At the age of nine he was taken to Tbilisi for further study by his parents; there he introduced other students to the Kartli-Kakhetian chant he had learned as a child. He went on to the theological seminary in Gori for further study, graduating in 1881. The following year he entered the Moscow Conservatory, but he did not stay, returning to Georgia in 1883. That same year he was ordained first as a deacon, and next as a priest; he saw service at churches and monasteries in Tbilisi and Kakheti. An ardent Georgian nationalist and supporter of the autocephaly of the Georgian church, he entered into a high-profile conflict with a number of pro-Russian officials, for which he was exiled to Azerbaijan in February 1903. He was joined in his exile by his wife Mariam, with whom he had six children. On October 24, 1925, he was consecrated a monk, at which time he received the name Stepane. At this time he became the Bishop of Bodbe; in 1928 he was transferred to the Alaverdi Diocese. In 1934 he ceased performing the divine liturgy, and soon thereafter he retired. During his career Vasil was active as a preserver of chant and as an educator, teaching Georgian language, music, and catechism at various institutions around Georgia. He published two collections of chant, in 1897 and 1898. He wrote extensively on the subject of the autocephalous church, and his letters were published in many Georgian periodicals; he was also active in the distribution of anti-imperialist materials in Georgia, and fought to introduce the teaching of the Georgian language in schools. At his death he was buried in the wall of the church of St. Barbara in Navtlug. The Georgian National Center of Manuscripts holds his personal archive. Hieromartyr Petre Karbelashvili (1860–1924) received his education at the theological school in Gori. Beginning in 1878 he acted as a psalm reader at various churches, at the same time teaching reading and writing. In 1889 he began to teach the principles of Kartli-Kakhetian chant at the theological seminary in Tbilisi. He received his ordination in 1900 and returned to his native village, Sakorintlo, to begin his ecclesiastical career; he continued to work in churches and monasteries around Shida Kartli, and in the 1920s began working in Mukhrani parish.