Life and Context
Joseph was a native of Khevi, a mountainous region of northern Georgia over which towers Mount Kazbegi, the country's highest peak. He served as a priest in his home village. The people of Khevi were noted throughout history for their steadfastness in the Christian faith, building churches and monasteries deliberately in remote mountainous places, as though reaching them should demand the greatest zeal.
According to the historian David Batonishvili, Joseph was especially known for his love of holy objects, for keeping the strictest of fasts, and for his outstanding virtues. Tradition holds that he attained the heights of clairvoyance and miracle-working before his peaceful repose in 1763.
The Bethlehem Hermitage
Joseph was famed for his climbs to the Bethlehem Hermitage (also called the Jerusalem or Betlemi Cave), a cave on the ice-covered vertical cliff of Mount Kazbegi at roughly 13,450 feet, reputed to be among the highest consecrated ground in the world. The hermitage, whose entrance sits on an andesite cliff some 300 to 400 meters above the rock base, could only be reached by climbing chains let down from its height. Researchers believe the monastic complex dates to the 6th or 7th centuries.
According to the Georgian chronicle known as the Life of Kartli (Kartlis Tskhovreba), the cave was used throughout history to store sacred objects and treasures of the Church. Georgian tradition maintains that both the tent of the patriarch Abraham and the manger of Christ were kept there for many centuries. The chronicle also records that a hundred young Khevsian soldiers hid in the cave during the invasion of Timur Leng (Tamerlane). Joseph climbed to the hermitage and returned with a piece said to be from the tent of the patriarch Abraham, which he presented to King Erekle.
Relics and Shrines
Holy Trinity Monastery, near the Bethlehem Cave, once preserved the cross of Saint Nino, now kept in Tbilisi. A 1948 expedition led by Alexandra Dzhaparidze explored the cave and found a hanging metal chain some 5.5 meters long at the entrance, medieval church artifacts, a banner dated to the 10th or 11th century, and coins from the 15th to 18th centuries, consistent with the cave's active use during Joseph's lifetime. In 2000, an expedition of Georgian mountaineers together with Bishop Nicoloz of Bodbe ascended to restore the cave's consecrated status and to serve the Divine Liturgy there.
Miracles and Traditions
Historically Documented: The historical record preserves little of Joseph's life beyond his origin in Khevi, his priestly service there, and his retrieval of the relic of Abraham's tent from the Bethlehem Cave, which he presented to King Erekle, as recorded by the historian David Batonishvili.
Traditional Accounts: Georgian tradition holds that Joseph attained clairvoyance and the working of miracles, and that the Bethlehem Cave preserved the tent of the patriarch Abraham and the manger of Christ for many centuries. No specific act of glorification is documented in the available sources; his commemoration on October 7 rests on traditional Georgian veneration rather than a recorded synodal act.
