St. Nino: A Female Survivor, Missionary, Preacher, Miracle Worker, Visionary, Exorcist, and Relic Hunter

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One of the great things about being a professor of Christian history is the constant bumping into someone from the past that I had never heard of before. Last week that person was St. Nino (Nina), a woman sometimes referred to as Equal to the Apostles.
 
The story of her life is a wild journey of abandonment, persecution, hiding, missions, preaching, healing, exorcisms, visions, and ultimate success in the conversion of the Kingdom of Iberia (modern-day eastern Georgia, in the Caucasus region). 

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St. Nino was born in modern-day Cappadocia (modern-day Turkey) around 288 and died in 338 in what is now eastern Georgia. Between those years she moved at the age of twelve with her parents to Jerusalem, was abandoned by her parents (her father became a monk, and her mother entered service in the church), learned the faith in her teenage years, and had a vision from St. Mary to go to the Kingdom of Iberia to search for the lost seamless robe of Jesus.
 
Before she went off on her search in the East she travelled West to Rome, where tragically she became the sole survivor of a slaughter of dozens of Christians at the hands of the pagan Roman authorities. She then secretly fled back east.
 
On her way back east, she had a vision calling her to spread the gospel in Iberia. She eventually arrived, and after a ministry marked by asceticism, trials, leadership training, miracles, exorcisms, preaching, teaching, and more visions, she saw the conversion of the King and Queen and the Kingdom.
 
She died in the small village of Bodbe, was buried there, with soon after a church was built at the site. It remains that way to today. The Georgian Orthodox Church Feast Day for St. Nino is February 14.
 
There is much more to know about St. Nino, but my self-imposed word count for blogs keeps me from a detailed study of her life and legacy. What follows, however, are some quotations from original sources that provides a glimpse of her ministry.[1]
 

• An Early Vision that Encouraged St. Nino in a Time of Doubt and Despair

 
“When St. Nino saw how terrible was the length of the way, and how fearful the mountains, her spirit was seized with trembling. She placed a great stone for a pillow, and slept by that river flowing from the lake. And as she slept, there came to her in a vision a man of exceeding tallness, whose hair fell down on his shoulders; and he gave a sealed scroll to St. Nino, saying: ‘Bear this swiftly to where ten Mtzkhet’ha and give it to the heathen king.’ But St. Nino began to weep, and entreated him, saying: ‘O Lord, I am a stranger woman and unskilled, and I know not how to vision, speak their tongue. How can I go into a strange land, among a strange people?’ Then the man undid the book, on which was the seal of Jesus Christ, and in it were written, in the Roman tongue, ten sayings, as on the tables of stone delivered to Moses, and he gave them to St. Nino to read, and these were the sayings:
1. Wherever they preach this gospel, there shall they speak of this woman. Matt. 26:13
2. Neither male nor female, but you are all one. Gal. 3:28
3. Go and make disciples of all the heathen, and baptize them in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Matt, 28:19
4. A light to shine upon the heathen, and to give glory to thy people Israel. Luke 2:32
5. Preach the good tidings of the kingdom of heaven in all the world. Mark 16:15
6. Whoever receives you receives Me, and whoever receives Me receives Him that sent Me. Matt. 10:40
7. Now Mary was greatly beloved of the Lord, so that He always hearkened to her truth and wisdom.
8. Be not afraid of those who can destroy your bodies, but are not able to destroy your soul. Matt. 10:28
9. Jesus said to Mary Magdalene: ‘Go, O woman, and tell the good news to My brethren.’ John 20:17
10. Wherever you go, preach in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.”  (17-18)
 

• A Prayer for Success against Threatening Pagan Kings

 
“St. Nino raised her eyes to heaven and said: ‘0 Lord, by your great power overturn these your enemies, and by your great longsuffering may this people become wise, and all your foes disappear from the earth like dust and ashes, but do not despise man whom you hast made in your likeness, and for whom One of the Trinity became man and gave life to all in the world. Look down upon their race, and deliver their souls from the wicked and invisible ruler, the prince of darkness, and grant, O Lord God of my father and mother, unto me your handmaiden, born to serve you, that your salvation may be seen in all corners of your earth, that the north with the south may rejoice, and that all the people may worship the only God, through Jesus Christ your Son, to whom it is fitting to give glory with thanks for ever.’” (20)
 

• A Sermon Addressed to the King

 
“St. Nino replied: ‘O king, in the name of Christ, by the intercession of His Mother and all His Saints, may the God of heaven and earth, the Creator, send down upon you His glory and greatness, and may He pour out upon you from the countless store of His mercies, as from a furnace, one spark of His grace, that you may know and perceive the height of the heavens, the light of the sun, the depth of the sea, the breadth of the earth and its foundation. And may you know, O king, who clothes the heaven with clouds, with winds, and with the voice of thunder, who shakes the earth with His violence, and casts forth the lightning, and sets the mountains on fire with His divine wrath, who causes all the earth to tremble (the great serpent in the seas trembles), even unto the destruction of all the earth, mountains and solid rocks. Know you all these things; for the unseen God in the heavens, He is Lord of all created things, except His Son, who proceeds from Him into the world, appearing in the form of a man; He fulfilled all for which He came, and ascended into the heights to His Father. The everlasting God is high, and looks down upon the humble, and He knows the proud from afar. O king, His presence is near unto you; for in this city is a marvel, the garment of the Son of God; and they say the mantle of Elijah is also here, and many miracles have been revealed; and I will cure this your prince only in the name of my Christ and by the cross of His sufferings, as it also cured Queen Nana of her great sickness.’” (34-35)
 

• Comments to the King to Avoid Spreading the Faith by the Sword (in this case it was ignore by the King)

 
“Then the king said to St. Nino and the bishop: ‘I will convert the Mt’hiulians at the edge of the sword, and make my son-in-law, P’heroz, a servant of God and a worshipper of the honourable cross.’ Nino answered: ‘It is not commanded by God to raise the sword, but to show the way of truth by the gospel, and by the honourable cross which leadeth unto everlasting life. May God’s grace enlighten the darkness of their hearts.’” (52)
 
 


[1] The page numbers in brackets refer to the translation work of Marjory Wardrop and John Oliver, The Life of St. Nino (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1900).