Greatmartyr Ketevan, Queen of Kakheti

Holy Greatmartyr Ketevan, Queen of Kakheti, was born around 1565 into the Georgian royal house of Bagrationi, daughter of Prince Ashotan of Mukhrani. She married Prince David, heir to the Kakhetian throne; after being widowed, she devoted herself to building churches, monasteries, and hospitals. In 1614 the Persian Shah Abbas I, seeking to subjugate Kakheti, took Ketevan and her grandsons hostage to Persia. She spent ten years imprisoned at Shiraz, where the Shah repeatedly pressed her, through persuasion and threats, to renounce Christ and convert to Islam, offering to make her his wife. She steadfastly refused. On September 13, 1624, by the Shah's order she was subjected to horrific torture: a red-hot cauldron was placed on her head and her flesh torn with heated tongs and spears until she died. Portuguese Augustinian missionaries who witnessed her martyrdom recorded the account. Her relics were divided between Alaverdi Cathedral in Georgia and Goa, India. The Church venerates Ketevan as a Greatmartyr, an enduring example of fidelity to Christ under brutal persecution.