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| St. Kozman (Feast Day - July 18) |
Over the centuries the monastic complex founded by Saint David of Gareji became a spiritual and cultural center for all of Georgia. Many of the faithful flocked there with a desire to serve Christ.
Among them was the hieromonk Kozman, who would end his earthly life as a martyr.
Few details of the life of Holy Martyr Kozman have been preserved. According to the Georgian catholicos Anton, Saint Kozman was a learned and righteous ascetic, well-versed in the canons of the Orthodox Church.
Saint Kozman composed a set of “Hymns to the Great-Martyr Queen Ketevan” but his work has not been preserved. According to the 19th-century historian Platon Ioseliani, Hieromonk Kozman was taken captive and tortured to death in the year 1630, when the Dagestanis were carrying out a raid on the Davit-Gareji Wilderness.
