Georgia’s Facebook Curse

Georgia is earning plaudits from social media fans for being Facebook-friendly on an unrivaled scale for the South Caucasus. With nearly 14 percent of its population now Facebook users (638,620 people), Georgians increasingly check and share news, rally for various causes, play and interact on the network.

Among their number is one Georgian Orthodox priest, who, angered by recent legislative amendments that upgrade the status of Georgia's religious minorities, has posted a curse that is making the rounds.

The divisive legislation, which gave religious minorities registered in the European Union a similar status to that enjoyed by the Georgian Orthodox Church, has sparked fiery Facebook debates between liberal secularists and faithful traditionalists.

The debate takes many and various forms, including, now, a curse  from Father Bartlome [Bartholomew] Pirtskhalashvili  on the Georgian parliament for supporting the amendments.

Some Georgian Facebook users are reposting the curse to support the Church, others as a troubling example of religious fanaticism, and still others just for entertainment.  
  
“I curse every deputy who voted for this law,” reads Father Bartlome's now entirely public status update. Then he gets a little anatomical. “May the head on their shoulders be damned, the shoulders above their chest, the chest above their waist, the waist above their thighs, the thighs above their knees, the knees above their shins, the shins above their feet, the land under their feet … Amen!”

At least, legislative spleens, livers and other internal organs were spared.