Venerable-Martyr 17th century

6 000 Martyrs of David Gareja

Also known as გარეჯის 6000 მოწამე · the Martyrs of David Gareja Monastery

The monks of the David Gareja monasteries killed during the Easter-night campaign of Shah Abbas I of Persia in 1616.

Feast Day

Bright Tuesday

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Commemorated as

The Holy Venerable-Martyrs of David Gareja

Life

The 6,000 Martyrs of David Gareja were the monks of the David Gareja monastic complex in Kakheti, eastern Georgia, who were killed during the Easter-night campaign of Shah Abbas I of Persia in 1616. The complex, a network of cells, churches, and chapels hollowed out of the rock face on the slopes of Mount Gareja, had been founded in the sixth century by David of Gareja, one of the thirteen Assyrian monks who came to Georgia, and had served as a center of ascetic monastic life for centuries before the massacre.

According to tradition, while Shah Abbas was encamped in the Gareja region during his invasion of Georgia, he saw a flaming column of lights advancing up the mountain, which proved to be the monks processing around their church with lighted candles in celebration of the Resurrection. Warned that night by an angel that the brothers were being called to the Heavenly Kingdom, the abbot Arsenius gave the community the choice to flee or to remain; most chose to stay, and they were put to death as the Paschal service concluded. The monks are commemorated together as a single named group on Bright Tuesday, the third day of Pascha.

Timeline 3 moments Read Hide

6th century Foundation of David Gareja The monastic complex was established in the wilderness of Gareja in Kakheti by David of Gareja, one of the thirteen Assyrian monks who arrived in Georgia, and grew into a network of monasteries carved into the rock face.
1616 The Easter-night massacre During the invasion of Georgia by Shah Abbas I of Persia, the army encamped in the Gareja region. The shah saw the monks' candlelit Paschal procession as a flaming column on the mountain and ordered the community destroyed; the monks were killed as the Paschal Liturgy ended.
Later 17th century Gathering of the relics King Archil gathered the remains of the slain monks and placed them in a stone reliquary within the Transfiguration Church at the monastery.

Contributions & Legacy

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The monastery complex

David Gareja lies in Kakheti, eastern Georgia, on the slopes of Mount Gareja, roughly sixty to seventy kilometers southeast of Tbilisi. Founded in the sixth century by David of Gareja, it consisted of numerous monasteries whose cells, churches, chapels, refectories, and living quarters were hollowed directly out of the rock, and it served as a center of monastic life for many centuries.

In the 1616 attack the monastery's manuscripts and works of Georgian ecclesiastical art were destroyed along with the community. The site declined after the fall of Georgia's medieval kingdom, was later restored, and has since been revived as a place of monastic life and pilgrimage.

The martyrdom

By tradition, when Shah Abbas I was in the Gareja region during his Georgian campaign, he observed what appeared to be a flaming column of lights moving up the mountain; this was the monks circling their church with lighted candles in celebration of the Resurrection. The shah ordered his soldiers to march on the monastery and kill those found celebrating.

An angel appeared that night to the abbot Arsenius, conveying that the Lord was calling the brothers to His Heavenly Kingdom, and Arsenius offered the community the choice to flee or to remain and accept death. Most stayed; only two young monks fled to a nearby mountain. As the Paschal service drew to a close, the Persian soldiers surrounded the monastery, and the monks first received Holy Communion before the abbot was killed and then the rest of the brethren. The two who had escaped were afterward captured and put to death for refusing to convert to Islam.

Veneration

King Archil collected the bones of the martyrs and laid them in a stone reliquary in the Transfiguration Church of the monastery. The community is honored as a single collective commemoration of the 6,000 martyrs of David Gareja, with their feast kept on Bright Tuesday, the third day of Pascha, a movable date that follows the Paschal calendar rather than a fixed day of the month.

Notes

Reposed 1616, David Gareja, Kakheti. Commemorated on Bright (Easter) Tuesday — a movable feast. Named group commemoration.

Sources: OCA Synaxarion (oca.org); OrthodoxWiki