Sawt Falasteen - Georgia enthrones new leader of powerful Orthodox Church

The choir echoed in the large stone halls of the ancient Mtskheta cathedral, the spiritual centre of the Caucasus nation, as Shio III was elevated as the 142nd Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia.

The 57-year-old was elected on Monday by the Holy Synod, the Church's highest governing body, ahead of two other candidates.

Born Elizbar Mujiri, he was educated in Georgia and Moscow, and is believed to have close ties to Georgia's ruling Georgian Dream party.

Party chief Bidzina Ivanishvili -- the Caucasus country's most powerful individual -- as well as Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze attended the ceremony.

Critics have also accused the new church leader of holding close ties to the Russian Orthodox Church.

Georgian Dream has been widely accused of derailing the country's path to European Union membership and tilting towards Russia's orbit -- an allegation it rejects -- and many fear the patriarch's election could further strengthen Russian influence in Georgia.

Georgian Church expert, Levan Sutidze, told AFP earlier this year that Mujiri "has close ties to both the Russian Church and Georgia's ruling party" and that it was "natural to expect an increase in Russian influence" if he were to be elected.

Shio III succeeds Ilia II, a towering figure in the Black Sea nation who sometimes mediated between political factions during the country's tumultuous post-Soviet period.

Ilia II died at 93 in March after spending nearly half a century at the helm of one of the country's most powerful institutions. He consistently topped opinion polls as Georgia's most trusted leader.

A special representative of Russian President Vladimir Putin attended the funeral of Ilia II, making the first visit to Georgia by a Russian official in nearly two decades.

The two countries fought a brief war in 2008 over the fate of Georgia's Moscow-backed separatist regions.

One of the world's 14 self-governed Orthodox Churches, the Georgian Church traces its origins to the early fourth century, when Christianity became the state religion of the ancient Georgian kingdom of Iberia.

K.AbuDahab--SF-PST