A Persian noble who came to Georgia in the days of King Vakhtang Gorgasali, embraced Christ, and was crucified for refusing to return to the worship of fire; honored as the protomartyr of Georgia.
Feast Day
August 3
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The Holy and Glorious Protomartyr Razhden of Georgia
Life
Razhden was a fifth-century Persian nobleman who entered the service of the Georgian king Vakhtang I Gorgasali, converted to Christianity, and was put to death by the Sasanian Persians for refusing to renounce his faith. The Georgian Orthodox Church venerates him as its protomartyr, the first martyr of the Georgian land.
He came to Iberia (eastern Georgia) from a noble Persian family connected to the court of the Persian king Hormuzd III. According to the tradition, he accompanied Hormuzd's daughter Balendukht to Georgia when she married King Vakhtang, after which he embraced Christ and rose to prominence in the king's military service.
Timeline 5 moments
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5th centuryArrival in GeorgiaRazhden, of a noble Persian family associated with the court of King Hormuzd III, accompanied the king's daughter Balendukht to Iberia on the occasion of her marriage to King Vakhtang I Gorgasali.
5th centuryConversion and royal serviceAfter embracing the Christian faith in Kartli, Razhden was granted an estate by King Vakhtang and appointed as a military adviser and commander, distinguishing himself as a capable soldier.
c. 457Capture and tortureDuring the Persian king Peroz's war against Georgia, Razhden was captured. Refusing to reject Christianity, he was tortured: by the synaxarion account his executioners battered him, knocked out his teeth, dragged him across jagged cliffs, and cast him in chains into prison.
c. 457Martyrdom at TsromiExiled to the Persian camp at Tsromi in Iberia, Razhden was crucified for his confession of Christ. According to later hagiography he was crucified together with five criminals and shot with arrows.
5th centuryTranslation of relics to NikoziKing Vakhtang later moved the martyr's relics to a cathedral he built at Nikozi, where he installed a bishop, and erected further churches in Razhden's honor at Ujarma and Samgori in eastern Georgia.
Contributions & Legacy
3 contributions
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Origin and Service to King Vakhtang
Razhden was a Persian nobleman of Iranian descent; his name is traced to Iranian roots possibly meaning "happy religion." He served as guardian or tutor to Balendukht, a daughter of the Persian king, and accompanied her to Iberia upon her marriage to King Vakhtang I Gorgasali.
Having converted to Christianity in Kartli, he was granted an estate by the king and entered Vakhtang's military service as an adviser and commander. The sources present him as a distinguished warrior who proved his valor in the wars of the period.
Martyrdom
Razhden was captured during the Persian campaign against Vakhtang associated with King Peroz, who is recorded as ordering the seizure of the Persian aristocrat who had converted to Christianity and survived the battle. Pressed to abandon Christ and return to the Persian religion, he refused.
After being subjected to severe torture and imprisonment, he was taken to a Persian camp at Tsromi and crucified, around the year 457. The accounts relate that his final words were a commendation of his spirit to God.
Relics and Veneration
Christians buried the martyr together with his cross. King Vakhtang afterward translated his relics to the cathedral he founded at Nikozi in Inner Kartli, establishing a diocese there, and built churches in the martyr's memory at Ujarma and Samgori.
The Georgian Orthodox Church honors Razhden as its protomartyr, with his feast kept on August 3 (August 16 on the civil calendar). The earliest account of his life is found in the History of King Vakhtang Gorgasali, a medieval Georgian work traditionally attributed to Juansher Juansheriani; his hagiography was later elaborated by Besarion Orbelishvili in the 1720s.
His companions & kin
The Georgian king in whose service Razhden converted and rose to command, and who translated his relics to Nikozi.
King Vakhtang I Gorgasali of Georgia
Sources: OCA Synaxarion (oca.org), Lives of the Saints
