Equal-to-the-Apostles Nina, Equal-to-the-Apostles, Enlightener of Georgia

Equal-to-the-Apostles Nina was born around 280 in the city of Collastra in Cappadocia, where many Georgian settlers lived. She was the niece of Patriarch Juvenal of Jerusalem. After her father Zabulon withdrew into the desert as a hermit and her mother Susanna became a deaconess of the Church of Jerusalem, young Nina was raised by a pious elderly woman, who told her of the Robe of the Lord, which had been taken to distant Iberia. From her youth Nina loved God with all her heart and grieved for unbelieving peoples. According to tradition, the Most Holy Theotokos appeared to her in a vision, gave her a cross made of grapevine, and commanded her to go preach in Iberia. Coming to Georgia, St. Nina settled in Mtskheta, the capital of the Iberian kingdom, and through her righteous life, the power of prayer, and miracles of healing converted many of the country's inhabitants to Christ. The most important event was the conversion of King Mirian, who went blind while hunting and regained his sight after calling on the name of Christ on St. Nina's advice; following the king, his wife Queen Nana was baptized, and then the whole people of Iberia. Thus, through the labors of Equal-to-the-Apostles Nina, at the beginning of the 4th century Georgia became one of the first Christian nations in the world. St. Nina died in 335. Her memory is kept on January 14/27.