Saints
N

Saint · Early Church

Nino of Georgia

Woman remembered as the evangeliser of Kartli (eastern Georgia) in the fourth century; “Equal to the Apostles”

Period
Early 4th century
Feast day
14 January
Associated region
Kartli (Iberia, eastern Georgia): Mtskheta; Bodbe in Kakheti (grave)

Honoured in the Georgian and wider Orthodox Church as the woman who brought Christianity to the kingdom of Kartli (Iberia) in the early fourth century. Fifth-century church historians tell the story of an unnamed captive woman; her name and life come from later Georgian tradition.

Key timeline

2 events
View full timeline (3)
  1. Reign of Constantine (306–337)

    Conversion of the king and queen of Iberia

    Through a captive Christian woman, according to Sozomen.

  2. c. 335 (traditional)Traditional

    Death at Bodbe

    Tradition places her grave there.

Sozomen, writing in Constantinople in the fifth century, tells how in Constantine’s reign the Iberians, a people “to the north beyond Armenia”, became Christian through a woman taken captive. Her fasting and prayer drew attention; she prayed over a sick child and then over the queen, who both recovered, and she said she worshipped Christ.

In Sozomen’s account the king, lost in darkness while hunting, called on Christ and found his way out; he then asked the captive to teach him, told his people what had happened, and the whole nation accepted the faith, the men persuaded by the king and the women by the queen and the captive. After a church was built, the Iberians, on her advice, sent envoys to Constantine asking for priests.

Orthodox tradition, as told in the Russian synaxarion, names her Nino (Nina): born in Cappadocia, raised in Jerusalem, sent to Iberia after a vision of the Virgin, who gave her a cross of vine branches. It names the queen Nana and the king Mirian, dates their baptism to about 324, and says Nino died at Bodbe in Kakheti, where she was buried and a church was later built over her grave.

Principal written sources

  • Sozomen, Church History II.7 (5th century).
  • Later Georgian tradition, including the Conversion of Kartli and the Life of St Nino (medieval), followed by Orthodox synaxaria.

Full timeline

  1. Reign of Constantine (306–337)

    Conversion of the king and queen of Iberia

    Through a captive Christian woman, according to Sozomen.

  2. c. 324 (traditional)Traditional

    Christianity established in Kartli

    The date given in Orthodox tradition.

  3. c. 335 (traditional)Traditional

    Death at Bodbe

    Tradition places her grave there.

She is honoured as the enlightener of Georgia, and the vine cross of her story became a symbol of the Georgian Church. The Atlas reports these details as tradition: the dates in the synaxarion (arrival in 319, Mirian’s baptism, her death) are not found in the early historians.

Recognition

  • Orthodox Church in America. Commemorated as “Saint Nino (Nina), Equal of the Apostles, Enlightener of Georgia”. Feast: 14 January.
  • Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia (Holy Trinity, Jordanville). Commemorated as “Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Nina, Enlightener of Gruzia (Georgia)”. Feast: 14 January.
Feast day
  • 14 January — Orthodox Church in America and the Russian Orthodox tradition (her repose)
Venerated in (starting dataset)
Orthodox. Venerated in the Orthodox Church with the title “Equal to the Apostles”. Recognition rests on ancient veneration, not on a canonisation process.
Patronage and roles (starting dataset)
Georgia, the blind
Places
Mtskheta · Bodbe

These stories are part of how Nino of Georgia has been remembered, but they are not established biography. Each is labelled with when it first appears in writing.

  • The cross of vine branchesLater tradition

    The synaxarion says the Virgin appeared to Nino in a dream and gave her a cross plaited of vine sprigs before she set out for Iberia.

About the image · Editorial design

Decorative initial N, drawn for the Atlas. It is not a likeness of Nino.

Editorial status

Reference entry, drafted with particular care. Key dates and facts were spot-checked during a build session against the sources marked “consulted” below. Only the points named in that note were checked; the rest of the entry has not been.

References

Original dataset record

Imported unchanged from “Kimi “Top 100 Saints” dataset (top_100_saints.json)”, record 44. Values here are the starting dataset, not verified facts; where the Atlas differs, the reason is noted below.

id
44
name
Saint Nino
summary
Early Christian saint
description
4th-century woman evangelist whose preaching led to the Christianization of the Kingdom of Iberia (Georgia); 'Equal to the Apostles'.
born
c. 296 AD, Cappadocia
died
c. 338 AD, Georgia
feast_day
14 January (O.C.)
patron_of
Georgia; the blind
vocation
Missionary, Enlightener of Georgia
region
Georgia (Kartli)
tradition
Orthodox
era
Early Middle Ages — Monks and Missionaries

Editorial notes on this record

  • born / died: The dataset gives c. 296 – c. 338; the Russian synaxarion gives about 280 for her birth. Neither date is in an early source.
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