Holy Martyr Suchias and his Sixteen Companions.

The holy martyrs Sukia, Andrea, Anastasi, Talale, Teodorite, Ivkirion, Iordane, Kodrate, Lukiane, Momnanos, Nerangios, Polievktos, Iakob, Poka, Domentian, Bictor, and Zosime were Georgian noble lords who served the Albanian government (in the southeastern Transcaucasus) in the 1st century a.d.

These seventeen holy men arrived in Artashat, the Armenian capital during the reign of King Artaksar (88–123). They were accompanying Princess Sateneki, the daughter of the Albanian ruler and bride of the Armenian king. This journey to escort the royal bride would prove to be the providential means of their conversion to the Christian faith.

In Artashat they met the elder Khrisos, who had been ordained by the Apostle Thaddeus, and became his disciples. Khrisos journeyed with the seventeen noble lords to Mesopotamia and baptized them in the waters of the Euphrates. While the Holy Sacrament was being celebrated, the princes beheld Christ Himself, standing atop the hill.

After the martyric death of Bishop Chrysos, Saint Suchias became the spiritual leader of the brethren. All soon resettled in a wild locality on Mount Sukaketi, not far from the mountain village of Bagrevandi. Here the former dignitaries led very strict ascetic lives. The scant mountain vegetation served as their food, and they drank from a cold spring of water. Under Suchias's leadership, these former courtiers devoted themselves entirely to monastic discipline and spiritual warfare through prayer and ascesis.

The new ruler of pagan Albania, Datianos, learned that his former officials had accepted Christianity and had gone into solitude. He sent his associate Barnapas with a detachment of soldiers to persuade them to return to court and return also to their former faith. Barnapas searched for Saint Suchias and his companions, but keeping their vow of service to God, they refused all entreaties.

Outraged at the saint's reply, Barlapa ordered that the brothers be bound and cast into a fire. To his great amazement, the holy martyrs chanted psalms as the flames slowly engulfed them. Then by order of Barnapas, Saint Suchias and his companions were stretched out and nailed to the ground, and then burned. Rather than abandon their newfound faith in Christ, all seventeen saints chose to suffer martyrdom at Mount Sukaketi, sealing their witness with their blood.

The holy relics of the martyrs remained incorrupt and unburied until the fourth century, when they were placed in graves and consigned to the earth by local Christians (the names of the holy martyrs were found written on a cliff). The holy hieromartyr Gregory, Enlightener of Armenia (September 30), built a church on this spot and established a monastery. And afterwards, a curative spring of water was discovered there.

The martyrdom of Saint Suchias and his Sixteen Companions stands as a luminous witness to the power of Christian conversion and the willingness of the faithful to surrender earthly honors for eternal glory. Their feast is celebrated throughout the Eastern Orthodox Church, and they are venerated particularly in the Georgian Orthodox tradition as early witnesses to the faith who refused to compromise their loyalty to Christ despite threats of death.

The Holy Martyr Suchias and his Sixteen Companions were illustrious dignitaries who served at the court of the Albanian (Hagbanite) ruler, a region in what is now southeastern Transcaucasia. Escorting the Albanian ruler's daughter Satenika, wife of the Armenian emperor Artaxar (88-123), Saint Suchias and his sixteen companions arrived in Artashat, the ancient capital of Armenia.

In Artashat, they encountered a Greek Christian named Chrysos, who had been enlightened and ordained by the holy Apostle Thaddeus. The Georgian dignitaries came to believe in Christ the Savior, and they resolved to devote their lives to the service of God. All seventeen of the newly-converted followed Chrysos into Mesopotamia. When Bishop Chrysos baptized them in the waters of the Euphrates, they were permitted to behold the Lord of Glory, Jesus Christ.

Bishop Chrysos gave all the saints new names: the eldest was called Suchias (replacing his old name Bagadras), and his companions were named Andrew, Anastasius, Talale, Theodoritus, Ivherion, Jordan, Kondrat, Lukian, Mimnenus, Nerangius, Polyeuctus, James, Phoka, Domentian, Victor and Zosimas. After the martyric death of Bishop Chrysos, Saint Suchias became the spiritual leader of the brethren. All soon resettled in a wild locality on Mount Sukaketi, not far from the mountain village of Bagrevandi. Here the former dignitaries led very strict ascetic lives.

The new ruler of pagan Albania, Datianos, learned that his former officials had accepted Christianity and had gone into solitude. He sent his associate Barnapas with a detachment of soldiers to persuade them to return to court and return also to their former faith. Saint Suchias and his companions were stretched out and nailed to the ground, and then burned. After this, their bodies were dismembered and scattered all about Mount Sukaketi, from which the martyrs received also the title the "Mesukevians" (more correctly, "Sukaketians").

The holy relics of the martyrs remained incorrupt and unburied until the fourth century, when they were placed in graves and consigned to the earth by local Christians. The holy hieromartyr Gregory, Enlightener of Armenia, built a church on this spot and established a monastery.