Ioseb Alaverdeli (Amba Alaverdeli)

Ioseb Alaverdeli [Joseph of Alaverdi], also known as Amba Alaverdeli, was one of the Thirteen Assyrian Fathers who actively labored in Georgia.

He arrived from the city of Antioch in the middle of the 6th century alongside Ioane Zedazneli [John of Zedazeni]. Initially, he resided at the Zedazeni Monastery, but subsequently founded the Alaverdi Monastery on the right bank of the Alazani River, where he constructed the Church of Saint George and was later interred.

His religious work significantly contributed to the consolidation of Christianity in this region of Kakheti. Ioseb Alaverdeli is commemorated in the 12th-century metaphrastic recensions of the Vitae [Lives] of fellow Assyrian Fathers, David Garejeli [David of Gareja] and Shio Mghvimeli [Shio of Mgvime]. In the 18th century, a synaxarion recension of the Vita of Ioseb Alaverdeli was compiled. According to ecclesiastical tradition, he carried with him a cross carved from the wood of the True Cross upon which Jesus Christ was crucified. The commemoration day of the Venerable Ioseb Alaverdeli falls on September 15 (28).

Sources: ასურელ მოღვაწეთა ცხოვრების წიგნთა ძველი რედაქციები, ილ. აბულაძის გამოც., თბ., 1955; ძველი ქართული აგიოგრაფიული ლი­ტე­რა­ტუ­რის ძეგლები, ილ. აბულაძის რედ., წგ. 3–4, თბ., 1968–71.

Literature: ქართველ წმინდანთა ცხოვრებანი, რედ. ს. მიქაბერიძე, თბ. – ათენი, 2003.

B. Lominadze