Giorgi-Ioane (Mkheidze) was a Georgian archimandrite and schema-monk of Betania Monastery who confessed the Orthodox faith through the decades of Soviet persecution. He labored at Betania alongside St Ioane (Maisuradze), and the two were so united in their ascetic life that they came to be described as 'one soul in two bodies.' He reposed in 1960 and was glorified by the Georgian Orthodox Church together with his companion in 2003.
Born around 1877 in the village of Skhvava in the Racha region, he received a military education of the kind esteemed among the Georgian aristocracy, but turned instead to the cause of Georgia's national and spiritual renewal, serving for a time as personal secretary to St Ilia the Righteous (Ilia Chavchavadze). He was tonsured into monasticism by the hieromartyr Nazar, ordained a priest, and later raised to the rank of archimandrite.
In 1924, during the early Soviet attacks on monastic life, communist agents assaulted him at Khirsa Monastery in Kakheti, beating him and shaving his head and beard as a threat against his life. That same year he came to Betania, where he met Fr Ioane (Maisuradze) and remained for the rest of his days. His health was poor, and he was able to undertake only the lightest of tasks, tending the monastery's vegetable garden and keeping its bees while his fellow ascetic carried the heavier labors.
