 Demetre emerged from obscurity in 1658, when he was installed in Guria by King Alexander III of Imereti in place of his relative Kaikhosro I Gurieli, whom the king had deposed and forced into exile in Istanbul.Formerly an Orthodox monk, Demetre recompensed his act of unfrocking by donating the church of the Redeemer in Aketi as a metochion to the patriarchal see of Bichvinta.In 1660, Kaikhosro, with Ottoman support, returned and put Demetre to flight to Imereti.