View source for Leonid (Okropiridze) of Georgia

[[Image:Leonid Oqropirize.jpg|right|thumb|200px|Leonid (Okropiridze) Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia]]
His Holiness and Beatitude '''Leonid (Okropiridze) of Georgia''' was the [[Catholicos]]-[[Patriarch]] of All Georgia from 1918 to 1921. He was the second ruling [[bishop]] of the [[Church of Georgia]] following restoration of [[autocephaly]] in 1917.

==Life==
Longinoz Okropiridze (Georgian: ლონგინოზ ოქროპირიძე) was born in Georgia in 1860, then part of Imperial Russia. He attended the [[Kiev Theological Academy]], graduating in 1888. He entered the [[Holy Orders]] and was [[tonsure]]d a [[monk]] with the name Leonid. During these early years he served as inspector at schools in Georgia operated by the Society for the Restoration of Orthodox Christianity.

He was raised to the dignity of [[archimandrite]] and served as [[abbot]] of the Monasteries of Zedazeni, Khirsi, and St. John the Baptist in Georgia. He also was chairman of the Commission for Correction of the Georgian Bible. 

Archim. Leonid was also active, with other Georgians, in the struggle for restoration of autocephaly of the Church of Georgia during the early part of the twentieth century. After the 1917 February revolution in Russia, the Georgian [[synod]] proclaimed autocephaly on [[March 12]], 1917. Pending the election of the Catholicos-Patriarch, Leonid was the locum tenens until Bishop [[Kirion II (Sadzaglishvili) of Georgia|Kirion II]] was elected Catholicos-Patriarch of the restored church on [[September 30]], 1917. In the restoration hierarchy, Archim. Leonid was [[consecration of a bishop|consecrated]] a bishop and was appointed Bishop of Gori Imereti  Guria-Samegrelo as well as Metropolitan of Tbilisi.

On [[June 27]], 1918, Catholicos-Patriarch Kirion was found murdered in his residence at Martqopi Monastery. On [[November 28]], 1918, Metr. Leonid was elected Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia.

Following his [[enthronement]], Catholicos Leonid was confronted with the issues of lack of international recognition of the Georgian autocephaly and the persecutions of the Church and its [[clergy]] by the invading Bolshevik forces that in March 1921 took control of Georgia from the short lived Democratic Republic of Georgia. Adding to these problems was the epidemics of cholera that began to infect the country. On [[June 11]], 1921, Catholicos Leonid died from cholera. 

{{start box}}
{{succession|
before=?|
title=Metropolitan of Tbilisi|
years= 1917-1918|
after=?}}
{{succession|
before=[[Kirion II (Sadzaglishvili)|Kirion II]]|
title=[[List of Catholicoses of Georgia|Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia]]|
years=1918-1921|
after=[[Ambrose (Khelaia) the Confessor|Ambrose (Khelaia)]]}}
{{end box}} 

==Source==
*[[Wikipedia:Leonid_of_Georgia]]

[[Category: Bishops]]
[[Category:20th-century bishops]]
[[Category: Bishops of Tbilisi]]
[[Category: Catholicos-Patriarchs of Georgia]]
[[Category: Kiev Academy Graduates]]