Theodore

Theodore of Adjara was a Georgian new hieromartyr, killed in 1822 by Ottoman soldiers on his way to Athos. He was canonized by the Holy Synod of the Georgian Orthodox Church on 17 October 2002.

He was born toward the end of the eighteenth century into a family forced into exile, at a time when the Ottoman invaders had nearly completed the forced Islamization of Adjara: those who resisted they had destroyed, and those who seemed to accept Islam but remained under suspicion they were driving out. From childhood he saw his countrymen, converted by force, secretly keep their Christian way of life. It is unclear how his family reached Trebizond, but it is known that he freed himself from Islam, received Christianity and found shelter at a Georgian monastery in Smyrna. He was tonsured a monk and raised to the rank of proigoumenos. During this time he brought his nephew to Christianity.

In 1822 he set out on pilgrimage to Athos, but at that time the Ottomans were trying to crush the Greek independence movement, and the Holy Mountain was surrounded by soldiers. The pilgrim was seized and killed, and the holy martyr's body was thrown into the sea.