On July 13, 2026, the Orthodox Apostolic Church of Georgia honors the memory of the Holy Twelve Apostles and celebrates Svetitskhovloba, the feast of the Patriarchal Cathedral of Svetitskhoveli.
The feast was celebrated with special splendor and spiritual joy at the Patriarchal Cathedral of Svetitskhoveli, which is dedicated to the Holy Twelve Apostles.
The festal Divine Liturgy was led by the Catholicos-Patriarch Shio of Georgia.
Members of the Holy Synod concelebrated, along with the deputy dean of the Cathedral and other clergy.
Following the Divine Liturgy, a procession took place around the church. The Patriarch then addressed the congregation with a fatherly homily and wished everyone well on this great feast.
Read below the sermon of Catholicos-Patriarch Shio of All Georgia:
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit!
Most Reverend Hierarchs,
Honored fathers and mothers,
Beloved brothers and sisters!
I congratulate you on the memory of the Twelve Apostles and on the feast of Svetitskhoveli. Today is also the feast day of this magnificent cathedral, since it is dedicated to the name of the Twelve Apostles.
We often fail to realize how grateful we ought to be to the Apostles. Their persons and their labors are the very foundation of our Church. It could be said that the fact our nation exists and lives on today is owed to their labor, to their preaching, because the acceptance of Christianity and the subsequent faithfulness to the Orthodox Church were what preserved our nation, both physically and spiritually. Indeed, we believe that faithfulness to the Church and the continuation of the apostolic way are the pledge of our further preservation and growth.
This year, we are celebrating the 1700th anniversary of the proclamation of Christianity as the state religion in Georgia. We are blessed to mark this anniversary, and this too is owed to their labor and their preaching, for the work of St. Nino was itself a continuation of their ministry.
We rejoice that even today, in our own age, in our recent history, there have been such spiritual men, and that we ourselves have had the blessing of knowing such people. One of the foremost figures in the whole Orthodox world today was the now-reposed Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia, Ilia II. We are blessed to have lived through his labors and to be his successors, just as, as I mentioned, we are first and foremost successors of the Apostles.
Let us then reflect today: are we ready to carry on this inheritance, to imitate their example, to follow their path?
Today at the Epistle reading, we heard the words of the Apostle Paul: “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ” (1 Cor. 11:1). Are we ready to become their imitators? For they completed their labor at the cost of their own lives, and every one of them, without exception, died a martyr’s death, except for John the Theologian, who nonetheless endured immense suffering of his own. Are we ready for this path, to become their disciples and successors?
Let us examine ourselves as well. For example, when some earthly, worldly benefit awaits us, we are often willing to endure all manner of hardship, trial, sorrow, even humiliation and punishment, so long as we achieve that worldly goal, because, I repeat, some benefit awaits us.
Yet in the work of the soul’s salvation, and likewise in striving, so to speak, to gain God’s favor, we often show laziness, carelessness, indifference, and ingratitude. What excuse could we have for such conduct, when we see how much good we have received from God, our country, our families, each of us personally, and how much good we continue to receive even today?
The Holy Apostles were not like this. They burned with love for Christ. This is beautifully expressed in the words of the Apostle Paul. He writes: Who shall separate us (meaning the Apostles) from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? (Rom. 8:35). That is to say, not only can no manner of tribulation separate us from the love of Christ, but even the threat of death itself cannot separate us from Christ, nor can it make us afraid.
Such was the love and such was the faith they possessed. Although the Apostles indeed passed through all these trials just mentioned (and these are described in great detail), they nevertheless carried great joy in their hearts and labored joyfully, for they knew that for their temporary affliction, sorrow, and hardship, heavenly crowns and a great reward, the grace of God, awaited them. For this reason, they considered all these things as nothing, endured them with patience, and the more they endured, the more grace and joy they received.
Beloved brothers and sisters, let us too strive to love our Lord Jesus Christ in this way. Indeed, the Lord asks nothing more of us than to love Him and to keep His commandments. Whoever loves the Lord in this way keeps His commandments as well, because when you love someone, you strive to become worthy of their love too.
As St. John Chrysostom writes in such wondrous words: to become loveworthy of being loved by the Lord as one ought, this is already the Kingdom of Heaven, this is blessedness, this brings countless blessings.
But for our love to be true and sincere, for the sake of the love of God we must also love our neighbor, as the Lord says, that on these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength, and thy neighbor as thyself” (Mark 12:30). These two commandments are naturally bound to one another, for whoever loves God will never wrong his neighbor, but rather will always do good to him, because he remembers the words of the Lord Jesus Christ: whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me (Matt. 25:40).
Thus, when a person encounters someone poor, needy, destitute, or begging, he does not see before him merely a poor or needy person, but sees the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, who promised us that the good we do for such a person will be counted as good done for Christ Himself. And so, I repeat, such a person always sees the greatness of Christ rather than the poor man before him; he does everything with great zeal and performs acts of mercy with great love and great eagerness.
And so, beloved brothers and sisters, today is the feast of the Apostles. They were preachers of truth and of love. Let us not neglect, then, this chief remedy for our soul, love toward our neighbor, mercy, sympathy, and compassion, for, as I have told you, this is the chief remedy for our soul and its wounds; this medicine heals our soul so completely that no wound remains in it, as though it had never existed at all. Let us recall, for example, St. Paul the Apostle, who was once a fierce persecutor and ravager of the Church, and who became not merely a believer, not merely an apostle, but a leader of the Church. Such a wondrous change took place in him. Such a wondrous change will take place in us too, if we remain faithful to this path, and not only in each of us personally, but our whole nation will be transformed still further for the better, will be strengthened, and will be made whole.
May God bless you and strengthen you! Once again, I congratulate you on the memory of the Twelve Apostles; may the grace and the prayer of the Apostles be with you and with all of Georgia! Through the prayers of the Apostles, may God protect, strengthen, unite, and save all of Georgia. Amen!
Photographs: Nino Sozashvili
