Pimen of Salos

Holy Venerable Pimen of Salos (Pimen the fool for Christ) lived in the David Gareja Monastery in Georgia, in the time of the Mongol invasion of the thirteenth century. Together with his disciple and spiritual son, the Venerable Anthony Meskhi, he is venerated as a saint by the Church of Georgia.

The weight of the Mongol yoke then pressed on the whole country and on the Church. The Georgian people stood once again before a terrible choice between preserving life and saving the soul, and most did not bow to the enemy but accepted death for Christ. In this time Venerable Pimen, the fool for Christ, relentlessly rebuked those who had abandoned the faith and fought against the corruption spread by the conquerors. Anthony Meskhi was his faithful companion. Knowing that a people follows its ruler, the two fathers began the struggle for the salvation of the nation by rebuking the king.

Besides their foolishness for Christ and their rebuke of the king, they preached Christianity among the Dagestanis. For these labours, and for defending moral purity and the faithfulness of the Georgians to the Lord, the Church of Georgia numbered them among the saints.

His commemoration falls on 29 March, in the new style, in the Georgian calendar; his name is not found in the present calendar of the Russian Orthodox Church.