Turmoil about Christmas Epistle

Nino Devidze

On January 8, representatives of civil society protested in front of the Patriarchate. Protest assemblies of both supporters and opponents of the Patriarch’s Christmas Epistle turned into physical clash and patrol police arrested four persons as a result.

 

2014 Christmas Epistle was focused on family traditions, positive aspects of large families, role of woman and man in the family, about abortions and sexual minorities. Society had particularly sharp reaction on the part of the Epistle about children born as a result of artificial insemination and surrogation.

The Patriarch said that recent scientific-technical progress has raised many grave ethic problems. “How can a family, where a child born by a surrogate mother is raised, be happy? This little [child] is doomed to be deprived of love and is doomed to loneliness from the very beginning. Even if he is raised in welfare, nothing can compensate the gravity of pregnancy period and it will be reflected in the adulthood. Those children born through artificial insemination will be problematic too as they were developed after killing multiple embryos.”

Public Defender of Georgia also responded to this part of the Epistle.  He said such statements may contain risk. Ucha Nanuashvili thinks more caution is required when the Church is discussing such issues, which may cause infringement of human rights, moreover the rights of children. ““Such statements may give rise to discriminative views in the society towards the children born through artificial insemination and surrogacy as well as to formation of negative public attitude towards them that may cause their stigmatization and alienation from the society in the future.”

MP Tamar Kordzaia from parliamentary majority does not connect the public discontent only with the opinions expressed in the Epistle. 

“All this process did not refer to a person and did not demonstrate any care about people. I, as a member of the Human Rights Committee in the Parliament, think that person is supreme value; it was and is political declaration of the Georgian Dream and sharing this opinion I became member of the parliament. Georgian Constitution guarantees everybody’s rights.”

MP Eka Beselia from majority said: “We hurt the Patriarch’s heart though he does not deserve it. Our Patriarch is the biggest example of love, tolerance and modesty. He is not lawmaker. He is leader of the Church and speaks in the name of Christian Dogmas and laws. Whoever does not like those rules, will not follow them. Many European states forbid surrogation on the legislative level. In our country, it became a business and source of trafficking… However, children born with this method are as lovely as all other children, as our children.”

UNM lawmaker, Zurab Japaridze, called on the Patriarch:”I would like to ask you to return the belief to the families, where the children born through artificial insemination or by surrogate mothers are being raised, that these children are gifts from the God and not the wreath.” 

Minister of Healthcare Davit Sergeenko also responded to the Christmas Address: “Those experts, who have provided this recommendation, this analysis to the Patriarch, perhaps should have taken a more thorough look at the matter and should have made comprehensive and delicate analysis of such a sensitive issue.”

Patriarchate also responded to the feedback from the society and noted that they do not oppose children born through surrogation and insemination: “On the contrary, these children need more warmth, love and blessing from the Church. Therefore, such children are among those christened by the Patriarch and there is nothing surprising in that. It, however, does not mean that these methods are acceptable. The Church respects free choice of any person, but it also points at what it deems to be wrong. This is the duty of the Church.”

The Epistle also refers to the role of woman and man in the family. According to the Patriarch, women shall obey the man: “In the family spouses shall serve each other with love though they should always keep the hierarchy. The thing that man is head of the family does not mean his dominance over the wife but his sacrificed service, responsibility towards wife and children. He is guardian, breadwinner of the family and also clergyman of his house. He should urge the God for the welfare, love and blessing for his family members. Woman is responsible to take care of the house and family members, to grow up their children. Even if it may seem impossible, a woman should obey husband based on God’s commandments (but it does not imply obedience in wrong and sinful actions).

Civil society negatively evaluated this part of the Epistle too. Gender expert Natia Gvianishvili said women’s stigmatization policy of the Georgian Patriarchate is still reflected in the Epistle: “Similar statements reinforce stereotypes about women, who are perceived as minor citizens, who should obey husband and cannot independently live or/and keep family. It might encourage raise of domestic violence that is already very acute problem in our country.”