Shio of Mgvime

Shio of Mgvime (; 'Shio of the Cave'Rapp, p. 99), sometimes known as Simeon of Mgvime, was a 6th century anchorite, desert father, thaumaturgus and one of the thirteen Assyrian apostles of the Georgian kingdom of Iberia. He is venerated as a saint who introduced the notion of a strict ascetic life to the Georgian Church.Soltes, p. 104

Life He was born in Antioch. At the age of 20, he became a disciple of the famous hermit John of Zedazeni,Rapp, p. 100 distributed his property to peasants and monasteries, and became a monk himself.Charkiewicz, p. 37 In the middle of the 6th century, he lived in Mtskheta. Monk Shio separated from his brethren and founded the Shio-Mgvime monastery on Sarkine mountain.Rapp, p. 102Tchekhanovets, p. 184 Initially, Shio lived in a small cave, which was converted into a church around the 9th century, the monastery became a large organization during the time of Shio.Charkiewicz, pp. 47-48 On his own initiative, the first church named after John the Baptist was built here. Shio performed an extraordinary feats of endurance,Soltes, p. 110 by spending the last years of his life in total seclusion, in a 12 metre deep cave,Tchekhanovets, p. 185 he was buried there.Charkiewicz, p. 52 His feast day is on May 22. See also David of Gareji Joseph of Alaverdi Shio III References

Bibliography Rapp, S. H. Jr (2014) The Sasanian World through Georgian Eyes: Caucasia and the Iranian Commonwealth in Late Antique Georgian Literature, Ashgate Publishing, Soltes, O. (1999) National Treasures of Georgia, Bloomsbury, Tchekhanovets, Y. (2018) The Caucasian Archaeology of the Holy Land: Armenian, Georgian and Albanian Communities Between the Fourth and Eleventh Centuries CE, Charkiewicz, J. (2005) Gruzińscy święci, Warszawa: Warszawska Metropolia Prawosławna,