Shio the New of Gareja

Holy Venerable Martyr Shio the New of Gareja was a hieromonk of the Gareja desert in Georgia and was killed by Lezgin brigands between 1696 and 1700, together with three elders.

He was born in the village of Vedzisi in Kartli, of rich and influential parents, Papuna and Tamar. The family had eight children, five sons and three daughters. After the parents' death the brothers could not divide the inheritance and quarrelled so that the eldest killed the youngest. Hearing of it, the blessed Shio resolved to withdraw from the tumult of the world, from love of which brothers can kill one another. In confession he told his spiritual father of his wish to leave the world, and the latter advised him to become a monk and go to the Gareja desert. The abbot then was the venerable Onuphrius (Machutadze), who had said to him more than once, "Come, brother Shio, to my monastery and let us end our days here." He received him joyfully, gave him a separate cell and made him a novice. Shio's tireless labours, humility and love for the brethren bore fruit: many came to him for counsel, and the abbot often entrusted the affairs of the monastery to him.

Once the abbot went away on monastery business and left Shio in charge. After the evening prayer and the meal, when the weary brethren had gone to their cells, a band of Lezgin brigands attacked. They seized the hieromonk Shio and killed him with fearful torments, together with the elders David, Gabriel and Paul. Some monks tried to flee, but the unbelievers cut them down with sabres. Then the Lezgins robbed the martyrs, smashed and burned much of the church property, threw some into a well, and hacked the holy icons with axes. With the blessing of the Catholicos and by order of the king, the bodies of the martyrs, cut to pieces, were buried south of the grave of Saint David of Gareja.

The saint is commemorated on 14 June, in the new style; he is not included in the present calendar of the Russian Orthodox Church.