Martyrs David and Constantine of Argveti

David and Constantine were brothers and princes of Argveti in western Georgia, remembered as martyrs of the eighth century who led the local resistance to the Arab invasion of the Caucasus. Georgian tradition gives their family name as Mkheidze. They are commemorated together on October 2.

The brothers' martyrdom is set against the campaign of the Umayyad commander Marwan ibn Muhammad, called by the Georgians 'the Deaf' (Murvan Qru), whose forces pressed through the eastern Byzantine lands into Armenia and Georgia. By the tradition recorded in the synaxarion, the brothers at first led the Georgian forces to victory, but when the commander returned in greater strength the Georgian army was routed and the survivors scattered.

Taken captive, David and Constantine were imprisoned and pressed to embrace Islam through both promises and threats; they refused and continued to confess Christ. After being tortured they were drowned, heavy stones bound to their bodies, in a river of western Georgia. Their relics came to rest near Kutaisi, where the Motsameta Monastery — its name derived from the Georgian word for 'martyr' — was later raised in their honor and where their relics are preserved.