Saint Peter the Iberian

Peter the Iberian (Georgian: პეტრე იბერი, romanized: p'et're iberi) (c. 417-491) was a Georgian royal prince, theologian and philosopher who was a prominent figure in early Christianity and one of the founders of Christian Neoplatonism. Some have claimed that he is the author known conventionally as Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite. His accomplishments include founding the first Georgian monastery in Bethlehem and becoming the bishop of Maiuma near Gaza. The oldest Georgian Bir el Qutt inscriptions mention Peter with his father. Peter was born into the royal Chosroid dynasty of the Kings of Iberia (Eastern Georgia) and was initially named Murvan (alternatively, Nabarnugios), Prince of Iberia (Kartli). His father, King Bosmarios of Iberia, invited noted philosopher Mithridates from Lazica (also called John the Eunuch and John the Laz) to take part in Murvan's education. For a time, the child was kept hidden so as not to be delivered as a hostage to the Persians. In 423, at the age of about five, the prince was sent as a political hostage to Constantinople to ensure the loyalty of Iberia to the Byzantines rather than to the Persians. Here he received a brilliant education under a personal patronage of the Roman empress Aelia Eudocia, wife of Theodosius II. When he was about twenty, the young prince, together with his mentor Mithridates, left the palace and made a pilgrimage to Palestine. It remains uncertain whether they had planned to return to Constantinople or if this was an escape, nevertheless their presence in Jerusalem was commonly known and they were not forced to return. In Jerusalem, they were received by Melania the Younger, a famous ascetic whom Peter had met earlier in Constantinople and who might have inspired him to follow her. Melania bestowed upon them the monastic garb in a ceremony in the Anastasis and they became monks at her monastery on the Mount of Olives under their new names Peter and John.