The Constitutional Agreement between the Georgian state

Georgia (country)

Georgia is a sovereign state in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the southwest by Turkey, to the south by Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan. The capital of...

 and the Apostolic Autocephalous Orthodox Church of Georgia , informally referred to as the Concordat

Concordat

A concordat is an agreement between the Holy See of the Catholic Church and a sovereign state on religious matters. Legally, they are international treaties. They often includes both recognition and privileges for the Catholic Church in a particular country...

, is an agreement between the Georgian Orthodox Church (GOC) and the state that defines relations between the two entities. It was signed by President of Georgia

President of Georgia

The President of Georgia is the head of state, supreme commander-in-chief and holder of the highest office within the Government of Georgia. Executive power is split between the President and the Prime Minister, who is the head of government...

 Eduard Shevardnadze

Eduard Shevardnadze

Eduard Shevardnadze is a former Soviet, and later, Georgian statesman from the height to the end of the Cold War. He served as President of Georgia from 1995 to 2003, and as First Secretary of the Georgian Communist Party , from 1972 to 1985. Shevardnadze was responsible for many top decisions on...

 and Patriarch of Georgia Ilia II

Ilia II

Ilia II is the current Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia and the spiritual leader of the Georgian Orthodox Church...

 on October 14, 2002 at the Cathedral of the Living Pillar

Svetitskhoveli Cathedral

Svetitskhoveli Cathedral is a Georgian Orthodox cathedral located in the historical town of Mtskheta, Georgia, northwest of the nation's capital of Tbilisi....

 in Mtskheta

Mtskheta

Mtskheta , one of the oldest cities of the country of Georgia , is located approximately 20 kilometers north of Tbilisi at the confluence of the Aragvi and Kura rivers. The city is now the administrative centre of the Mtskheta-Mtianeti region...

, Georgia.

• The concordat confirms the GOC’s ownership of all churches and monasteries on the territory of Georgia except for those currently privately owned.
• The agreement recognizes the special role of the GOC in the history of Georgia
  History of Georgia (country)
  The nation of Georgia was first unified as a kingdom under the Bagrationi dynasty in the 9th to 10th century, arising from a number of predecessor states of ancient Colchis and Iberia...
  
   and devolves authority over all religious matters to it.
• The concordat also gives the patriarch immunity, grants the GOC the exclusive right to staff the military chaplaincy, exempts GOC clergymen from military service, and gives the GOC a unique consultative role in government, especially in the sphere of education.
• The government of Georgia recognizes the legitimacy of the wedding ceremonies performed by the Georgian Orthodox Church, while maintaining that in legal matters government records must be used.
• As a partial owner of what had been confiscated from the church under Soviet
  Soviet Union
  The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
  
   rule (1921-1991), the State pledges to recompense, at least partially, for the damage.

Georgian Orthodox Church is the only officially recognized religious denomination in Georgia. Although other minorities such as Catholics and Muslims have the freedom to exercise their religion, they can officially register their religious groups only as organizations, and not as churches. Moreover, while there are other smaller branches of Eastern Orthodox Christianity in Georgia such as the Russian Orthodox, they are all subject to the jurisdiction of the GOC on all territory of the Georgian republic.