The Monk Anthony, Pillar-Dweller of Martkops

Commemorated on August 16, January 19

The Monk Anthony, Pillar-Dweller of Martkops, – one of the thirteen Cappadocian holy fathers, the founders of Gruzian / Georgian monasticism (the account about them is located under 7 May), arrived in Gruzia in the VI Century. According to tradition, he brought to Gruzia the first copy on "tile" from the Edessa original of the Saviour Image Not-made-by-hand. He settled on a solitary mountain, called in his honour Martkops – which means "solitary", and there founded a monastery and constructed a church in honour of the Saviour Image Not-made-by-hand. For the last 15 years of his life the monk Anthony pursued asceticism upon a pillar, wherefore he received the name Pillar-Dweller of the Iversk Church. (This pillar, destroyed by time, was still preserved in the last century, and the monastery founded by the Monk Anthony existed until the middle of the XVIII Century).
At the end of his earthly life, the Monk Anthony was buried in the church built by him; at his tomb there thronged a crowd of believers, and miracles of healing occurred. His memory is celebrated by the Georgian-Gruzian Church on 19 January, and on the day of 16 August is the temple feast of the Anchiskhat Church in Tbilisi, wherein is preserved the wonderworking icon of Saviour Image Not-made-by-hand, brought by the monk.