Isidore Samtavneli (Ezderios of Samtavisi)

Isidore Samtavneli [Isidore of Samtavisi], also known as Ezderios Samtavneli, an ecclesiastic figure and one of the Thirteen Assyrian Fathers.

He arrived in Georgia from the city of Antioch in the middle of the 6th century alongside his preceptor, Ioane Zedazneli [John of Zedazeni]. Initially, he pursued his religious activity at the Zedazeni Monastery, and subsequently labored in Kartli. In the environs of Samtavisi, he founded the Monastery of the Acheiropoieta of the Savior, where he was later buried. No independent hagiographical work detailing the Life of Isidore Samtavneli has survived; historical accounts regarding him are preserved within the text traditions of the Vitae of the other Assyrian Fathers. In 2005, the Holy Synod of the Georgian Orthodox Apostolic Church established June 12 (25) as his official commemoration day.

Sources: ასურელ მოღვაწეთა ცხოვრების წიგნთა ძველი რედაქციები, ილ. აბულაძის გამოც., თბ., 1955; ძველი ქართული აგიოგრაფიული ლიტერატურის ძეგლები, ილ. აბულაძის რედ., წგ. 3–4, თბ., 1968–71.

Literature: ქართველ წმინდანთა ცხოვრებანი, რედ. ს. მიქაბერიძე, თბ. – ათენი, 2003.

B. Lominadze