The Venerable Martyr Fathers of David Gareja

The Venerable Martyr Fathers of David Gareja are the monks of the cave monasteries of the Gareja desert in Georgia, killed by the army of the Persian shah Abbas I on Easter night of 1615, more than six thousand in number, according to some witnesses six hundred. They were buried by the holy king Archil II in the church of the Lavra of David Gareja.

The Gareja desert

Venerable David of Gareja founded many large and small monasteries. By his rule no one was received directly into his brotherhood: whoever wished to live beside him was first sent to struggle three years in solitude in a narrow cell hewn by himself in the rock. If he endured this hermit's life, fearful even to look at, he was received by the holy hermit. Often the one who had chosen the hard life did not return to David but stayed to the end in the place he had chosen, glorifying God. Around such an ascetic zealots gathered in time, cut cells in the rock and lived by the rule given by David. So, even in his lifetime, many monasteries of his closest disciples arose around the Lavra. The first was founded by St Dodo, opposite the Lavra of David, today called the hermitage of St John the Baptist. Soon all the rocks around the Lavra were covered with cells. On the southern slope lies the monastery of the Resurrection (Udabno), with a great church painted by Byzantine masters; its oldest frescoes, from the ninth century, were badly damaged in the twentieth century, above all by military exercises in the sixties and seventies. The monks gathered at the patronal feast of one monastery and kept it together, and on Easter night they made the procession around a small church on the mountain, built in the likeness of the rotunda of the Holy Sepulchre.

Easter night of 1615

In 1615 shah Abbas I invaded Georgia with a countless army and laid the land waste. Hunting toward the Karayazi steppe, he camped in the Gareja mountains and at night saw a line of lights moving on a mountain. His soldiers, among whom were apostates but also secret Christians, told him that the monks of Gareja were celebrating Easter and going around the church with candles. The shah was angry that living men remained and ordered all destroyed and their dwellings razed. The lords of the court told him that the monks were peaceful, carried no weapons and even gave lodging to the shah's own faithful, but the shah's fury grew and he sent soldiers at once.

On the night of the Resurrection an angel of the Lord appeared to the abbot of the Lavra of David, Arsenius, and told him that Christ was calling them all to the heavenly chamber, that they would be cut down with the sword, and that whoever wished to save his temporal life should flee, while whoever wished to save his soul for eternity should stay. Arsenius stood troubled, not knowing how to announce it to the brotherhood gathered for the joy of the Resurrection; his cell attendant asked why he was sad and, hearing, told him not to fear: the Lord was calling them to Himself and all would receive the news with joy. The abbot announced it to the brotherhood, who prepared for death. Only two novices, afraid of death, fled to the mountain. The monks served according to the order and gave one another the kiss of peace, forgiving each other.

Toward the end of the Liturgy, at the singing of the Lord's Prayer, Persian soldiers surrounded the monastery with the noise of drums. Abbot Arsenius went out and asked their leader to let them finish the service, after which they might do with them what they wished; he said that none of them bore arms or wished to resist. The Persians reckoned that, since the monks could not defend themselves, the monastery's treasures would be the shah's in any case, and gave them time. After the Liturgy all received the Holy Mysteries, then the abbot and six thousand brothers (according to other witnesses six hundred) came out in their mantles. Arsenius said before the Persian leader that they were ready, that they did not honour the shah and did not accept the law of Muhammad, and offered his head; he was beheaded first. Then the soldiers fell upon the others and killed them all, the bodies scattered through the courtyard, and the monastery was destroyed.

A recluse, found by the soldiers in the small church just before communion, himself took the whole Chalice so that the Holy Mysteries would not be mocked, and was beheaded; his blood remained on the altar, visible to the present day, according to later witnesses. Heaven bore witness: three pillars of light stood for three days over the bodies, and countless crowns were seen in the air. The two fugitive novices, seeing the crowns and two of them floating upward, turned back quickly, confessed Christ and were cut to pieces on the road between the monastery of St David and that of St John; there a dark-⁠crimson fragrant rose later grew, with healing flowers, which would not take root anywhere else.

Veneration

King Archil gathered the bones of the martyrs and placed them in a stone chest in a small church, visible from the south beside the Holy Altar. Myrrh flowed from the bones, and the brothers of the two hermitages asked the Catholicos Anthony I to compose a service and to appoint the feast on the Tuesday of Bright Week. The Church of Georgia keeps this day and prays that the martyrs intercede for the resurrection of the people. The page also recalls the death of other monks: in 1851, at vespers, Lezgins broke into the Lavra of David Gareja and killed the hieromonks Gerontius and Serapion, the monks Herman and Bessarion and the layman Michael Kartvelishvili. The monasteries suffered also in the twentieth century, when a great artillery range was set up in the Gareja desert, destroying many cells and frescoes.

They are commemorated on 4 May (a movable date, the Tuesday of Bright Week), in the new style.