Sabiana of Samtskhe

Venerable Sabiana was a Georgian nun of the tenth and eleventh centuries, abbess of a monastery in the region of Samtskhe. She is commemorated on 31 December in the Orthodox Church.

According to her Orthodox lives, she was born in the tenth century, in Georgia. She is believed to have been abbess of a monastery in the Samtskhe region and to have taken on the duty of teaching the novices who entered the monastery. Her most famous disciple was George the Hagiorite, another Orthodox saint and future scholar of the monastic community of Mount Athos. Sabiana is said to have been his teacher for three years, after which he left the monastery to pursue his monastic way elsewhere. Before becoming his mentor, she is said to have taken in and taught George's sister, Tekla. According to the accounts, she raised her as her own daughter.