Female bishop in a man's world

Rusudan Gotsiridze is not a man and does not wear a beard. That is unusual for a Baptist bishop in Georgia. The 43-year-old is the first woman to hold this office, something many in the Caucasus state find difficult. The House of One invited people to get to know this courageous woman. Together with Bishop Malkhaz, she is committed to and in the Peace Cathedral in Tbilisi.

In conversation with Pastor Corinna Zisselsberger, the bishop of the Evangelical Baptist Church of Georgia told us not only about her commitment to women's rights, but also to interreligious dialogue in her country. The clergywoman has also long researched the ordination practices of women in various Christian traditions. Gotsiridze's extraordinary and courageous commitment was recognized in 2014 by Michelle Obama, then First Lady of the United States, with the International Women of Courage Award.

In the following recording of her 2013 TedX Talk, Bishop Rusudan discusses the ordination of women and the role of gender in religion:

Most of Georgia's inhabitants are people of Orthodox faith. To this day, the church is a male-dominated institution. Gotsiridze thus belongs to a minority within a minority - as a woman in a leadership position and that in the Georgian Evangelical Baptist Church, a denomination with just around 4,000 members.

That takes courage. The bishop also demonstrates this courage when she advocates interreligious dialogue with Muslims and Yazidis, who are also minorities in Georgia. While the number of Orthodox cathedrals has been growing since the end of the Soviet era, Muslims and other religious communities in Georgia have been subjected to hostility and discrimination. Muslim believers, for example, have at times had to pray in the street because houses of worship are too small and new buildings are not permitted.