St. Joseph, Bishop of Alaverda, is one of the thirteen holy Syrian (Cappadocian) fathers, the founders of Georgian monasticism (commemorated on May 7). He, as the "flower of coveted virginity," chose the monastic lot from an early age. Having come to Georgia with his teacher, Saint John of Zedaznia (May 7), Saint Joseph settled in Kakheti in the desolate and barren Alaverdi steppe. Here he began his ascetic exploits. His spiritual power was so great that even wild animals did not touch him, and the fallow deer of the steppe came to him and fed him with their milk.
One of the Kakhetian nobles found himself in the Alaverdi steppe during a hunt and was so amazed to see St. Joseph standing at prayer that he stayed with him.
The rumor about the tonsuring of this nobleman and about the holy life of St. Joseph spread throughout Kakheti. Zealots of piety and ascetic life began to flock to St. Joseph in the Alaverdi steppe. This is how the monastery arose and a temple was built in honor of St. George the Great Martyr.
Elected abbot of the monastery, Saint Joseph took care of the monastery's brethren and the spiritual enlightenment of Kakheti with fatherly love. Pagan superstitions had not yet been eradicated, and Saint Joseph, with a cross in his hands, often left the monastery solitude and went to preach the Word of God.
The people of Kakheti, seeing the holy and immaculate life of St. Joseph and his sincere desire to serve them, willingly and joyfully accepted the Gospel teaching, abandoned their unbelief and pagan customs.
Saint Joseph compiled a catechism (lost in the 16th century), according to which he taught the flock entrusted to him. Having completed his high ministry at the end of his life, Saint Joseph shut himself up in a cramped cell for complete silence.
In 570, his peaceful and blissful death followed. St. Joseph was buried in the Church of St. George the Great Martyr in Alaverdi.
In the 9th century, the majestic Alaverda Cathedral was erected on the site of the former temple, in which the body of St. Joseph rests under a bushel to the left of the altar, against the northern wall.