David of Aragvi

Holy Martyr David of Aragvi was, together with his brother Constantine, a prince of Aragvi, in Georgia, and received a martyr's death in the year 740, drowned in the river Rioni. They are commemorated on 15 October.

The two brothers, raised from childhood in the Orthodox faith, were not only worthy rulers and brave army commanders, but also pious Christians. They defended Georgia bravely from the Muslim conquerors, but the forces were unequal. The Arab commander Murvan-⁠Abdula-⁠Kasim, seizing the princely brothers, tried to persuade them by flattering promises to accept Islam, but they firmly confessed Christ. Then Murvan-⁠Kru, that is, the Deaf, wished, with the help of sorcerers, to make them renounce the Orthodox faith. But the holy brothers David and Constantine overcame by prayer all the devices of pagan cunning. Seeing them unmoved, the Muslim ordered them cruelly tormented and then drowned in the river Rioni. The river bore out the bodies of the brothers, lit by three pillars of light. The Christians took the bodies of the holy martyrs from the river and buried them in a cave on the mountain Tskhaltsitela, in the city of Kutaisi.

In the twelfth century, during a hunt of King Bagrat the Great (1072-1117), the incorrupt relics of the holy brothers were found in a cave filled with light. The king raised in their honour the Church of the Martyrs, Motsameta, and founded the Motsameta Monastery. The relics of the holy brothers became known for many healings.