St. Nino, Equal-to-the-Apostles

A young woman from Cappadocia who, by the Georgian tradition, came to Kartli in the fourth century as a captive or a pilgrim carrying a cross made of two vine branches bound with her own hair. She lived by the royal city of Mtskheta, prayed, and healed: a child, then Queen Nana. King Mirian held out until, lost in a sudden darkness on a hunt, he prayed to the God of Nino and saw the light return; he and his people were baptised, and he asked the emperor for priests. The church of Svetitskhoveli rose over the place where she prayed. She died at Bodbe in Kakheti, where she is buried and where a convent keeps her grave, and her vine cross is the emblem of the Georgian Church. Feast: January 14.