THE PARTICIPATION AND ROLE OF SECULAR AUTHORITIES IN THE FORMATION OF ECCLESIASTICAL ADMINISTRATIVE UNITS (BISHOPRICS) AND IN THE ESTABLISHMENT OF ECCLESIASTICAL HIERARCHIES (The Catholicate of Abkhazia, 15th–18th Centuries)”

Abstract

The disintegration of the unified Georgian feudal monarchy and the formation of independent kingdoms and principalities in Western Georgia brought significant changes to the life of the Church. The Exarchate of Abkhazia, located in Western Georgia, separated from the Exarchate of Mtskheta in Eastern Georgia, which was not a purely religious-canonical internal ecclesiastical process; it was a direct result of the political separatism of the secular authorities in Western Georgia.

In the region dissolved into the Kingdom of Imereti, and the principalities of Guria and Odishi, the Exarchate of Abkhazia was the only institution that united them. Therefore, the kings and princes sought to gain political hegemony by attempting to exert influence over the Abkhazian Catholicos..

To strengthen their political positions, kings and princes established new episcopates and appointed selected candidates as their leaders. In the 15th to 18th centuries, ecclesiastical structures in Western Georgia were extremely politicized.

Keywords: Western Georgia, the Catholicosate of Abkhazia, The establishment of bishopric, The appointment of ecclesiastical hierarchs, The relationship between secular and ecclesiastical authority.