Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles
Saint Nina

The holy young girl had such outstanding abilities that in the course of two years, with the help of the grace of God, she had firmly assimilated the rules of faith and piety. Every day she prayerfully read the Holy Scripture, and her heart blazed with love for Christ, Who had endured the suffering of the Cross and death for the salvation of all. When, with tears, she would read the Gospel story of the Crucifixion, her thoughts often rested on the fate of the Lord's robe.

She asked her teacher Nianfora about its present location, feeling certain that such a holy object could not have been lost. Nianfora told Saint Nina that to the northeast of Jerusalem was the country of Iberia, and in it the city of Mtskheta, where the Lord's robe had been taken by the soldier who had won it by lot at Christ's crucifixion. The inhabitants of that country still remained in the darkness of pagan error.

The old woman's words went deep into the heart of Saint Nina, and many days and nights she spent in ardent prayer to the Most Holy Mother of God — that she might be found worthy to see Iberia, to find and reverence the robe of the Lord Jesus Christ, and to preach His holy name to those peoples who did not know Him. The Most Blessed Mother of God heard the prayer of Her servant. She appeared to Saint Nina in a dream and said:

When Saint Nina awoke, she found in her hands a miraculous cross woven of grapevines, bound with her own hair. She kissed it with tears of joy and went to her uncle the patriarch, who gave her his blessing to depart for Iberia to preach the Gospel.

Saint Nina left Jerusalem with the princess Ripsimia, her teacher Gaiana, and a group of fifty-three holy virgins who were fleeing the persecutions of Emperor Diocletian. When Ripsimia refused to break her vow of chastity, the pagan Armenian king Tiridat had her and her companions cruelly tortured and put to death.

Only Saint Nina was miraculously saved. Led by an unseen hand, she took refuge among some wild rose bushes. Shaken by fear at the sight of her friends' fate, the Saint lifted up her hands to heaven in prayer and saw a radiant angel, accompanied by a multitude of heavenly host, descend to meet the ascending souls of the holy martyrs.

In answer to her anguish, the angel said: "Do not grieve, but wait a little, for you also will be received into the Kingdom of the Lord of glory. This will occur when the prickly, wild rose that now surrounds you is covered with fragrant blossoms like a rose planted and cultivated in a garden. But now rise and go north, where a great harvest is ripening, but where there are no harvesters."

In accordance with this command, Saint Nina set out on a long journey northward. She arrived at last at the Kura river, where shepherds gave her food and directed her toward the great city of Mtskheta — the goal of her mission.

As Saint Nina was approaching the royal garden of Mtskheta, the gardener's wife, Anastasia, rushed out to meet her as if she were a long-awaited friend. She welcomed Nina into her home, washed her feet, and anointed her head with oil. At Nina's desire, Anastasia's husband built her a small hut in the corner of the garden — in the very place where a chapel in her honor stands to this day within the Samtavro Convent.

In this hut Saint Nina placed the cross given her by the Mother of God, and spent days and nights there in prayer and the singing of psalms. Word of the deeds and miracles performed by Saint Nina to the glory of Christ's Name soon spread abroad. On one occasion a woman was carrying her dying child through the streets with loud wailing. Saint Nina took the sick child, laid him on her bed of leaves, prayed over him, and placed her cross of grapevines upon him — then returned him to his mother alive and well.

From that time on Saint Nina began openly to preach the Gospel, calling the Iberian pagans and Jews to repentance and faith in Christ. Her pious, righteous, and chaste life was known to all and attracted the hearts of the people. Among her first converts were the elder Abiathar, the high priest of the Kartlian Jews, and his daughter Sidonia. Saint Nina also heard from Abiathar the tradition of the Lord's Robe buried beneath a cedar in the royal garden — confirmed to her by miraculous visions.

On the day of her arrival at Mtskheta, Saint Nina witnessed an extraordinary sign. She prayed as the crowd worshipped the great idol Armazi — cast of gilded copper with ruby and emerald eyes — along with two silver idols. As she prayed with burning zeal, a sudden storm arose from the west. Thunder and lightning broke over the idols; they were beaten into dust, the walls of the temple reduced to rubble, and the floods carried everything away. Thus the light of Christ first shone on the mountains of Iberia on the very day of the Lord's glorious Transfiguration.

Queen Nana harbored malice toward the Christians and fervently revered the lifeless idols. But when she became gravely ill and all her doctors failed her, the women of the court urged her to call upon the pilgrim Nina, who healed all kinds of infirmities by prayer to her God. As a test of the queen's faith and humility, Saint Nina told the messenger: "If the queen wants to be well, let her come here to me in this hut."

The queen complied and was carried on a litter to the Saint's hut. Saint Nina knelt and fervently prayed to the Lord, the Healer of souls and bodies. Then she took her cross and made the sign of the cross on the sick woman. As soon as she had done this, the queen immediately arose completely well. There before Saint Nina and the people, and afterwards before her husband King Mirian, the queen confessed aloud that Christ is the true God.

King Mirian still delayed in openly confessing Christ, and even conceived the idea of exterminating the Christians. But on one occasion, while hunting in the Mukhrani forest, a sudden storm arose and the gleam of lightning blinded the king's eyes. In despair he began to appeal to his gods, but they were silent. Then, sensing above him the chastising hand of the Living God, the king cried out:

At once the storm died down. The king returned to the capital, walked through the streets loudly proclaiming: "Glorify, all my people, Nina's God, Christ, for He is the eternal God, and to Him alone belongs all glory forever!" He fell at Saint Nina's feet, calling her his mother and teacher. In the year 330 AD, King Mirian declared Christianity the state religion of Georgia — making it one of the first nations on earth to embrace the Orthodox faith.

Saint Nina labored in Georgia for thirty years, establishing churches, training clergy, and guiding the newly converted Georgian people in the Orthodox Faith. She is venerated as the Equal to the Apostles and the Enlightener of Georgia — one of the greatest female saints in the history of the Church.

Her relics are venerated in the Cathedral of Svetitskhovloba in Mtskheta, Georgia. Her cross of grapevines, bound with her own hair, is one of the most sacred relics of the Georgian Orthodox Church, preserved to this day in Tbilisi. The Georgian Church celebrates her feast day on January 14 (Old Calendar) / January 27 (New Calendar).

Our parish in Orlando bears her name — Saint Nina Orthodox Mission — in honor of this holy Apostle to the Georgians, and under her intercessions we continue her mission: bringing the ancient Orthodox faith to new lands and new peoples.