Venerable Christodoulos the Philosopher (12th Century) — August 18 / August 31 (Julian Calendar)

On this day, August 18 according to the Julian Calendar (August 31 civil calendar), the Georgian Orthodox Church commemorates Venerable Christodoulos the Philosopher.

Venerable Father Christodoulos the Philosopher belongs to that company of holy fathers of the twelfth century whose life and labours left an indelible mark upon the history of the Church and of the nation.

In the Dogmatikon of the celebrated ecclesiastical writer and philosopher Arsen, son of Vache, there is found a polemical treatise against Islam bearing the title “An Account of the Disputation and the Judgement concerning the Faith of the Christians and the Saracens.” The account given there is supplemented by the Kalmasoba of Prince Ioane Bagrationi, which preserves notices “concerning Father Christodoulos, who was called the Ossetian.”

According to these sources, Father Christodoulos was a monk, sprung from the eminent and the nobly born. He was a philosopher, deeply versed in the Holy Scriptures, trained in the Arabic and Persian tongues, and learned in the Qur’an.

When the Persian ruler Yamame invaded Georgia, he was admitted into Tbilisi without battle, and for this the lawless sovereign dealt kindly with the inhabitants and bestowed many gifts upon them.

On one occasion Yamame gathered together the Georgians and the Saracens, and among them was the Georgian monk Christodoulos. At this assembly a disputation was held between him and the Saracens. First Yamame himself contended with the monk and was overcome; then a certain magus and astrologer took his place, and when he too could accomplish nothing, they summoned a man reputed to be a teacher and skilled in argument, who seemed better prepared for the contest. The debate turned upon these questions: the meaning and significance of the monastic life among Christians; the divinity and incarnation of Jesus Christ; and whether Muhammad was a true prophet. The monk drew his arguments both from the Holy Scriptures and from the Qur’an, and he prevailed over his opponents, who were left abashed and put to shame.

Metropolitan Timote Gabashvili, describing in his Travels his journey to Mount Athos, makes mention of the fathers labouring there and writes: “…and there dwelt in seclusion the Georgian Anthimos the Javakhian, far off among the cells, who would not come out of his cell because of his great nakedness and poverty. And there was another Georgian, Germane of Atotsi, and again Gerasime of Ptsa, and the Imeretian Christodoulos of Sakara, and again the honourable and secluded Kakhetian Grigol of Alaverdi, most honourable in his monastic life.”

Elsewhere Timote Gabashvili describes his journey to Patmos and says: “And the whole body of Saint Christodoulos was there.”

It is supposed that the monk who laboured in Georgia afterwards departed for Athos, to the monastery of the Georgians, and reposed upon the island of Patmos.