Early Life and Education
George was born around 1009 in Trialeti, a southern province of the Kingdom of Georgia, into the aristocratic family of Jacob — sometime an envoy of King Bagrat III of Georgia to Iran — and his wife Mariam.
At about the age of seven he was sent to the monastery of Tadzrisi to begin his education, and after three years moved to Khakhuli. Around 1022 he was sent to Constantinople, where he mastered Greek and acquired a profound knowledge of Byzantine theology before returning to Georgia in 1034.
Monastic Life and the Iviron Abbacy
On returning to Georgia in 1034 George took monastic tonsure at Khakhuli. He then made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem and spent a period as the disciple of another Georgian monk, George the Recluse, on the Black Mountain near Antioch.
In 1040 he established himself at the Iviron monastery on Mount Athos — its name meaning 'of the Georgians.' About four years later, upon the death of the hegumen Stephanos, George was consecrated as his successor. As abbot he reorganized and refurbished the cloister and developed it into a vibrant center of Georgian Orthodox culture.
Translations and Writings
George was among the foremost translators of the Georgian tradition. He produced an updated translation of the Gospels and rendered extensive material from Greek into Georgian, including the Psalms, works of exegesis, synaxaria, and the writings of the Fathers of the Church — among them Basil of Caesarea, Gregory of Nyssa, Athanasius, and John of Damascus. He also revised the work of his predecessors and translated anti-Latin writings attributed to Photius.
His principal original composition is the Vitae of Our Blessed Fathers John and Euthymius, written after 1040 — a manuscript of some twelve thousand words that serves as both a history and a praise of the Iviron community and its Georgian founders.
Relics & Shrines
George died at Athens in 1065 while on a journey, and the Athonite monks interred him at the Iviron monastery on Mount Athos, the community he had led and enriched.
Veneration
George the Hagiorite was canonized by the Georgian Orthodox Church. He is commemorated on June 27; the Georgian Church also keeps his memory on July 10.
