Gobron

The holy martyr Gobron (Mikel-⁠Gobron, Michael Gobron) was a Georgian military commander who led the defence of the fortress of Kveli against the forces of the Sajid emir of Azerbaijan. After the fortress fell, he was taken prisoner and beheaded in 914 for refusing to convert to Islam. The Georgian Orthodox Church commemorates him on 17 November (30 November in the new style).

The defence of Kveli

His Life, "The Passion of the Holy Martyr Gobron, Who Was Taken from the Fortress of Kveli", was written by Bishop Stephen of T'beti (Stepane Mtbevari), at the command of the Bagratid prince Ashot I of Tao (Kukhi), between 914 and 918. The story is set in the time of the expedition of 914 by Yusuf ibn Abi al-⁠Saj (called Abu al-⁠Qasim in the Georgian sources), the Sajid emir of Azerbaijan. The campaign was one of the last major efforts of the Abbasid Caliphate to keep its waning power over the Georgian lands, which were then a patchwork of rival small states and Muslim holdings.

According to the Georgian sources, Yusuf invaded Georgia from Armenia, passed through the Muslim emirate of Tiflis into Kakheti, then through Kartli into Samtskhe and Javakheti. Failing to take the fortress of Tmogvi, he besieged Kveli, held by the Bagratid prince Gurgen of Tao. Kveli resisted for twenty-⁠eight days under the command of the young Gobron, whose original name, according to his Life, was Mikel (Michael). He organized a determined defence and made several sorties against the besiegers, but in the end had to surrender. King Adarnase managed to ransom some nobles who had been taken prisoner, and Gurgen sent a large ransom, but the emir would not release Gobron and 133 other captives.

The martyrdom

According to both historical and hagiographical accounts, Gobron steadfastly rejected the emir's repeated attempts to bring him to Islam. Neither the promise of honours, nor torments, nor the killing of his 133 companions could make him renounce his faith. According to his Life, after yet another refusal he was ordered to bow his head for the sword. At the first blow he traced the sign of the cross on his forehead with his own blood and cried: "I thank you, Lord Jesus Christ, that you have accounted me, the most contemptible and first among sinners, worthy to lay down my life for you." Enraged, the emir ordered the remaining Georgian captives killed and their bodies left unburied.

Another account, preserved in the Georgian hagiographical tradition, says that the emir, impressed by his courage, at first ordered that he be treated with respect. King Adarnase sent a large ransom, and some prisoners were freed, but Gobron, knowing what awaited him, prepared himself for martyrdom. The emir offered him honours and wealth in exchange for apostasy, and he refused. Then the Christian captives were killed before his eyes. Unmoved, he was twice made to bow his head beneath the sword, and the emir again demanded that he renounce, but Gobron said: "I am a Christian and will never retreat from the name of my Christ." Then he was condemned to death. The bodies of Gobron and the 133 martyrs were buried in three large pits, and Christians were forbidden to approach. According to tradition, the graves shone at night with a divine light seen by Christians and non-⁠Christians alike.

Remembrance

Gobron's defence of Kveli, his capture and his martyrdom are briefly mentioned in the Chronicle of Kartli of the eleventh century, part of the Georgian Chronicles, which refers readers to the fuller account of Stephen of T'beti. The execution of Mik'ayel of Gogarene is also mentioned by the tenth-⁠century Armenian historian John of Draskhanakert and later by Stephen of Taron. Michael-⁠Gobron and the 133 martyrs were recognized as saints by the Georgian Church, which commemorates them on 17 November, the traditional date of their martyrdom.