Dositheus (Dositeoz Tbileli; Georgian: დოსითეოზ თბილელი, died 12 September 1795) was a hierarch of the Georgian Orthodox Church and Archbishop of Tbilisi canonized as a martyr for his death at the hands of the Iranian soldiers in 1795.
Dositheus was a priest confessor of Queen Darejan Dadiani, consort of King Heraclius II of Georgia, and metropolitan bishop of Tbilisi.[1] When the city of Tbilisi fell to the invading army of Agha Muhammad Khan Qajar, ruler of Iran, in the aftermath of the Battle of Krtsanisi in September 1795, a group of Qajar soldiers found the elderly Dositheus at the Sioni Cathedral kneeling before the icon of Virgin Mary and threw him to his death into the Kura River.[2] Dositheus was subsequently canonized as a hieromartyr, his feast day marked on 12 September, the day of his death.[1]
Notes
edit- ^ a b Gabidzashvili 2007, pp. 81–82.
- ^ Ioselian 1866, p. 190.
References
edit- Gabidzashvili, Enriko (2007). "Досифей Тбилели [Dositheus of Tbilisi]". Православная энциклопедия, Т. XVI [Orthodox Encyclopaedia, vol. 16] (in Russian). Moscow: Pravoslavnaya entsiklopediya. pp. 81–82. ISBN 978-5-89572-028-8.
- Ioselian, Plato (1866). Malan, Solomon Caesar (ed.). A Short History of the Georgian Church. London: Saunders.