Daily Calendar – September 26

The 269th day of the year; 96 days remain until the New Year.

Church Calendar

Saturday before the Exaltation of the Cross. Forefeast of the Exaltation of the Precious Cross of the Lord.

Commemoration of: Great Martyr Queen Ketevan (1624); Encaenia – the Consecration of the Holy Church of the Resurrection of Christ in Jerusalem (335); Hieromartyr Cornelius the Centurion, Bishop of Caesarea in Palestine and Confessor (1st c.); Martyrs Cronides, Leontius, and Serapion (237); Martyrs Seleucus and Stratonice (2nd c.); Martyrs Macrobius and Gordian (320); Hieromartyr Julian the Presbyter (4th c.); Martyrs Elias, Zoticus, Lucian, and Valerian (320); Venerable Peter of Atroa (10th c.).

Commemoration of the Consecration of the Holy Church of the Resurrection of Christ in Jerusalem. This church was built by the Great Sovereign and Equal-to-the-Apostles Saint Constantine and his holy mother, the Equal-to-the-Apostles Queen Helena. Commemoration of the Holy Great Martyr Ketevan, Queen of Kakheti and a luminary of Georgia, whose holy relics are interred beneath the altar of Alaverdi Cathedral. She was of the royal Bagrationi lineage and the granddaughter of King Constantine of Kartli. After becoming the wife of David—heir to King Alexander II of Kakheti—she herself governed the kingdom. Saint Ketevan built churches, hospices for pilgrims, and shelters for the homeless.

Constantine, the holy queen’s brother-in-law, converted to Islam and, at the instigation of Shah Abbas, had assassins murder his own father and brother. The queen laid the bodies of these innocent martyrs to rest at Alaverdi Monastery.

Threatening to devastate Kakheti, Shah Abbas forced the Kakhetian feudal lords to surrender high-ranking hostages to the Persians, among them the holy Queen Ketevan. Seeking to avert calamity from the Georgian people and the Georgian Church, the holy queen set out for Isfahan. Shah Abbas proposed that the devout queen convert to Islam, but she steadfastly refused; consequently, the saint was cast into prison, where she endured extremely harsh conditions for ten years. Saint Ketevan suffered great torment and finally, on September 26, 1624, commended her long-suffering holy soul to God.

The saint's relics were transferred to St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. Later, monks handed over a portion of her holy relics to King Teimuraz, who brought them back to Georgia and interred them at the Alaverdi Monastery.

Born:

1791 – Théodore Géricault, prominent French painter and graphic artist. Died in 1824.

1841 – Davit Chubinashvili, linguist, lexicographer, and literary scholar. Died in 1891.

1849 – Ivan Pavlov, physiologist and Nobel Prize laureate. Died in 1936.

1888 – T.S. Eliot, American poet and Nobel Prize laureate. Died in 1965.

1889 – Martin Heidegger, German existentialist philosopher. Died in 1976.

1921 – Alexander Mezhirov, Russian poet, translator, and Rustaveli Prize laureate.

1934 – Oleg Basilashvili, Russian actor.

1953 – David Gurgenidze, International Grandmaster and chess composer.

Died:

1868 – August Ferdinand Möbius, German mathematician. 1902 – Levi Strauss, creator of "Levi's" jeans.

1973 – Anna Magnani, prominent Italian actress.

1990 – Alberto Moravia, Italian writer.

Events:

1887 – The phonograph was patented.

1938 – Hitler issued an ultimatum to the Czech government demanding the Sudetenland.

1940 – Japanese troops launched an attack on French Indochina.

1959 – A typhoon caused massive damage in Japan; more than 5,000 people died.

1965 – Queen Elizabeth awarded the Order of the British Empire to The Beatles. 1973 — The supersonic aircraft Concorde covered the distance from Washington to Paris in 3 hours and 33 minutes.

1984 — Representatives of Britain and China signed an agreement on the return of Hong Kong to China.

1985 — The first elections in Hong Kong since the beginning of 100 years of colonial rule were held.

1998 — The promotion of racism was banned in Switzerland.

Notable Days:

Yemen — Revolution and National Day.