Memorial Day of Equal-to-the-Apostles Nina, enlightener of Georgia

Nina lived at the turn of the 3rd and 4th centuries; she was born and spent her adolescence in Cappadocia in a Christian family Her uncle on her mother’s side was the Patriarch of Jerusalem, and her father’s distant relative was the Great Martyr George From her teacher, Elder Nianfora, the young Christian first heard about the distant country of Iveria (the ancient name of Georgia), which became the first destiny of the Mother of God herself The girl learned that a great relic was kept there - the Robe of the Lord The robe of Christ was miraculously transferred from Jerusalem to the Iberian city of Mtskheta After hearing what she heard, Nina dreamed of going to a distant country and worshiping a Christian shrine And indeed, fate prepared her way to Iveria, but this happened along with tragic events The cruel emperor Diocletian came to power; from the first days of his reign, the ruler began persecuting Christians Forty young Christian virgins, among whom was Nina, were forced to flee from imperial persecution The girls’ path lay through Armenia, where the Armenian king drew attention to one of them, Princess Hripsimiia The beauty rejected the ruler's claims, which attracted anger towards herself and her friends By order of the king, all the girls were stabbed to death, and only Nina managed to escape In a prayer vision, the future saint saw the Virgin Mary and an angel The Mother of God handed the girl an Orthodox cross woven from a grapevine and blessed her on her way to Iberia So, under the protection of the Mother of God, the fugitive finds herself in the region where the Robe of the Lord was kept, where she will have to bear God’s word The righteous faith of the enlightener performed many miracles in Mtskheta Through her prayer, pagan idols fell to the thunderclaps The childless couple who sheltered the saint now have a long-awaited heir Thanks to Nina, the Iberian Queen Nana was healed, and then converted to Christianity King Miriat at first hated the meek saint, but after miraculously being delivered from blindness, he was baptized along with all his courtiers In just a few years, Georgia becomes a Christian region The saint discovered the storage site of the greatest Christian shrine - the Lord's Chiton, and at her prompting, a majestic temple was erected there But even after these achievements, Nina did not leave missionary activity She goes high into the mountains There, in secluded gorges, lived pagans, to whom the word of God had not yet reached After the enlightener’s sermons, they became true followers of Christ Next, the saint goes to Kakheti to the village of Bodbe, where she lives on a mountain slope in a tiny tent She continues to preach and help all those in need Having received a revelation about her imminent death, Nina turned to the ruler of Iberia with a request to send a bishop to her King Miriat not only sent a priest, but he himself, along with the clergy, went to the saint They witnessed numerous miracles that accompanied the last days of the Equal-to-the-Apostles and were present at her death Nina bequeathed to bury herself in Bodbe, and the coffin with her body miraculously became so heavy that it became impossible to send it to Mtskheta Afterwards, at the burial site of the enlightener, a temple was erected in honor of her distant relative, the Great Martyr George, and nearby a convent in memory of the saint herself