From Nobleman to Monk
Otar Machutadze was a distinguished Kartlian aristocrat famed for his wealth, hospitality, and charity. Despite his worldly station, he secretly wore a hair shirt beneath his fine clothing and prayed continually for the strength to lead the monastic life.
By tradition he disclosed his longing to his wife, saying that he thirsted to turn from the world and draw nearer to Christ. His faithful wife consented and permitted him to depart in peace. He blessed his two eldest sons in Tbilisi and then set out for the David-Gareji Monastery, at that time governed by the kindhearted superior Archimandrite Herman, who received him with great joy and after a short time tonsured him a monk with the name Onuphrius.
Monastic Life and Asceticism
The synaxarion describes Onuphrius as a peaceful, humble, and obedient man and a tireless ascetic who kept vigil through the night. After the morning prayers he would go down to the ravine and continue chanting psalms, shedding tears over his past transgressions. He ate a single meal a day of bread and water, taken after the hour of Vespers.
After spending thirty days in prayer at the grave of Saint David, he was tonsured into the great schema and thereafter observed a strict vow of silence. He wore a heavy chain beneath his clothes and slept on a tattered mat, refusing all comfort of a bed until the day of his death. His characteristic greeting to visitors was to ask to kiss the edge of their garments and wash their feet with his tears.
Trials and Almsgiving
On one occasion the Dagestanis attacked the David-Gareji Monastery and took captive several monks, including Onuphrius; by God's mercy he was freed and returned to the monastery.
At another time, when the monastery had fallen into poverty, he begged alms for its restoration. On this journey his youngest son, John, accompanied him.
Miracles
Historically Documented: The available sources record no independently documented miracles apart from the accounts preserved in his life.
Traditional Accounts: The synaxarion and calendar sources relate that he healed a demon-possessed young man at Tskhinvali using earth from the grave of Saint David, and cured an Arab's wounded eye with water from the monastery's holy spring. He is venerated as a wonderworker.
Repose
Saint Onuphrius fell asleep in the Lord on the Feast of Theophany (January 6), eighteen days after receiving Holy Communion. He was buried on the south side of the grave of Saint David of Gareji, near the altar window. No source specifies his year of death or a formal glorification act; his veneration appears in the calendar as that of an established Georgian saint. His feast is commemorated on September 29.
Relics & Shrines
He was buried on the south side of the grave of Saint David of Gareji, near the altar window, within the David-Gareji Monastery in Georgia.
