Feast of the 100,000 Holy Martyrs of Tbilisi: Dates, Tickets & Venue (Tbilisi)

Why the river matters

The story is set on a bridge. In the 1220s, during the invasion the Georgian Church remembers as the fall of Tbilisi in 1227, the city was taken by Jalal ad-Din’s army. Church tradition says icons were laid across the bridge over the Mtkvari. Residents were ordered to walk over them and renounce their faith.

According to the same tradition, 100,000 people refused and were beheaded, and their bodies went into the river. The Georgian Orthodox Church counts this among its most significant feast days. It falls on October 31 in the Julian calendar the Church follows, which is November 13 in the civil calendar. That is why the feast lands on the same civil date every year.

Where the day is observed

No single venue hosts the feast. Orthodox parishes across the city mark it with the Divine Liturgy, sung in Georgian. Two churches draw most visitors:

• Metekhi Church of the Virgin: a stone church on the cliff edge of the left bank, beside the equestrian statue of King Vakhtang Gorgasali. It looks down on the stretch of river where tradition places the martyrdom.
• Holy Trinity Cathedral (Sameba): the patriarchal cathedral on Elia Hill, the largest church in the country, about a 15-minute walk uphill from Metekhi.

Avlabari station on Line 1 of the Tbilisi Metro serves both. From Metekhi, the Metekhi Bridge crosses to the Old Town and Meidan in a few minutes on foot. In 2026 the feast falls on a Friday, so it shares the city with ordinary working traffic.

Inside a Georgian service

Georgian churches have almost no pews. The congregation stands through the liturgy, and people come and go quietly while it runs. Worshippers buy thin beeswax candles at a counter just inside the door, light them and set them in sand-filled stands in front of the icons.

Visitors usually follow the same dress code as parishioners:

• Women cover their hair with a scarf and wear a skirt below the knee. Many churches keep wraps by the entrance.
• Men take off their hats and wear long trousers.
• Shoulders stay covered for everyone.

Most people keep their phones in their pockets during the liturgy. Flash photography in a working service is considered rude. Once the service ends and the church empties, a quiet photo of the interior is usually tolerated. Standing to the side or near the back leaves the central aisle free for clergy and the people receiving communion.

Making a day of the left bank

The feast fits easily into a walk along the river. Below Metekhi, Rike Park and the glass Bridge of Peace connect to the Old Town. Across the water are the sulphur bathhouses of Abanotubani and Narikala Fortress, which a cable car reaches from Rike Park.

Mid-November in Tbilisi tends to be cool, with short afternoons. The stone floors of the churches hold the cold, which is why many people wear warm layers to a long standing service. Most visitors give the feast a morning for the liturgy and the afternoon to the river walk.