Saint David IV the Renovator (Builder), King of Iberia and Abkhazia (1089-1125; according to other sources, 1084-1125), was an outstanding statesman, cultural and ecclesiastical figure of Georgia. He was raised by his confessor, the Monk Arseny of Ikalto, a renowned theologian and encyclopedic scholar (+ 1127; commemorated on February 6).
The name "Renewer" was given to Saint King David by the Georgian people for his great efforts to restore Georgia and strengthen the Georgian Orthodox Church. Georgia, ruthlessly devastated by the Turks and suffering from civil strife, united under the scepter of David the Renewer into a strong centralized state. The Georgian Church, in whose prosperity the tsar saw the guarantee of the inviolability and unity of the state, was the subject of his special care. Saint David was distinguished by deep piety, revered the church canons sacredly, and protected and approved them with his authority. On the initiative of St. David the Restorer, a Church Council was convened in 1103 in Ruisi, whose decisions helped to strengthen the canonical life of the Church and establish the deanery of the Church.
A highly educated man, Saint David encouraged the development of sciences. He founded the Gelati and Ikalto Academies. During the reign of St. David the Renewer, dozens of churches and monasteries were erected in Georgia, new towns were created and old towns expanded. The pious tsar devoted much care to the welfare and prosperity of the Georgian monasteries in Palestine and Sinai, Antioch and Mount Athos. When Saint David decided to erect a temple in the name of the Great Martyr George, to whose help he constantly resorted in his liberation battles, Saint George appeared to him in a vision and pointed out the place of construction of the temple.
Understanding peacemaking as the fulfillment of the Lord's commandment (Matthew 5:9), King David reconciled the Kipchak Khan Atrak with the Ossetians and established peace in the Daryal Gorge.
In 1123, shortly before his death, the pious tsar liberated Armenia from Turkish domination. He ordered the re-consecration of temples that had been converted into mosques by the Turks. According to legend, when the tsar approached the coffin of his grandmother, the wife of the Armenian tsar Gagik I, in one of the temples and said: "Hail, queen! God has delivered your temple from the Hagarites," suddenly a voice was heard: "Thanks be to God." King David's concern for reunification with the Armenian Church was expressed in the convening of a Church Council in the city of Ani, at which some of the Armenian Monophysite bishops were inclined to convert to Orthodoxy (however, in general, the Council did not lead to the desired results). The patriotic exploits of Saint David did not prevent him from performing a spiritual feat. From a young age, the saint had the basis of wisdom – the fear of God (Proverbs 1:7), which motivated him to good deeds and intentions. Saint David's favorite activity was reading the Holy Scriptures. His high spirituality is evidenced by his "Penitential Canon", which consists of nine mournful and touching songs.
Sensing the approach of death, the holy king David made a spiritual will, in which, handing over the government of the country to his son Demetrius, he wrote: "Now I respond to the Providence of the Just God, and he is called to the hereditary kingdom... I have accomplished everything by the power of the Honest Life-Giving Tree, and I present to him this Sign that has made me happy." After receiving the Holy Mysteries, "with hymns on his lips, he surrendered his soul to the Lord, at the age of 53, on Saturday, January 24, 1125."
The tsar was buried in the Gelati Monastery, at the entrance to the gatehouse church. Some time later, his relics, glorified by the signs of God's mercy, were transferred to the throne of the cathedral church. At the end of the 13th century, the holy king David IV the Renewer was glorified, at the same time a service was composed for him.