Granting the legal status to the Armenian Apostolic Church does not equate it with the Georgian Orthodox church. It should be explained during the religious council, said Georgian Archbishop Seraphim.

“The Armenian side stated it owns 600 churches located in Georgia and demands six of them urgently,” he said stressing that the government amended the Civil Code solely in order to improve relations between Apostolic and Orthodox churches, Georgian Pirveli agency reports.

“It’s amazing we are only talking about the fact that religious communities are given the status but forget that Georgians are not allowed entering church in Saingilo located in the territory of Azerbaijan,” he said.  

Georgian parliament passed amendments to Civil Code granting legal status to the Armenian Apostolic Church, Roman Catholic Church, the Muslim community, the Jewish community and the Baptist church in Georgia. Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili approved the bill on July 5.