The Thirteen Assyrian Fathers
According to Georgian church tradition, the Thirteen Assyrian Fathers were monastic missionaries who arrived from Mesopotamia in the sixth century to deepen the Christian faith of a people already enlightened by Saint Nino. Their leader was John of Zedazeni, and after the company settled at Zedazeni they dispersed across the country to preach and to found monasteries and hermitages, initiating the ascetic movement in Georgia. These foundations are credited with an important role in shaping Georgian Christian identity in the centuries that followed.
The lives of the Fathers survive only in a cycle of medieval Georgian hagiographic texts and are not independently attested beyond them. Modern scholarship is divided on their origin, variously regarding them as Assyrians, as Syrian-educated Georgians, or as refugees from Syria; the traditional number thirteen appears to be largely symbolic, since the sources name as many as nineteen monks. Zeno is consistently listed among them as the figure connected with Iqalto.