Today, I extend a particular greeting to the Georgian Defence Forces, to every soldier who faithfully guards the dignity and freedom of the Motherland. The Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia, Archbishop of Mtskheta-Tbilisi and Metropolitan of Bichvinta and Tskhum-Abkhazia, Shio III, said in his address at the ceremonial event dedicated to Georgia`s Independence Day.

"Remember: each of you must be not only a guarantor of the state’s security, but also an example of peace, responsibility, and love of country to your fellow citizens. The strength of an army ought to be manifest not in the desire for war, but in the preservation of peace. Peace is that highest of aims which establishes eternal values amongst men and true freedom.

I also wish to address our future generations. As the holy Apostle Paul says, you have been called to freedom: you are the hope and the strength of Georgia. It is therefore important that you understand the essence of freedom rightly. In the modern world, we often encounter mistaken notions of what freedom is. People are led to believe that freedom consists solely in the rejection of all constraint; in truth, genuine freedom is, first and foremost, responsibility, faith in God, inner fortitude, and an honest and virtuous life. It is the overcoming of vice and passion; it is the obligation to do what is right and pleasing to God. Only a generation raised in the understanding of these values will be capable of preserving the unity of our country and the independence of our state.

Freedom must not be reduced to a mere political acquisition and an inheritance from the past; rather, we must labor and strive each day for its consolidation. Let our statehood and independence be founded upon love of God and of the Motherland, upon justice and peace, upon unity and tolerance, upon service to our neighbor and to the common good of humanity, for a strong state is built only when these virtues prevail in society and when the people are united by devotion to common national goals and to spiritual and moral values.

Once again, I congratulate you all on Independence Day. May God bless you and give you strength. May God bless, strengthen, and unite all of Georgia", - said the Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia, Shio III.