Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia Shio III has called on students and educators at the beginning of the new academic year to focus not only on acquiring knowledge but also on the spiritual development of the individual.

The patriarch made the remarks after a prayer service at Tbilisi's Sioni Patriarchal Cathedral marking the beginning of the new ecclesiastical year, according to the Georgian Patriarchate's press service.

“True education is enlightenment through the light of Christ. This light must enter our heart and our soul, and then goodness will reign in our spiritual life,” Patriarch Shio said.

He stressed that developing a person's intellect and memory alone is insufficient for a complete education. Knowledge without moral guidance, he warned, can become “barren, harmful and even dangerous.”

According to the patriarch, the foundation of wisdom in the Christian understanding is the fear of God. Education, he said, should therefore include the cultivation of virtue and purity of heart. Such an approach enables people to benefit their country and help those around them.

“If a person does not have a good heart, their knowledge becomes barren, harmful and dangerous,” Shio III said.

The patriarch congratulated teachers, university students and schoolchildren on the beginning of the academic year and urged them to pray for wisdom, diligence and spiritual strength.

On September 14, the Georgian Orthodox Church celebrates the beginning of the ecclesiastical year, known as the Indiction. The day marks the start of the annual liturgical cycle, which includes church feasts, fasts and other services. By tradition, the ecclesiastical year begins on September 1 according to the Julian calendar.

Following the prayer service, Patriarch Shio also paid tribute to his predecessor, Patriarch Ilia II, by visiting his grave. Shio III noted that this was the first ecclesiastical year that the faithful were beginning without the late patriarch and recalled Ilia II's repeated calls to give special attention to spiritual education and purity of heart.