Hierarch Peter I, First Catholicos of Georgia (of Mtskheta)

IMPORTANT IDENTITY AND DATE CLARIFICATION: the previous "date not established" is incorrect — the date can be established. Identity confirmed as Peter I of Mtskheta, first Catholicos of Georgia (not to be confused with a different historical figure, Peter the Iberian, 5th-century Bishop of Maiuma, whose Orthodox veneration was later disputed due to Monophysite associations — these are distinct people). HONEST CHRONOLOGY CAVEAT: sources disagree on the date of his death — drevo-info.ru gives c. 460, while other sources (including the tradition of King Vakhtang's final confession) place it closer to 502; this discrepancy is honestly noted rather than resolved by arbitrarily picking one version.

Saint Peter, by tradition a disciple of St. Gregory the Theologian, grew close in Constantinople to holy right-believing King Vakhtang I Gorgasali. He was elevated to the rank of Catholicos with the consent of the sees of Constantinople and Antioch, arriving in Kartli with 12 bishops — an event traditionally linked to the Georgian Church's attainment of self-governing status (formal autocephaly in the modern sense was proclaimed only in 1917). He accompanied King Vakhtang on the Persian campaign of 502 and, by tradition, heard his final confession and blessed his successor Dachi. He was canonized together with Catholicos Samuel I by the Holy Synod of the Georgian Orthodox Church on October 17, 2002. His feast is kept November 30/December 13, jointly with Samuel I and holy right-believing King Vakhtang Gorgasali.