New York Times journalist Allen Barry discussed
it as a backward country with old-fashioned traditions1. Another author,
Mikhail Vignansky, described it as if he Georgian Patriarchate, was fighting
against Sectarians. There are several reports written on this issue. The following
paper will argue that, there is no religious radicalism in the country, but
the movements that are going on are matched with the transformation of the
religion more than with religious nationalism or radicalism.
The Georgian Orthodox Church (GOC), as the largest and most influential
organization, tried to stem the omnipresent market trends and insist on
its own ideas. Meanwhile the GOC and each of the religious organizations
have come face to face with globalization and the far from simple geopolitical
context in which the country has to live and develop.