Tornike Eristavi

A general who became a monk on Athos

c. 920–985

Tornike was an eristavi, that is a general, in the service of David III Kuropalates, the ruler of Tao. Around 963 he left that service for Mount Athos and took monastic vows under the name John.

In 976 the commander Bardas Skleros rebelled against the Byzantine emperor Basil II, and the empire asked Tao for help. The monk was called back to soldiering: he led some twelve thousand Georgian horsemen, and on 24 March 979 at Pankaleia near Caesarea the rebels were routed.

With the spoils and twelve kentenaria of gold Tornike returned to Athos and, together with John the Iberian, founded Iviron, the Georgian monastery on the Holy Mountain. Iviron became the chief centre of Georgian letters outside the country: there books were translated and copied, and from there many texts of the Georgian church came home. Tornike died in 985 and is venerated as a saint.