Venerable Venerable Arsenius of Ikalto

Venerable Arsenius (Arsen) of Ikalto (c. 1050 – February 6, 1127) was a Georgian theologian, philosopher, calligrapher, translator, and spiritual writer during the golden age of Georgia under King David IV the Builder. Born into the princely Vachnadze family in Kakheti, he was educated at the Mangana Academy in Constantinople and later lived as a monk on the Black Mountain near Antioch under Ephrem Mtsire.

Around 1105, at David's invitation, he returned to Georgia to become the king's spiritual confessor and closest collaborator in church reform. He headed the Ikalto Academy at the Monastery of the Savior-Not-Made-by-Hands in Ikalto — Georgia's first institution of higher learning.

He took part in the Ruisi-Urbnisi Church Council and translated the Nomocanon in Fourteen Titles into Georgian. He reposed February 6, 1127, and was buried at Ikalto.