Ninas: Name Day and Patron Saint

St Nina, called Nino by the Georgians, was born in Cappadocia around 280, a kinswoman of the Great Martyr George. Her father Zabulon was a Roman officer, and her mother Susanna was a sister of the Patriarch of Jerusalem. Nina was raised in Jerusalem and loved the Holy Scriptures. She heard that the Lord’s tunic had been carried to Iveria, the land of Georgia, and she prayed for that land to come to Christ. The Mother of God appeared to her in a dream, sent her to preach in Georgia, and gave her a cross of grapevines as a shield against visible and invisible enemies. Nina woke holding the cross, wept over it with joy, and bound it with strands of her own hair. She reached Georgia in about 319 and lived near the old capital, Mtskheta. Through her prayers the sick were healed, among them Queen Nana, who received baptism. King Mirian at first meant to harm her, but he was caught in a sudden darkness while hunting and called upon the God of Nina; his sight returned, and he and his people turned to Christ. Nina went on to preach in the mountains and in Kakheti, and she fell asleep in the Lord at Bodbe, where she was buried and where King Mirian raised a church over her grave. The Church honours her as Equal to the Apostles and Enlightener of Georgia on 14 January (27 January on the Old Calendar).

What the faithful pray for

• the people and Church of Georgia
• the spread of the Gospel and all who carry it
• healing of the sick
• women and girls called to serve Christ
• the conversion of those who do not yet know Christ
• protection by the Cross against visible and invisible enemies