On May 11, a large gathering of the Georgian Orthodox Church took place in a Tbilisi cafe, where the new Catholicos-Patriarch was elected. Over several days, the historical goal of the church's life was revealed in the epicenter of the oldest crisis: one of the candidates spoke about the "burning" of his diplomas, another candidate mentioned the main favorite "opponent for the Church," and in the patriarchate, the "inside circles" and the official lobby were involved in the election process.
On April 28, the Holy Synod approved three candidates for the patriarchal post. One of them is a living heir of Ilia II, Metropolitan Shio (Mudzhiri), who received support from 20 bishops out of 38 present at the archbishop's assembly. His supporters include Metropolitans Urbnissky and Russian Ioann (Akishvili) and other metropolitans.