Patriarch Asks Mayor to Build Cathedral of 100,000 Martyrs

Georgia’s Catholicos-Patriach Ilia II has called on the Mayor of Tbilisi to think about the construction of a Church of the 100,000 Martyrs in Tbilisi.

The Hundred Thousand Martyrs are saints of the Georgian Orthodox Church who were put to death, according to a 14th-century anonymous Georgian source 'Chronicle of a Hundred Years,' for not renouncing Christianity. Their deaths came on the order of the Khwarezmid Sultan Jalal ad-Din upon his capture of the Georgian capital of Tbilisi in 1226. The Georgian Church commemorates the martyrs on 13 November.

“We have a young, energetic Mayor, and I hope he will consider having a church or avenue named in memory of the 100,000 martyrs," the Catholicos-Patriarch said during yesterday's Sunday sermon, adding the annual solemn ceremony will be conducted on the Metekhi Bridge at 17:00 on Tuesday.

Kaladze responded to the initiative, saying “City Hall will do its best to implement this interesting project.”

By Thea Morrison

Photo source: 1 TV