George of Chqondidi ( ka, გიორგი ჭყონდიდელი, ''Giorgi Chqondideli'') (died c. 1118) was a Georgian churchman and court minister best known as a tutor and the closest adviser of King

David IV David IV, also known as David IV the Builder ( ka, დავით IV აღმაშენებელი, tr; 1073 – 24 January 1125), of the Bagrationi dynasty, was the 5th List of monarchs of Georgia, king (''mepe'') of the Kingdom of Ge ...

(r. 1089–1125). He served as an

archbishop In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdi ...

Chqondidi Martvili Monastery ( ka, მარტვილის მონასტერი) is a Georgian monastic complex located in the village of Martvili in the Martvili District of the Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti Province (Mkhare) of Georgia. It sits upo ...

(Chqondideli) in west Georgia and possibly played a role in a palace coup in which George II was forced to cede power to his young and energetic son

, while himself was reduced to the status of a co-king. George was the tutor and spiritual father of David and was appointed by the new king as the Grand Chancellor of Georgia (''

Mtsignobartukhutsesi In feudal Georgia, the ' (), or Grand Chancellor, was the head of notaries and composer of documents. From the beginning of the 12th century, the Grand Chancellor was the head of government, second in authority only to the king. Following the ...

'') following the ecclesiastic

Council of Ruisi-Urbnisi Council of Ruisi-Urbnisi ( ka, რუის-ურბნისის საეკლესიო კრება) was a synod convened at Ruisi and Urbnisi by the Georgian monarch David IV in 1103, that limited the church’s authority, expelled r ...

of 1103. Henceforth this office, for a time the greatest at the Georgian court, was usually held by the incumbent archbishops of Chqondidi. George appeared as David’s key ally in his reforms of the church and state machinery. He personally supervised successful efforts at recapturing the strongholds of

Samshvilde Samshvilde ( ka, სამშვილდე, ) is a ruined fortified city and archaeological site in Georgia, in the country's south, near the homonymous modern-day village in the Tetritsqaro Municipality, Kvemo Kartli region. The ruins of the ...

(1110) and

Rustavi Rustavi ( ka, რუსთავი ) is a city in the southeast of Georgia, in the region of Kvemo Kartli and southeast of capital Tbilisi. It has a population of 127,154 (January 2024), making it the third most populous city in Georgia. Its eco ...

(1115) from the

Seljuk Turks The Seljuk dynasty, or Seljukids ( ; , ''Saljuqian'',) alternatively spelled as Saljuqids or Seljuk Turks, was an Oghuz Turks, Oghuz Turkic, Sunni Muslim dynasty that gradually became Persianate society, Persianate and contributed to Turco-Persi ...

. In 1118, he accompanied the king in his travel to the

Kipchak Kipchak may refer to: * Kipchaks, a medieval Turkic people * Kipchak languages, a Turkic language group * Kipchak language, an extinct Turkic language of the Kipchak group * Kipchak Khanate or Golden Horde * Kipchak Mosque, a mosque in the villa ...

lands to negotiate a

recruitment Recruitment is #Process, the overall process of identifying, sourcing, screening, shortlisting, and interviewing candidates for Job (role), jobs (either permanent or temporary) within an organization. Recruitment also is the process involved in ...

of these nomad tribesmen in the royal army of Georgia. He was never to return to Georgia though, as he died in

Alania Alania was a medieval kingdom of the Iranian Alans ( Proto-Ossetians) that flourished between the 9th–13th centuries in the Northern Caucasus, roughly in the location of the latter-day Circassia, Chechnya, Ingushetia, and modern North Ossetia ...

around that year. According to the '' Georgian Chronicles'', George "was mourned as a father, and even more deeply, by the whole kingdom, and by the king himself, who wore black for forty days". And he was buried at the Gelati cathedral. The art historian Guram Abramishvili identifies George with the figure depicted on a fresco from the

Ateni Sioni Church The Ateni Sioni Church ( ka, ატენის სიონი) is an early 7th-century Georgian Orthodox church in the village of Ateni (Georgia), Ateni, some south of the city of Gori, Georgia, Gori, Georgia (country), Georgia. It stands in a ...

as leading a row of royal donors, otherwise thought to represent George II after his retirement to monastery. On June 27, 2005, George of Chqondidi was

canonized Canonization is the declaration of a deceased person as an officially recognized saint, specifically, the official act of a Christian communion declaring a person worthy of public veneration and entering their name in the canon catalogue of sa ...

by the

Georgian Orthodox Church The Apostolic Autocephalous Orthodox Church of Georgia ( ka, საქართველოს სამოციქულო ავტოკეფალური მართლმადიდებელი ეკლესია, tr), commonl ...

which marks his feast day annually on September 12.

References

{{authority control Bishops of the Georgian Orthodox Church Christian saints from Georgia (country) 12th-century Christian saints 11th-century births 1118 deaths