George Athos

Born in southern Georgia into an aristocratic family. At the age of seven, he was sent to study at the monastery in Tadzrisi closest to the house. Since 1019, he was brought up in the Khakhul monastery , then in 1022 he went to Constantinople , where he studied the Greek language and theology. In 1034 he returned to the Khakhul monastery, where he accepted monasticism. After that, he made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem , lived in Syria (near Antioch ), then on Mount Athos , from 1039 he entered the Iversky Monastery , all of whose monks came from Georgia. Since 1044, the abbot of the monastery. He reorganized the monastery, turning it into one of the most important centers of Georgian culture.

Between 1052 and 1057 he was forced to go to Antioch to the patriarch , since the Georgian Orthodox Church was accused of heresy, and the legality of its autocephaly was called into question. The Georgian church was initially subordinate to the Patriarch of Antioch, but since the VI century it has been virtually autonomous. At the beginning of the 11th century, Catholicos Melchizedek I assumed the rank of patriarch, which was not recognized by the Church of Antioch on the grounds that not one of the apostles traveled to Georgia, and thus the Georgian church is not apostolic. Relying on medieval Georgian sources, George brought in evidence of the journey of Apostle Andrew to Colchis and Caucasian Iberia , and eventually convinced the patriarch to recognize the autocephaly of the Georgian Church. Around the same time, Byzantium abandoned attempts to conquer Georgia and made peace with Bagrat IV .

During the split of the Christian church in 1054, he took a much more moderate position in relation to the Western church than most eastern hierarchs.

Georgian king Bagrat IV repeatedly suggested that George lead the Georgian church. George rejected all the proposals, but agreed in 1058 to come to Georgia for five years. He carried out reforms of the church, regulating its relations with the growing royal authority. On the way to Mount Athos in 1065 he stopped in Constantinople , where he was invited by Emperor Constantine X for a theological debate. He received permission from the emperor to educate Georgian students on Mount Athos. He died before reaching Mount Athos on June 29, 1065 in Athens. He was buried in the Iversky monastery on Mount Athos.

He wrote the lives of the founders of the Iversky monastery, John and Euthymius . He performed a large number of translations into Georgian, including those Bible books that had not been translated before him, as well as the writings of Vasily Kesariysky , Gregory of Nyssa , John Damaskin and other church fathers.

He was the author of the anthem that came to Thomas Moore and served as the basis for the creation of the poem “Evening bells”, in the free translation of Ivan Kozlov's “ Evening Ring ” (or that came directly to Kozlov). Documentary evidence of the legend does not exist.

Canonized by the Georgian Orthodox Church , memory is celebrated on July 10 . The life of George Mtatsmindeli compiled by his student George Mtsire .

The name of George Atoneli is a street in Tbilisi.

• Vachnadze M., Guruli V., Bakhtadze M. History of Georgia . - Tbilisi, 1993.
• Gabidzashvili E., Krasheninnikova N. N. George Svyatorets // Orthodox Encyclopedia . - M .: Church Scientific Center "Orthodox Encyclopedia" , 2006. - T. XI: " George - Gomar ." - S. 75-78. - 752 s. - 39,000 copies. - ISBN 5-89572-017-X .