Konstanti Kakhay or Konstanti Kakhi ( ka, კონსტანტი კახაჲ; კონსტანტი კახი) (768 – November 10, 853) was a Christian

Georgian Georgian may refer to: Common meanings * Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country) ** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group ** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians **Georgian scripts, three scrip ...

nobleman from

Kartli Kartli ( ka, ქართლი ) is a historical region in central-to-eastern Georgia traversed by the river Mtkvari (Kura), on which Georgia's capital, Tbilisi, is situated. Known to the Classical authors as Iberia, Kartli played a crucial rol ...

, who was seized captive by the

Abbasid The Abbasid Caliphate ( or ; ar, الْخِلَافَةُ الْعَبَّاسِيَّة, ') was the third caliphate to succeed the Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was founded by a dynasty descended from Muhammad's uncle, Abbas ibn Abdul-Muttalib ...

general

Bugha al-Kabir Bugha al-Kabir (), also known as Bugha al-Turki (), was a 9th-century Khazar general who served the Abbasid Caliphate. He was of Khazar origin, and was acquired along with his sons as a military slave (''ghulam'') by al-Mu'tasim in 819/820.Gordo ...

during his 853 expedition into the

Caucasus The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, mainly comprising Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia (country), Georgia, and parts of Southern Russia. The Caucasus Mountains, including the Greater Caucasus range ...

. He was subsequently put to death, at the age of 85, for refusing to convert to Islam. This made Kostanti a subject of the contemporaneous hagiography and a saint of the

Georgian Orthodox Church The Apostolic Autocephalous Orthodox Church of Georgia ( ka, საქართველოს სამოციქულო ავტოკეფალური მართლმადიდებელი ეკლესია, tr), commonly ...

.Thomas, David & Roggema, Barbara (ed., 2009), ''Christian-Muslim Relations. a Bibliographical History. Volume 1 (600-900)'', pp. 852-6.

BRILL Brill may refer to: Places * Brielle (sometimes "Den Briel"), a town in the western Netherlands * Brill, Buckinghamshire, a village in England * Brill, Cornwall, a small village to the west of Constantine, Cornwall, UK * Brill, Wisconsin, an un ...

, . Kakhay's capture is also documented in a Georgian inscription from the Ateni Sioni church and his death as a

martyr A martyr (, ''mártys'', "witness", or , ''marturia'', stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an externa ...

is mentioned by the 9th-10th century

Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ' ...

n chronicler Tovma Artsruni. The Georgian church commemorates him on

November 10 Events Pre-1600 * 474 – Emperor Leo II dies after a reign of ten months. He is succeeded by his father Zeno, who becomes sole ruler of the Byzantine Empire. * 937 – Ten Kingdoms: Li Bian usurps the throne and deposes Emperor Yang ...

( O.S.).Machitadze, Archpriest Zakaria (2006)
"Great-Martyr Constantine-Kakhi (†852)"
i
''The Lives of the Georgian Saints''
. ''pravoslavie.ru''. Retrieved on 2011-11-23.

''The Life and Passion of Kostanti-Kakhay''

Much of Kostanti-Kakhay's biography is known from the hagiographic work ''The Life and Passion of Kostanti-Kakhay'', the full title of which is "the Life and Passion of the Holy Martyr Kostanti the Georgian, who was Martyred by Jafar, King of Babylonians" (ცხორებაჲ და წამებაჲ წმიდისა მოწამისა კოსტანტი ქართველისაჲ, რომელი იწამა ბაბილონელთა მეფისა ჯაფარის მიერ, ''cxorebaj da c'amebaj c'midisa moc'amisa k'ost'ant'isi kartvelisaj, romeli ic'ama babiloelta mepisa dzaparis mier''). Its anonymous author, apparently a monk, identifies himself as a contemporary of Kostanti, saying that the martyr "lived during our time", when

Theodora Theodora is a given name of Greek origin, meaning "God's gift". Theodora may also refer to: Historical figures known as Theodora Byzantine empresses * Theodora (wife of Justinian I) ( 500 – 548), saint by the Orthodox Church * Theodora o ...

, the

Byzantine empress This is a list of Roman and Byzantine empresses. A Roman empress was a woman who was the wife of a Roman emperor, the ruler of the Roman Empire. The Romans had no single term for the position: Latin and Greek titles such as '' augusta'' (Greek ...

who opposed

iconoclasm Iconoclasm (from Greek: grc, εἰκών, lit=figure, icon, translit=eikṓn, label=none + grc, κλάω, lit=to break, translit=kláō, label=none)From grc, εἰκών + κλάω, lit=image-breaking. ''Iconoclasm'' may also be conside ...

, reigned as a "servant of God". In the same passage, the author also mentions Theodora's son Michael III (r. 842-67). In general, ''the Life and Passion of Kostanti-Kakhay'' reflects the rise of Byzantine cultural and political influence and of Georgian nationalism. The text incorporates many other narratives and contains several biblical allusions. Its opening phrases are a literal translation from George of Alexandria's ''Life of Saint

John Chrysostom John Chrysostom (; gr, Ἰωάννης ὁ Χρυσόστομος; 14 September 407) was an important Early Church Father who served as archbishop of Constantinople. He is known for his preaching and public speaking, his denunciation of ...

'' ( 620), a text otherwise unknown in Georgian until 968. It also echoes several passages from the earlier pieces of Georgian hagiography – the anonymous ''Passion of

Eustathius of Mtskheta Eustathius or Eustace of Mtskheta (Evstat'i Mtskhet'eli; ka, ევსტათი მცხეთელი) (died 550) is an Orthodox Christian saint, executed for his apostasy from Zoroastrianism by the Sasanian military authorities in Cauca ...

'' (570s) and Ioane Sabanisdze's ''the Passion of Abo of Tbilisi'' ( 790). Rayfield, Donald (2000), '' The Literature of Georgia: A History'', pp. 47-8.

Routledge Routledge () is a British multinational publisher. It was founded in 1836 by George Routledge, and specialises in providing academic books, journals and online resources in the fields of the humanities, behavioural science, education, law ...

, . The earliest extant manuscript of ''the Life and Passion of Kostanti-Kakhay'' dates to the early 18th century. First published by

Mikhail Sabinin Mikhail Pavlovich Sabinin (russian: Михаил Павлович Сабинин, ka, მიხეილ პავლეს ძე საბინინი, monk Gobron, ka, გობრონ; 1845–1900) was a Russo- Georgian monk, historia ...

in 1882, it has been translated into

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

(P. Peeters, 1925),

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

(N. Vachnadze and K. Kutsia, 1978), and

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

(M. Abashidze and S.H. Rapp, 2004).Abashidze, Medea & Rapp, Stephen H. Jr. (2004), "The Life and Passion of Kostanti-Kaxay". ''

Le Muséon ''Le Muséon: Revue d'Études Orientales'' (''The Muséon: Journal of Oriental Studies'') is a peer-reviewed academic journal of Linguistics and Oriental Studies. It was established in 1881 by Charles de Harlez, subsidised by the government of Bel ...

'' 17, 1-2: 137-173.

Biography

According to ''the Life and Passion of Kostanti-Kakhay'', Kostanti-Kakhay was born of a noble family of

in 768. "Kakhay" is the sobriquet, indicating his origin from Kakheti. Kostanti amassed a considerable wealth and publicly professed Christianity at the time when the Abbasid political hegemony was strongly felt in the Georgian lands and an Arab emir sat at

Tbilisi Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Kura River with a population of approximately 1.5 million p ...

, the erstwhile capital of Kartli. He was respected for his generosity and pilgrimage and donations to

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

. He was 85, when he was seized, as "a leader and the most noble man in all of Kartli", by Bugha, the Turkic commander of the Abbasid army in the Caucasus, and sent to the court of the

caliph A caliphate or khilāfah ( ar, خِلَافَة, ) is an institution or public office under the leadership of an Islamic steward with the title of caliph (; ar, خَلِيفَة , ), a person considered a political-religious successor to th ...

Al-Mutawakkil in Samarra. The seasoned captive rejected both offers of wealth in return of apostasy to Islam and threats of torture, remaining steadfast. Two noblemen (''

eristavi ''Eristavi'' (; literally, "head of the nation") was a Georgian feudal office, roughly equivalent to the Byzantine '' strategos'' and normally translated into English as "prince" or less commonly as "duke". In the Georgian aristocratic hierarch ...

'') from Somkhiti, who had agreed to convert to Islam, visited Kostanti in prison, first to persuade him and a second time to behead him; in both cases they failed. Then the caliph sent his own servant who put the defiant prisoner to death. The ''Life and Passion of Kostanti-Kakhay'' ends with moralizing:

Further historical evidence

Kostanti's patristic biography is corroborated by a stone inscription in the Ateni Sioni church in Kartli, near Gori, which relates that "on August 5, a Saturday, in ''koronikon'' 73, the

Islamic year The Hijri calendar ( ar, ٱلتَّقْوِيم ٱلْهِجْرِيّ, translit=al-taqwīm al-hijrī), also known in English as the Muslim calendar and Islamic calendar, is a lunar calendar consisting of 12 lunar months in a year of 354 or ...

239, Bugha burnt the city of Tbilisi and captured the Emir Sahak and killed him. And also in August, on the 26th, on Saturday, Zirak took Kakha and his son Tarkhuji prisoner." The events described in this inscription were part of Bugha's Caucasian expedition, in the course of which he sacked Tbilisi and had its rebellious Muslim emir

Ishaq ibn Isma'il Ishaq b. Isma'il b. Shuab al-Tiflisi (before 833 – 853), also known as Sahak in Georgian sources, was the emir of Tbilisi between 833 and 853. Under his rule, the emirate reached the apex of its power. He forced Georgian princes to pay tribut ...

("Sahak" of the Georgian sources) executed. Minorsky, Vladimir, "Tiflis", in: M. Th. Houtsma, E. van Donzel (1913-36; reprint 1993), ''E. J. Brill's First Encyclopaedia of Islam, 1913-1936'', vol. 8, p. 754. BRILL, . The Georgian nobles who sided with the emir were also punished in a series of reprisal raids commanded by Bugha and his lieutenant Zirak. Many captives were taken; some of them killed. The 9th-10th-century Armenian historian Tovma Artsruni, while recounting the same events in his ''History of the House of the Artsrunik, mentions the martyrdom of Kakhay, "of the upper land", and his companion Sevordi at the hands of the Muslims. Another Armenian historian of the early 10th century, Hovhannes Draskhanakertsi, refers to seven men martyred under Bugha in 302 of the Armenian era, which corresponds to the year of Kostanti's death.

References

External links

Martyrium Constantii Cachae

TITUS Titus Caesar Vespasianus ( ; 30 December 39 – 13 September 81 AD) was Roman emperor from 79 to 81. A member of the Flavian dynasty, Titus succeeded his father Vespasian upon his death. Before becoming emperor, Titus gained renown as a mili ...

Old Georgian hagiographical and homiletic texts: Part No. 21. Accessed November 23, 2011. * Tseradze, Tina (2010)
კონსტანტი კახი/კონსტანტინე ქართველთა მთავარი (+ 853 წ.)
(''Konstanti Kakhi/Constantine, Prince of the Georgians 853'). ქართველი ისტორიული მოღვაწენი (''Georgian Historical Figures'') by Georgian National Center of Manuscripts. Accessed November 23, 2011. {{DEFAULTSORT:Kostanti-Kakhay 768 births 853 deaths 9th-century Christian saints 9th-century Christian martyrs Christian saints killed by Muslims Eastern Orthodox martyrs Nobility of Georgia (country) Saints of Georgia (country)