Demetre "Vipatosi" was a Georgian

Georgia (country)

Georgia is a sovereign state in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the southwest by Turkey, to the south by Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan. The capital of...

 nobleman from Iberia

Caucasian Iberia

Iberia , also known as Iveria , was a name given by the ancient Greeks and Romans to the ancient Georgian kingdom of Kartli , corresponding roughly to the eastern and southern parts of the present day Georgia...

, and an honorary consul or hypatos. He may be identical with the brother of Prince

Principate of Iberia

The Principate of Iberia is a conventional term applied to an aristocratic regime in early medieval Caucasian Georgia that flourished in the period of interregnum between the sixth and ninth centuries, when the leading political authority was exercised by a succession of princes...

 Stephen I of Iberia

Stephen I of Iberia

Stephen I , of the Guaramid Dynasty, was a presiding prince of Iberia from c. 590 to 627. He was killed during the battle with the invading Byzantine army....

 known from the medieval historian Juansher as a church builder during his brother’s tenure (c. 590-627). Professor Cyril Toumanoff

Cyril Toumanoff

Cyril Leo Heraclius, Prince Toumanoff was an United States-based historian and genealogist who mostly specialized in the history and genealogies of medieval Georgia, Armenia, the Byzantine Empire, and Iran...

 of Georgetown University

Georgetown University

Georgetown University is a private, Jesuit, research university whose main campus is in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic university in the United States...

 suggests that the title of hypatos may have been conferred after the death of his brother who was captured and executed at the behest of the Byzantine emperor Heraclius

Heraclius

Heraclius was Byzantine Emperor from 610 to 641.He was responsible for introducing Greek as the empire's official language. His rise to power began in 608, when he and his father, Heraclius the Elder, the exarch of Africa, successfully led a revolt against the unpopular usurper Phocas.Heraclius'...

 during the siege of Tbilisi

Tbilisi

Tbilisi is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Mt'k'vari River. The name is derived from an early Georgian form T'pilisi and it was officially known as Tiflis until 1936...

 in 627.

The exterior stone plaque of the church of the Holy Cross

Jvari (monastery)

Jvari or Jvari Monastery is a Georgian Orthodox monastery of the 6th century near Mtskheta , Mtskheta-Mtianeti region, eastern Georgia. The name is translated as the Monastery of the Cross...

 at Mtskheta

Mtskheta

Mtskheta , one of the oldest cities of the country of Georgia , is located approximately 20 kilometers north of Tbilisi at the confluence of the Aragvi and Kura rivers. The city is now the administrative centre of the Mtskheta-Mtianeti region...

, Georgia, mentions the principal builders of this church: Stephanos the patricius, Demetrius the hypatos, and Adarnase the hypatos who have traditionally been equated by the Georgian scholars with Stephen I

Stephen I of Iberia

Stephen I , of the Guaramid Dynasty, was a presiding prince of Iberia from c. 590 to 627. He was killed during the battle with the invading Byzantine army....

, son of Guaram

Guaram I of Iberia

Guaram I was a Georgian prince, who attained to the hereditary rulership of Iberia and the Roman title of curopalates from 588 to c. 590. He is commonly identified with the Gorgenes of the Byzantine chronicler Theophanes....

; Demetre, brother of Stephen I, and Adarnase I

Adarnase I of Iberia

Adarnase I or Adrnerse , of the Chosroid dynasty, was a presiding prince of Iberia from 627 to 637/642....

. However, an opinion expressed by Toumanoff disagrees with this view by identifying these individuals with Stephen II

Stephen II of Iberia

Stephen II , of the Chosroid dynasty, was a presiding prince of Iberia from 637/642 to c. 650.The son and successor of Adarnase I, Stephen pursued his father’s pro-Byzantine politics and was probably bestowed by the Emperor with the title of patricius. In 645, however, he was forced to recognize...

, Demetre (brother of Stephen I), and Adarnase II (son of Stephen II), respectively.