Saint Tsotne Dadiani the Confessor (13th century) — July 30 – Old Style / August 12 – New Style

On this day, July 30 according to the Julian Calendar (August 12 civil calendar), the Georgian Orthodox Church commemorates Saint Tsotne Dadiani the Confessor.

Saint Tsotne Dadiani — “a man honorable and virtuous, and glorious in battle” — lived and labored in the thirteenth century. At that time Georgia suffered under the Mongol yoke. After the death of Queen Rusudan in 1245, the Mongols imposed the heaviest tribute upon the princes of Georgia and obliged them to take part in their military campaigns as well. The condition of the country became so unbearable that the Georgian princes resolved to unite their forces and rise against the enemy.

At a gathering held at Kokhtastavi the princes “confirmed war, and appointed a time for assembling in Kartli.” Tsotne Dadiani, “a man good and perfect in things divine and human,” and the Eristavi of Racha departed to gather the army. As soon as the Tatars learned of the secret assembly of the Georgian princes, they marched at once upon Kokhtastavi, seized all the Georgian nobles gathered there, and carried them off to the land of Ani, to Shiravakan.

The Georgians gave as the reason for their assembly the collection of the tribute owed to the Mongols. The Mongols stripped the princes, bound them hand and foot, smeared their bodies with honey, and left them, hungry and thirsty, in the scorching heat, demanding of them each day the true reason for their gathering.

When Tsotne Dadiani appeared at the appointed time with his army and learned what had happened, “he was grieved beyond measure, and counted that matter as his own death and shame; and he sent away his army, and with two men went to Ani, laying down his own soul and confessing the commandment of the Lord.” Beholding his brethren condemned to death, Tsotne dismounted from his horse, removed his garments, bound his own hands and feet, and sat down beside them.

The Mongols asked Tsotne why he had come. “We all gathered for this purpose: to apportion your tribute and to fulfill your command — this was our assembly. Now you have counted us among evildoers, and therefore I have come before you, that you may examine the matter; and if they have done anything worthy of death, let me die together with them, for they have done nothing without me; and if they are to live, I shall be with them,” answered Tsotne.

Such self-sacrifice on the part of Tsotne Dadiani so moved the Mongols that they resolved to free the Georgians. “We grant all the Georgians to you and entrust them to you,” they told Tsotne, and released them all.

In the uprising organized against the Mongols in 1259 the name of Tsotne Dadiani no longer appears. It is supposed that by that time he had already reposed.

Everyone in Georgia knows of Tsotne Dadiani; his heroism has ever stood as an example of faith, love, and self-sacrifice, and the nation has always rendered him the honor due a saint.

The canonization of Tsotne Dadiani by the decision of the Holy Synod of October 26, 1999, was the expression of the will of the faithful people, and all rejoiced at the establishment of a new heavenly intercessor.