Isidore Samtavneli

Saint Isidore Samtavneli (Isidore of Samtavisi), a venerable father, was one of the disciples of Father John of Zedazeni who came from Syria to Georgia in the 6th century. He is venerated in the Georgian Orthodox Church; in our record he is remembered on 25 June, the source not giving the style.

According to hagiography he was born in Syria. In his youth he joined the monastery founded by the monk John and left the Syrian desert with him as one of the twelve chosen disciples. With the other monks of the community he then lived on Mount Zaden (later Zedazeni), where the local people regarded him as a holy ascetic and wonderworker. At John's command he left the mountain and went to Kartli with the monks David, Shio, Piros, Michael and Thaddeus, where another disciple of John, Bishop Ise of Tsilkani, was already at work.

Orthodox hagiography calls him "a garden of beneficence". In Kartli he carried on missionary work and founded the monastery at Samtavisi, where he lived until his death.