He is presumably the Iberian patrikios mentioned in the 660s letter of Anastasius Apocrisiarius pertaining to the martyrdom of Maximus the Confessor, and the prince Nerses whose revolt against the Arabs is reported by the Armenian chronicler Hovannes Draskhanakertsi.
In 681/2, however, he joined the Armenian and Albanian princes in a general uprising against the Arab hegemony.
He held off the Arab attacks for three years – until the Khazars entered the fight.
Adarnase/Nerses was killed, and the Arabs installed Guaram II of the rival Guaramid Dynasty in Iberia.
[4] The exterior stone plaque of the church of the Holy Cross at Mtskheta, Georgia, mentions the principal builders of this church along with their Byzantine titles: Stephanos the patrikios, Demetrius the hypatos, and Adarnase the hypatos who have traditionally been equated by the Georgian scholars with Stephen I, son of Guaram; Demetre, brother of Stephen I and Adarnase I.