Житие святой равноапостольной Нины, просветительницы Иверии

According to the pious tradition, hitherto preserved in the Iberian, as well as the entire Eastern Orthodox Church, Iberia, which is also called Georgia 553, is the lot of the Immaculate Mother of God: according to the special will of God, it fell to Her to preach there for the salvation of people the Gospel of Her Son and the Lord Jesus Christ. Saint Stephen the Holy Mountain tells that, after the ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ into heaven, His disciples, together with the Mother of Jesus Mary, stayed in the Upper Room of Zion and waited for the Comforter, in accordance with the command of Christ - not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise from the Lord (Luke 24:49; Acts 1:4). The apostles began to cast lots to find out which of them was appointed by God to preach the Gospel in which country. The Most Pure One said: “I also want to cast My lot with you, so that I too will not be left without an inheritance, but in order to have a country that God will be pleased to show Me.” According to the word of the Mother of God, they cast lots with reverence and fear, and by this lot She received the Iberian land. Having joyfully received this lot, the Most Pure Mother of God wanted to immediately, after the descent of the Holy Spirit in the form of tongues of fire, go to the Iberian country. But the Angel of God said to Her: - Do not leave Jerusalem now, but stay here until the time comes; the inheritance assigned to You by lot will subsequently be illuminated by the light of Christ, and Your dominion will remain there. So says Stefan Svyatorets. This predestination of God about the enlightenment of Iberia was fulfilled three centuries after the Ascension of Christ, and the Most Blessed Virgin Mary appeared as its executor with clarity and certainty. After the specified time had passed, She sent the holy virgin Nina with Her blessing and Her help to preach in Iberia. Saint Nina was born in Cappadocia and was the only daughter of noble and pious parents: the Roman governor Zabulon, a relative of the holy Great Martyr George, and Susanna, the sister of the Patriarch of Jerusalem. At the age of twelve, Saint Nina came with her parents to the holy city of Jerusalem. Here her father Zabulon, burning with love for God and wanting to serve Him with monastic deeds, accepted, by agreement with his wife, a blessing from the blessed Patriarch of Jerusalem; then, saying goodbye with tears to his young daughter Nina and entrusting her to God, the Father of orphans and the Protector of widows, he left and hid in the Jordan Desert. And the place of the exploits of this saint of God, as well as the place of his death, remained unknown to everyone. Saint Nina's mother, Susanna, was appointed deaconess at the holy church by her brother, the patriarch, to serve the poor and sick women; Nina was given to be raised by one pious old woman, Nianfora. The holy young woman had such outstanding abilities that after only two years, with the assistance of the grace of God, she understood and firmly adopted the rules of faith and piety. Every day she read the Divine Scriptures with zeal and prayer, and her heart burned with love for Christ, the Son of God, who endured suffering on the cross and death for the salvation of people. When she read with tears the Gospel stories about the crucifixion of Christ the Savior and about everything that happened at His Cross, her thought stopped on the fate of the Lord's tunic. – Where is this earthly purple of the Son of God now? – she asked her mentor. “It is impossible for such a great shrine to perish on earth.” Then Nianfora informed Saint Nina - what she herself knew from legend, namely: that to the northeast of Jerusalem there is the country of Iveron and in it the city of Mtskheta 554, and that it was there that the tunic of Christ was taken by the soldier, who received it by lot at the crucifixion of Christ (John 19:24). Nianfora added that the inhabitants of this country, called Kartveli 555, also their neighboring Armenians and many mountain tribes to this day remain immersed in the darkness of pagan error and wickedness. These legends of the old woman sank deep into the heart of Saint Nina. She spent days and nights in fiery prayer to the Most Holy Theotokos, the Virgin, so that She would deign to see the Iberian country, find and kiss the tunic of Her beloved Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, woven by the fingers of Her, the Mother of God, and preach the holy name of Christ to the people there who did not know Him. And the Most Blessed Virgin Mary heard the prayer of Her servant. She appeared to her in a dream vision and said: - Go to the country of Iberia, preach the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ there, and you will find favor before His Face; I will be your Patroness. “But how,” asked the humble girl, “will I, a weak woman, be able to perform such a great service?” In response to this, the Blessed Virgin, handing Nina a cross woven from grape vines, said: - Take this cross. He will be your shield and fence against all visible and invisible enemies. By the power of this cross you will plant in that country the saving banner of faith in My beloved Son and Lord, “Who wants all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim. 2:4). Having awakened and seeing a wonderful cross in her hands, Saint Nina began to kiss it with tears of joy and delight; then she tied him with her hair and went to her uncle, the patriarch. When the blessed patriarch heard from her about the appearance of the Mother of God to her and about the command to go to the Iberian country for the Gospel gospel there about eternal salvation, then, seeing in this a clear expression of the will of God, he did not hesitate to give the young virgin the blessing to go on the feat of the gospel. And when the time came convenient for setting off on a long journey, the patriarch brought Nina to the Church of the Lord to the holy altar and, laying his holy hand on her head, prayed in these words: - Lord God, our Savior! In releasing this orphan girl to preach Your Divinity, I commend her into Your hands. Deign, Christ God, to be her companion and mentor wherever she preaches the gospel of You, and grant her words such strength and wisdom that no one is able to resist or object. But You, Most Holy Virgin Mary, Helper and Intercessor of all Christians, have clothed with Your power from above, against enemies visible and invisible, this young woman, whom You Yourself chose to preach the Gospel of Your Son, Christ our God, among the pagan nations. Always be a cover and invincible protection for her and do not leave her with Your mercy until she fulfills Your holy will! At that time, fifty-three virgins, friends, were leaving the holy city for Armenia, together with one princess, Hripsimiea, and their mentor Gaiania. They fled from ancient Rome from the persecution of the wicked king Diocletian, who wanted to marry the princess Hripsimia, despite the fact that she had taken a vow of virginity and was married to the Heavenly Bridegroom-Christ. Saint Nina, together with these holy virgins, reached the borders of Armenia 556 and the capital city of Vagharshapat 557. The holy virgins settled outside the city, under a canopy built over a grape press, and earned their living by the labor of their hands. Soon the cruel Diocletian learned that Hripsimia was hiding in Armenia. He sent a letter to the Armenian king Tiridates - at that time still a pagan 558 - so that he would find Ripsimia and send her to Rome or, if he wanted, take her as his wife, for she, he wrote, was very beautiful. Tiridates' servants soon found Hripsimia, and when the king saw her, he announced to her that he wanted to have her as his wife. The saint boldly said to him: – I am engaged to the Heavenly Bridegroom-Christ; How can you, wicked one, dare to touch the bride of Christ? The wicked Tiridates, excited by bestial passion, anger and shame, gave the order to subject the saint to torture. After many and cruel tortures, Hripsimia's tongue was cut out, her eyes were gouged out and her whole body was cut into pieces. Exactly the same fate befell all the holy friends of Saint Hripsimia and their mentor Gaiania 559. Only one Saint Nina was miraculously saved from death: guided by an invisible hand, she disappeared into the bushes of a wild rose that had not yet blossomed. Shocked by fear at the sight of the fate of her friends, the saint raised her eyes to heaven with a prayer for them and saw above a luminous Angel, girded with a bright orar. With a fragrant censer in his hands, accompanied by many celestial beings, he descended from the heavenly heights; from the earth - as if to meet him - the souls of the holy martyrs ascended, who joined the host of bright celestial beings and together with them ascended to the heavenly heights. Seeing this, Saint Nina exclaimed with sobs: - Lord, Lord! Why are you leaving me alone among these vipers and asps? In response to this, the Angel said to her: – Do not be sad, but wait a little, for you too will be taken into the Kingdom of the Lord of glory; this will happen when the prickly and wild rose surrounding you is covered with fragrant flowers, like a rose planted and cultivated in a garden. Now get up and go to the north, where the great harvest is ripening, but where there are no reapers (Luke 10:2). According to this command, Saint Nina set off alone on her further journey and, after a long journey, came to the bank of a river unknown to her, near the village of Khertvisi. This river was the Kura, which, heading from the west to the southeast, to the Caspian Sea, irrigates the entire middle Iveria 560. On the bank of the river she met sheep shepherds who gave some food to the traveler, weary from the long journey. These people spoke the Armenian dialect; Nina understood the Armenian language: Elder Nianfora introduced her to it. She asked one of the shepherds: – Where is the city of Mtskheta located and how far is it from here? – Do you see this river? Along its banks, far downstream, stands the great city of Mtskheta, in which our gods reign and our kings reign. Continuing on from here, the holy wanderer sat down one day, tired, on a stone and began to think: where was the Lord leading her? What will be the fruit of her labors? And wouldn’t her long and difficult journey be in vain? Amid such thoughts, she fell asleep in that place and had a dream: a majestic-looking husband appeared to her; his hair fell over his shoulders, and in his hands he had a book scroll written in Greek. Having unrolled the scroll, he handed it to Nina and ordered her to read it, but he himself suddenly became invisible. Having awakened from sleep and seeing a wonderful scroll in her hand, Saint Nina read in it the following Gospel sayings: “Truly I say to you: wherever this Gospel is preached in the whole world, what she has done will also be told in her memory” (wife) (Matthew 26:13). “There is neither male nor female: for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Gal.3:28). “Jesus says to them (the women): Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers” (Matthew 28:10). “Whoever receives you receives Me, and whoever receives Me receives Him who sent Me” (Matthew 10:40). “I will give you a mouth and wisdom that all who oppose you will not be able to contradict or resist” (Luke 21:15). “When they bring you into the synagogues, to the principalities and powers, do not worry about how or what to answer or what to say, for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that hour what you should say” (Luke 12:11-12). “And do not be afraid of those who kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul” (Matthew 10:28). “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Amen” (Matthew 28:19–20). Strengthened by this Divine vision and consolation, Saint Nina continued her path with inspiration and new zeal. Having overcome hard work, hunger, thirst and fear of animals along the way, she reached the ancient Kartalin city of Urbnise 561, where she remained for about a month, living in Jewish houses and studying the morals, customs and language of a people new to her. Having learned one day that all the men of this city, as well as those who had arrived from the surrounding area, were going to go to the capital city of Mtskheta to worship their false gods, Saint Nina went there with them. When they approached the city, they met the train of King Mirian and Queen Nana near the Pompey Bridge; Accompanied by a large crowd of people, they headed to a mountain peak located opposite the city to worship there a soulless idol called Armaz. Until noon the weather was clear. But this day, which was the first day of St. Nina’s arrival at the goal of her saving mission for the Iberian country, was the last day of the reign of the mentioned pagan idol there. Carried away by the crowd of people, Saint Nina headed towards the mountain, to the place where the idol altar was located. Having found a comfortable place for herself, she saw from it the main idol of Armaz. He looked like a man of unusually large stature; forged from gilded copper, he was dressed in a golden armor, with a golden helmet on his head; one of his eyes was yellow, the other was made of emerald, both of extraordinary size and brilliance. To the right of Armaz stood another small golden idol named Katsi, and to the left was a silver idol named Gaim. The entire crowd of people, together with their king, stood in insane reverence and awe before their gods, while the priests made preparations for making bloody sacrifices 562. And when, at the end of them, the incense burned, the sacrificial blood flowed, the trumpets and tympanums thundered, the king and the people fell face down on the ground before the soulless idols. Then the heart of the holy virgin was inflamed with the jealousy of the prophet Elijah. Sighing from the depths of her soul and raising her eyes to heaven with tears, she began to pray in these words: - Almighty God! Bring this people, according to the multitude of Your mercy, to the knowledge of You, the One true God. Scatter these idols, just as the wind scatters dust and ashes from the face of the earth. Look with mercy at this people, which You created with Your almighty right hand and honored with Your Divine Image! You, Lord and Master, loved Your creation so much that you even betrayed Your Only Begotten Son for the salvation of fallen humanity, deliver the souls and these Your people from the all-destructive power of the prince of darkness, who has blinded their rational eyes, so that they do not see the true path to salvation. Deign, Lord, to allow my eyes to see the final destruction of the idols proudly standing here. Create in such a way that this people and all the ends of the earth understand the salvation You bestow, so that both north and south rejoice together in You, and so that all nations begin to worship You, the One Eternal God, in Your Only Begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, to Whom belongs glory forever. The saint had not yet finished this prayer when suddenly thunderclouds rose from the West and quickly rushed along the Kura River. Noticing the danger, the king and the people fled; Nina hid in a rock gorge. A cloud with thunder and lightning burst over the place where the idol altar stood. The previously proudly towering idols were smashed to dust, the walls of the church were destroyed to dust, and rain streams cast them into the abyss, and the waters of the river carried them downstream; Thus, not a trace remained of the idols and the church dedicated to them. Saint Nina, protected by God, stood unharmed in the gorge of the rock and calmly watched as the elements suddenly raged around her, and then the radiant sun again shone from the sky. And all this happened on the day of the glorious Transfiguration of the Lord, when the true light that shone on Tabor for the first time transformed the darkness of paganism into the light of Christ on the mountains of Iberia. In vain the next day the king and the people looked for their gods. Not finding them, they were horrified and said: - The god Armaz is great, however, there is some other God, greater than him, who defeated him. Isn’t this the Christian God who put the ancient Armenian gods to shame and made King Tiridates a Christian? - However, in Iberia no one had heard anything about Christ, and no one preached that He was God above all gods. What happened, and what will happen next? Much time after that, Saint Nina entered the city of Mtskheta, under the guise of a wanderer, and called herself a captive. When she was heading towards the royal garden, the gardener’s wife, Anastasia, quickly came out to meet her, as if to meet someone she had long expected. Having bowed to the saint, she brought her into her house and then, having washed her feet and anointed her head with oil, she offered her bread and wine. Anastasia and her husband begged Nina to stay in their house, like a sister, for they were childless and grieved over their loneliness. Subsequently, at the request of St. Nina, Anastasia’s husband built a small tent for her in the corner of the garden, in the place of which a small church in honor of St. Nina still stands, in the fence of the Samtavra Convent 563. Saint Nina, having placed the cross given to her by the Mother of God in this tent, spent days and nights there in prayer and singing psalms. From this tent a bright series of deeds of Saint Nina and miracles performed by her for the glory of Christ’s Name was revealed. The first acquisition of the Church of Christ in Iberia was an honest married couple who sheltered the servant of Christ. Through the prayer of Saint Nina, Anastasia was relieved of her childlessness and subsequently became the mother of a large and happy family, as well as the first woman who believed in Christ in Iberia before the men. One woman, crying loudly, carried her dying child through the streets of the city, calling on everyone for help. Taking the sick child, Saint Nina laid him on her bed made of leaves; Having prayed, she placed her cross made of vines on the baby and then returned it to her weeping mother alive and well. From that time on, Saint Nina began to openly and publicly preach the Gospel and call the Iberian pagans and Jews to repentance and faith in Christ. Her pious, righteous and chaste life was known to everyone and attracted the eyes, ears and hearts of the people to the saint. Many - and especially Jewish wives - began to often come to Nina to listen from her honeyed lips to the new teaching about the Kingdom of God and eternal salvation, and began to secretly accept faith in Christ. These were: Sidonia, the daughter of the high priest of the Kartalian Jews, Abiathar, and six other Jewish women. Soon Abiathar himself believed in Christ, after he heard Saint Nina’s interpretation of the ancient prophecies about Jesus Christ and how they were fulfilled in Him as the Messiah. Subsequently, Abiathar himself spoke about it this way: “The Law of Moses and the prophets led to Christ, whom I preach,” Saint Nina told me. – He is the end and completion of the Law. Starting with the creation of the world, as it is said in our books, this wonderful woman told me about everything that God arranged for the salvation of people through the promised Messiah. Jesus is truly the Messiah, the son of the Virgin, according to the prophetic prediction. Our fathers, driven by envy, nailed him to the cross and killed him, but He rose again, ascended to heaven and will come again with glory to earth. He is the One for whom the nations wait and who is the glory of Israel. In his name, Saint Nina performed many signs and wonders before my eyes, which only the power of God can accomplish. Often talking with this Abiathar, Saint Nina heard from him the following story about the tunic of the Lord: “I heard from my parents, and they heard from their fathers and grandfathers, that when Herod reigned in Jerusalem, the Jews living in Mtskheta and throughout the Kartali country 564 received news that the Persian kings came to Jerusalem, that they were looking for a newborn male Child, from the offspring of David, born of a Mother, without a father, and called Him the king of the Jews. They found Him in the city of David, Bethlehem, in a wretched den, and brought Him gifts of royal gold, healing myrrh and fragrant incense; Having worshiped Him, they returned to their country (Matthew 2:11–12). Thirty years passed after this, and then my great-grandfather Elioz received from Jerusalem from the High Priest Anna a letter with the following content: “The One to whom the Persian kings came to worship with their gifts reached the age of perfection and began to preach that He was Christ, the Messiah and the Son of God. Come to Jerusalem to see His death, by which He will be delivered up according to the law of Moses.” When Elioz prepared to go to Jerusalem with many others, his mother, a pious old woman from the family of the high priest Elijah, said to him: - Go, my son, at the royal call; but I beg you, do not be at one with the wicked against Him Whom they set out to kill; He is the One Whom the prophets foretold, Who represents a riddle for the wise, a mystery hidden from the beginning of the ages, a light for the nations and eternal life. Elioz, together with the Karenian Longinus, came to Jerusalem and was present at the crucifixion of Christ. His mother remained in Mtskheta. On the eve of Easter, she suddenly felt in her heart the blows of a hammer driving in nails, and she loudly exclaimed: – The kingdom of Israel has now perished, because they put to death its Savior and Deliverer; This people will henceforth be guilty of the blood of their Creator and Lord. Woe to me that I had not died earlier: I would not have heard these terrible blows! I will no longer see the Glory of Israel on earth! Having said this, she died. Elioz, who was present at the crucifixion of Christ, acquired His tunic from a Roman soldier 565, who received it by lot, and brought it to Mtskheta. Elioz's sister Sidonia, welcoming her brother on his safe return, told him about the wonderful and sudden death of her mother and her dying words. When Elioz, having confirmed his mother’s premonition regarding the crucifixion of Christ, showed his sister the tunic of the Lord, Sidonia, taking it, began to kiss it with tears, then pressed it to her chest and immediately fell dead. And no human power could snatch this sacred robe from the hands of the deceased, not even King Aderky himself, who came with his nobles to see the extraordinary death of the maiden and who also wanted to take the robe of Christ from her hands. After some time, Elioz buried the body of his sister, and buried Christ’s robe with her, and did it so secretly that even to this day no one knows the place of Sidonia’s burial. Some only assumed that this place was located in the middle of the royal garden, where from that time on the shady cedar tree standing there grew by itself; Believers flock to him from all sides, revering him as some great power; There, under the roots of the cedar, Sidonia’s coffin is faithfully located. Having heard about this legend, Saint Nina began to come at night to pray under this cedar; however, she doubted whether the tunic of the Lord was really hidden under its roots. But the mysterious visions that she had at this place assured her that this place was holy and would be glorified in the future. So, one day, after performing midnight prayers, Saint Nina saw: from all the surrounding countries flocks of black birds flew to the royal garden, from here they flew to the Aragva River 566 and washed themselves in its waters. A little later they rose up, but already white as snow, and then, descending on the branches of the cedar, they filled the garden with heavenly songs. This was a clear sign that the surrounding peoples would be enlightened by the waters of holy baptism, and in the place of the cedar there would be a church in honor of the true God, and in this church the Name of the Lord would be glorified forever. Saint Nina also saw that it was as if the mountains that stood opposite one another, Armaz and Zaden, shook and fell. She also heard the sounds of battle and the screams of demonic hordes, as if invading the capital city in the form of Persian warriors, and a terrible voice, similar to the voice of King Khosroes, commanding that everything be destroyed. But all this terrible vision disappeared as soon as Saint Nina, raising the cross, drew the sign of the cross in the air and said: - Shut up, demons! The end of your power has come: for here is the Conqueror! Assured by these signs that the Kingdom of God and the salvation of the Iberian people were near, Saint Nina incessantly preached the word of God to the people. Together with her, her disciples worked in the gospel of Christ - especially Sidonia and her father Abiathar. The latter argued so zealously and persistently with his former fellow Jews about Jesus Christ that he even suffered persecution from them and was condemned to be stoned; only King Mirian saved him from death. And the king himself began to reflect in his heart about the faith of Christ, for he knew that this faith not only spread in the neighboring Armenian kingdom, but that in the Roman Empire, King Constantine defeated all his enemies in the name of Christ and the power of His Cross, became a Christian and patron of Christians 567. Iberia was then under Roman rule, and Mirian's son, Bakar, was a hostage in Rome at that time; therefore, Mirian did not prevent Saint Nina from preaching Christ in her city. Only Mirian's wife, Queen Nana, a cruel woman and zealous admirer of soulless idols, who erected a statue of the goddess Venus in Iberia 568, harbored anger against Christians. However, the grace of God, “healing the weak and replenishing the poor” 569, soon healed this woman who was sick in spirit. The queen fell ill; and the more efforts the doctors used, the stronger the disease became; the queen was dying. Then the women close to her, seeing the great danger, began to beg her to call the wanderer Nina, who heals all sorts of ailments and illnesses with just one prayer to the God she preaches. The queen ordered this wanderer to be brought to her: Saint Nina, testing the queen’s faith and humility, said to the messengers: “If the queen wants to be healthy, let her come to me here in this tent, and I believe that she will receive healing here by the power of Christ my God.” The queen obeyed and ordered herself to be carried on a stretcher to the saint's tent; Following her were her son Rev and a multitude of people. Saint Nina, having ordered that the sick queen be laid on her leafy bed, knelt down and fervently prayed to the Lord, the Physician of souls and bodies. Then, taking her cross, she placed it on the sick woman’s head, on her feet and on both shoulders and thus made the sign of the cross on her. As soon as she did this, the queen immediately rose from her sick bed healthy. Having thanked the Lord Jesus Christ, the queen there before Saint Nina and the people, and then at home - before her husband King Mirian - loudly confessed that Christ is the true God. She made Saint Nina her close friend and constant interlocutor, feeding her soul with her holy teachings. Then the queen brought the wise old man Abiathar and his daughter Sidonia closer to her, and learned a lot from them in faith and piety. King Mirian himself (the son of the Persian king Khozroes and the founder of the Sassanid dynasty in Georgia) was still slow to openly confess Christ as God, but tried, on the contrary, to be a zealous idolater. Once he even set out to exterminate the confessors of Christ and with them Saint Nina, and this was on the following occasion. A close relative of the Persian king, a learned man and a zealous follower of Zoroaster's teachings, came to visit Mirian and, after some time, fell into a serious illness of demonic possession. Fearing the wrath of the Persian king, Mirian begged Saint Nina through the ambassadors to come and heal the prince. She ordered the sick man to be brought to the cedar tree, which was in the middle of the royal garden, made him face the east with his hands raised up and ordered him to repeat three times: – I renounce you, Satan, and surrender myself to Christ, the Son of God! When the possessed man said this, the spirit immediately shook him and threw him to the ground as if he were dead; however, not being able to resist the prayers of the holy virgin, he left the sick man. The prince, upon recovery, believed in Christ and returned to his country as a Christian. Mirian was more afraid of the latter than if this prince had died, for he was afraid of the wrath of the Persian king, who was a fire worshiper, for the conversion of his relative in Mirian’s house to Christ. He began to threaten to put Saint Nina to death for this and to exterminate all the Christians in the city. Overwhelmed by such hostile thoughts against Christians, King Mirian went to the Mukhrani 570 forests to unwind by hunting. Talking there with his companions, he said: “We incurred the terrible wrath of our gods for allowing Christian sorcerers to preach their faith in our land. However, soon I will destroy with the sword all who worship the Cross and the Crucified One on it. I will order the queen to renounce Christ; If she does not listen, I will destroy her along with other Christians. With these words, the king climbed to the top of the steep mountain Thoti. And suddenly the bright day turned into impenetrable darkness, and a storm arose, similar to the one that overthrew the idol of Armaz; the flash of lightning blinded the king's eyes, thunder scattered all his companions. In despair, the king began to cry out to his gods for help, but they did not give a voice and did not hear. Feeling the punishing hand of the Living God above him, the King cried out: - God Nina! Dispel the darkness before my eyes, and I will confess and glorify Your name! And immediately it became light all around, and the storm subsided. Amazed by the power of the mere name of Christ, the king turned his face to the east, raised his hands to the sky and cried out with tears: - God, Whom Your servant Nina preaches! You alone are truly God above all gods. And now I see Your great goodness towards me, and my heart feels joy, consolation and Your closeness to me, O blessed God! In this place I will erect the tree of the cross 571 so that the sign You have now shown me today will be remembered for eternity! When the king returned to the capital and walked through the streets of the city, he loudly exclaimed: - Glorify, all people, the God of Nina, Christ, for He is the eternal God, and to Him alone belongs all glory forever! The king looked for Saint Nina and asked: -Where is that wanderer whose God is my Savior? The saint was performing evening prayers in her tent at this time. The king and the queen, who came out to meet him, accompanied by a multitude of people, came to this tent and, seeing the saint, fell at her feet, and the king exclaimed: - Oh my mother! Teach and make me worthy to call on the name of your Great God, my Savior! In response, uncontrollable tears of joy flowed from Saint Nina’s eyes. At the sight of her tears, the king and queen began to cry, and after them all the people gathered there began to sob loudly. A witness and subsequently a describer of this event, Sidonia says: “Every time I remember these sacred minutes, tears of spiritual joy involuntarily flow from my eyes. King Mirian's conversion to Christ 572 was decisive and unshakable; Mirian was for Georgia what Emperor Constantine the Great was at that time for Greece and Rome. The Lord chose Mirian as the leader of the salvation of all the Iberian peoples. Mirian immediately sent ambassadors to Greece to Tsar Constantine with a request to send him a bishop and priests to baptize the people, teach them the faith of Christ, plant and establish the holy Church of God in Iberia. Until the ambassadors and priests returned, Saint Nina continuously taught the people the Gospel of Christ, showing through this the true path to the salvation of souls and the inheritance of the Heavenly Kingdom; She also taught them prayers to Christ God, thus preparing them for holy baptism. The king wished, even before the arrival of the priests, to build a church of God and chose a place for this, at the direction of Saint Nina, in his garden, precisely where the mentioned great cedar stood, saying: – Let this corruptible and fleeting garden turn into an imperishable and spiritual garden, producing fruits into eternal life! The cedar was cut down, and six pillars were cut out of its six branches, which were installed, without any difficulty, in their designated places in the building. When the carpenters wanted to lift the seventh pillar, hewn from the cedar trunk itself, in order to place it at the base of the church, everyone was amazed, since it was impossible to move it from its place by any force. When evening came, the saddened king went to his home, wondering what this meant? The people also dispersed. Only one Saint Nina remained all night at the construction site, with her disciples, praying and shedding tears on the stump of the felled tree. Early in the morning, a wondrous young man appeared to Saint Nina, girded with a belt of fire, and spoke three mysterious words into her ear, hearing which, she fell to the ground and bowed to him. Then this young man walked up to the post and, hugging it, lifted it high into the air with him. The pillar shone like lightning, so that it illuminated the entire city. The king and the people gathered to this place; looking with fear and joy at the wonderful vision, everyone was amazed at how this heavy pillar, supported by no one, rose up 573 cubits twenty from the ground, then sank down and touched the stump on which it grew; Finally, he stopped and stood motionless in his place. From under the base of the pillar, fragrant and healing myrrh began to flow, and all those suffering from various diseases and wounds, who anointed themselves with this world with faith, received healing. Thus, one Jew, blind from birth, as soon as he touched this luminous pillar, immediately received his sight and, believing in Christ, glorified God. The mother of one boy, who had been seriously ill for seven years, brought him to the life-giving pillar and begged Saint Nina to heal him, confessing that Christ Jesus, whom she preached, was truly the Son of God. As soon as Saint Nina touched the pillar with her hand and then laid it on the sick man, the boy immediately recovered. The extraordinary flow of people to the life-giving pillar prompted the king to order the builders to build a fence around it. From that time on, not only Christians, but also pagans began to honor this place. Soon the construction of the first wooden church in the Iberian country was completed. Those sent by Mirian to Tsar Constantine were received by him with great honor and joy and returned to Iberia with many gifts from him. Along with them came the Archbishop of Antioch, Eustathius, sent by the king, with two priests, three deacons and everything necessary for worship. Then King Mirian gave an order to all the rulers of the regions, governors and courtiers, so that everyone would certainly come to him in the capital city. And when they gathered, King Mirian 574, the queen and all their children immediately, in the presence of everyone, received holy baptism. The baptismal place was built near the bridge on the Kura River, where the house of the Jew Elioz previously stood, and then there was a temple of pagan priests; there the bishop baptized military leaders and royal nobles, which is why this place was called “Mtavarta sanatlavi”, i.e. “font of nobles”. A little below this place, two priests baptized the people. With great zeal and joy he went to be baptized; remembering the words of Saint Nina that if someone does not receive rebirth from water and the Holy Spirit, he will not see life and eternal light, but his soul will perish in the darkness of hell. The priests went around all the surrounding cities and villages and baptized the people. Thus, soon the entire Kartalin country was peacefully baptized, except only the Caucasian highlanders, who remained for a long time in the darkness of paganism. The Mtskheta Jews also did not accept baptism, except for their high priest Abiathar, who was baptized with his entire household; Fifty Jewish families were baptized with him, who were, as they say, descendants of the robber Barabbas (Matthew 27:17). King Mirian, as a sign of his favor for accepting holy baptism, gave them a place higher than Mtskheta, called “Tsikhe-didi”. Thus, with the help of God and the Lord’s confirmation of the word of the gospel gospel, Archbishop Eustathius of Antioch, together with Saint Nino, enlightened the Iberian country in a few years. Having established the rite of worship in Greek, consecrated the first church in Mtskheta in the name of the twelve apostles, built on the model of Constantinople, and commanded the peace of Christ to the young Church, Archbishop Eustathius returned to Antioch 575; He appointed Presbyter John, who was dependent on the Antioch throne, as bishop of Iberia. After several years, the pious King Mirian sent a new embassy to King Constantine, begging him to send as many priests as possible to Iberia, so that no one in his kingdom would be deprived of the opportunity to hear the word of salvation and so that the entrance to the gracious and eternal Kingdom of Christ would be open to everyone 576. He also asked to send skilled architects to Georgia to build stone churches. Constantine the Great fulfilled Mirian's request with holy love and joy. He presented the ambassadors of Mirian, in addition to a large amount of gold and silver, also a part (the foot) of the life-giving tree of the Cross of the Lord, which at that time had already been found (in 326 AD) by Saint Helen, the mother of Constantine the Great; He also handed them one of the nails with which the most pure hands of the Lord were nailed to the Cross. They were also given crosses 577, icons of Christ the Savior and the Blessed Virgin Mary, as well as - for the founding of churches - and the relics of the holy martyrs. At the same time, Mirian's son and heir Bacurius, who lived in Rome as a hostage, was released to his father. Mirian's ambassadors, returning to Iveria with many priests and architects, laid the foundation of the first church in the village of Erusheti, on the border of the Kartalinsky land 578 and left for this church 579 a nail from the Cross of the Lord 580. They founded the second church in the village of Manglis, forty versts south of Tiflis, and here they left the above-mentioned part of the life-giving tree 581. In Mtskheta they founded a stone church in the name of the Transfiguration of the Lord; at the request of the king and the instructions of St. Nina, it was laid in the royal garden, near St. Nina’s tent. She did not see the completion of the construction of this majestic church. Avoiding the glory and honors that both the king and the people bestowed upon her, flaming with the desire to serve to further glorify the name of Christ, she left the populous city for the mountains, to the waterless heights of Aragva, and there began, through prayer and fasting, to prepare for new evangelistic works in the regions neighboring Kartalia. Finding a small cave hidden behind tree branches, she began to live in it. Here she poured out water from a stone for herself with a tearful prayer. Drops of water still drip from this source, like tears, which is why it is popularly called “tearful”; it is also called the “milky” source, because it supplies milk to the dry breasts of mothers. At that time, the residents of Mtskheta contemplated a wonderful vision: for several nights, the newly created church was decorated with a bright cross shining above it in the sky with a crown of stars. When the morning dawn came, four of the brightest stars separated from this cross and headed - one to the east, the other to the west, the third illuminated the church, the bishop's house and the entire city, the fourth, having illuminated the shelter of St. Nina, rose to the top of the cliff on which one majestic tree grew. Neither Bishop John nor the king could understand what this vision meant. But Saint Nina ordered to cut down this tree, make four crosses from it and place one on the mentioned cliff 582, the other to the west of Mtskheta, on Mount Thoti, the place where King Mirian first became blind, and then regained his sight and turned to the true God; she ordered the third cross to be given to the royal daughter-in-law, Rev’s wife, Salome, so that she would hoist it in her city of Ujarma; the fourth - she intended for the village of Bodbi (Budi) - the possession of the Kakheti queen Sodzha (Sophia), to whom she herself soon went to convert her to the Christian faith. Taking with her the presbyter Jacob and one deacon, Saint Nina went to the mountainous countries, north of Mtskheta, to the headwaters of the rivers Aragva and Iora 583 and announced the gospel sermon to the mountain villages of the Caucasus. The wild mountaineers who lived in Chaleti, Ertso, Tioneti, and many others, under the influence of the Divine power of the gospel word and under the influence of miraculous signs performed through the prayer of the holy preacher of Christ, accepted the Gospel of the Kingdom of Christ, destroyed their idols and received baptism from the presbyter Jacob. Having then passed Kokabeti and converted all the inhabitants to the Christian faith, the holy preacher headed to the south of Kakheti and, having reached the village of Bodbi (Budi), the border of her holy exploits and earthly wanderings, settled there. Having built a tent for herself on the mountainside and spending days and nights in prayer before the holy cross, Saint Nina soon attracted the attention of the surrounding residents. They began to constantly gather to her to listen to her touching teachings about the faith of Christ and the path to eternal life. At that time, the queen of Kakheti, Soja (Sofia), lived in Bodby; She, along with others, came to listen to the wondrous preacher. Having come once and listened to her with pleasure, she no longer wanted to leave her: she was filled with sincere faith in the saving sermon of Saint Nina. Soon Sophia, together with her courtiers and many people, received holy baptism from the presbyter Jacob. Having thus completed the last work of her apostolic service in the Iberian country in Kakheti, Saint Nina received a revelation from God that her death was approaching. Reporting this in a letter to King Mirian, the saint called upon him and his kingdom the eternal blessing of God and the Most Pure Virgin Mother of God and the protection of the irresistible power of the Cross of the Lord, and further wrote: “I, as a wanderer and newcomer, am now leaving this world and will follow the path of my fathers.” I ask you, king, to send Bishop John to me to prepare me for the eternal journey, for the day of my death is already near. The letter was sent by Queen Sophia herself. After reading it, King Mirian, all his courtiers and the entire consecrated clergy, led by the bishop, hastily went to the dying woman and found her still alive. A large crowd of people, surrounding the saint’s deathbed, watered it with tears; many of the sick received healing through touching him. Towards the end of her life, Saint Nina, at the persistent request of her disciples who were crying at her bedside, told them about her origin and her life. Salome of Ujarma wrote down what she told, which is briefly summarized here (on the basis of Salome’s notes, all subsequent legends about Saint Nina were compiled). Saint Nina said: “Let my poor and lazy life be described so that it will be known to your children, as well as your faith and the love with which you loved me.” Let even your distant descendants know about those signs of God that you were honored to see with your own eyes and of which you are witnesses.” Then she gave several instructions about eternal life, reverently received the saving Mysteries of the Body and Blood of Christ from the hands of the bishop, bequeathed her body to be buried in the same wretched tent where she is now, so that the newly founded Kakheti church would not remain orphaned, and in peace gave up her spirit into the hands of the Lord 584. The king and the bishop, and with them all the people, were deeply saddened by the death of the great ascetic of faith and piety; They intended to transfer the precious remains of the saint to the Mtskheta Cathedral Church and bury them at the life-giving pillar, but, despite all efforts, they could not move the coffin of St. Nina from her chosen resting place. The body of Christ's evangelist was buried on the site of her wretched tent in the village of Budi (Bodby). King Mirian soon laid a foundation on her grave, and his son, King Bakur, completed 585 and consecrated the church in the name of Saint Nina’s relative, the Holy Great Martyr George. This church was renovated many times, but it was never destroyed; it has survived to this day. At this church, the Bodbe Metropolis was established, the oldest in all of Kakheti, from which the gospel preaching began to spread to the depths of the mountains of the eastern Caucasus. The All-Good God glorified with incorruption the body of Saint Nina, hidden under a bushel at her command (and after her it was not the custom in Georgia to open the relics of saints). Numerous and continuous signs and wonders took place at her tomb. These grace-filled signs, the holy and angelic life and apostolic labors of Saint Nina, which she undertook and completed with glory, prompted the young Church of Iberia to recognize Saint Nina, with the blessing of the Church of Antioch, as the Equal-to-the-Apostles enlightener of Iberia, to add her to the list of saints and to establish an annual feast in her honor on January 14, the day of her blessed death. And although the year of establishment of this holiday is unknown with accuracy, it was obviously established shortly after the death of St. Nina, because a little after that, churches in Iveria began to be built in the name of St. Nina, Equal to the Apostles. Until then, a small stone church opposite Mtskheta in honor of St. Nina, built by King Vakhtang Gurg-Aslan 586 on the mountain on which St. Nina for the first time destroyed the idol of Armaz with her prayer, was still intact. And the Orthodox Russian Church, which took into itself, as into a saving ark, the Iberian Church, outraged by numerous attacks from its neighbors of other faiths, never doubted to venerate St. Nina as equal to the apostles. Therefore, its hierarchs, placed at the head of the administration of the Iberian Church, with the title of Exarchs of Georgia 587, have already consecrated many churches in the name of Equal-to-the-Apostles Nina, especially in the buildings of women's schools. One of the former exarchs of Georgia, later the primate of the All-Russian Church, Metropolitan Isidore, even translated the service to St. Nina Equal-to-the-Apostles from Georgian into Slavic and published it in 1860, with the blessing of the Holy Synod, for church use. The justly Orthodox Iberian Church, the elder sister of the Russian Church, glorifies its founder, Saint Nina, as Equal to the Apostles, who enlightened the entire Iberian country with holy baptism and converted many thousands of souls to Christ. For if he will be like the mouth of God who turns one sinner from his false path (James 5:20) and extracts precious things from worthless things (Jer. 15:19); then - how much more truly did she turn out to be the mouth of God, who turned to God from the disastrous pagan deception of so many peoples who had not previously known the true God! She joined the host of saints in the Kingdom of Christ our God, to whom, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, belongs honor, glory, thanksgiving and worship, now and ever and unto ages of ages, amen. It would not be amiss to say the following here. Within the borders of present-day Georgia (which includes: Kakheti, Kartaliniya, Imereti, Guria, Mingrelia, Abkhazia, Svaneti, part of Ossetia, also Dagestan), especially along the western shore of the Caspian Sea, there were, although in small numbers, Christians earlier than St. Nina, and for the first time the gospel of Christ the Savior in the Caucasus Mountains was preached by the same first-called Apostle Andrew, the evangelist by the word of which, according to legend, the Kyiv mountains were announced. An ancient legend recorded in the Georgian chronicles, consistent with the legend of the Chetyih-Menya (under November 30, 588), says that the Apostle Andrew preached about Christ in the following places: in Klarzhet, which is located not far from Akhaltsykh, in the southwest 589; in Adhvere, now the village of Atskhur, near the entrance to the Borjomi Gorge; in Tskhum, which is now the city of Sukhum-Kale, in Abkhazia, Mingrelia and North Ossetia. In Atskhur, the apostle founded a church and left there the miraculous image of the Mother of God, which in all subsequent times enjoyed great veneration not only among Christians, but also among unbelieving mountaineers; it exists to this day in the Gaenatsky monastery 590, which is located not far from the city of Kutais and is called Atskhursky. The companion of the Apostle Andrew, Simon the Canaanite, preached the Holy Gospel to the wild Suans (Svaneti 591), who stoned him. According to local legend, his grave is located in the ancient city of Nikopsia or Anakopia. The following is known about the holy cross made of grapevines, which the Mother of God presented to Saint Nina: until 458 AD, Nina’s cross was preserved in the Mtskheta Cathedral Church; Subsequently, when fire worshipers launched a persecution of Christians, the holy cross was taken from Mtskheta by one monk Andrei, transferred by him to the region of Taron, in Armenia, then still of the same faith in Georgia, and was initially kept in the Church of the Holy Apostles, called by the Armenians Gazar-Vank (Cathedral of Lazarus). When persecution began here too from the Persian magicians, who everywhere destroyed everything revered by Christians, the holy cross of Nina was carried and hidden in the Armenian fortresses of Kapofti, Vanaka, Kars and in the city of Ani; This continued until 1239 AD. At this time, the Georgian queen Rusudan, together with her bishops, asked the Mongol governor Charmagan, who then took possession of the city of Ani, that the holy cross of Nina be returned to Georgia, to which it originally belonged. And this holy cross was again placed in the Mtskheta Cathedral Church. But even here he found peace for a short time: many times Nina’s cross, in order to avoid abuse from enemies, was hidden in the mountains, either in the Church of the Holy Trinity, which still stands on the small mountain Kazbek, or in the Ananur fortress, in the ancient church of the Mother of God. Metropolitan Roman of Georgia, setting out from Georgia for Russia in 1749, secretly took Nina’s cross with him and presented it to Tsarevich Bakar Vakhtangovich, who was then living in Moscow. After that, for about fifty years, this cross remained in the village of Lyskovo, Nizhny Novgorod province, on the estate of Georgian princes, descendants of Tsar Vakhtang who moved to Russia in 1724. The grandson of the aforementioned Bakar, Prince Georgy Alexandrovich, presented Nina’s cross to Emperor Alexander Pavlovich in 1801, who was pleased to return this great shrine to Georgia again. From that time until now, this symbol of the apostolic labors of St. Nina has been preserved in the Tiflis Zion Cathedral, near the northern gate of the altar in an ark bound in silver. On the top board of this icon case is a chased image of St. Nina and the miracles performed through her by the power of the Honest and Life-Giving Cross. As for the Lord's tunic, to look for which Saint Nina came from the city of Jerusalem to Iberia, the Georgian chronicles talk about it briefly. From their testimonies it is clear that Nina undoubtedly found only the place where the tunic of the Lord was hidden, that is, the grave in which, together with the dead maiden Sidonia, the honest tunic of the Lord was buried. Although the cedar that grew on this grave was cut down by order of Saint Nina, its stump, under which the coffin of Sidonia was hidden and in it the robe of the Lord, was left intact, as they think, by order of the luminous husband who appeared to Nina and spoke three mysterious words in her ear when she tearfully prayed near this root at night. They think so because from that time on Nina never again thought of removing the cedar root and opening Sidonia’s coffin, just as she did not look for the tunic of the Lord so dear to her in any other place. Once she consoled King Mirian when he was sad that his ambassadors, having received from King Constantine part of the life-giving wood of the Cross of the Lord and a nail, did not bring them to Mtskheta, but left the first in Maiglis, and the second in Yerusheti. The saint told him: - Don’t be sad, king! It was necessary so that the borders of your kingdom would be protected by the Divine power of Christ’s Cross, and the faith of Christ would spread. For you and for your capital city, the grace that the most honorable tunic of the Lord dwells here is sufficient. The presence of the Lord's tunic under the cedar root, both during the life of Saint Nina and after, was manifested by the flow of healing and fragrant myrrh from the pillar and its root; this myrrh stopped flowing only in the 13th century, when the tunic was dug out of the ground; The presence of the holy tunic was also revealed through the punishment of those unbelievers who, out of curiosity, dared to touch this place. Catholicos 592 Nicholas I, who ruled the Georgian church in the half of the twelfth century (in 1150-1160), known for the holiness of life and wisdom, noting that many in his time doubted whether the robe of the Lord was really under the life-giving pillar, says that although the doubt of such people is natural, for the robe of the Lord was never opened, and no one has ever seen it, but those signs and wonders - and the former, and those that are now being accomplished before everyone’s eyes, come from the tunic of the Lord, only through the medium of a myrrh-streaming pillar. When listing the miracles that occurred from the tunic of the Lord, Catholicos Nicholas recalls how the wife of one Turkish sultan was burned by fire that came out of the ground, who, out of curiosity, wanted to open the coffin of Sidonia and look at the tunic of the Lord; The Tatar grave diggers sent by her were struck by an invisible force. “This is a miracle,” he says, “many have seen, and everyone knows it.” About 40 years before the death of Catholicos Nicholas, Tiflis and Mtskheta were, indeed, occupied by the Seljuk Turks, who were then expelled from Georgia by King David the Renewer, who reigned from 1089 to 1125. Catholicos Nicholas pointed to the flowing myrrh as a constant miracle, always visible to everyone. “Everyone sees,” he says, “the moisture on the eastern side of the pillar; out of ignorance, some tried to cover the place with lime, but were unable to stop the flow of the world. And how many healings there were from him - we are all witnesses to this. This Catholicos Nicholas composed a service in honor of the finding of the Lord’s tunic under the life-giving pillar (this service was subsequently corrected and supplemented by Catholicoses Vissarion and Anthony), and he said: – It is necessary to decorate with a brilliant celebration the pillar erected by God Himself and the tunic of our Savior Jesus Christ located under it. (This ends the information borrowed from Catholicos Nicholas). The flow of the world from the mentioned life-giving pillar stopped when, by the will of God, the tunic of the Lord was taken out of the ground. “It was,” says an unknown Georgian writer, “during the difficult years for the whole of Georgia of the invasion of the barbarian hordes of Tamerlane, or rather Genghis Khan 593, when they took possession of Tiflis, killed its inhabitants numbering about one hundred thousand people, destroyed all Tiflis churches and the Temple of Zion, desecrated all Christian shrines, as well as the miraculous icon of Zion Mother of God, which they forced the Christians themselves to trample under their feet. After this, they rushed to the city of Mtskheta, whose inhabitants fled, along with their bishops, into the forests and inaccessible mountain gorges. Then one pious man, foreseeing the destruction of Mtskheta and not wanting to leave the shrine of its church for desecration by the barbarians, opened, after a preliminary prayer to God, the coffin of Sidonia, took out the most honorable tunic of the Lord from it and then handed it over to the chief archpastor. The Mtskheta Church, the majestic structure of King Vakhtang Gurg-Aslan, was then destroyed to the ground. From then on, the tunic of the Lord was kept in the sacristy of the Catholicos, until the restoration of the Mtskheta Church to its former grandeur (in which it remains to this day) by Tsar Alexander I, who reigned in Georgia from 1414 to 1442. The Robe of the Lord was then brought into this cathedral church and, for greater safety, it was hidden in the church cross, and it remained there until the 17th century. In 1625, Shah Abbas of Persia, having conquered the Iberian country and taken possession of it, in order to enlist the favor of the Russian royal court, which was already patronizing Georgia at that time, took the tunic of the Lord from the Mtskheta Church, put it in a golden ark decorated with precious stones, and, with a special letter, sent it, as a priceless gift, to the All-Russian Most Holy Patriarch Philaret, Father the then reigning sovereign Mikhail Feodorovich. The pious Tsar Michael and His Holiness Patriarch Philaret, having joyfully accepted this great gift, infinitely exceeding all the most precious earthly gifts, collected from the Greek bishops and wise elders who were then in Moscow the legends known to them about the garment of the Lord - the tunic of the Lord God and our Savior Jesus Christ (John 19:23-24); These legends agree with what is stated here. Having been honored, after prayer and fasting, with confirmation - through many miraculous healings received after placing these clothes on the sick - that they were indeed the clothes of Christ, the Tsar and the Patriarch ordered the construction of a special room, with precious decorations, in the right corner of the western side of the Moscow Assumption Cathedral and placed the clothes of Christ there. Here she remains to this day; everyone contemplates her and reveres her with due reverence; from her to this day healings are given to the sick and help to all who come with faith. In the Russian Church, since the time of His Holiness Patriarch Philaret, the 10th day of the month of July 594 was established as the holiday of the placement of the vestment, i.e. Robe of the Lord. Although in the Iberian Church the feast of the tunic of the Lord on the 1st day of October was established only in the twelfth century, however, one can think that in Iberia, especially in Mtskheta, this day was brightly celebrated - as it is celebrated now - if not from the time of the first Christian king Mirian, then at least from the fifth century, i.e. from the time of the glorious reign of Vakhtang Gurg-Aslan; It was celebrated as a significant day of consecration of the new magnificent Mtskheta church that he built on the site of the ancient Mirian Church. The words of the servant of God, who imitated the first-called Andrew and the other Apostles in his apostolic sermons, the enlightener of Iberia and the Holy Spirit, Saint Nino, Equal to the Apostles, pray to Christ God for the salvation of our souls. Iveria, or Georgia, is a country in Transcaucasia, which was an independent kingdom before its annexation to Russia (January 18, 1801) and had different borders at different times. In a narrow sense, the name of Georgia is now most often attached to the Tiflis province, in which Georgians constitute the predominant part of the population. Mtskheta is the ancient capital of Georgia, now a small village in Dusheti district, Tiflis province, at the confluence of the river. Aragvy in the river Kuru, 20 versts northwest of Tiflis, is a station on the Transcaucasian railway. road and Georgian military road. Mtskheta existed already at the beginning of the 4th century and remained the residence of the rulers of Georgia until the end of the 5th century, when King Vakhtang Gurg-Aslan moved the capital to Tiflis. In the same century, Mtskheta became the residence of the patriarch, who bore the title of Mtskheta Catholicos. Many times Mtskheta was attacked by enemies who destroyed it to the ground, and as a result fell into complete desolation. Monuments of the former greatness of Mtskheta are the ancient cathedral in the name of the 12 apostles and the Samtavra church. Kartvels are actually Georgians and related peoples of the Caucasian tribe. Armenia is a mountainous country between the Kura River and the upper reaches of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers; was inhabited by Armenians, named after King Aram; Armenia is currently divided between Russia, Persia and Turkey. Vagharshapat was once the capital of the Armenian kingdom (founded by King Vagharshak), now a village in the Erivan province, Echmiadzin district, 18 miles from the city of Erivan. Tiridates ascended the throne in 286 and at the beginning was a cruel persecutor of Christians, then he was converted to Christianity by the holy martyr Gregory of Armenia (his memory is September 30) and from that time on he became a zealous Christian. In 302, during his reign, all of Armenia was converted to Christianity. The memory of these holy martyrs, whose death served as the reason for the conversion to Christ of King Tiridates and all of Armenia, Orthodoxy, the Church celebrates on the 30th day of September Kura is the greatest river of the Caucasus region; from its sources to its confluence with the Araks River into the Caspian Sea, it is 1244 miles long. According to legend, the city of Urbnisi was built by Uples, the son of Mukhetos, the great-great-grandson of Japheth, 2340 years BC. There is a legend that both infants and young men were sacrificed to idols. Samtavrsky convent, cenobitic monastery, Tiflis province, 31 versts from the city of Dushet, at the confluence of the Aragva River with the Kura. Kartalinya is the name of the country based on the Kura River valley. Kartalinia was once part of the Iberian kingdom, together with Kakheti. – The Jews lived in Iberia for a long time, settling there after the captivity of Babylon; True to their customs, they visited Jerusalem during the celebration of Easter. There they heard stories about the life of Christ, his teachings and miracles. Service for the position of the Lord's robe, i.e. Chiton, in Georgian. Aragva is the left tributary of the Kura, flows into it at Mtskheta; its length is 100 versts. Emperor Constantine the Great reigned from 306 to 337. Venus is the Greco-Roman goddess of beauty and love. Celebrations in her honor were accompanied by manifestations of extreme licentiousness and debauchery. From the finishing prayer of the sacrament of the priesthood. 20 versts northwest of Mtskheta. A church built by Mirian still stands on the top of Mount Thoti. It was no earlier than 323 AD. Many chronicles indicate different years, from 276 to 338. Mirian reigned from 263 to 342. Emperor Constantine the Great, to whom Mirian sent an embassy regarding the bishop, became the sole sovereign of both the western and eastern half of the Roman Empire in 323, after the deposition of Licinius, the ruler of the eastern regions and persecutor of Christians. A cubit, or lacot, is a measure of length equal to 10 1/2 vershoks. From the history of Georgia it is clear that Georgians, especially the upper classes, did not change their folk names even in Christianity. Here, of course, Syrian Antioch is one of the oldest and richest cities in Syria, its capital city. Currently, Antioch is a small Turkish town. Others claim that Mirian had a personal meeting with Constantine the Great, that he himself traveled to Jerusalem and asked there to build a monastery in honor of the Cross of the Lord for the place where the sign of Lot was. The receipt of these priceless gifts indicates a time not indicated in the Georgian chronicles - that Mirian's ambassadors were in Constantinople between 326 and 330, of which in the first the Cross of the Lord was found, and in the latter the consecration of Constantinople and the transfer of the capital here from ancient Rome took place. Now - in Akhaltsykh district. It has been in ruins for a long time. In the middle of the 13th century, this nail was embedded by King David IX, son of Rusudani, into the crown of the bishop's miter. Subsequently, in 1681, this miter was transferred by Tsar Archil to Moscow, where it is still kept in the Assumption Cathedral. This shrine is considered lost; it is more likely to think that in the troubled times of Georgia this tree was divided into many parts and in this form entered the houses of private individuals. And now significant parts of the life-giving tree can be seen in the family icons of Georgian princes. Subsequently, a church in honor of the Holy Cross and a monastery were built on this site. The church still exists to this day; The monastery was destroyed in the 14th century by Tamerlane. The cross was transferred to the Mtskheta Cathedral; in 1725 he was enshrined in silver by Tsar Teimuraz II and has remained behind the throne to this day. Iora is the right tributary of the Alazani River (the left tributary of the Kura River). Most of the Iora River is located in the Tiflis province; On the Iora River stands the district town of Tionsti, mentioned in the life of St. Nina. Saint Nina died in 335 A.D. He reigned in Georgia from 446 to 459 AD. An exarch is an archbishop who governs the churches of a particular region. Nowadays in Russia the title of exarch is borne by the Archbishop of Georgia. The memory of the Holy Apostle Andrew the First-Called is celebrated on November 30 Asaltsykh is a district town in the Tiflis province, Akhaltsykh district. Gaenatsky - Nativity of the Virgin Mary Monastery, Imereti diocese, 8 versts from Kutais; founded at the beginning of the 12th century. Also known locally as Gelati, or Gelati. Svaneti are a small Caucasian mountain tribe, known since ancient times under the name Svanov, or Suanov, and occupying the upper reaches of the river. Ingura, at the southern foot of Mount Elbrus and along the right tributary of the Kona River Tskhenis-Tskali. In ancient times, the Svaneti were primarily engaged in robbery and did not submit to any of the neighboring rulers of Mingrelia, Imereti and Georgia. Only at the end of the 15th century did the Georgian princes manage to establish their power in lower Svaneti, right up to the liberation of the peasants in Transcaucasia. The free Svaneti first submitted to the Russians only in 1853. Catholicos (Greek - ecumenical) is the title of the supreme hierarchs of the autocephalous Georgian Church, which was adopted by them after this church acquired independence from the Patriarchate of Antioch, under King Vakhtang Gurg-Aslan (446–459). When the Georgian Church became part of the Russian Church, its highest hierarch from 1811 began to be called an exarch. From the middle of the 6th century, the title of Catholicos was also assigned to the Supreme Hierarch of the Armenian Church. Around 1228, when the Mtskheta Church was also destroyed. Tamerlane invaded Georgia in 1387, when the Mtskheta Church no longer existed. This church was again restored by Tsar Alexander I in the 15th century. Since the Robe of the Lord was brought to Russia during Great Lent, its celebration was moved to July 10th (the day before the coronation of Tsar Mikhail Feodorovich). You might be interested in: