Peter I

Peter I was the first Georgian archbishop to bear the title of Catholicos, in Iberia (present-⁠day Georgia). He led the Church of the country approximately from 467 to 474, by the will of King Vakhtang I of Iberia. In the life of King Vakhtang it is written that he met Peter, a follower of Gregory the Theologian, during his visits to Constantinople, and at the same time Samuel I, destined to succeed him. The spiritual closeness between Peter and Vakhtang, joined with their common effort to act in the name of the Church, contributed much to friendly relations between the Georgian state and the Byzantine Empire and to the obtaining of autocephaly by the Georgian Church.

After his return home, the king sent an envoy to Byzantium to find a way for Peter to be consecrated and for Samuel to become a bishop. The patriarch approved the requests, but since the Georgian Church was still under the jurisdiction of the Patriarchate of Antioch, Peter and Samuel were sent there to receive the rank. A few years later the local Church obtained autocephaly (484 or 486). It is presumed that Peter held the office of catholicos from 467 to 474, then left the place to Samuel I, but kept a leading role in the ecclesial and political life. He established a form of self-⁠government that raised the authority of the Church, and the mutual respect between catholicos and king laid the foundation of harmonious relations between secular and religious power. In 502, the sources say, he accompanied Vakhtang in the war against the Persians.

The Georgian Orthodox Church canonized him in 2002, on 17 October. He is commemorated on 30 November.