After reaching Palestine, however, he only climbed one of the hills surrounding the city but did not enter its gates, considering himself a sinner and finding himself, approaching “the summit of Grace”, unworthy to walk in the footsteps of Jesus.

Elijah's envoys caught up with David near Nablus and took two stones back per the patriarch's command in order "not to take away the full grace of Jerusalem" with him.

[13] The relic, referred to as the "stone of grace",[14] was believed to have the power of healing and was worshipped and highly venerated by different pilgrims of the Christian east and even Muslim visitors.

In the late Middle Ages, a period in which Georgia was often invaded, the David Gareji Monastery was subject to a series of destructive raids and, in order to protect this most sacred relic, the stone was frequently hidden in different places.

[20] His vita, "Life and Deeds of Our Saint Father David of Gareji"[21] was composed in one of the Georgian monasteries of Mount Athos, in the circle of the disciples of Euthymius the Iberian.