Saint Melchizedek I, Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia (11th Century) — October 1 / October 14 (Julian Calendar)

On this day, October 1 according to the Julian Calendar (October 14 civil calendar), the Georgian Orthodox Church commemorates Saint Melchizedek I, Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia.

Saint Melchizedek, Catholicos-Patriarch, guided the Apostolic Autocephalous Church of Georgia in approximately the years 1010–1030, during the reigns of Kings Bagrat III, Giorgi I and Bagrat IV. The saint ascended the throne of Catholicos after the death of Catholicos Simeon. Saint Melchizedek is the first primate of the Apostolic Church of Georgia to be referred to with the title of Catholicos-Patriarch.

According to the “Chronicle of Kartli,” Saint Melchizedek was “the son of noble men,” raised by King Bagrat II. During his tenure as Catholicos, Saint Melchizedek built and beautified the Cathedral of Svetitskhoveli. To seek assistance the saint “went to Constantinople before Basil, the Emperor of the Greeks,” and having returned to his homeland with a great treasure, he “began the building of the outer gates and the surrounding porticoes, with carved work and raised vaulting, and completed it all.” In addition, the Catholicos adorned Svetitskhoveli “with every ornament, with gold and silver, with precious stones and pearls.”

Saint Melchizedek visited Byzantium several times, and historians suppose that it was during these visits that the Eastern Patriarchs confirmed the title of Catholicos-Patriarch for the primate of the Apostolic Church of Georgia.

His Holiness and Beatitude Melchizedek I, Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia, reposed in the year 1030. He is buried on the right side of Svetitskhoveli, at the entrance to the chapel of the Holy Prophet Elijah the Tishbite.

History has preserved the testament drawn up by Saint Melchizedek, “Written for the Cathedral of Mtskheta,” in which is listed the complete inventory of the objects, churches, monasteries and villages that the Catholicos-Patriarch donated to Svetitskhoveli of Mtskheta. It is precisely in this testament that the primate of Georgia is first named Catholicos-Patriarch, and from the same document it is clear that Melchizedek I prepared his own burial place in Svetitskhoveli: “To the south of the diaconicon, within the martyrium of the holy martyrs, I made my grave, and I set up an altar, and at this altar I appointed as celebrant of the Liturgy for my sinful soul my foster-son Ioane” (Catholicos-Patriarch Ioane V Okropiri, †1049).

Saint Melchizedek was canonized on October 17, 2002.