Right-believing (Ruler) 12th century

Blessed David IV the Builder King of Georgia

c. 1073 - 1125

Also known as David the Builder · Davit Aghmashenebeli

The king who delivered Georgia from invaders and led it into a golden age, building churches and monasteries and ruling with justice and piety.

Feast Day
January 26
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Commemorated as

The Holy and Right-believing King David the Builder of Georgia

Life

David IV, called 'the Builder' (Aghmashenebeli), was king of Georgia from 1089 to 1125 and is venerated by the Georgian Orthodox Church as a right-believing king. He is commemorated on January 26.

By the accounts he was born around the year 1073 at Kutaisi, the son of King George II, and came to the throne in 1089 at the age of sixteen. He set himself to restore his kingdom, which had long suffered under the invasions and tribute of the Seljuk Turks, reforming its administration, its army, and the life of the Church.

For the renewal of the Church he convened the Council of Ruisi-Urbnisi, about the years 1103 to 1105, to correct abuses and strengthen church discipline. By the year 1099 he had ceased to pay the annual tribute to the Seljuks, a mark of Georgia's renewed independence.

Contributions & Legacy

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Deliverance of Georgia

On August 12, 1121, at the Battle of Didgori, David's army defeated a far larger Seljuk force, a victory that broke Turkish dominance in the Caucasus. In the following year, 1122, he took Tbilisi, which had been under Muslim rule for nearly five centuries, and made it once more the capital of a Christian kingdom.

A friend of the Church and a promoter of Christian learning, David was a builder of churches and monasteries; he is especially associated with the monastery of Gelati, where he was buried. He died on January 24, 1125, after a reign of some thirty-four years, and the Georgian Church numbers him among its saints, honoring him as David the Builder.

Sources: OCA Synaxarion (oca.org), Jan 26