The Patriarchate of Georgia is readying its 59th mass baptism, part of an ongoing initiative by the Orthodox Church in the country to assist efforts to combat a low birth rate.
The first mass baptism of infants was held back in January 2008, with the Catholicos-Patriarch of the Georgian Orthodox Church, His Holiness and Beatitude Ilia II, promising to baptize every third child that a Georgian family brings into the world.
So far, the Catholicos-Patriarch has baptized more than 38,500 infants.