Parsman of Kolai

Holy Martyr Parsman of Kolai was one of the nine child martyrs of Kola in Georgia: Guram, Adarnase, Bakar, Vache, Bardzim, Dachi, Juansher, Ramaz and Parsman. He is commemorated on 7 March (6 March in leap years), according to the Georgian tradition.

In the sixth century, in the village of Kola, at the source of the Mtkvari (Kura) river, in the Tao region of southern Georgia (now Kars province in northeastern Turkey), Christians and pagans lived side by side, the pagans being the majority. The children played together, and when the bell called to service the Christian children went to church. Nine pagan boys always tagged along, and were stopped at the church gates, but they asked so insistently to go in that one day the Christians said to them: if you want so much to come to our church, accept the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, be baptized and receive communion. The boys gladly agreed. The priest, not fearing the pagans' anger, led them one harsh winter night to the river and baptized them with three immersions in the icy water. During the baptism a miracle took place: the water grew warm, and the boys saw angels. Strengthened in faith by the angels, they no longer wished to return to their idol-⁠worshipping parents and stayed with the Christians.

Their parents, learning of the baptism, took them from the church by force and led them home with curses, shouts and blows. The brothers bore all the insults and torments with firmness. For seven days, hungry and cold, they said only this: We are Christians and we do not renounce our Lord Jesus Christ. The enraged pagans decided to stone them. At the source of the river, where the boys had been baptized, the whole village dug a great pit and threw them in. The parents took up stones first, the others followed, and soon the pit was filled to the top with stones.

They are not included in the present calendar of the Russian Orthodox Church.