Blessed Kristesia, Called Christopher (+1771)
Blessed Kristesia, called Christopher, an ascetic of the desert of the Forerunner (+1771), came from western Georgia, from Mingrelia. From his youth he desired to serve God and to live as a hermit, but at the order and under the compulsion of his lord he married and had a son. Some time later Kristesia’s wife and son died. His lord wished to marry him a second time. The blessed one did not heed his lord’s order; he went to his confessor, told him of his plight and asked his counsel. The confessor advised him to leave the deceitful world and take refuge in the desert of Gareji. Given wings by his spiritual father’s words, Kristesia left everything and shut himself away at Gareji, in the desert of John the Forerunner. The holy father spent many years in obedience: he carried water and brushwood to the monastery, and did everything with obedience and zeal.
Father Kristesia was already an old man when he was tonsured a monk. He was named Christopher. In his solitude his way of life was this: seven kilometres from the desert stood a large jar, which he filled with water every day. He had a small hut there. On its threshold hung a little dipper. The dipper could be seen from afar, and travellers quenched their thirst at the jar of the monk Kristesia. The blessed father also laid out a small vegetable garden there for travellers.
Whatever was given to Saint Kristesia he shared with others. From the honey and wheat that were offered he prepared kollyva every Saturday in three bowls: one for the departed of the donor, the second for the fathers at rest in the monastery, and the third for all Orthodox Christians. As soon as he heard anywhere of a quarrel or of hatred, he would go to those at strife and call them to reconciliation with gentle words: “Children, if you do not heed me, who have come here for your sake, I shall go away full of sorrow, and the devil will rejoice, who does not want peace among men, and he will bring a still greater trial upon you; and as I came hungry, so I shall go away from you hungry.” His grace-filled bearing and words warmed the hearts of those who quarrelled and made reconciliation easier.
Once, after Vespers, Father Kristesia set out for the village. Because of the heat the holy monk took to the road after nightfall. It was a dark night, and walking became impossible. Saint Kristesia stopped and prayed. Suddenly something shining appeared before him and lit up the road for him. The frightened monk could not take a step; he prayed to the Lord to turn the temptation away from him, then signed himself with the cross and went on his way. The shining thing went before him. So he walked the whole night, until he reached the village of Sartichala.
His cell was narrow and wretched. For a bed he had a plank-bed made of a single board, for bedding a sheepskin that barely reached his waist, and a stone lay under his head; on his body he wore a garment of patched sheepskin, and on his feet peasant sandals. If anyone gave him clothing, he at once gave it to the poor; “he took no thought for himself, for what is passing and vain, but laid up everything as treasure for that which is to come, the eternal”.
Saint Kristesia, called Christopher, died past the age of eighty in the monastery, in his cell. He is buried before the church, in the fathers’ cemetery.
