1668 – 1751
A Georgian ascetic spiritually formed in the David-Gareja wilderness who was consecrated bishop of Manglisi and founded a monastery. He labored for the faith in difficult circumstances during the late 17th and 18th centuries.
Our Venerable Father John, Bishop of Manglisi
John of Manglisi was a Georgian hierarch and missionary who was spiritually formed in the David-Gareja wilderness before serving as bishop of Manglisi. Born in 1668, he is associated with the Saakadze family and was, according to the synaxarion, distinguished in ascetic virtue; he was ordained a hieromonk and subsequently consecrated bishop. He is commemorated on March 28.
After his episcopal service, John devoted himself to missionary labor among populations to the north and east of Georgia, in regions bordering the Caspian Sea. The tradition records that in 1724 he departed for Derbend in Dagestan, where he built a wooden church and began preaching Christianity among the local people. His mission unfolded amid the difficult political circumstances of the period, and he is said to have worked with the support of King Vakhtang VI of Kartli and of the Russian tsar Peter the Great.
According to the accounts of his life, John reposed in 1751 at Kizliar, and his relics were afterward translated to Tbilisi and interred in the Sioni Cathedral. He is venerated in the Georgian Orthodox tradition as a bishop and ascetic who carried Christian preaching into frontier regions during the early modern period.
In truth you were revealed to your flock as a rule of faith,
an image of humility and a teacher of abstinence;
your humility exalted you;
your poverty enriched you.
Hierarch Father John,
entreat Christ our God
that our souls may be saved.
Text used with permission of the Orthodox Church in America (oca.org).
John was spiritually nurtured in the David-Gareja wilderness, the network of cave monasteries in eastern Georgia long associated with Georgian monastic life. The synaxarion describes him as advancing in ascetic virtue there before being ordained a hieromonk, and he was afterward consecrated bishop of Manglisi, a historic see in central Georgia.
The tradition relates that in 1724 John left Georgia for Derbend in Dagestan, where he constructed a wooden church and preached Christianity among the local population. Sources record that he built churches dedicated to the Nativity of the Theotokos and to the Great-Martyr Catherine, and that in 1737 he traveled to Astrakhan, near the Caspian Sea, where he built a church in honor of Saint John the Evangelist that was later made a monastery. He is also credited with establishing a church and a preparatory school for clergy at Kizliar to serve Georgian Christian communities of the region.
According to the accounts of his life, John reposed on March 28, 1751, at Kizliar. His relics were subsequently translated to Tbilisi and buried in the Sioni Cathedral, where the tradition reports that they were found to be myrrh-streaming.
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