Venerable John of Zedazeni and His Twelve Disciples: Abibus of Nekresi, Anthony of Martqopi, David of Gareji, Zenon of Iqalto, Thaddeus of Stepantsminda, Ise of Tsilkani, Joseph of Alaverdi, Isidore of Samtavisi, Michael of Ulumbo, Pyrrhus of Breti, Stephen of Khirsa and Shio of Mghvime (VI)
The Venerable John of Zedazeni and his twelve disciples — Abibus of Nekresi, Anthony of Martqopi, David of Gareji, Zenon of Iqalto, Thaddeus of Stepantsminda, Ise of Tsilkani, Joseph of Alaverdi, Isidore of Samtavisi, Michael of Ulumbo, Pyrrhus of Breti, Stephen of Khirsa and Shio of Mghvime — were Syrian ascetics who revived monastic life in Georgia and established it there.
The Venerable John of Zedazeni received his spiritual education in Antioch. While still quite young he left the deceitful world, was tonsured a monk and went into the desert to labour there. His humility, fasting and vigils, his tears and supplication were pleasing to the Lord, and He granted His faithful servant the gift of healing sicknesses and casting out demons. The Venerable John became renowned for his holy life and his miracles. A great many people went to see him, so the holy father thought it needful to leave that place; he took some of his disciples, chose a remote spot, built cells, and began to labour there.
Once the all-holy Theotokos appeared to the Venerable John and commanded him to choose twelve monks from among his disciples and go with them to Georgia, to strengthen the law of Christ there. Saint John made known the Theotokos’s command to his disciples. After long fasting and prayer, at God’s indication, he chose twelve of the disciples: Shio, David, Anthony, Ise, Joseph, Thaddeus, Stephen, Isidore, Michael, Pyrrhus, Zenon and Abibus. He left the monk Euthymius as teacher in his place for those who remained in the desert, and he himself set out for Georgia with the brethren.
The king and the catholicos of Georgia were told by an angel of the coming to Georgia of the holy fathers who had shone forth in Mesopotamia. As the fathers drew near to Mtskheta, King Parsman and Catholicos Evlavios with the clergy came out to meet them.
With the blessing of Catholicos Evlavios, Saint John settled with his disciples on the mountain of Zedazeni, where the idol Zaden had once stood. The ascetics lived in wretched cells and fed only on plants.
The people heard of Saint John’s miracles. In many a sincere desire for the monastic life was stirred; many left the vain and troubled life of the world and settled at Zedazeni to labour there. So the mountain of Zedazeni became a dwelling of hermits.
One night the all-holy Theotokos appeared to Saint John and commanded him to send his disciples out to various regions to preach. The next day he gathered them, told them what he had seen and said to them: “For the good of this land has the Lord our God Jesus Christ sent us, for the men of this country are a new planting; therefore it is fitting that you go forth each one of you and strengthen the brethren who have confessed Christ our Lord.”
After sending his disciples away, Saint John remained at Zedazeni, kept with him Elijah the deacon (commemorated 4 January), and took up his accustomed labours. Teacher and disciple endured many adversities and trials. Zedazeni was a waterless place. Every day Elijah the deacon carried water from far away. Seeing his disciple’s hard toil, Saint John asked the Lord to make a spring rise up. The good Lord heard the holy elder’s entreaty, and a healing spring rose up on the summit of the mountain.
A bear grew used to coming to the spring that had risen at Saint John’s prayer. By Saint John’s prayer the beast was tamed. After this the wild animals living in the forest of Zedazeni harmed no one. Through the Venerable John’s prayer a man long bedridden with sickness and struck dumb was healed. Saint John would call his disciples to him, and at times would himself go to visit them, and test what measure of spirituality they had attained.
After long labours the approach of his end was revealed to Saint John by the Lord. The venerable father called his disciples, instructed them, blessed them and left them the charge to bury him in the cave where he had laboured.
The disciples, grieved at their teacher’s departure, carried him to the monastery at the foot of Zedazeni. Suddenly the earth shook, and it did not grow still until they remembered the holy father’s charge and understood that this earthquake was a heavenly sign. Saint John’s disciples, accompanied by priests and deacons, went to their teacher’s grave, brought up the holy relics with honour and buried them as he had charged. As the holy relics were brought up, many sick and possessed people were healed.
In the tenth century, in the time of Catholicos Clement (908–923), a church dedicated to Saint John the Baptist was built to the south of the cave. The grave of Saint John of Zedazeni is by the prothesis of the church.
The holy Hieromartyr Abibus, at the request of King Parsman VI and Catholicos Evlavios, was installed as bishop of Nekresi. At that time the Persian magi were freely spreading their false teaching in eastern Georgia and by force were turning many away from the truth. Once, to expose the deceit of the fire-worshippers, the holy hierarch Abibus poured water on the fire burning on the altar and put it out. The enraged Persians seized Saint Abibus and beat him cruelly, and then stoned him. By the marzpan’s order the saint’s body was thrown out under the open sky to be torn by beasts, but neither beast nor bird touched the holy martyr’s body.
At night the Christians living at Rekha came and with great honour buried the holy hierarch’s body in the monastery of Samtavisi. Later Stephen, erismtavari of Kartli, moved the incorrupt relics of Saint Abibus from Samtavisi to the Samtavro monastery at Mtskheta and buried them beneath the holy altar.
Saint Anthony of Martqopi always carried with him the icon of the Saviour Not-made-by-hands, which he had brought from Edessa. The holy father, a lover of solitude, drew many Christians by his grace-filled prayer and his miracles. Saint Anthony built a monastery for his fellow ascetics, while he himself went first beyond the Alazani and then took refuge on the mountain of Akriani. To the solitary monk, who fed on grass and the bark of trees, the Lord sent deer to give him nourishment. Saint Anthony built a pillar on the summit of the mountain, shut himself up on it and laboured there for eighteen years. The day of his departure from the body was made known to the venerable father beforehand by the Lord. At the time of his death Father Anthony was on his knees praying before the icon of the Saviour. The disciples brought the Venerable Anthony’s body down from the pillar and buried it in the monastery he had founded, before the icon of the Theotokos.
Saint David of Gareji settled to labour in the new capital of Georgia, Tbilisi. The monk, living in seclusion on a mountain rising at the edge of the city, drew many people by his wonderful preaching and holy life, and converted many fire-worshippers. The enraged magi bribed a pregnant harlot and accused Father David of fornication with her. The saint touched the woman’s belly with his staff and said: “Thee, O babe, I command in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to tell us whether I am thy father or not.” The babe answered the saint from its mother’s womb and pointed to another. The enraged people stoned the woman. David, horrified that he could not stop the furious crowd, spread his cloak on the river Mtkvari, stood on it together with his disciple, Saint Lucian, and, despite the fervent pleading of the people of Tbilisi, left the city.
Father David and Lucian settled in the desert of Gareji. The Lord miraculously provided food for the ascetics. Every day except Wednesday and Friday deer came to them; Lucian milked them, and Father David made the sign of the cross over the milk, and it turned into cheese. The whole country heard of the miracles of the fathers of Gareji, and soon there “settled a multitude of men, delighting in the life of the desert”.
From Ninotsminda there came to the Venerable David the monk Dodo, adorned with virtues (commemorated on the Wednesday after the Ascension), who at his teacher’s command built on a spur of the rock a monastery dedicated to the all-holy Theotokos.
Some time later the Venerable David went to Jerusalem to worship. Because of his unworthiness the monk would not enter the holy city; he prayed long and fervently at the gate, then took three stones from that place and brought them to Georgia as holy things. That night an angel of the Lord appeared to Elias, Patriarch of Jerusalem, and told him that Father David, who had come from Georgia, was by his faith carrying away the whole grace of Jerusalem. Men sent by the patriarch took two of the stones back from Father David, and the holy monk brought the third to Georgia.
Father David, who reposed after a long life pleasing to God, was buried there, in the house of Gareji.
Saint Ise of Tsilkani was consecrated bishop of Tsilkani by Catholicos Evlavios on the advice of Father John. The venerable father “converted a great many unbelievers by his teaching, and spread instruction and preaching throughout his flock”. Once the Venerable John resolved to test his disciples in virtue and spirituality. Saint Ise went down to the bank of the river Ksani, made the sign of the cross over the river, then touched it with his staff and said: “In the name of the Lord I command thee: follow after me, flowing as I go, and follow me whithersoever I go.” A stream of water parted from the river and followed the Venerable Ise’s staff. The venerable father brought the water as far as the church of Tsilkani. This miracle converted many people to the law of Christ.
Saint Ise learned beforehand from the Lord the day of his departure from the body, received the Holy Mysteries and commended his soul to the Lord in prayer. The holy father was buried there, in the church of the Theotokos at Tsilkani.
Saint Joseph of Alaverdi always carried a cross made from the wood of the Saviour’s life-giving Cross. With the blessing of Saint John of Zedazeni he preached in various places of Kakheti; at last he chose the desert of Alaverdi and began to labour there. Once the monk, living quite alone, met a nobleman out hunting, to whom he preached the word of God. The nobleman, gladdened by Father Joseph’s grace-filled teaching, laid the foundation of the monastery of Alaverdi. People heard of the ascetic monk and began to come to see the wonderful father and to hear his teaching. Many stayed there. In the course of time the number of the desert-dwellers grew and made up a great community.
Abba Joseph, worn out by long labour and toil, appointed a superior for his disciples and reposed in God. He was buried in the church of Alaverdi that he had built. Many miracles take place at Abba Joseph’s grave.
Saint Shio of Mghvime laboured in a cave among the rocks of Sarkineti. The all-holy Theotokos herself blessed the monk labouring in that wild place. Evagrius, the lord of Tsikhedidi (commemorated 4 February), who was hunting on the mountain of Sarkineti, saw this, visited the wonderful monk and became his disciple. Soon the place was filled with desert fathers. Saint Shio founded a house at Sarkineti and gathered two thousand monks. Saint Shio made a vow to spend the rest of his life in a cave. He dug a cave in his own monastery and went down into it. The Venerable Shio laboured in the cave for fifteen years.
Saint Isidore of Samtavisi, with his teacher’s blessing, preached for a long time in Kartli. Then, east of the Rekhula, he founded the monastery of Samtavisi, dedicated to the icon of the Saviour Not-made-by-hands; his disciples buried the venerable father in the monastery he had founded.
Saint Thaddeus of Stepantsminda at first laboured at Mtskheta. He built a monastery at the foot of Zedazeni. The saint preached in Kartli, where he built many churches, among them the church of the holy Protomartyr Stephen at Urbnisi. Then he shut himself up in a cave on the mountain of Tslevi (near Kaspi). He reposed and is buried there.
Saint Stephen of Khirsa preached in Kakheti together with his fellow ascetics. He is buried in the church dedicated to Saint Stephen the Protomartyr, by the prothesis.
Saint Zenon of Iqalto preached in the highlands of Kakheti, then founded a monastery at Iqalto and laboured there until his death. He is buried in the church dedicated to the icon of the Saviour Not-made-by-hands.
Saint Pyrrhus of Breti, “a divine image of repentance”, founded a house at Breti, on the left bank of the river Jvaristsqali. His holy relics are buried in this monastery.
Saint Michael of Ulumbo preached in Upper Kartli and in Ossetia. He founded a great house near Ulumbo. His wonderworking holy relics rest there.
In the lavras and houses founded by the holy Syrian fathers the children of the Georgians were trained in mind and in morals; from these deserts grace and blessing spread over the Georgian people. These houses and the holy fathers who founded them became the protectors of the Georgians and their defenders against lawlessness and vice.
