The establishment of the Diocese of Western Europe is associated with His Holiness, the Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia, Archbishop of Mtskheta-Tbilisi, and Metropolitan of Bichvinta and Tskhum-Abkhazia, His Holiness and Beatitude Ilia II. By his blessing, and in accordance with the decree of the Holy Synod of the Georgian Orthodox Church, the Diocese of Western Europe was founded on October 17, 2002.
This date represents an important milestone both in the martyrological history of the ancient autocephalous Georgian Orthodox Church and in its modern history, particularly in relation to the pastoral care of thousands of its faithful scattered abroad. As early as 2009, the dioceses of Great Britain and Ireland were separated from it; subsequently, in 2014, the dioceses of Germany and Austria, as well as Belgium and the Netherlands, were likewise established.
Undoubtedly, for the millions of Georgians living in emigration, the functioning of churches and monasteries, as well as the increase in the number of clergy beyond the borders of Georgia, constituted an urgent necessity. As an independent ecclesiastical body, the Georgian Orthodox Church, in deciding to establish dioceses within its jurisdiction in Western Europe, thereby defined its pastoral and spiritual responsibility toward tens of thousands of compatriots living abroad in emigration.
At that time, with the blessing of Patriarch Ilia II, only three parishes were functioning in Western Europe: in Strasbourg, Brussels, and Munich.
