Abkhazia 's Great (De Facto) Schism

God must be really confused at times by the religious squabbles in the South Caucasus, the Almighty’s favorite spot on earth, per local legends, and a place where church and politics are deeply intertwined. The latest in the centuries-old series of church mergers and break-ups comes from breakaway Abkhazia. Following long-running tensions, a schism in Abkhazia’s de facto independent church is now official.

It makes for an extremely complicated tableau. On May 15, a group of young Abkhaz clerics effectively parted ways with the territory’s de facto Orthodox leader, Father Vissarion Aplia, and declared a new diocese that will seek recognition of an independent Abkhaz Orthodox Church by the Patriarch of Constantinople, essentially the pope of the Christian Orthodox world.

Describing the clerics as "young, Western stipendiaries," supporters of the 70s-something Father Vissarion reminded "the dissenters" (раскольники) that the Abkhaz Orthodox Church's independence was already declared in 2009, and that their declaration "insulted" Father Vissarion as a "veteran of the Abkhaz People's Patriotic War" [meaning the 1992-1993 separatist conflict with Tbilisi]. 

So, to ballpark it, tiny Abkhazia now has two conflicting parties within an Orthodox church that, to begin with, is not formally recognized by the international Orthodox community. Abkhazia's parishes are still formally recognized as subject to the Georgian Orthodox Church.

Both wings of the de facto Abkhaz church want recognition of the region’s religious independence -- or autocephaly in church speak -- but they differ in their dealings with the Russian patriarchate.

Father Vissarion, who called the newborn diocese "illegal," smiles on closer ties with the Russian Orthodox Church. The clerics, not anti-Russian by a long shot,  take issue with a request by Father Vissarion for the Russian Orthodox Church to appoint an abbot to an Abkhaz monastery.

Georgian Patriarch Ilia II, in turn, has called on Abkhaz clerics to stop breaking into factions and return to Tbilisi’s canonical authority.

Confused already? Here's another plot twist: Lest it antagonize its Georgian brethren, the Russian Orthodox Church has so far stopped short of recognizing the Abkhaz Orthodox Church as independent.
 
These tensions among the cassocked crowd may seem esoteric to outsiders, but the rift cannot be underestimated in a region where the church is routinely seen as part and parcel of cultural -- and national -- identity.