CRRC, ARISC and American Councils are pleased to announce the 3rd session of the Fall 2025 Tbilisi Works-in-Progress series!
This week’s session will be virtual only on Zoom and will be accessible via this registration link: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/D670Ebg1S5yoYnE9uXEgZg
“Autocephaly and the Orthodox Church in Georgia”
Paul Crego, U.S. Library of Congress, ret.
Date: 29 October 2025, 18:30 Tbilisi time
This talk will focus on general theological issues surrounding the concept of autocephaly in the Orthodox Churches, as well as some critical historical topics. The latter include a look at Vaxtang Gorgasali and his relationship to the Church and modern difficulties with the Orthodox Church of Russia and important 20th century moments of recognition of the Georgian Church’s autocephaly.
Dr. Paul Crego is retired from the U.S. Library of Congress where he was a cataloger of Georgia, Armenian, and Amharic books. He also spent a year as the staff fellow in the John W. Kluge Center working on a study of Abkhazia in its historical context. Dr. Crego brings together his formal study of “Soviet” studies (B.A.-Syracuse, M.A.-Harvard University) and theology (M.Div.-Harvard Divinity School, Ph.D. in Theology-Boston College). He has spoken in the United States and the Republic of Georgia on topics of religious interest, including studies of the hagiography of St. Nino, including how she is presented in modern settings. Modern political research has included the place of the LGBT community in Georgia and other issues of identity in the Georgian society. He is currently an editorial assistant for the project of translating the Episcopal Church’s 1979 Book of Common Prayer into Georgian.
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Works-in-Progress is an ongoing academic discussion series based in Tbilisi, Georgia, that takes place at the CRRC office at Chavchavadze Ave. 5 and online. It is co-organized by the Caucasus Research Resource Centers (CRRC) Georgia, the American Councils for International Education, and the American Research Institute of the South Caucasus (ARISC). All of the talks are free and open to the public.
In observation of the spirit of the Chatham House Rule, the talks will not be recorded, and we courteously request that the other participants refrain from recording and/or distributing recordings as well or citing anything expressed therein in the press without explicit permission. The opinions expressed in WiP talks are those of the speakers alone, and do not necessarily reflect the views of CRRC, ARISC or of American Councils.