Acta Monasterii Iberorum

The story of the most beautiful monastery of the Iberians, with which all the monks are known to be associated. Of this great royal monastery of Iveria, desirable and priestly, which in ancient times was resplendent and greatly renowned, and in primacies not inferior to any on this ancient and holy mountain of Athos, but which was adorned by men of divine and human philosophy, and again in buildings and priestly vessels and offerings, and especially in the treasury—in the administration of which they excelled, all of whom the Lord knows by His own judgment—we are aware of but little. It fell into complete ruin, as we learn from the ancient golden-sealed charters of former agreements. For in the year six thousand seven hundred sixty-six from Adam, and from Christ, in the reign of the God-crowned Michael Doukas Angelos Komnenos Palaiologos, after the passing of lives, those coming from France like brigands fell upon the aforementioned monastery and plundered and ravaged it, and, as it is said, left it without a leader and desolate, and all the priestly vessels and offerings and whatever served for the service of the monks were taken.

The beautiful and the forsakers of all things in this most excellent monastery, except for the desert-dwellers and the self-tormentors, departed. Some of the monks remained and performed the work of death, while others were persecuted and driven away, by which the entire condition of the monastery was overturned. But a little later, when it was rebuilt and renewed, immediately similar or even worse things befell it from the Hagarenes, whereupon it fell into a slight narrowness and scarcity of monks, as if only a few good ones remained dwelling in it. Thus, when the monastery had become such, behold, in the year seven thousand, at its end and the beginning of the eighth century, which is 792, some of those who were found there, in the self-governing lands of the Iberians, went forth and, meeting the pious lord and king, Lord Gorgoran, they conversed with him sufficiently about the monastery; he became a good listener and helped them.

But when this king departed to the Lord, his sons became the heirs of the princedom and kingship, whose names were Kaykhosro and Mzechabuk, pious kings and lords. They greatly assisted in the restoration of this monastery and its provisions and dwellings, and they rebuilt and restored the fallen and ruined cells and hermitages. Moreover, the great dome was then erected and built anew from the foundations, and the domes of the church, the outer gate, and all other useful necessities were prepared for the glorification of God, as is evident and remains to this day. The assistance and support came from there, that is, from Georgia, while all the labor, effort, or assistance of the monks of that monastery was such that they toiled day and night and were zealous for the renewal and order of the monastery. And although this was done by us, yet everything was by divine providence from above, and through the intercession of the Mother of God, the ever-virgin, the Theotokos and Mother of God, Mary, who both roused the lords and increased the number of monks through renewal and multiplication.

Thus, when this was done, the monastery was strengthened not only by additions and donations, but also by the acquisition of beneficial men, both spiritual and charitable fathers, who, like angels, lived a common life in unanimity and, as with one soul, toiled in many bodies. I, then, coming from Palestine and arriving in the year 7919 of the Christian era, and having been pleased by the good reverence and citizenship of those men before the monastery, and by the humility of other places, and delighted by their good order, chose to settle with them for the rest of my life. And finding the monastery lacking in certain books, I added these from my own meager and deficient resources.

and with all others, as many as I have heard, that in this holy monastery of ours and in some of the hermitages, if it is said, throughout the whole month of August it would be fitting to chant the Dormition of the Mother of God, that is, from the first of August until the 24th: they did not know correctly that in this monastery of ours as well it was necessary to chant, just as in the other hermitages of the Holy Mountain of the Greeks, annually the holy feast of the Dormition [and] to celebrate it here every assembly. For this reason these were written by me, Theodosios the priest-monk, and many other books as well, and were offered here in the church of the Mother of God monastery of the All-Holy Mother of God, named Portaitissa, surnamed of the Iberians, to the glory of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, amen! In the year 6722 from Adam, 1214 from Christ, on the second of the month of May, and may those who read pray for me to the Lord!