Saint profile
Abo of Tiflis
About Abo of Tiflis
Abo came from Baghdad and worked as a perfumer. According to the Orthodox Church in America's account, he met Nerse, a Georgian ruler detained there, and travelled with him to Kartli when Nerse was released. In Georgia Abo learned the language and engaged with Christian worship and clergy. These details belong to the received account of his life, and its precise chronology should not be pressed beyond what the sources establish.
Abo returned to Tbilisi and openly practiced his new faith. The Orthodox account says he was imprisoned after refusing to renounce Christianity and was executed. It also tells of signs near the river after his death; those are devotional elements of the martyrdom narrative, not independently documented events.
The eighth-century writer John Sabanisdze composed a martyrdom of Abo, giving this saint an unusually early literary witness. The Georgian Encyclopedia identifies him as an Arab Christian martyr and records the Georgian Church’s recognition of him. The commemoration falls on January 8.
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