Photo: Simon Kangas Larsen

Feature Article No: 03/25
23 September 2025
Brussels

By Susan Kim (*)

H.E. Bishop Malkhaz Songulashvili, lifelong advocate for religious liberty and human rights, serves as Metropolitan Bishop of Tbilisi and Senior Pastor of the Peace Cathedral. He is also Professor of Comparative Theology at Ilia State University, a Bible translator, and a peace-builder active across the Middle East.

As a presenter at the meeting of the European National Councils of Churches and CEC Member Churches in Nyborg, Denmark, organised by the Conference of European Churches (CEC) together with the National Council of Churches in Denmark, he brought unique insights from the perspective of his home country as well as a creative perspective from a soon-to-be-released film in which he is featured among other faith leaders in Georgia. The meeting was held from 15 to 17 September 2025.

“As Georgians, we are grateful that the world finally awoke in the aftermath of Russia’s brutal assault on Ukraine,” Songulashvili said. “What for decades had been ignored or underestimated could no longer be denied.” The Peace Cathedral has been regularly holding interfaith vigils of lamentation since the beginning of the war in Ukraine and has been actively supporting refugees both from Ukraine and Russia.

In Georgia, he said, “we know what it means to live beside wolves.” In the mountains of his homeland, Songulashvili describes how shepherds keep great dogs, trained to fight to the death in order to protect their flocks. “Europe, too, now faces a ravenous wolf — one we Georgians know all too well,” he said. “For more than 225 years, Russia has brought us humiliation, suppression, turmoil, and death.” He does not wish any other nation to suffer what Georgia has endured.

“Yet this does not mean abandoning peace for the sword, nor retreating into fear of conflict,” he said. “It means walking the costly path of Christ—the path of peace through truth, justice, and solidarity.” This, he believes, is the Georgian insight: “peace is not weakness, but the courage to resist evil without losing the vision of God’s Kingdom of love.”

The theme of the CEC meeting was “Towards a Christian Citizenship in Europe,” inspired by the Danish EU Presidency’s theme on security in Europe and the European Neighborhood Programme. Participants explored how churches can contribute to shaping citizenship in contemporary Europe. In Songulashvili’s vision, peace is not a static noun but a living verb. It is not merely an abstract ideal, but something enacted through daily choices and risk taking —by striving for justice, by defending the vulnerable, and by responding with compassion to the suffering of humanity, the animal world, and Mother Nature herself. True peace is therefore dynamic, costly, and transformative; it is a way of life that binds together dignity, mercy, and responsibility for all creation.

“A just peace is therefore never the privilege of the victors or the powerful.” A just peace is, rather, “good news for all,” he emphasised—for those crushed by the cruelty of wars and conflicts, and indeed for the whole of creation. “It is the dawn of reconciliation, the holy moment where justice and mercy embrace, and where dignity is restored to every being,” said Songulashvili. “There is still space—sacred, spacious, and unclaimed—for the restoration of peace and the healing of relationships on our planet.”

Honesty will bring renewal 

As the meeting of the European National Councils of Churches and CEC Member Churches drew to a close, Songulashvili shared his deepest hope for the gathering: that it will lay the foundations for a renewed commitment by CEC to justice, fairness, and truth. “I also hope it will nurture in us a willingness to repent—repent for the times when the ecumenical movement has failed to stand with the weak, the silenced, and the dissidents of the Christian faith, both before and after the fall of the Soviet Union,” he said. “Only through such honesty and renewal can we embody the Gospel’s call to be peacemakers in our time.”

On the screen, Songulashvili is featured in a film, “I Will Build This World From Love,” produced and directed by John Block and Oliver Miede. The film is rooted in the Peace Project, an initiative of the Peace Cathedral, founded in 1867 in Tbilisi, Georgia. “The Peace Project seeks to foster mutual friendship and partnership among Muslims, Jews, Christians, Yazidis, Buddhists, and people of no faith—all under one roof,” explained Songulashvili. “They share not only a common address but a single entrance.”

Within the complex, Muslims gather in the Masjid As-Salam (Peace Mosque), Jews worship in the Beit Knesset Ha-Shalom (Peace Synagogue), Buddhists assemble in the Śāntiḥ Vihāra (Peace Temple), Christians worship in their cathedral space, and those of other traditions—or none—use the oratory of meditation.

The film springs from the “theology of beauty” cultivated by the Peace Cathedral in response to 158 years of suffering. At its heart lies a simple conviction: every act of ugliness must be met with an act of beauty—relational, artistic, and spiritual. The Peace Project embodies this vision, countering Islamophobia, antisemitism, xenophobia, and homophobia with creative solidarity.

In a profound gesture, Muslims contributed to building the synagogue, Jews to the mosque, and so on—each community helping to raise the sacred space of the other. This crossing of boundaries has become both an act of reconciliation and a powerful school of peace.

The film had its first screening at the Montclair Documentary Film Festival in October 2024, where, said Songulashvili, it was met with “an outpouring of warmth and enthusiasm from the audience, who embraced its message with deep appreciation.” The film is not yet widely available, as the filmmakers are currently in negotiations for broader distribution.

At its heart, the film is a gentle hymn to interfaith friendship and the quiet courage it demands, set against the backdrop of a society often hesitant—at times even fearful or hostile—towards genuine religious pluralism,” said Songulashvili. “Through the rhythms of celebration, the depth of ritual, and the strength of solidarity, it portrays how one community’s audacious vision—creating a shared sanctuary for many faiths—can send ripples far beyond its walls, awakening transformation in society and rekindling the fragile flame of hope in an age of turbulence. It stands as a quiet witness to what our world could be—and what, in truth, it is called to become.”

Learn more about Pathways to Peace 

(*) Susan Kim is a freelance journalist from the United States.