first Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia
d. 1033
3rd Catholicos of Iberia
Melchizedek I was the first Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia, serving from c. 1010 to 1033, and was based in Ani. He is venerated as a saint by the Eastern Orthodox Church. Prior to his tenure, the heads of the Georgian Church bore the title of Catholicos of Kartli. The unification of Georgia into a single kingdom under Bagrat III contributed to the adoption of the combined title of Catholicos-Patriarch.