Abo of Tiflis

Saint

Abo of Tiflis
St. Abo of Tiflis church in Tbilisi
Martyr
Bornc. 756
Baghdad, Abbasid Caliphate
Died6 January 786
Tbilisi, Emirate of Tbilisi
Venerated inEastern Orthodox Church
Catholic Church
Major shrineChurch of St. Abo, Tbilisi
Feast8 January [O.S. 21 January]
AttributesCross, martyr’s palm
PatronageTbilisi

Abo of Tiflis (Arabic: أبو التفليسي, romanized: Abu al-Tiflisi; Georgian: აბო თბილელი, romanized: abo tbileli; c. 756 – 6 January 786) was a Christian martyr of Arab origin, who went on to practice his faith in what is now Tbilisi, the capital of present-day Georgia.

Life

Arab by origin, Abo initially grew up as a Muslim in Baghdad. At the age of seventeen or eighteen, he found himself in Tbilisi, having followed Georgian Prince Nerses, the ruler of Kartli. Nerses, having been slandered before the Caliph, spent three years in confinement; freed by a new Caliph, he took Abo with him.[1][2]

Abo's profession in Baghdad was that of a perfumer, in which he excelled as a maker of fine perfumes and ointments, the art evidently implying knowledge of chemistry.[3][4] Upon his arrival to Eastern Georgia (Kartli), he converted to Christianity, which didn't happen immediately, but only after a committed soul-searching that involved heated quarrels even with Christian priests and bishops over the finer religious matters; those quarrels only consolidated him in his conviction that the truth was in Christianity.[5][6] However, initially Abo was afraid to convert openly as eastern Georgia was under Arab rule; he only abandoned the Muslim habit of five-times prayers per-day and started praying in a Christian manner.[5]

For political reasons, his prince had to seek shelter in Khazaria north of the Caspian Sea, an area which was not ruled by Muslims; Abo accompanied him, and was baptized there.[7][8] From Khazaria, Nerses moved to the Abkhazia, that was also free from the Arab dominion, taking Abo with him. There, Abo zealously followed the Christian life of prayers and ascetic struggles, preparing himself for a future mission.[5][9] Prince Nerses and his party returned to Tbilisi in 782, and Abo, notwithstanding the warning that it was not safe for him to go to Tbilisi, followed him.[5]

For about three years, Abo openly confessed his Christian faith on the streets of Tbilisi - both fortifying by his example the Christians who attempted to escape Arab rule and trying to convert his Arab compatriots to Christianity.[10] A series of threats and warnings failed to dampen his zeal.[5] In 786, he was denounced as a Christian to the Arab officials in Tbilisi, and arrested. The judge attempted to persuade Abo to return to the faith of his ancestors.[11] He confessed his faith at trial, was imprisoned, and executed on 6 January 786.[5][12]

Ioane Sabanisdze, Georgian religious writer and Abo's contemporary, compiled the martyr's life in his hagiography The Martyrdom of Saint Abo.[13][14]

See also

  • Ubayd Allah ibn Jahsh
  • Anthony-Rawḥ al-Qurashī
  • Abraham of Bulgaria
  • Ahmet the Calligrapher
  • View of the church along Kura River.
    View of the church along Kura River.
  • Small chapel with mosaic of Saint Abo.
    Small chapel with mosaic of Saint Abo.
  • Mosaic of Christ at chapel of Saint Abo.
    Mosaic of Christ at chapel of Saint Abo.
  • St. Abo of Tiflis church in Tbilisi.
    St. Abo of Tiflis church in Tbilisi.

Notes

  1. ^ Thomson, Robert W. (1996). Rewriting Caucasian History: The Medieval Armenian Adaptation of the Georgian Chronicles. Oxford University Press. pp. 234–236.
  2. ^ Hewsen, Robert H. (2001). Armenia: A Historical Atlas. University of Chicago Press. p. 109.
  3. ^ Rapp Jr., Stephen H. (2017). The Sasanian World through Georgian Eyes: Caucasia and the Iranian Commonwealth in Late Antique Georgian Literature. Routledge. p. 187.
  4. ^ Bosworth, C. E. (1986). The History of al-Ṭabarī, Vol. 30: The ʿAbbāsid Caliphate in Equilibrium. SUNY Press. pp. 45–46.
  5. ^ a b c d e f Lang, David Marshall (1956). Lives and Legends of the Georgian Saints. Allen & Unwin. pp. 55–60.
  6. ^ van Esbroeck, Michel (1982). La littérature hagiographique géorgienne. Peeters. pp. 120–125.
  7. ^ Toumanoff, Cyril (1963). Studies in Christian Caucasian History. Georgetown University Press. p. 402.
  8. ^ Golden, Peter B. (2007). Khazars: Studies in History and Culture. Ashgate. pp. 89–90.
  9. ^ Martin-Hisard, Bernard (1996). Christian Caucasian History. Variorum. pp. 210–212.
  10. ^ Rapp Jr., Stephen H. (2014). The Blackwell Companion to Eastern Christianity. Wiley-Blackwell. pp. 137–138.
  11. ^ "Martyr Abo the Perfumer, of Tbilisi, Georgia". Orthodox Church in America.
  12. ^ van Esbroeck, Michel (1982). La littérature hagiographique géorgienne. Peeters. p. 123.
  13. ^ Lang, David Marshall (1956). Lives and Legends of the Georgian Saints. Allen & Unwin. p. 56.
  14. ^ Garitte, Gérard (1956). La Passion d'Abibos et d'autres textes hagiographiques géorgiens. Peeters. pp. 15–20.

Sources

  • Attwater, Donald; John, Catherine Rachel (1993). The Penguin Dictionary of Saints (3rd ed.). Penguin Books. ISBN 0-14-051312-4.
  • Holweck, Frederick George (1924). A Biographical Dictionary of the Saints: With a General Introduction on Hagiology. B. Herder Book Company.
  • Lang, David Marshall (1956). Lives and Legends of the Georgian Saints. Allen & Unwin.
  • Rapp Jr., Stephen H. (2017). The Sasanian World through Georgian Eyes. Routledge.
  • Thomson, Robert W. (1996). Rewriting Caucasian History. Oxford University Press.
  • Toumanoff, Cyril (1963). Studies in Christian Caucasian History. Georgetown University Press.

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