The Nine Kherkheulidze Brothers

The nine Kherkheulidze brothers, together with their mother and sister, were killed at the Battle of Marabda on 1 July 1625, as bearers of the battle standard of the Georgians, of the princely Kherkheulidze family. They were canonized by the Georgian Orthodox Church as holy martyrs on 27 June 2023, together with all the nine thousand Georgians who fell in that battle. They are commemorated on 3 August (16 August New Style).

The time

In the first quarter of the seventeenth century eastern Georgia was under the cruel yoke of Safavid Iran. The policy of Shah Abbas I, of destruction and deportation of the Georgians, led to the general uprising of 1625, led by King Teimuraz I of Kakheti and the moura of Kartli, George Saakadze. In the spring of the same year, on the feast of the Annunciation, the united Georgian army crushed the Iranian army on the field of Martkopi, which led to a temporary union of Kartli and Kakheti. To put down the revolt, Shah Abbas sent into Georgia a great picked army, by some estimates up to fifty thousand men, under the command of Isa-⁠khan Qorchibashi. The Georgian army, of about twenty thousand, took positions in the Kojori-⁠Tabakhmela area, while the Persian one settled on the Marabda plain.

The battle

The fighting began at dawn on 1 July. According to the chronicles and church tradition, before the battle the whole Georgian army, among them clergy who had taken up arms, received communion. Bishop Domentius (Avalishvili) of Ruisi, in armour, blessed the army and stood in the first ranks, saying: "Today is a battle for the faith and for Christ; therefore my blood must be shed before yours". The duty of keeping and defending the main battle standard, the sign of the Georgian state and of military honour, was entrusted to the nine Kherkheulidze brothers. The first onrush of the Georgians, of great courage, threw the Persian ranks into confusion, but the discipline and greater numbers of Qorchibashi's army, strengthened by reinforcements led by the beglerbeg Shah-⁠Bende-⁠khan, began to tell. Fatal was the death of one of the captains, Teimuraz Mukhranbatoni. Among the soldiers a mistaken report of the death of King Teimuraz I spread at once, which led to a temporary panic. Though the error was soon cleared up, the initiative was lost.

At the hardest moment of the fight, when the standard was in danger, the nine Kherkheulidze brothers did their duty to the end. According to the legend, defending the standard, they fell one after another. The standard from the hands of the last brother was taken by their sister, and after her death was raised by the mother of the heroes, an image of the unbroken spirit of the nation. The whole family died on the field. With them fell many captains: David Jandieri, Baadur Tsitsishvili, the bishops of Rustavi and of Kharchasho. King Teimuraz I and George Saakadze fought with unparalleled courage until late at night, but the outcome was decided. The Georgian army, which had lost about nine thousand men, had to withdraw.

Canonization and veneration

In spite of the defeat, the battle of Marabda was a moral victory, which showed the strength of spirit of the Georgian people. The deed of those who fell, especially of the Kherkheulidze family, took root in the national consciousness, becoming the theme of folk songs and ballads. On 27 June 2023 the Holy Synod of the Georgian Orthodox Church, under the chairmanship of Catholicos-⁠Patriarch Ilia II, decided to number among the saints the nine Kherkheulidze brothers, their mother and sister and all nine thousand Georgians who fell at Marabda in 1625, as martyrs who died for the faith of Christ and for the fatherland. The day of commemoration was set at 3 August (16 August New Style), icons and images were prescribed, and a troparion, kontakion and service were composed. It is held that the remains of the heroes lie near the site of the battle, at the church of Saint Marina in the village of Dzveli Marabda.