Venerable Tadeoz Stepantsmindeli

Thaddeus (Tato) of Stepantsminda (died 6th century) was a Christian monk and saint. According to hagiography, he came from Syria. In his youth, he joined a monastery founded by the monk John and, as one of twelve chosen disciples, left the Syrian desert with him. Together with other monks from the community led by John, he subsequently lived on Mount Zaden (later Zedazeni), where he was revered by the local population as a holy ascetic and miracle-worker. Later, at John's command, he left the mountain to travel to Kartli with the monks David, Shio, Piros of Betania, Michael, and Isidore, where another of John's disciples, Bishop Ise of Tsilkani, was already active. Orthodox hagiography calls him a "pillar of the holy faith." He initially conducted missionary work in Mtskheta, after then returning to the vicinity of Mount Zedazeni, where he founded a new monastery at its foot. He subsequently returned to active missionary work in the Kartli region and only in his old age settled permanently in the monastery of Tskhlevi, which he had founded. He died there.