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The Thirteen
Assyrian Fathers (Georgian: ათცამმეტი ასურელი მამანი, atsamet'i asureli mamani) were,
according to Georgian church tradition, a group of monastic missionaries
who arrived from Mesopotamia to Georgia to strengthen Christianity in the country
in the 6th century. They are credited by the Georgian church historians with
the foundation of several monasteries and hermitages and initiation of the ascetic movement
in Georgia.
The
lives of the Assyrian Fathers are related in a cycle of medieval
Georgian hagiographic texts and are unattested beyond these sources. Some of
these vitae are
formalities composed for an 18th-century synaxary, but
four of them exist in original form, as well a metaphrastic version. The dating as well as
authorship of these texts is controversial. The Georgian Catholicoi
Arsen I (830-87) and Arsen II (955-80) have been suggested as authors of some
of the vitae. Other, unattributed, texts may have been composed earlier, in the
late 7th century.
Many
monasteries in modern Georgia are named after the Assyrian Fathers and are said
to have been founded and led by them and their numerous disciples. In the
Middle Ages, these religious foundations played an important role in forging
Georgian Christian identity.
Tradition,
written and oral, names as many as 19 Assyrian monks active in Georgia in the
6th century and the number "13" seems to be largely symbolic. Modern
scholarly opinion is divided as to whether they were Assyrians,
Assyrian-educated Georgians, whether missionaries or refugees — monophysite
or diophysite
— from Syria, from which monophysitism had retreated while Georgia was still
primarily monophysite at that time.
Chief
of the Assyrian Fathers were:
Davit
Garejeli (დავით
გარეჯელი)
/ David of Gareja
Ioane
Zedazneli (იოანე ზედაზნელი) / John of Zedazeni
Abibos
Nekreseli (აბიბოს ნეკრესელი) / Abibos of Nekresi
Shio
Mgvimeli (შიო
მღვიმელი)
/ Shio of Mgvime
Ioseb
Alaverdeli (იოსებ ალავერდელი) / Joseph of Alaverdi
Anton
Martkopeli (ანტონ მარტყოფელი) / Anton of Martkopi
Tadeoz
Stepantsmindeli (თადეოზ სტეფანწმინდელი) / Thaddeus of Stepantsminda
Piros
Breteli (პიროს
ბრეთელი)
/ Pyrrhus of Breti
Iese
Tsilkneli (იესე წილკნელი) / Jesse of Tsilkani
Stepane
Khirseli (სტეფანე
ხირსელი)
/ Stephen of Khirsa
Isidore
Samtavneli (ისიდორე სამთავნელი) / Isidor of Samtavisi
Mikael
Ulumboeli (მიქაელ ულუმბოელი) / Michael of Ulumbo
Zenon
Ikaltoeli (ზენონ იყალთოელი) / Zenon of Ikalto
David
Gareja monastery complex
was
founded in the 6th century by David (St. David Garejeli) one of the thirteen
Assyrian monks, who arrived in the country at the same time. His disciples,
Dodo and Luciane expanded the original lavra and founded two other monasteries
known as Dodo's Rka (literally, "the horn of Dodo") and
Natlismtsemeli ("the Baptist"). The monastery saw further development
under the guidance of the 9th-century Georgian saint Ilarion. The convent was
particularly patronized by the Georgian royal and noble families. The
12th-century Georgian king Demetre I, the author of the famous Georgian
religious hymn Thou Art a Vineyard, even chose David Gareja as a place of his
confinement after he abdicated the throne.
