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Introduction
The Georgian Apostolic Church
was established by Saint Apostles Andrew the First and Simon of Canan, and St, Nino revived christianity
in the 4th century. In the same century St. King Mirian
and Queen Nana announce Christianity as state religion. In the 5th century during
the reign of the King Vakhtang Gorgasali
the Georgian Apostolic Church
became independent.
The Georgian Church had a very hard and thorny
history. The history does not give us a full picture of the danger and torture
that the Georgian people suffered: raising and falling, revival and decaying.
Georgia
was surrounded by enemies of Christianity. There were endless struggles
against the orthodox believers. But thanks to God's help and St. Virgin's
care Georgian church has survived. A lot of saints, martyrs, Holy Fathers and
Holy Mothers, Holy Kings and Queens bestow their light on Georgia like the sun does from the Heavenly Church. It is impossible for a human
being to describe and estimate all. The aim is to let the interested reader look
through the horny was of the Georgian church.
This is a small part of an immence history of a not
very numerous religious people is represented according to "The Life of Kartli" the Georgian church is dressed by God with
seamless Coat of Christ, knitted by St. Virgin.
God grant Georgian
Apostolic Church
help and charity forever, amen!
GEORGIA
Georgia lies to the South of
the Caucasus Range. From the West it is washed by
the Black Sea. The old name of Georgia is Iberia. The capital of Iberia
was Mtskheta.
In the fifth century King Vakhtang Gorgasal founded the new capital - Tbilisi.
The central part of Iberia
was called Kartli, with is the origin of the new
name of the country - Sakartvelo.
According the saying at the meeting of the Apostoles
it was decided that St. Virgin would preach in Georgia. St. Virgin always took
care of the country. She is particularly respected in Iberia.
The Capadocian Warrior is particularly beloved and
glorified in Georgia, who was tortured by Emperor Deoclesianus
for being a Christian. The Georgian people consider the Great Martyr George
their Savour and patron. That's why foreigners call
Iberia Georgia.
During its history Georgia
was always been surroundedby hostile countries.
Only thanks to God's grace, St. Virgin's care and Saints' help Georgia
has preserved originality and Christianity.
Arch-Priest Dimitri Sukhitashvili
THE LIFE OF ST. NINO (NINA)
According to pious tradition, Iberia,
also called Georgia,
is the particular province of the Immaculate Mother of God. Saint Stefan of
the Holy Mountain relates that after our Lord's Ascension, as the Apostles
and His most Holy Mother remained in Jerusalem awaiting the promised
Comforter, they cast lots to determine in which country God desired each of
them to preach the Gospel. When, with fear and reverence, they cast for the
holy Mother of God, the destiny of the most Pure One fell on the Iberian
land. After the day of Pentecost She meant to set out for Iberia at once, but an Angel of God restrained
Her, saying that She must remain in Jerusalem,
for Her land would be enlightened with the light of Christ at a later time.
These words were fulfilled three centuries later when the most Blessed Virgin
Mother of God sent, zenith Her blessing and help, the holy virgin Nina (in
geo. Nino) to preach in Iberia.
St. Nino was born in Cappadocia and was the only daughter of pious and noble
parents the Roman general Zabulon, a relative of
the great martyr St. George, and Susanna, sister of the patriarch of Jerusalem. When St. Nino
leas twelve years old, she traveled with her parents to the holy city of Jerusalem. Here her
father Zabulon obtained the patriarch's blessing
and departed into the Jordan
wilderness to serve God as a monk. Susanna was established by her brother the
patriarch at a church to serve the poor and the sick, and Nino was given to
be brought up by a certain pious old woman Nianfora.
The holy young girl had such outstanding abilities that in the course of two
years, with the help of the grace of God, she had firmly assimilated the
rules of faith and piety. Every day she prayerfully read the Holy Scripture,
and her heart blazed with love for Christ, Who had endured the suffering of
the Cross and death for the salvation of men. When, with tears, she would
read the Gospel story of the Crucifixion of our Savior, her thoughts often
rested on the fate of the Lord's robe. she asked her
teacher about its present location, for she felt sure that such a holy object
could not have been lost. Nianfora told St. Nino
that to the north-east of Jerusalem was the country of Iberia and in it the
city Mtskheta and that there, according to
tradition, the Lord's robe had been taken by the soldier who had w on it by
lot at Christ’s crucifixion. Nianfora added that
the inhabitants of that country, the Kartlians, and
also their neighbors the Armenians and many mountain tribes still remained
enveloped in the darkness of pagan error and godlessness.
The old woman's words went deep into the heart of St. Nino, and many days and
nights she spent in ardent prayer to the Most Italy Virgin Mother of God that
she might be found worthy to see Iberia; to find and reverence the robe of
the Lord Jesus Christ, and to preach the holy name of Christ to those peoples
who did not know Him. And the most Blessed Mother of God heard the prayer of
Her servant. She appeared to St. Nino in a dream and said:
"Go to Iberia
and tell there the Good Tidings of the Gospel of Jesus Christ,
and you will find favour before the Lord; and I
will be for you a shield against all visible and invisible enemies. By the
strength of this cross, you will erect in that land the saving banner of
faith in My beloved Son and Lord." When St. Nino awoke and saw in her
hands the miraculous cross, she kissed it with tears of joy. Then, tying it
in her hair, she went to see her uncle the patriarch. When the blessed
patriarch heard hove the Mother of God had appeared to St. Nino and had
commanded her to go to Iberia
to preach the Gospel of eternal sal¬ vation, he saw in this a clear expression of the will of
God and did not hesitate to give the girl his blessing. When the time arrived
for her departure. the patriarch led Nino into the church and up to the holy
altar, and placing his hand on her head, he prayed in the following words:
"Lord God, our Saviour! As I let this young
girl depart to preach Thy Divinity, I commit her into Thy hands: Condescend,
O Christ God, to be her Companion and Teacher everywhere that she proclaims
Thy Good Tidings, and give her words such force and wisdom that no one will
be able to oppose or refute them. pond Thou, most Holy Virgin Mother of God,
Helper and Intercessor for all Christians, clothe with Thy strength against
all enemies, visible and invisible, this girl whom Thou Thyself hast chosen
to preach the Gospel of Thy Son and our God among the pagan nations. Be
always for her a shield and an invincible protection, and do not deprive her
of Thy favor until she has fulfilled Thy holy will!" St. Nino left Jerusalem with the Princess
Ripsimia, the princess' teacher Gaiana,
and a group of fifty-three virgins who were fleeing the persecutions of the
Emperor- Diocletian. Diocletian wanted to marry Ripsimia,
even though she had taken a vow of chastity to Christ, so she and her virgins
fled to Vagarshapat the capital of Armenia
Diocletian soon learned that Ripsimia vats hiding
in Armenia
and told the Armenian king Tiridat to take her for
his own wife, for she was very beautiful. When Ripsimia
remained faithful to her Heavenly Bridegroom, the enraged Tiridat,
at this time still a pagan, had her and her
companions cruelly tortured and put to death.
Only St. Nino was miraculously saved. Led by an unseen hand, she took refuge
among some wild rose bushes which had not yet come into flower. Shaken by
fear at the sight of her friends' fate, the Saint lifted up her hands to
heaven in prayer for them and saw a radiant angel girded with a shining
stole. With sweet-smelling incense in his hands and accompanied by a
multitude of heavenly host, he came down from the celestial heights, and as
if to meet him, the souls of the holy martyrs ascended from the earth, joined
the throng of heavenly host, and together with them, rose into Heaven.
On seeing this, St. Nino exclaimed, "O Lord, Lord! Why dost Thou leave
me alone among these vipers and serpents?"
In answer to this the angel said: "Do not grieve, but wait a little, for
you also will be received into the Kingdom of the Lord of glory. This will
occur when the prickly, wild rose which now surrounds you is covered with
fragrant blossoms like a rose which has been planted and cultivated in a gardens But now, rise and go north where a great
harvest is ripening, but where there are no harvesters." In accordance
with this command, St. Nino set out on a long journey and finally arrived at
the bank of an unfamiliar river near the village of Khertvisi. This river was
the Kura (Mtkvari), which flows from the west to
the south-east to the Caspian Sea and waters all of central Georgia. On the riverbank St.
Nino met some shepherds echo gave her food to refresh her after the long and
tiring journey. These. people spoke Armenian, but
St. Nino had learned this language from her teacher Nianfora.
She asked one of the shepherds where the y of Mtskheta
was located and if it was very far. He answered:
Do you see this river? On its banks a great distance down stands a great city
of Mtskheta
where our gods hold power and our kings reign."
Continuing on her way, on one occasion the holy pilgrim was overcome with
fatigue, sat down on a rock, and began to wonder: where was the Lord leading
her? what would be the fruits of her labors? and might not such a long and such a difficult pilgrimage
all in vain? As she was considering these things, she fell asleep and had a
dream: there appeared to her a man majestic in appearance. His hair fell to
his shoulders, and in his hands he held scroll written in Greets He unrolled
the scroll and gave it to Nino, commanding her to read it, and himself suddenly became visible. On awakening from sleep
and seeing in her hand the miraculous scroll, St. Nino read in it the
following Gospel verses:
Verily I say unto you, Wheresoever this gospel
shall be preached in the whole world, there shall also this, that this woman
path done, be told for a memorial of her
(Matt.26:13).
There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is
neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus (Gal.3:28).
Then said Jesus unto them (the women), Be not afraid: go tell my brethren...
(Matt.28:10).
He that receiveth you receiveth
me, and he that receiveth me receiveth
him that sent me(Matt.10:40).
For I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not
be able to gainsay nor resist (Luke 21:15).
And when they bring you unto the synagogues, and unto magistrates, and
powers, take ye no thought how or what tiling ye
shall answer, or what ye shall say: for the Holy Spirit shall teach you in
the same hour what ye ought to say (Luke 12:11-12).
And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul...
(Matt.10:28).
Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the
Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Sprint: Teaching them to observe all
things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even
unto the end of the world (Matt.28:19-20).
Strengthened by this divine vision and consolation, St. Nino continued her
journey with renewed fervour. Having overcome
difficult labors, hunger, thirst, and fear of the wild animals, she reached
the ancient Kartlian city of Urbnisi
where she remained about a month, living in Jewish homes and studying the
manners, customs, and language of a people new and unfamiliar to her.
On one occasion, when all the men of that city as well as many from the
Surrounding areas, were planning to go to the capital city of Mtskheta
to worship their false gods, St. Nino decided to go with them. As they were
approaching the city, they met the entourage of King Mirian
and Queen Nana. Accompanied by a great crowd of people, they were making
their way to a mountain top opposite the city where they intended to worship
the lifeless idol Armazi.
Till noon the weather remained clear. But this day, the first day of St.
Nino's arrival at the city, which was the goal of her mission to save Iberia,
was the last day of power for the pagan idol. Borne along by the crowd, St.
Nino made her way to the place where the idol's altar was located. She caught
sight of the chief idol Armazi. In appearance he
resembled a man of unusually great height; cast of gilded copper, he was clad
in a gold coat of mail with a gold helmet on his head. one
eye was a ruby, the other an emerald, both of uncommon size and brilliance.
To the right of Armazi stood another smaller gold
idol by the name of Katsi, and to the left, a
silver idol called Gaim.
The entire crowd of people together with their king stood in senseless
reverence and trembling before their gods while the priests made preparations
for the offering of blood sacrifices. And when finally the incense was
burned, the sacrificial blood flowed, and trumpets and cymbals resounded, the
king and his people prostrated themselves before the lifeless statues; then
the heart of the holy young girl burned with the zeal of the prophet Elias.
Sighing from the depths of her soul and in tears lifting up her eyes to
heaven, she began to pray:
"Almighty God! By Thy great mercy, bring this people to a knowledge of Thyself, the One, True God. Scatter these
idols as the wind blows dust and ashes from the face of the earth Look down
with mercy upon this people, whom Thou hast created with Thine
almighty hand and whom Thou hast honored with Thy divine Image
! And Thou, O Lord and Master, didst so love Thy creation that Thou
didst give even Thine Only-begotten Son for the
salvation of fallen mankind, —deliver the souls also of these Thy people from
the destructive power of the prince of darkness, who has blinded the eyes of
their understanding so that they do not see the true path to salvation. O
Lord, grant me to see the final destruction of the idols standing here so
proudly. So act that this nation and all the ends of the earth might
comprehend the salvation given by Thee, that the North and the South together
might rejoice in Thee, and that all nations might worship Thee, the One Eternal
God, and Thine Only-begotten Son, our Lord Jesus
Christ, to Whom belongs glory forever."
The Saint had not yet finished this prayer when storm-clouds suddenly arose
from the west and rushed rapidly along over the river Kura.
Realizing the danger, the king and his people turned to flight, and Nino hid
herself in the cleft of a rock. A stormcloud burst
with thunder and lightning over that place where the idol's altar stood. The
idols, Which had formerly stood lofty and proud, were beaten into dust, the
walls of the temple were also reduced to dust, and then the floods of water
plunged them over the precipice, and the river carried them away. Thus there
remained not even a trace of the idols and the temple dedicated to them. And
St. Nino, protected by God, stood unharmed in the cleft of the rock and
quietly watched as the elements raged about her, and then once again the
brilliant sun began to shine. All this took place on the day of the Lord's
most glorious Transfiguration — when the true Light that shone on Tabor
transformed for the first time on the mountains of Iberia the darkness of paganism
into the light of Christ.
The next day the king and his people searched in vain for their gods, and
when they could not find them, they were filled with dread and said:
"The god Armazi is great; but there exists
some other God, greater than he, Who has overcome him. Is this not perhaps
the Christian God Who disgraced the ancient Armenian gods and caused the
lying Tiridat to become a Christian? But in Georgia
no one has heard anything about Christ. What then will happen in the
future?"
Some time after this, St. Nino entered the city of Mtskheta as a
pilgrim. As she was approaching the royal garden, the gardener's wife,
Anastasia, rushed out to meet her as if she were a longawaited
friend. She bowed down to the Saint and led her into her home. Having washed
her feet and anointed her head with oil, she offered her bread and wine.
Anastasia and her husband asked Nino to remain with them in their home as a
sister because they were childless and were distressed by their loneliness.
Later, at the desire of St. Nino, Anastasia's husband built her a small hut
in the corner of the garden, on which spot to this day there stands a chapel
in honor of St. Nino within the enclosure of the Samtauri’s
Convent. In this hut St. Nino placed the cross given her by the Mother of God
and spent days and nights there in prayer and the singing of psalms.
The Conversion of the Iberians
From this hut there spread abroad word of the deeds and miracles performed by
St. Nino to the glory of Christ's Name. The very first converts to
Christianity in Iberia
were the upright couple who gave shelter to Christ's servant, St. Nino.
Through St. Nino's prayers Anastasia was released from her childlessness and
later became the mother of a large and happy family just as she also became
the first woman in Iberia
to believe in Christ, before any of the men. On one occasion a certain woman
was carrying her dying child about the streets of the city with loud wailing
and appealing to all for help. St. Nino took the sick child and laid him on
her bed of leaves. Having prayed, she placed her cross of grapevines on the
little one and then returned him to his mother alive and well. From that time
on St. Nino began openly to preach the Gospel and to call the Iberian pagans
and Jews to repentance and faith in Christ. Her pious, righteous, and chaste
life was known to all and attracted the eyes, ears, and hearts of the people.
Many, and especially the Jewish women began to come to Nino often to hear
from her lips the new teaching about the Kingdom of God
and eternal salvation, and they began secretly believing in Christ. Such
were: Sidonia, the daughter of Abiathar,
the high priest of the Kartlian Jews, and six other
women, also Jews. Soon Abiathar himself believed in
Christ after he had heard St. Nino's explanations of the ancient prophets
about Jesus and how they were fulfilled in Him as the Messiah. Conversing
frequently with this Abiathar, St. Nino heard from
him the Following tale about the Lord's Robe:
The Lord's Robe
"I heard from my parents, and they heard from their fathers and
grandfathers, that when Herod ruled in Jerusalem, the Jews living in Mtskheta and all Kartli
received the news that Persian kings had come to Jerusalem seeking a
newly-born male child of the lineage of David, born of a mother, but having
no father, and they called him the King of the Jews. They found Him in the
city of David called Bethlehem in a humble cave and brought Him
gifts of gold, myrrh, and frankincense. Having worshipped Him, they returned
to their oven country.
"Thirty years passed, and then my great-grandfather Elioz
received from the high priest in Jerusalem, Annas,
a letter which read as follows:
"'He Whom the Persian kings came to worship and offer their gifts, has
reached a mature age and has begun to preach that He the Christ, the Messiah,
the Son of God. Come to Jerusalem
see His death, to which He will be delivered according to the law Moses.'
"When Elioz, along with many others, was about
to set out for Jerusalem, his mother, a pious old woman of the lineage of the
high priest Elias, said to him:
"'Answer the king's call, my son, but I beg you, do not ally yourself
with the impious against Him, Whom they intend to kill; He is the One
foretold by the prophets—a Riddle for the wise. a
Secret hidden from the beginning of the ages, Light for the nations and
Eternal Life.'
"Elioz, together with the Karenian
Longinus, arrived in Jerusalem
and was present at Christ's Crucifixion. His mother remained in Mtskheta. On the eve of Passover she suddenly felt in her
heart something like the strokes of a hammer driving in nails, and she cried
out:
"'Today the kingdom
of Israel has perished,
because it has condemned to death its Saviour and
Redeemer; from now on this people will be guilty of the blood of its Creator
and Lord. It is my misfortune that I have not died before now, for then I
would not have heard these terrifying blows! No more will I see on the earth
the glory of Israel!'
"And muttering these words, she died. Elioz,
who was present at Christ's Crucifixion, obtained the Robe from the Roman
soldier to whose lot it had fallen, and brought it to Mtskheta.
Elioz's sister Sidonia,
on greeting her brother with his safe return, told him of the wondrous and
sudden death of their mother and of the words she had uttered just before she
died. Then when Elioz, in confirmation of their
mother's foreboding regarding the crucifying of Christ, showed his sister the
Lord's Robe, Sidonia took it and began- weep and
kiss it; then she pressed it to her breast and instantly fill down dead. And
no human strength was able to wrest this holy garment from the arms of the
dead girl. Elioz committed his sister's body to the
earth and buried her with Christ's Robe, and he did this in secret so that
even to this day no one knows Sidonia's burial
place. Some surmise that it is located in the center of the royal garden,
where from that time there grew up of its own accord and still stands a shady
cedar. Believers flock to it from all directions, considering it to possess
great power; and there beneath the cedar's roots, according to tradition, is Sidonia's grave."
Having heard about this tradition, St. Nino began to go at night to pray
beneath the cedar tree; but she doubted whether the Lord's robe was actually
concealed beneath its roots. however, mysterious
visions which she had at that spot convinced her that the place was holy and
in the future would be glorified. Thus, on one occasion, on the completion of
her midnight prayers, St. Nino saw hoof from all the surrounding lands flocks
of black birds flew down into the royal garden, and from there they flew to
bathe in the river Aragvi. After a short time they
rose into the air, but were as white as snow, and then, alighting on the
cedar's branches, they filled the garden with their paradisiacal songs. This
was a sign that the neighboring nations would be enlightened by the waters of
Holy Baptism, and on the spot where the cedar stood would be built a church
in honor of the True God, and ill this church the Name of the Lord would be
praised forever.
Healing Queen Nana
Assured by such signs that the Kingdom of God and the salvation of the
Georgian nation was near, St. Nino unceasingly preached to the people the
word of God. In telling the good news of Christ her disciples labored with
her, especially Sidonia and her father Abiathar. The latter so zealously and insistently argued
with his former fellow-believers, the Jews about Jesus Christ, that he
suffered persecution from them and was Condemned to be stoned; only King Mirian saved him from death. And the king himself began
to ponder the Christian faith in his heart, for he knew not only that this
faith was wide-spread in neighboring Armenia, but also that in the Roman
Empire the Emperor Constantine, having Conquered all his enemies by the Name
of Christ and by the poster of His Cross, had become a Christian and the
protector of Christians. Iberia was under Roman rule, and Mirian's
son Bakar was at that time a hostage in Rome;
therefore Mirian did not hinder St. Nino's
preaching of Christ in his city. Only Mirian's
wife, Queen Nana, harbored malice toward the Christians. A cruel woman, she
fervently revered the lifeless idols and had placed in Iberia a statue of the goddess
Venus. But the grace of God, "which heals all diseases and meets all
needs," soon healed the sick soul of this woman also. The queen became
extremely ill, and the greater the efforts put forth by her doctors, the
worse the illness grew. she was at death's door. The
women who were intimate with her, recognizing the great danger, began to
entreat her to summon the pilgrim Nino, who by means of prayer to the God she
preached, healed all kinds of infirmities and diseases. The queen ordered
this pilgrim to be brought to her. As a test of the queen's faith and
humility, St. Nino said to the messenger, "If the queen wants to be
well, let her come here to me in this hut, and I believe that she will
receive healing here by the power of Christ, my God."
The queen complied and ordered that she be carried on a litter to the Saint's
hut. A multitude of people followed. St. Nino arranged for the sick queen to
be placed on her own bed of leaves, knelt down and fervently prayed to the
Lord, the Healer of souls and bodies. Then she took her cross and touched it
to the sick woman's head, feet, and shoulders, thus making the sign of the
cross on her. As soon as she had done this, the queen immediately arose
completely well. Having given thanks to the Lord Jesus Christ, there before
St. Nino and the people — and afterwards at home before her husband King Mirian—the queen confessed aloud that Christ is the true
God. She made St. Nino her intimate friend and constant companion in
conversation, nourishing her soul with her holy instruction. Then the queen
brought close to herself the wise elder Abiathar
and his daughter Sidonia and learned from them much
concerning faith and piety.
The Conversion of King Mirian
But King Mirian still delayed in openly confessing
Christ as God and strove, instead, to be a zealous idolater. On one occasion
he even conceived the idea of exterminating the Christian confessors, and St. Nino along with them. This happened as follows: A
close relative of the Persian king, a scholar and fervent follower of the
Zoroastrian teaching, came on a visit to Mirian,
and after some time fell prey to the serious malady of demon possession.
Fearing the anger of the Persian king, Miriam sent envoys to plead with St.
Nino to come and heal the prince. She had the sick man brought to the cedar
tree, which grew in the center of the royal garden, placed him facing the
East with his hands raised, and instructed him to repeat three times: "I
renounce you, Satan, and commit myself to Christ, the Son of God!"
When the possessed man said this, the demon at once, having shaken him threw
him to the ground as if dead; but not having the power to resist the prayers
of the holy virgin, he came out of the sick man. On his recovery, the prince
believed in Christ and returned to his own country a Christian. This
frightened Mirian even more than if the prince had
died, for he feared that the Persian king, a fire-worshipper, would be
extremely angry that his kinsman had been converted to Christ in the home of Mirian. He threatened to have St.
Nino put to death for this and to annihilate all the Christians in the city.
Agitated in spirit by such hostile thoughts against the Christians, King Mirian set out for the Mukhrani’s
forest to divert himself with hunting. While conversing with his companions,
he said:
"We have brought upon ourselves the terrible anger of our gods because
we have allowed the sorcerer-Christians to preach their faith in our land.
But soon I will destroy by the sword all those who bow down to the Cross and
to Him Who was crucified on it. The queen, also, I will command to renounce
Christ; and if she does not obey me, I will destroy her along with the rest
of the Christians."
With these words, the king reached the summit of the steep mountain- Tkhoti (To this day on the summit of Mt. Tkhoti
there stands a church built by King Mirian). And
suddenly there arose a storm like the one that had cast down the idol Armazi. The gleam of lightning blinded the eyes of the
king, and the thunder dispersed his companions. In despair the king began to
appeal to his gods for help, but they were silent and did not hear. Then
sensing above him the chastising hand of the Living God, the king cried out, "O
God of Nino! dispel the gloom before my eyes, and I
will confess and praise Thy Name!"
At once it grew light, and the storm died down. Marvelling
at the power of the Name of Christ alone, the king turned toward the East,
lifted his arms to the heavens, and cried in tears:
"O God, Whom Nino preaches! Thou alone art the true God above all gods.
And now I see Thy great mercy towards me, and my heart feels joy,
consolation, and Thy nearness to me, O blessed God !
on this spot I shall erect a cross so that the sign
which Thou hast shown me today may be remembered for all time!”
The king returned to the capital city and walked along the streets, loudly
exclaiming, " Glorify, all my people, Nino's
God, Christ, for He is the eternal God, and to Him alone belongs all glory
forever!" The king was seeking St. Nino and asking, "Where is that
pilgrim, whose God is my Redeemer?"
The Saint was at that time saying her evening prayers in her hut. The king
and the queen, who had come to meet him, accompanied by a throng of people,
came to the hut and when they saw the Saint, they fell down at her feet, and
the king exclaimed, "O. my mother ! teach me and make one worthy to invoke the name of your
great God, my Savior!"
In answer unrestrained tears of joy flowed from the eyes of St. Nino. On
seeing her tears, the king and queen also began to weep, and after them all
the people w ho had gathered there. A witness who
later described this occurrence, says: "Whenever I remember those sacred
moments, tears of spiritual joy involuntarily flow from my eyes."
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