His Holiness, llia II (Irakli Shiolashvili), was born in 1933. In 1956,
young Heraclius (Irakli) entered the Moscow Theological Seminary and
Academy where, on April 16,1957, he was tonsured a monk with the
name llia. On May 10,1957, he was ordained a Prie stmonk by the late
Patriarch Alexis of Moscow and All Russia. On August 25,1963, Father
Ilia was consecrated as Bishop of Shemokmedi and Vicar to the Georgian
Patriarch Ephrem II. From 1963 to 1972, Bishop llia was rector of the
Georgian Orthodox Theologi cal Seminary and from 1967, Bishop of the
Diocese of Sukhumi and Abkhazia. During this period, Bishop llia made
many trips abroad on behalf of the Georgian Church. On December 23,
1977 upon the death of the Catholicos-Patriarch David V, Metropolitan
Ilia was elected the new primate of Georgian Orthodox Church.
On December 25, he was formally enthroned as Catholicos-Patriarch in
the ancient Cathedral of the Dormtion of the Mother of God in Tbilisi, the
capital of Georgia. During his tenure as Primate, the Catholicos-Patriarch
has been known a particularly energetic churchman. The number of
functioning churches in Georgia has more than doubled, a number of monasteries have been repaired and opened,
the number of seminarians has also doubled, additional bishops have been consecrated, and the Georgian Church,
in general, has been experiencing a revival, especially characterized by an influx of youth into the churches.