Head of the Georgian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Ilia II, said in his Sun-day sermon that the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling legalizing same-sex ma-rriage throughout the United States was a "big mistake.”

  He raised the issue when speaking about freedom in his sermon in the Holy Trinity Cathedral in Tbilisi.

 "Freedom has a huge power; freedom is a test in which a person sees spiritually the path,” Patriarch Ilia II said. "Often freedom is misused by people and this is disastrous for spirit. Neither ten commandments, nor laws and customs would have been required if people were given complete freedom.”

 "There are cases when people and countries legalize illegality. You know from the media and the press that the United States of America has decided to allow same-sex marriage in all the states – this is a big mistake and even the American spiritual figures say it; and we too reiterate that this is a big mistake,” he said.

  "A Georgian should distinguish between good and evil; between acceptable and unacceptable; we ask God for opening our minds and hearts to let them see good and evil,” he added.

Tbilisi, June 28, 2015