St. Tbel Abuserisdze (1185-1250) belonged to the Eristavt-Eristavi family, whose ancestry originated from southwestern Georgia. The feudal house of the Abuserisdzes, a follower of the best patriarchal and cultural traditions of the Georgian nobility, appeared on the political arena during the reign of Bagrat IV. Their estate (Adjara, Skhalta gorge) was strewn with fortresses and ecclesiastical monasteries. Tbel’s father, Ivane Eristavt-Eristavi, died in the Battle of Basiani (1202), after which his widowed mother, Ekaterine (formerly Khatuta), took monastic vows. The construction of the church was financially and materially supported by the writer's wife (Bagul) and siblings: Diophal-Diophali Vanen and Eristavt-Eristavs: Abuser and Vardan.
Tbel Abuserisdze received his ecclesiastical education at the Vardzia Monastery, where his teacher, famous poet and thinker Ioane Shavteli worked.
Around 1210, Tbel married Bagul. They had seven children: Rusudan, Zakaria, Ivane, Onofre, Agsartan, and twin son and daughter, who died in infancy.
Tbel Abuserisdze first appears in the historical sources in 1216, when he participated in a court convened by Ivane Mkhargrdzeli in Dvin.
In the 1220s, Tbel Abuserisdze became a monk and worked at the Gelati Academy. According to his autobiographical information, Tbel was repeatedly congratulated by various ecclesiastical centers of Georgia during the same period, including Martkopi, Alaverdi and Shuartkali temples, which became his source of inspiration.
Since the time of the Khwarazm invasion (from 1226) Tbel Abuserisdze returned to Khikhani for some time, where upon the instructions of his brothers Eristavt-Eristavi Abuser and Vardan, he led the construction of the Khikhani fortress and church, which in 1233 (when the "Anderdzi" (colophon) of the manuscript A-85 was written) was not completed yet.
In 1226-1233, the political and cultural center of Georgia moved from Tbilisi to Kutaisi (western Georgia). Famous representatives of Georgian ecclesiastical literature – Catholicos Arsen Bulmaisimisdze and Bishop of the Royal Court Saba Synkellos moved to Kutaisi (Gelati) together with the Royal Gate, who established close relations with Tbel Abuserisdze and his distinguished family. As a result of cooperation with Georgian ecclesiastical hierarchs and with the support of the Abuserisdze brothers, Tbel Abuserisdze created the A-85 manuscript (1233) – a new type of educational-liturgical collection and an anthology of Georgian theological writings of the X-XIII centuries.
Information preserved in the A-85 manuscript (1233) (Epistle of the Catholicos of Georgia Arsen Bulmasimisdze to Abuser Abuserisdze, the cycle of Acheiropoieta hymns, February-May Iambic Synaxarion...) proves that Tbel Abuserisdze was actively engaged in literary and scientific-pedagogical activities at the Gelati Educational Centre. This is evidenced by the educational-scientific purpose of his works, especially the Great Paschal Cycle and the K-22 manuscript (XIII century), which begins with his hymn – The Hymns of the Three Johns and most importantly, it is related to the A-85 collection in terms of composition and educational-liturgical character.
In the last years of his life, Tbel Abuserisdze worked in Shio-Mghvime and died around 1250. Its eternal resting-place is the Church of St. John the Evangelist in Tkhilvana – the inheritance of the feudal house of the Abuserisdzes, as the writer himself calls this temple.