Martyr17th century

Nine Kherkheulidze Brothers and the Martyrs of Marabda

died 1625

Also known as the Kherkheulidze martyrs · Martyrs of Marabda

Nine brothers of the Kherkheulidze family, with their mother and sister and a great host of Georgian Christians, who fell in 1625 defending their faith and people against the Persian invasion.

August 3New Calendar

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August 16Old Calendar

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Commemorated as

The Holy Martyrs the Nine Kherkheulidze Brothers, with their Mother and Sister, and the Nine Thousand Martyrs of Marabda

Life

The Nine Kherkheulidze Brothers, together with their mother and sister and a great host of fellow Georgians, fell at the Battle of Marabda on 1 July 1625 while defending their faith and homeland against an invading Safavid Persian army. They are commemorated collectively by the Georgian Orthodox Church as martyrs; their individual names are not recorded in the sources.

The battle followed an earlier Georgian victory the same year and ended in defeat for the heavily outnumbered Georgian force. The synaxarion remembers some nine thousand Georgians who died on the field at Marabda, and the Kherkheulidze family is honored above all for bearing the army's banner in succession until each had fallen.

Troparion1 hymnReadHide

TroparionTone 4

Your holy martyrs, O Lord,
through their sufferings have received an incorruptible crown from You, our God.
For having Your strength, they laid low their adversaries,
and shattered the powerless boldness of demons.
Through their intercessions, save our souls!

Text used with permission of the Orthodox Church in America (oca.org).

Timeline4 momentsReadHide

1625 (Annunciation)Battle of MartqopiThe Georgians defeat the army of Shah Abbas I at Martqopi, prompting the shah to send a far larger force against Georgia.
1 July 1625Battle of MarabdaA Georgian army of about twenty thousand meets a Safavid force in excess of fifty thousand under Isa-Khan Qurchibash; the field is ultimately lost after Safavid reinforcements arrive.
1 July 1625The banner passes through the familyThe nine Kherkheulidze brothers fall defending the Georgian standard; their sister takes it up and is killed, and their mother bears it until her own death. Some nine thousand Georgians die on the field.
LaterCanonizationThe Georgian Orthodox Church canonizes the brothers, their mother, their sister, and the nine thousand martyrs of Marabda; their feast is fixed on 3 August (16 August N.S.).

Contributions & Legacy

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Historical Context

On the Feast of the Annunciation in 1625, the Georgians defeated the army of the Persian Shah Abbas I at the Battle of Martqopi. The enraged shah dispatched a far larger force against Georgia under the Persian commander Isa-Khan Qurchibash. A Georgian army of some twenty thousand men encamped near Kojori-Tabakhmela in preparation for the attack, while the enemy army, numbering in excess of fifty thousand men, encamped at Marabda.

Wikipedia records the engagement as the Battle of Marabda, fought on 1 July 1625 near Marabda in Georgia between Safavid Iran, commanded by Isa Khan Safavi under Shah Abbas I, and the Kingdom of Kartli led by King Teimuraz I and Giorgi Saakadze. The Georgians, numbering about twenty thousand against roughly sixty thousand, inflicted heavy losses, and for a time their victory appeared almost inevitable; the arrival of Safavid reinforcements under Shahbandeh Khan turned the battle into a decisive counter-attack, and the field was ultimately lost.

The Banner of Marabda

The banner of the Georgian army was entrusted to the nine Kherkheulidze brothers, who according to the accounts carried the flag bearing the Cross of St. George. All nine brothers died while carrying and defending the standard. Their sister then took up the flag, and after she too was killed, the mother of the siblings bore it until her own death.

Other commanders fell alongside them at Marabda: the synaxarion names the military leaders Davit Jandieri, Aghatang Kherkheulidze, and Baadur Tsitsishvili, together with the bishops of Rustavi and Kharchasho. By the account preserved in the OCA synaxarion, nine thousand Georgians gave their lives at Marabda.

Veneration

The Kherkheulidze brothers, along with their mother, their sister, and the other nine thousand Georgian martyrs of the Battle of Marabda, were later canonized by the Georgian Orthodox Church. Their feast is kept on 3 August (16 August on the New Calendar).

A chapel was built near the battlefield of Marabda, with a cemetery for the fallen Christian soldiers.

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Sources: OCA Synaxarion (oca.org), Lives of the Saints