Orthodox Icon of St. Ilia the Righteous

Saint Ilia the Righteous

July 20th
Troparion
Son of the Georgian people and martyr for thy nation, most glorious Ilia the Righteous, pray to Christ God to have mercy on our souls!

St. Ilia was born on October 27, 1837, to a noble family in the village of Qvareli in Kakheti in the Republic of Georgia. He was educated in the law of God and the law of Georgia. He had such a passion for learning the history and language of Georgia that he made it his goal to inspire others to learn and appreciate it. He is known to have said, "We, the Georgian people, have inherited three divine gifts from our ancestors: our motherland, our language and our faith. If we fail to protect these gifts, what merit will we have as men?" Because of this zeal for the heritage of the Georgian people and the Holy Orthodox faith, a band of militants shot him to death on August 30, 1907. St. Ilia's killers were caught and sentenced to death by hanging. Olga, St. Ilia's wife, pleaded with the governor-general to pardon her husband's murders, calling them "unlucky brothers gone astray." She insisted that her husband would have wanted it that way.

The scroll reads: " Our Father Who art in Heaven! Softhearted I stand before Thee on my knees; I ask neither wealth nor glory. I consider my words carefully for my prayer is holy ...
My soul thirsts for a taste of heaven! May Thy Love make radiant my heart
That, even for the enemies who would pierce me with their swords, I could ask forgiveness, for they'll know not what they do!"

This Icon is by the hand of Iuri Kochetov.

Order # klv-04.