Joseph of Karnu is venerated as a martyr of the Georgian Orthodox tradition, commemorated on August 16. He is remembered together with his brother Isaac, the two being known collectively as the martyrs of Karnu — the borderland city in Upper Armenia called Theodosiopolis in Greek and Karin in Armenian, which the Georgians knew as Karnu-kalaki (“Karnu-city”) and which survives today as Erzurum in eastern Turkey.
According to the synaxarion, Joseph and Isaac were born into a Muslim family but were secretly raised in the Christian faith by their Georgian mother. Their open confession of Christ led to their execution by the local emir. While the Orthodox Church in America's August 16 commemoration records no separate life for Joseph, his story is preserved in the joint account of the two brothers.
Timeline 2 moments
ReadHide
9th centuryBirth and upbringing in TheodosiopolisBy tradition Joseph was born into a Muslim family in Theodosiopolis (Karnu) and, with his brother Isaac, was secretly raised as a Christian by their Georgian mother.
reign of Nikephoros I (802–811)Confession and martyrdomThe synaxarion relates that the brothers, intending to travel to Constantinople to seek the permission of Emperor Nikephoros I to settle there, openly confessed their Christian faith when questioned by the local emir. Refusing the emir's offers of reward and his threats of torture, they were condemned and beheaded.
Contributions & Legacy
3 contributions
ReadHide
The Brothers of Karnu
Joseph is not commemorated in isolation: he and his brother Isaac form a single martyric account in the tradition. According to the OCA life, the two were born into a Muslim household in Theodosiopolis yet were brought up in secret as Christians by their mother, a Georgian believer. As young men they had become well known and respected among the nobility of the city.
When the brothers resolved to journey to Byzantium and ask Emperor Nikephoros I (who reigned from 802 to 811) for leave to settle in his capital, the local emir demanded to know the reason for their travel. They answered by confessing their faith openly. Their aged father is said to have wept and urged them to deny Christ, and the emir tried first reward and then the threat of torture and death; the brothers answered with passages of Scripture and would not yield. The emir then ordered them put to death, and they were beheaded.
Traditional Accounts
The synaxarion relates that after the beheading the bodies of the martyrs remained untouched, and that on the night following their death their remains shone with a radiant light — a sign reported to have terrified those who had killed them. With the leave of the frightened authorities, local Christians buried the brothers with reverence, and a church was afterward built over the place of their burial.
Name and Place
The epithet “of Karnu” refers to the city of Theodosiopolis, renamed by the emperor Theodosius II in the fifth century and known in Armenian as Karin. Georgians called it Karnu-kalaki, “Karnu-city,” which is the source of the name attached to these martyrs. The city, in the region of Upper Armenia, was long contested among Byzantines, Armenians, Georgians, and later Seljuks, and is the modern Erzurum in eastern Turkey.
