Catholicos-Patriarch
of Georgia Ilia II

   One can say that personalities as Mr. Eduard-Giorgi Shevardnadze remain inconceivable to their contemporaries because such people are born for great deeds, naturally meaning that their inner life is hidden to the outer world. There are many factors, however, that reveal the peculiar properties typical of his character: not least the fact that over a decade he has been the leader of the country and, simultaneously, is one of the creators of the global processes of worldwide significance; the fact that he managed to elevate himself from Saul to Paul and by his active participation in the collapse of the Communist system he has endowed the millions of people with the opportunity of a wonderful spiritual transformation.
   Great are the services of the President in providing the possibility of building new relationships among the leading states of the world at the contemporary stage of their development and many more.
  It is true that today mankind has stepped into a new political space, the world has become connected to a common network of information and the grandiose economic objectives have become the prerequisites for political stability. These very motives have been used by our President to attract international attention towards Georgia.
   Complex is the process of building up the new Georgia because it proceeds under the tremendous pressure from outside forces and with the background of social and economic hardships. On the face of it, the situation is rather serious but it is amidst this very grey life that the new Georgia, Georgia with absolutely different significance emerges inconspicuously. I won't exaggerate if I say that the future of the new Georgia will determine not only the fate of the citizens of our country, but also the future destiny of the leading countries of the world.
   Indeed, Georgia is acquiring international function. It is becoming a bridge between East and West, North and South, and all this is predominantly linked with the President's name.
   In such situation it is critically important that the ongoing processes are driven in the correct direction.
   Mr. Shevardnadze is indeed the person who was born to appear on the global scale. He perceives the world in its entirety but, as distinct from many others, he does not see its future as a monotonous process.
   “I believe in the necessity of the existence of a diverse cultural world” - he writes. And, therefore, it is natural that the following question arises: How will our country with its small population withstand the various challenges of the new age and retain its independence, on one hand, and originality and the continuous link with the past, on the other.

   It is an irrefutable fact that when an individual or a nation, regardless of its economic might, forgets the eternal values it starts moving towards the abyss. For Georgians eternal values are associated with a true Faith in a true God and that is why the mystery of our salvation lies in the Georgian nation's self-sacrificing love of God.
   Today, however, there is a confrontation among us, a conflict between culture and pseudo-culture, morality and immorality, true faith and a general belief with no meaning, between real and false liberty. It is as if our nation is making a choice between these two big objectives - the good and the evil.
   I trust that Georgia shall endure every hardship, pressure of every foe, Georgia shall withstand the assault even of the Anti-Christ because our heart, our mind and soul shall be imbued with the faith of God and it will become the decisive factor of our everyday life, thought and actions.
   The multitude of newly built churches and monasteries erected in all parts of Georgia give grounds for hope, the Saint Trinity Cathedral being built on Mount Elia in Tbilisi holding a prominent place among them.
   It is not only the construction of the century - it is the construction of the Millennium!
   The Trinity Cathedral holds the answer to many questions.
   The Trinity Cathedral is a demonstration of the nation's dignity and is a seal of our faithfulness to God.
   I am delighted that all of us have contributed to its construction.
   We all know that the time when even the most wide-ranging confrontations between various countries did not jeopardize mankind, has become history. Today even insignificant conflicts may result in a world-wide catastrophe. The age of “cold peace” prevails when nobody is aware of the course of its future development.
   The French writer Philippe Augier writes: “Today universe needs new ethics as it always did in the past when the times of hardship and disaster were approaching. It needs noble idealists and energetic, spirited and prudent supporters, people that would be able to find ways for mutual cooperation to take up the new challenges of the universe.”
   For me, Eduard-Giorgi Shevardnadze is one such politician.
   I implore God for “peace and humanity to prevail on earth” with the help of the Lord and the effort of “reasonable and noble idealists”.

   I want wholeheartedly to congratulate Mr. President on his 75th birthday and wish him longevity and indefatigable activity for the well-being of our country and all people of good will.

Tamaz Gamkrelidze
Academician

   “So you see, Your Excellency, nothing in the world happens without Georgians” - says Eduard Shevardnadze with the sense of humor peculiar to him in response to the greeting of Doctor Dibken, the Berlin Oberburgomeister in the Scharlottenburg Palace where the Georgian delegation headed by Eduard Shevardnadze, the then Head of State, was visiting the mayor of unified Berlin. Here Doctor Dibken addressed the Immanuil Kant International Prize winner - Eduard Shevardnadze, with the following words: “One Georgian has split Berlin and the whole world and another Georgian has unified it.” This phrase of Eduard Shevardnadze's about Georgians, tinted with humor, was said in response to this very greeting. But the thing is that the entire world apprehended all this at that time without any humor whatsoever and it is the same today. Today in many parts of the world, on all continents, Georgia is identified with Eduard Shevardnadze's name. And what is more, Georgia is known thanks to Eduard Shevardnadze who has placed our small country on the map of geostrategic interests of the largest states of the world.
   We - Georgia and Georgians - should not lose this political capital associated with Eduard Shevardnadze's name. Our country will need this personal political potential for a long time in order to get firmly established on a global scale, strengthening the foothold that it has gained in the more complicated world riven by international terrorism and “clashes of civilizations”.
   I wish the President of Georgia for his 75th birthday strong health, sprightliness and endurance in the face of the most complex state problems.

Mariam Lortkipanidze
Academician

Dear Mr. President,

   Please accept my most heartfelt congratulations on your birthday?! May I wish you the main thing - good health. I want to congratulate Mrs. Shevardnadze, your most faithful friend and companion, whose support has considerably determined your life path and your choices; a person who has alleviated and shared the complexities that you have been surmounting since your early youth.
   Your course of life was not an easy one, hard to go through and sometimes even puzzling. It was difficult to appreciate your so-called “Abasha experiment”. What were you aiming at?
   The attitude of the first secretary of the Communist Party to the monuments of Georgian culture was incomprehensible. You may remember the negotiations with the leaders of the meeting that assembled in front of the Government House when you denied permission to relocate certain items (the Bichvinta Icon, The Bedia Bardzimi…) to the Abkhazian Museum of the study of local folklore. Your attitude to the Georgian language problem was difficult to appreciate…
   I used to argue about these and similar issues with Niko Chavchavadze. I used to ask him to help me understand what the matter was. “You'll see,” he used to reply. We have lived up to it and we did see. However, we happened to find ourselves among the ruins of a large empire and finding the way out of these ruins turned out to be extremely difficult and painful. It is true that ten years of history is an insignificant period but what about the life of a human being? We cannot forgive you the dire economic condition that our people are experiencing, the existing complicated social situation. People fail to appreciate modest but major positive progress.
   You are looking far ahead: Georgia's accession to international structures, the recent development - the dream of the leaders and the participants of the National Movement in terms of finding access to the North Atlantic Alliance is not just a dream any longer, this has become a reality. And only this reality might establish stability for Georgia and relieve it of the threat of continuous military aggression. Georgia is not solely a petitioner, though it is one of the guarantors of the world equilibrium. We all realize, however, that this tremendous and extremely difficult deed is your achievement - the major breakthrough, the accomplishment of most complex political moves and diplomatic attainments.
   We are not requesting, we are demanding of you to do your paramount duty - restore the integrity of Georgia.
   Many happy returns of the day!
   God protect you and God bless you!

Chabua Amirejibi
Writer

Dear Mr. President,

   Many happy returns of the day! I want to wish the Georgian nation and the Georgian State your sound health and a ten-fold willingness and capability to proceed with your goals!
   I can't say whether I have arrived at such a conclusion myself or whether this idea belongs to someone else, but I profoundly believe that it is not money, ideas or some other things that rule over the universe but something that the great Sulkhan-Saba Orbeliani termed “concern over someone else's good” that is envy - the vilest characteristic of a person! Envy activates the evil inherent in bad people. If it were not the case, how could a whole layer of impotents and abusers proliferate in Georgia - a whole community of people that is so easy to win over and that spares no effort and applies every means to destroy everything that has been built thanks to your foresight, your capabilities and shouldering of your countrymen.
   These scoundrels are the children of envy and, therefore, impotency has fallen to their lot. Due to the lack of any talent, they have been unable to accomplish the intention of doing either evil or good and they have been left with nothing but the means to envy others and please their hearts by defaming the good. They have gone so far in their effort that the majority of the nation has confronted the neglect of elections with populism.
   Personally, being a sincere man, I have experienced how dirty tricks are applied to fight against you achieving nothing at all, though. Then you are filled with pleasure that such people could not have done you any harm. I think that such a feeling overrides the resentment caused by ill breeding.
  In bringing up their children, our kin and our family have always guided themselves by one notable notion - “Never envy anyone or anything. Envy engenders bile in one's soul and bile brings death closer.” The symbol of loyalty to principles is the main trait of your character. Luckily, there are more good countrymen than scoundrels living in Georgia. Do trust that we support the state of Georgians, which means that we are shouldering you.
   Once again, may I extend my congratulations on the occasion of your birthdy and wish the Georgian nation, our state, which is still in the making, your robust health and a ten-fold ability to work and create.
   We shall overcome because the good and God protect us.