Martyr Shalva Akhaltsikheli

Holy Martyr Shalva Akhaltsikheli (of Akhaltsikhe) was a Georgian prince and military commander, a minister under Queen Tamar, and one of the celebrated Akhaltsikheli brothers of Georgia's wars of the late 12th–early 13th centuries. With his brother Ivane, he fought in the victorious battles of Shamkor (1195) and Basiani (1203) against Seljuk forces, and took part in the capture of Kars (1206/1207). When the Khwarazmian ruler Jalal al-Din Mangburni invaded Georgia in 1225, Shalva led the Georgian vanguard of roughly 6,000 men at the Battle of Garnisi (Khunani) against overwhelming invading forces; his brother Ivane was killed in the fighting, and the wounded Shalva was taken captive. Jalal al-Din, respecting his valor, kept him in honorable captivity for nearly a year, then demanded he renounce Christ and convert to Islam. Saint Shalva refused and was martyred on 17 June 1227. He was canonized by the Georgian Orthodox Church, and his feast is kept on June 17/30 — the same day as the commemoration of the hundred thousand martyrs of Tbilisi.