Venerable Joseph of Alaverdi — September 15 / September 28 (Julian Calendar)

On this day, September 15 according to the Julian Calendar (September 28 civil calendar), the Georgian Orthodox Church commemorates Venerable Joseph of Alaverdi, one of the Thirteen Syrian Fathers.

Saint Joseph of Alaverdi was a disciple of St. John of Zedazeni (commemorated May 7), who in the sixth century came from Syria to Georgia together with twelve disciples to revive Christianity and monastic life in the country. Although the apostolic Church of Georgia already had a history of several centuries by that time, unbelief still held great power there.

By the will of God and under the guidance of the life-giving Cross, Abba Joseph settled in Kakheti, at the place where the Cathedral of Alaverdi now stands. According to tradition, Abba Joseph always carried with him a cross carved from the wood of the very Cross on which our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ was crucified.

Alaverdi was then a desolate, uninhabited, and barren place. The venerable father endured many hardships, privations, and dangers there, living alone with God alone in fervent asceticism, deprived of every earthly comfort.

To the father, who had taken up the labor of solitude among wild beasts, the Lord sent a great hunter, who had come to those parts to hunt with a large retinue of servants. As soon as the hunter saw the holy father, he understood that before him stood a man clothed in God; he dismounted from his horse, approached him with reverence, kissed him, and humbly asked who he was and why he was there.

Through God’s help, the venerable father instilled in him complete faith and an unquenchable desire for divine love and closeness to the truth. The noble hunter promised Father Joseph that he would build a church in the Alaverdi wilderness, and he indeed fulfilled his vow: he laid the foundation of the Alaverdi monastery. The venerable father greatly rejoiced at the accomplishment of this God-pleasing work.

Soon people learned of the holy monk and began coming there to see the wondrous father and hear his teaching. St. Joseph preached tirelessly and gave counsel and instruction. Through his ceaseless labor, unbelief was uprooted in that region and the worship of God was strengthened. Many of those drawn to the wilderness by the monk’s holy life, love, and miracles remained there to labor alongside him. Gradually the number of desert-dwellers grew and formed a great brotherhood. Saint Joseph of Alaverdi was the first abbot and spiritual guide of the brotherhood.

Worn out in body by his long labors and toil, the saint sensed the approach of his end. He gathered his disciples, gave them instruction, blessed them, appointed a new abbot, and peacefully fell asleep in the Lord.

His disciples buried the body of Saint Joseph with great honor in the Cathedral of Alaverdi, which he himself had built. Many miracles have taken place at the venerable father’s grave.