Tbilisi, March 7, 2019
Photo: Facebook Georgian theologian Gocha Barnovi was fired from his position as lecturer at the Tbilisi Seminary and Academy due to his unacceptable statements about the Ukrainian autocephaly crisis.
The Seminary Council discussed whether to suspend Barnovi’s right to lecture at the school for three hours, reports Georgia Online. Barnovi wrote on Facebook that out of 35 members of the board, only 3 resisted the decision to let him go.
Barnovi’s page is filled with links and posts in support of the Patriarchate of Constantinople’s actions in Ukraine and of the Ukrainian schismatic church. On February 1, he predicted that if the Georgian Church does not recognize the Ukrainian schismatics, there will be a split in the Georgian Church, with one part being recognized by Constantinople and the other becoming the Georgian branch of the “schismatic” Russian Church.
In January, Georgia Online reported that Barnovi lambasted the bishops of the Georgian Church and the Georgian state for not recognizing and congratulating the Ukrainian schismatic church on its creation. In his view, “all the normal and sane leaders of the Church are gradually beginning to recognize” the group led by “Metropolitan” Epiphany Dumenko.
“The Church of Georgia today or tomorrow will still have to recognize the autocephaly of the Church of Ukraine, just the sooner it happens, the better,” but the bishops “take a very shameful position,” he said. He also accused the bishops of being pro-Russian, though this ignores the fact that no Church, whether Slavic, Greek, Antiochian, Romanian, Albanian, etc. has as yet recognized the Ukrainian schismatics.
Barnovi was also among 30 “theologians and intellectuals” of the Georgian Church who took the initiative to congratulate Epiphany Dumenko on the occasion of his enthronement.
At first the theologian was temporarily suspended because of his statements, as his position on the Ukrainian issue was deemed unacceptable for the seminary and the Patriarchate. Barnovi claims he was branded “an enemy of the Patriarch and other heads of the Church” and that the Church is afraid of a younger generation that will be willing to speak its mind.
He does not rule out the possibility of taking the matter to court, but says he will not change his position.
The school says Barnovi is suspended as a teacher until he repents of making such statements, and that his current status is not only due to statements about Ukrainian autocephaly.
“First of all, this was due to the fact that his statement was extremely incorrect, which is generally unacceptable and is a violation of the Academy’s internal regulations. He admitted this, and even repented and apologized for this part,” the school explained.
Follow us on Facebook!
