Dositheus of Tbilisi

Saint Dositheus, hieromartyr, was a hierarch of the Georgian Orthodox Church and Archbishop of Tbilisi. He died on 12 September 1795, killed by Persian soldiers, and was canonized as a martyr. He is commemorated on 12 September, the day of his death.

Dositheus was a priest and confessor of Queen Darejan Dadiani, consort of King Heraclius II of Georgia, and metropolitan bishop of Tbilisi. One source says that he was proclaimed archbishop on 1 March 1795, but it calls him archbishop of Iran, which does not fit what is known of his see.

In September 1795, after the Battle of Krtsanisi, the city of Tbilisi fell into the hands of the occupying army of Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar, ruler of Iran. A group of Qajar soldiers found the aged Dositheus in Sioni cathedral, kneeling before the icon of the Mother of God, and threw him to his death into the river Kura.

Dositheus was later canonized as a hieromartyr, and his feast is kept on 12 September, the day of his death.