Latest / Saints and Scripture / Saint Anthony and Saint Jacob of Chqondidi: Faith and Leadership
Transcript
- 0:00SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the Saints in Scripture Podcast.
- 0:02SPEAKER_00: Today is Tuesday, october thirteenth, twenty twenty six.
- 0:06SPEAKER_00: Today we remember two saints from Georgia Saint Anthony Metropolitan of Shkandidi and his spiritual son, Saint Jacob, elder of Shkandidi.
- 0:19SPEAKER_00: Saint Anthony was born into a noble family.
- 0:22SPEAKER_00: His father was Otia Dadiani, Prince of Egasi, and his mother Golkan was the daughter of Prince Shoshita III of Ratcha.
- 0:33SPEAKER_00: He had five brothers and one sister, Miriam, who later married King Solomon the Great of Emireti.
- 0:40SPEAKER_00: His mother taught the children the Christian faith, and her example deeply influenced them.
- 0:46SPEAKER_00: After his father died, Anthony was raised by his older brother Katsia.
- 0:51SPEAKER_00: His family prepared him for a diplomatic career, focusing on philosophy, literature, poetry, art, and foreign languages like Turkish and Persian.
- 1:01SPEAKER_00: In the early 1700s, rulers of Agresi appointed relatives to the Shkandidi Diocese.
- 1:08SPEAKER_00: Anthony's older brother Nicholas was prepared to be bishop but was too attached to worldly things.
- 1:14SPEAKER_00: Anthony, however, was eager for the monastic life and became a monk.
- 1:19SPEAKER_00: Feeling his spiritual education was incomplete, Anthony asked monks at Martville Monastery for help.
- 1:27SPEAKER_00: French missionaries taught him scholastic philosophy, popular in Europe then, but Anthony saw that their teaching mixed Orthodox faith with heresy.
- 1:37SPEAKER_00: Once, during a meal, he asked a French priest if it was possible to pour wine into a cup of water without mixing them.
- 1:44SPEAKER_00: The priest said no.
- 1:46SPEAKER_00: Anthony said just as water and wine cannot mix in one cup, Orthodox doctrine cannot mix with heresy.
- 1:54SPEAKER_00: After that he parted ways with the missionaries.
- 1:57SPEAKER_00: Saint Anthony continued to seek knowledge and traveled to Tbilisi, where King Erikel II ruled.
- 2:04SPEAKER_00: The king's wife, Queen Derijan, was Anthony's cousin.
- 2:09SPEAKER_00: In seventeen sixty one Anthony became bishop of Sageri in Lower Svanity.
- 2:15SPEAKER_00: His sermons were so inspiring that even the Catholicos of Georgia praised them.
- 2:20SPEAKER_00: He was known for his fasting and holiness.
- 2:22SPEAKER_00: His face was said to look like an angel's.
- 2:25SPEAKER_00: He ordered that a daily meal be prepared for the poor at the Chkondidi residence, a practice continued by later bishops.
- 2:34SPEAKER_00: In the late 1700s, slave trading became common in western Georgia.
- 2:40SPEAKER_00: Bishop Anthony boldly opposed this and held church councils from 1792 to 1794 to condemn the slave traders.
- 2:49SPEAKER_00: In 1788, he approved large land grants to monasteries like Martvili, Nakarebu, and Say Irmi, convincing the Dadiani family to exempt these lands from taxes.
- 3:04SPEAKER_00: By 1789, Anthony, now a metropolitan, moved to Nakarabu Monastery, which he had built.
- 3:12SPEAKER_00: He enriched it with sacred objects, ancient icons, and lands.
- 3:17SPEAKER_00: He spent his remaining years there.
- 3:20SPEAKER_00: Saint Anthony reposed in 1815 at a very old age and was buried at Nakarabu Monastery.
- 3:27SPEAKER_00: His spiritual son and close companion, Haramonk Jacob, also lived a holy life and was received into the heavenly kingdom.
- 3:36SPEAKER_00: May we be inspired by their faith, courage, and care for others as we live our own lives.
- 3:41SPEAKER_00: Let us pray.
- 3:43SPEAKER_00: Lord, help us to remain faithful like Saint Anthony and Saint Jacob.
- 3:48SPEAKER_00: Give us courage to stand for what is right and love to care for those in need.
- 3:53SPEAKER_00: In the name of the Father and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, one God, amen.