He was born in Antioch. At the age of 20, he became a disciple of the famous hermit John of Zedazeni,[3] distributed his property to peasants and monasteries, and became a monk himself.[4] In the middle of the 6th century, he lived in Mtskheta. Monk Shio separated from his brethren and founded the Shio-Mgvime monastery on Sarkine mountain.[5][6] Initially, Shio lived in a small cave, which was converted into a church around the 9th century, the monastery became a large organization during the time of Shio.[7] On his own initiative, the first church named after John the Baptist was built here. Shio performed an extraordinary feats of endurance,[8] by spending the last years of his life in total seclusion, in a 12 metre deep cave,[9] he was buried there.[10] His feast day is on May 22.
Tchekhanovets, Y. (2018) The Caucasian Archaeology of the Holy Land: Armenian, Georgian and Albanian Communities Between the Fourth and Eleventh Centuries CE, ISBN978-90-04-36555-1
Charkiewicz, J. (2005) Gruzińscy święci, Warszawa: Warszawska Metropolia Prawosławna, ISBN978-83-60311-87-5