Samuel I

Samuel I was the second catholicos of the Georgian Orthodox Church, in the 5th century. Like his predecessor, Peter I, he came from the lands of the Byzantine Empire. He arrived in Iberia (present-⁠day Georgia) together with Peter, at the invitation of King Vakhtang I and with the blessing of the patriarch of Constantinople. He was then consecrated bishop by the patriarch of Antioch, on whom the Georgian Church depended until 484.

At that time the seat of the catholicos of Iberia was at Mtskheta. King Dachi gave the catholicos the use of the city, following the will of the earlier ruler Vakhtang I. Samuel also undertook the building of the church of Tsqarostavi, in Javakheti. He was a close friend of the martyr queen Shushanik. The Georgian Orthodox Church canonized him on 17 October 2002, and his commemoration is on 30 November.