Venerable Euthymius the Hagiorite (of Iviron), Venerable

Venerable Euthymius the Hagiorite was born around 955 in Georgia; as a child he was sent as a hostage to Constantinople, where he received a Byzantine education. He later took monastic vows together with his father, Venerable John the Iberian, and labored on Mount Athos, where Georgian monks founded the Iviron Monastery. From 1005 to 1019, St. Euthymius served as abbot of that monastery. The chief work of his life was translation: he translated over 160 books from Greek into Georgian — Holy Scripture, liturgical texts, and patristic writings — thereby laying the foundations of Georgian monastic literature on the Holy Mountain. He reposed in 1028 and was glorified as a saint approximately one year after his death. His memory is kept on May 13/26, and also in the Synaxis of Athonite Venerables.