TBILISI, Georgia, December 2, 2004 — A packed courtroom listened in astonishment to a long and passionate speech by a Baptist Bishop urging the release of his "outspoken enemy", a defrocked Orthodox priest responsible for physical attacks on Georgia's religious minorities.
Behind bars in the dock along with the former priest, Vasili Mkalavishvili, sat nine of his followers. They had been in prison awaiting trial since March on charges arising from a series of attacks on people and property belonging to minorities such as the Evangelical, Pentecostal and Baptist churches.
The man making the somewhat surprising plea on their behalf was the Presiding Bishop of the Evangelical Baptist Church and General Secretary of the UBS Representation in Georgia, Bishop Malkhaz Songulashvili.
In 2002 he asked President Eduard Shevardnadze for help and protection for Bible Society staff after hearing that followers of Mr Mkalavishvili were planning to attack his offices in Tbilisi and called on the international community to intervene in the face of threats to religious freedom in Georgia. In 2001 a mob of 60 of Mr Mkalavishvili's supporters ambushed a truck carrying books and blankets bound for the Bible Society, beating up three Society workers and setting fire to the goods.
In court this month lawyers representing the defendants could hardly believe what the Bishop was saying.
"Do you really say that you want to forgive them? Everything, including the material loss?" they asked.
"My answer was 'yes'," writes Bishop Songulashvili in his account of the events. "I explained that we were giving him absolution without conditions, as this is the true nature of Christian love and forgiveness."
Bishop Songulashvili then demonstrated his desire to offer forgiveness to Mr Mkalavishvili very visibly and dramatically by rushing to the area of the courtroom where the latter was being held behind bars and shaking his hand.
"This was one of the most moving experiences of my life," he recounts. "Some people were clapping, while others were weeping.
"Later, when I left the room, a small boy made his way to me through the crowds of adults. He grabbed my sleeve and said, 'Thank you, Bishop'. I turned to him and blessed him by laying my hand on him. I was later told that he was actually Mr Mkalavishvili's grandson!
"That same evening I received a message from the prisoners which read, 'Even if we are not released from here, we will be ever grateful to you'. That was the miracle of reconciliation."
A few days later, on November 14, a special service took place at the Cathedral Baptist Church in Tbilisi to mark the 10th anniversary of Bishop Songulashvili's appointment. Many well-wishers presented him with gifts, but the most precious of these, he told the congregation, were two small icons and a beautifully decorated cake sent on behalf of Mr Mkalavishvili. After the service there was a further gesture of reconciliation when Bishop Songulashvili and many of his guests joined parishioners from Mr Mkalavishvili's church for a traditional meal.
"I thank the Lord for all the wonders of life," concludes the Bishop's account. "I also thank everyone for their support and prayers in the days when we were persecuted by the renegade priest who has now become our friend."
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