Wikipedia

David of Gareji

David of Gareji (Georgian: დავით გარეჯელი, romanized: davit garejeli; lit. 'David who sits outside'[1]) (fl. 6th century) was an anchorite, desert father, thaumaturgus and one of the thirteen Assyrian apostles[2][3] of the Georgian kingdom of Iberia.[4] He is venerated as a saint.[5][6]

Saint

David of Gareji
David on 14th-century triptych, kept at the Saint Catherine's Monastery on Mount Sinai
Bishop, Preacher
BornByzantine Empire
DiedKingdom of Iberia
Venerated inGeorgian Orthodox Church
Eastern Orthodox Church
Major shrineDavid Gareja
FeastMay 7
First Thursday after Ascension of Jesus
PatronageGeorgia

Life edit

David was a disciple of John of Zedazeni.[7] David founded David Gareja monastery,[8] with his disciples Dodo and Lukiane.[9] David decided to leave the monastery and go on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem with a group of his disciples. After reaching Palestine, however, he only climbed one of the hills surrounding the city but did not enter its gates, considering that he was too much of a sinner, as he approaching “the summit of Grace”, he found himself too unworthy to walk in the footsteps of Jesus.[10] He also refused to meet with the Jerusalem Patriarch Elijah. He took three stones from the Holy Land and departed for Iberia. The envoys of Jerusalemite patriarch caught up with David near Nablus and took two stones back per patriarch's command in order "not to take away the full grace of Jerusalem" with him.[11] David brought only one stone to Iberia, which later became famous in the Georgian kingdom as a miracle-working stone.[12] The event is well-documented and has it testifying to traffic in liturgical goods between Georgia and the Holy Land.[13] The relic, referred to as the "stone of grace",[14] was believed to heal from pain and diseases and was worshipped and highly venerated by different pilgrims of the Christian east and even Muslim visitors.[15] He returned to the monastery and stayed there until the end of his life. He died in the second half of the 6th century and was buried in David Gareja Lavra. In the late Middle Ages, a period in which Georgia was often invaded, Gareja experienced a series of destructive raids and, in order to protect this most sacred relic, the stone was frequently hidden in different places.[16] The miracle stone of David, since 1990s, is kept at the Sameba Cathedral in Georgia's capital, Tbilisi.[17]

Veneration edit

In the 9th century, on the initiative of Hilarion the Iberian, David's tomb was turned into a place of public worship.[18] Orthodox hagiography calls him "the founder of the Georgian Thebaid" and counts him among the most venerated saints[19] and patrons of the Georgian Church.[20] His vita, "Life and Deeds of Our Saint Father David of Gareji"[21] was composed in one of the Georgian monasteries of Mount Athos, in the circle of the disciples of Euthymius the Iberian.[22][23] In 2000, with the blessing of His Holiness Ilia II, Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia, David's tomb was opened and cleaned. The archeological findings demonstrated the relevance and accuracy of the written sources and the local monastic traditions.[24]

References edit

  1. ^ Rayfield, p. 50
  2. ^ Rayfield, p. 20
  3. ^ Bartal, Bodner & Kuhnel, p. xxix
  4. ^ Eastmond, p. 208
  5. ^ Eastmond, p. 183
  6. ^ Bartal, Bodner & Kuhnel, p. 107
  7. ^ Charkiewicz, p. 34
  8. ^ Eastmond, p. 125
  9. ^ Bartal, Bodner & Kuhnel, p. 94
  10. ^ Tchekhanovets, p. 36
  11. ^ Bartal, Bodner & Kuhnel, p. 96
  12. ^ Charkiewicz, p. 57
  13. ^ Tchekhanovets, p. 252
  14. ^ Bartal, Bodner & Kuhnel, p. 98
  15. ^ Bartal, Bodner & Kuhnel, p. 97
  16. ^ Bartal, Bodner & Kuhnel, p. 102
  17. ^ Bartal, Bodner & Kuhnel, p. 103
  18. ^ Bartal, Bodner & Kuhnel, p. 101
  19. ^ Tchekhanovets, p. 35
  20. ^ Charkiewicz, p. 58
  21. ^ Bartal, Bodner & Kuhnel, p. 105
  22. ^ Tchekhanovets, p. 37
  23. ^ Rayfield, p. 51
  24. ^ Bartal, Bodner & Kuhnel, p. 100

Bibliography edit

  • Bartal, R. Bodner, N. & Kuhnel, B. (2017) Natural Materials of the Holy Land and the Visual Translation of Place, 500-1500, Taylor & Francis, ISBN 978-1-351-80928-3
  • Rayfield, D. (2013) The Literature of Georgia: A History, Taylor & Francis, ISBN 978-1-136-82529-3
  • Eastmond, A. (2010) Royal Imagery in Medieval Georgia, Pennsylvania State University Press, ISBN 978-0-271-04391-3
  • Tchekhanovets, Y. (2018) The Caucasian Archaeology of the Holy Land: Armenian, Georgian and Albanian Communities Between the Fourth and Eleventh Centuries CE, ISBN 978-90-04-36555-1
  • Charkiewicz, J. (2005) Gruzińscy święci, Warszawa: Warszawska Metropolia Prawosławna, ISBN 978-83-60311-87-5
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=David_of_Gareji&oldid=1217594760"