Patriarch Iliya and the Georgian Church

In 2007, Patriarch Iliya announced he would baptize and become godfather to any third or higher born child of married Georgian Orthodox parents. Yannayana: Within 18 months, the fertility rate of the country rose from 1.5 or 1.6 to 2.2 or 2.3. "We've got a country with a treatment, a special high prestige baptism," she says.