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| St. Prokhor the Georgian (Feast Day - February 12) |
Saint Prochorus the Georgian, a descendant of the noble Shavteli family, was born at the end of the 10th century and grew up in a monastery. When he reached manhood he was ordained a hieromonk and labored for one year at the Lavra of Saint Savvas in Jerusalem. Then, with the blessing of his spiritual father Ekvtime Grdzeli, he began the reconstruction of the Holy Cross Georgian Monastery near Jerusalem.
According to tradition, at this spot Abraham’s nephew Lot planted three trees — a cypress, a pine, and a cedar. Eventually these three trees miraculously grew into one large tree. When the Temple of Solomon was being built, this tree was cut down but left unused. It is said that the Cross on which Christ our Savior was crucified was constructed from the wood of this tree.
In the fourth century, the land on which the miraculous tree had grown was presented to Holy King Mirian, the first Christian king of Georgia. Then in the fifth century, during the reign of Holy King Vakhtang Gorgasali, the Holy Cross Monastery was founded on that land. The monastery was destroyed several times between the 7th and 9th centuries.
Finally, in the 11th century, King Bagrat Kuropalates offered much of his wealth to Saint Prochorus for the restoration of the monastery. Saint Prochorus beautified the monastery, then gathered eighty monks and established the typicon (the monastic rule) for the community in accordance with that of the Saint Savvas Lavra.
When Saint Prochorus had labored long and lived to an advanced age, he chose his disciple Giorgi to be the monastery’s next abbot.
Then he departed for the wilderness with two of his disciples, and after some time the righteous monk yielded up his spirit to God.
Beyond this, little is known about the life of Saint Prochorus. According to Georgian researchers and scholars, he was probably born sometime between 985 and 990. He spent the years 1010 to 1015 in Jerusalem, and labored at the Lavra of Saint Savvas until 1025. He reposed in the year 1066, between the ages of 76 and 81.
