Shio-Mgvime monastery

Shio-Mgvime monastery (literally meaning “the cave of Shio”) is a medieval monastic complex in Georgia, near the town of Mtskheta. According to a historic tradition, the first monastic community at this place was founded by the 6th-century monk Shio, one of the Thirteen Assyrian Fathers who came to Georgia as Christian missionaries. St. Shio is said to have spent his last years as a hermit in a deep cave near Mtskheta subsequently named Shiomghvime (“the Cave of Shio”) after him. The earliest building – the Monastery of St. John the Baptist – a cruciform church, very plain and strict in its design, indeed dates back to 560s-580s, and the caves curved by monks are still visible around the monastery and along the road leading to the complex.