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Martyred Fathers and Mothers of Atchara

16th–18th centuries (martyrdoms recorded into 1790)

Also known as Martyrs of Adjara · the Atchara Martyrs

The Orthodox Christians of the Atchara region of Georgia who, under long pressure to abandon the faith of their fathers, chose death rather than denial.

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The Martyred Fathers and Mothers of Atchara are the Orthodox Christians of the Atchara region of southwestern Georgia (also spelled Adjara or Ajaria) who, under prolonged Ottoman pressure to abandon the faith of their ancestors, chose death rather than denial of Christ. They are commemorated as a collective on May 29; the names of individual martyrs were not preserved, and the Georgian Apostolic Church canonized all the Atcharan Christians who died defending their faith.

Atchara had been a Christian stronghold since apostolic times. By tradition, Saint Andrew the First-Called entered Georgia from the Atchara region and first preached Christianity there in the first century, and the village of Gonio holds the reputed relics of the Apostle Matthias, one of the Twelve. This deep apostolic heritage frames the commemoration of those who later died rather than forsake it.

The martyrdoms belong to the long period of Ottoman rule over the region. The Ottoman Empire conquered Adjara in 1614, and over roughly two centuries of their presence many Adjarians were gradually converted to Islam — the nobility first — though the population never abandoned its native Georgian tongue. The recorded killings of those who refused conversion span the sixteenth through eighteenth centuries, culminating in a documented mass execution in 1790.

Troparion1 hymnReadHide

TroparionTone 4

Your holy martyrs, O Lord,
through their sufferings have received an incorruptible crown from You, our God.
For having Your strength, they laid low their adversaries,
and shattered the powerless boldness of demons.
Through their intercessions, save our souls!

Text used with permission of the Orthodox Church in America (oca.org).

Timeline6 momentsReadHide

1st centuryApostolic foundationsBy tradition, Saint Andrew the First-Called enters Georgia from the Atchara region and first preaches Christianity there; the village of Gonio is associated with the reputed relics of the Apostle Matthias.
1600–1620Martyrdom of the Laz in neighboring LazistanAbout three hundred Laz warriors and clergy are beheaded on Mount Dudikvati and Mount Papati in adjoining Lazistan (Chaneti), part of the same regional pattern of martyrdom for refusing conversion.
1614Ottoman conquest of AdjaraThe Ottoman Empire conquers Adjara; over roughly two centuries of their presence many Adjarians gradually convert to Islam, the nobility first, though the population retains its Georgian tongue.
1790Mass execution at the Bridge of Queen TamarOttoman forces arrest Christian dissenters and execute them by beheading at the twelfth-century Bridge of Queen Tamar over the River Atcharistsqali; their tongues are sent to the pasha as proof and their bodies cast into the river.
By the late 18th centuryRegion described as fully IslamizedThe population of Adjara is described as fully Islamized by the end of the eighteenth century, though it never abandons its native Georgian language.
May 29CommemorationThe Georgian Apostolic Church commemorates the Martyred Fathers and Mothers of Atchara — all Atcharan Christians who died defending the faith — on this day.

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Historical Context

Following the Ottoman victory in the Ottoman–Persian War, the Ottomans declared Samtskhe, Atchara, and Chaneti to be Turkish provinces and, beginning in the sixteenth century, launched a campaign of forced conversion to Islam in Atchara. When bribery and deception failed to secure conversions, the authorities turned to violence.

According to the sources, elderly men and the majority of women stood most firmly by the Christian faith, actively disputing with the Turkish religious authorities who sought to compel their apostasy. The Georgian population retained its native tongue throughout the Ottoman period even as much of the nobility and, by the end of the eighteenth century, the broader population converted to Islam.

The Martyrdoms

In 1790, Ottoman forces arrested Christian dissenters and brought them to a twelfth-century bridge — the Bridge of Queen Tamar — spanning the River Atcharistsqali, where, according to the sources, a guillotine was erected and the prisoners were systematically executed by beheading. The severed tongues of the executed were sent to the pasha as proof of the killings, and the bodies were thrown into the river.

Execution sites are recorded across multiple villages of the region, including Atcharistsqali, Keda, Chakvi, Khulo, Machakhela, and Gonio. Historical museum records describe additional tortures inflicted on those who refused to apostatize, among them flaying, quartering, piercing with flaming rods, immersion in boiling water, and exposure to molten lead and hot lime.

The primary historical source for the account is the scholar Zakaria Chichinadze. Because individual names were not preserved, the martyrs are venerated together as the fathers and mothers of Atchara.

Related Martyrdoms in the Region

The Atcharan martyrdoms form part of a broader pattern of mass martyrdom for refusal to convert to Islam across Ottoman-controlled southern Georgia and northeastern Anatolia in the sixteenth through eighteenth centuries.

A closely related episode is recorded from neighboring Lazistan (Chaneti), a region adjoining Atchara to the southwest: the execution of about three hundred Laz warriors and clergy on Mount Dudikvati and Mount Papati, occurring between 1600 and 1620. According to the source, these beheadings resulted in the dissolution of the local Church and the subsequent conversion to Islam of most survivors.

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Fellow saint of the Atchara region of Georgia, venerated for the same confession of the ancestral faith under Ottoman pressure.

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Sources: OCA Synaxarion (oca.org), Lives of the Saints