Saint Nino

Saint Nino, also known as Nina, was a Christian captive who in the fourth century, by the holiness of her life and by her prayer, brought to the faith the king, the queen, and the people of Iberia, that is, eastern Georgia. Georgians venerate her as their apostle and enlightener. The Church commemorates her on January 14.

The oldest account of her was written down at the beginning of the fifth century by Rufinus of Aquileia in his Church History. He heard it in Jerusalem from Bacurius, an Iberian prince who was a commander in the Roman army. Rufinus gives neither the woman’s name nor her origin and simply calls her a captive. It is also not known when she was born or when she died.

According to this account she lived among the Iberians modestly and in chastity, spending her days and nights in prayer, which aroused the wonder of the pagans. When a sick child was brought to her, she laid it on her bed and prayed, and the child recovered. News of this reached the queen, who was herself gravely ill. The captive healed her too by prayer and said that this was not her work but Christ’s.

The king wanted to reward her, but she did not accept his gifts. She asked only that he acknowledge the God whom she worshiped. The ruler delayed. One day while he was hunting, a thick darkness came over him. He then called on the God whom the captive worshiped, and when the light returned, he believed. From then on he himself proclaimed the faith to the men, and the queen to the women.

The king had a church built according to her directions. One of the columns could not be raised by any means, until after a whole night of Nino’s prayer it stood in its place by itself. John Paul II called this pillar a beautiful image of the saint herself, the true pillar of the Georgian people’s faith. Later, again on her advice, the king sent an embassy to Emperor Constantine to ask for a bishop and priests.

The name Nino and further details come from later Georgian tradition. According to it the saint came from Cappadocia and brought to Mtskheta, the capital at that time, a cross made of vine branches. The king was named Mirian and the queen Nana. Nino is said to have preached the Gospel in other parts of the country as well and to have died at Bodbe, where her tomb is venerated to this day.

In the East Nino has been venerated since antiquity and is called equal to the apostles. Her veneration is much older than the canonization process. The former Roman Martyrology commemorated her on December 15 under the name Christiana, that is, the Christian woman. The present one gives her name and the day January 14, on which the Georgian Church honors her. In 1999 John Paul II said in Tbilisi that the Church in Georgia owes the conversion of the king and the nation to Saint Nino. In 2016 Pope Francis recalled there that the glorious history of the Gospel in Georgia is owed in a special way to Saint Nino.