Peter of Georgia

Holy Hierarch Peter of Georgia was the first catholicos of Georgia and led the Church of Kartli from the 460s to the beginning of the sixth century. By the will of God, he began the line of chief shepherds of the Georgian Church.

The chronicle of the holy king Vakhtang IV Gorgasali says that the king met Peter on one of his visits to Byzantium, where he was regarded as a pupil of Saint Gregory the Theologian, and grew close to him; at that time he also met Samuel, the future catholicos. The spiritual bond between the king and the catholicos and their joint efforts for the Church contributed greatly to friendly relations between Georgia and Byzantium and to the proclamation of the autocephaly of the Georgian Apostolic Church. Returning to his capital, Vakhtang sent an envoy to Byzantium to find him a wife and asked that the hierarch Peter be raised to catholicos and the priest Samuel consecrated bishop. He begged the patriarch to hasten the arrival of Catholicos Peter and the twelve bishops with him. The patriarch of Constantinople approved the institution of the rank of catholicos in Georgia, and since the Georgian Church was still under the jurisdiction of Antioch, Peter and Samuel were sent to the patriarch of Antioch himself to be consecrated. The autocephaly of the Georgian Church was proclaimed on the arrival of the holy fathers in the country.

Peter organized the governance of the Church on the principle of autocephaly and established the form of self-⁠rule that would later increase the authority of the Georgian Church. The mutual respect and cooperation of the catholicos and the king laid the foundation for the later harmonious relations between secular power and the Church in Georgia. In 502 he accompanied King Vakhtang to the war with the Persians. It is written that the fatally wounded king summoned the catholicos, the queen, his sons and all the nobility. Peter heard the king's last confession, granted the remission of his sins, presided at his funeral and blessed Prince Dachi (502-514) to succeed him as king of Kartli. He led the Georgian Church with great wisdom to the end of his days.

The Holy Synod of the Georgian Church canonized Catholicos Peter and Catholicos Samuel on 17 October 2002. The Georgian Church commemorates him on 30 November by the old style (13 December by the new style).