Venerable Sabiana Abbess of Samtskhe

Sabiana was the abbess of a women's monastery at Tadzrisi, in the Samtskhe region of southern Georgia. Almost nothing of her own life has been preserved; she is remembered chiefly through her role in forming two of her younger charges in the monastic and spiritual life.

According to the biographer George the Lesser, the parents of Saint George of the Holy Mountain entrusted their firstborn daughter, Thekla, to Sabiana, whom he described as worthy and holy. Sabiana received the girl and raised her as though she were her own daughter. Thekla's younger brother George, then seven years old, was afterward brought to the monastery, and Sabiana spent three years educating and instructing him in the spiritual life.

No detailed account of her own labors survives. Later commemoration assesses her sanctity indirectly, through the monastic discipline maintained under her abbacy and the piety of the spiritual children she raised. She is commemorated on December 31.