Andrew (Karbelashvili)

Holy Archpriest and Hieromartyr Andrew (Karbelashvili) was one of the five Karbelashvili brothers and received the crown of martyrdom in 1924. He was born in 1851 at Kvemo Chala, taught first at home, and was known as a chanter, a man of the Church and a man of great intelligence. In 1903 he became prior of the church of the Dormition of the Mother of God at Kvemo Chala and stayed there until the Soviets came, when he was forced to leave his ministry. When the Bolsheviks came to destroy or confiscate the property of noble families, among them the Amilakhvari, he saved many objects.

During the August Uprising of 1924 he was taken, together with his brother Peter and other intellectuals, to Gori for interrogation and was shot in the Tiripona valley. The Church of Georgia canonized him, together with his brothers, on 20 December 2011, with commemoration on 24 August, old style (6 September, new style).