Venerable Euthymius, Abbot of the Monastery of St. John the Baptist — August 8 / August 21 (Julian Calendar)

On this day, August 8 according to the Julian Calendar (August 21 civil calendar), the Georgian Orthodox Church commemorates Venerable Euthymius, Abbot of the Monastery of St. John the Baptist.

Saint Euthymius was the abbot of the Monastery of Saint John the Baptist in the wilderness of Gareji’s Mravalmta. The charters and deeds of the monastery remember him as “a laborer of many labors.”

According to the testimony of Prince Ioane Bagrationi, Euthymius was “a man who was a philosopher and a theologian, an extraordinary preacher of the virtues. He labored greatly for the monastery and rebuilt the village of Khashmi, which had been burned when the Eristavis of Ksani brought in the Lezgins; he planted a remarkable vineyard and built mills… he added much to the monastery, both in goods and in landed estates.” By his blessing a great quantity of spiritual literature was translated in the monastery, and rare works were copied.

Prince Ioane also relates that Saint Euthymius taught “philosophy and theology to a number of disciples.”

At the commission of Saba of Ninotsminda, Saint Euthymius composed hymns to Saint Nino: “Saba, the most reverend Metropolitan of Ninotsminda, who blesses the wildernesses, commanded me, the unworthy Euthymius, archimandrite of the Monastery of Saint John the Baptist, to compose the verses of ‘Rejoice’ to the Enlightener of Georgia, the Equal-to-the-Apostles, Mother Nino.”

In the year 1797 an epidemic of plague broke out in Tbilisi. The inhabitants fled into the forests and the gorges. The ascetic monks of the wilderness came forth from the clefts of the rocks and appeared as guardian angels to the people, weakened by sickness and hunger: they helped them, served them, and consoled them. As with many other good works, Saint Euthymius directed this labor as well.

Saint Euthymius reposed in peace in the year 1804.

The Apostolic Church of Georgia numbered among the saints this abbot Euthymius — philosopher and theologian, “clothed in many labors,” who toiled for the Church and for the nation, the hope and the consolation of those in need.