Ketevan the Martyr
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Ketevan the Martyr (ქეთევან წამებული) (September 13, 1624) was Queen of eastern Georgian Kingdom of Kakheti, who was martyred by Shah Abbas I of Persia.
Ketevan was married to Prince David, heir to King Alexandre II of Kakheti (1577-1605). After David died, she did much to build churches, hospitals and monasteries. David's brother, Constantine, known as the Accursed, defected to Islam. Following orders from Shah Abbas I, he murdered his father, Alexandre II, and his brother, Giorgi in 1605. He commanded that their bodies be strapped to camels and taken to Ketevan. The latter mourned their loss and gave them proper burial in the Alaverdi Cathedral. Constantine then ordered Ketevan to marry him, threatening her life if she refused. The queen rallied the people of Kakheti and routed the usurper and the Persians. Constantine died in the battle with a multitude of his men.
Following the uprising, Shah Abbas I took Ketevan's son, Teimuraz, as a hostage and held him for years at his court. Teimuraz remained steadfast in his Orthodox faith. Then Shah Abbas threatened that he could decimate Georgia with his army. Queen Ketevan volunteered to go herself in order to try to avert war, bringing rich gifts, even offering herself as a hostage. At Isfahan, she and her grandsons, Alexandre and Levani were thrown into a dungeon and spent 10 years of suffering and torture. The Shah offered to make her queen of Persia, if she would adopt Islam. Neither torture nor bribes could shake her steadfast faith.
She was tortured with red-hot pincers and burnt to death on September 13, 1624. The next night, the remains of her almost charred body were stolen by the St Augustine Portuguese Catholic missioners and hidden for three long years. Finally, in 1627, the remains were brought to Goa, India and buried there in the St Augustine De Grasa Church. Since then, several teams have come from Georgia and searched in vain for the exact location of her grave. Portions of her relics were given by the Augustinian monks to her son, King Teimuraz I and were placed under the Altar Table in the Cathedral of Alaverdi, Kakheti.
Zachary, Catholicos-Patriarch of Georgia (1613-1630) declared the Great-martyr to be among the ranks of the Saints, and instituted September 13 as the day of her commemoration.
King Teimuraz I, St Ketevan’s son, also several Georgian and European authors wrote about her. German writer Andreas Gryphius’ drama “Catharina von Georgien” is one of the examples.
