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28-564: Translation of the current official name of the settlement means "Saint Nino" in English and it was given to the town in honor of the illuminator of Georgians St. Nino , in 1991. During the Ottoman rule , this was a sanjak of Çıldır Eyaleti , called Altunkale , which means "golden castle" in Turkish. Before 1991, the town of Ninotsminda was called Bogdanovka ( Russian : Богдановка ) -

56-669: A bishop and priests sent to Iberia. Constantine, having learned of Iberia's conversion to Christianity, granted Mirian the new church land in Jerusalem and sent a delegation of bishops to the court of the Georgian King. Roman historian Tyrannius Rufinus in Historia Ecclesiastica writes about Mirian's request to Constantine: In 334, Mirian commissioned the building of the first Christian church in Iberia which

84-655: A community of virgins numbering 35, along with martyr Hripsime , under the leadership of St. Gayane , who preached Christianity in the Armenian Kingdom. They were all, with the exception of Nino, tortured and beheaded by Tiridates. All 35 of the virgins were soon canonised by the Armenian Apostolic Church , including Nino (as St. Nune). Contrasting with this, the Roman Catholic tradition, as narrated by Rufinus of Aquileia , says Nino

112-903: A name going back to the history of the Doukhobor settlement in the region in the 1840s. After the conquest of Kars in 1878, some Doukhobors from Bogdanovka moved to the newly created Kars Oblast . Twenty years later, some of them (or their descendants) emigrated from Kars Oblast to Canada , where they established a short-lived village named Bogdanovka in Langham district of Saskatchewan . Another group of emigrants, coming straight from Georgian Bogdanovka, established another Bogdanovka near Pelly, Saskatchewan . The Georgian census of 2014 counted 24,491 residents in Ninotsminda municipality , of which 23,262 (95%) were Armenians , and 1,029 (4.2%) were Georgians . In Soviet Union, Doukhobor population of

140-527: A result of this miracle, the King of Iberia renounced idolatry under the teaching of St Nino and was baptized as the first Christian King of Iberia. Soon, the whole of his household and the inhabitants of Mtskheta adopted Christianity. In 326 King Mirian made Christianity the state religion of his kingdom, making Iberia the second Christian state after Armenia. After adopting Christianity, Mirian sent an ambassador to Byzantium , asking Emperor Constantine I to have

168-452: A small monastery was built at the place where Nino was buried. The monastery gained particular prominence in the late Middle Ages. It was particularly favored by the kings of Kakheti who made choice of the monastery as the place of their coronation. Pillaged by the troops of Shah Abbas I of Persia in 1615, the Bodbe monastery was restored by King Teimuraz I of Kakheti (r. 1605-1648). With

196-530: A steep hillside overlooking the Alazani Valley , where it commands views of the Greater Caucasus mountains. The extant church – a three- nave basilica with three protruding apses – was originally built between the 9th and 11th centuries, but has been significantly modified since then. Both exterior and interior walls have been plastered and bear the traces of restoration carried out in

224-536: Is Nune in Armenian . Her history as the only one of the 35 nuns of the company of the saints Gayane and Hripsime to escape the slaughter at the hands of the pagan Armenian King Tiradates III in 301 is recounted in the history of Movses Khorenatsi . The Phoka Convent of St. Nino was established in rural Georgia by Abbess Elizabeth and two novices. They originally lived in a nearby house owned by Georgian Orthodox Church head Patriarch Ilia II , then in 1992 moved to

252-434: The 17th and 19th centuries. It consists of a small hall church with an apse built over St. Nino’s grave that is integrated into a larger aisled basilica. A free-standing three-storey bell-tower was erected between 1862 and 1885. Part of the 17th-century wall surrounding the basilica was demolished and the earlier original one restored in 2003. Some 3 km from the convent, a small Chapel of St. Zabulon and St. Sosana

280-485: The Queen's health, won to herself disciples from the Queen's attendants, including a Jewish priest and his daughter, Abiathar and Sidonia . Nana also officially converted to Christianity and was baptized by Nino herself. Mirian, aware of his wife's religious conversion, was intolerant of her new faith, persecuting it and threatening to divorce his wife if she did not leave the faith. He secluded himself, however, from Nino and

308-542: The age of 14, she was a lady in waiting to a woman whom King Diocletian wanted to marry, though the woman was a Christian, and didn't want to. St. Nino, the woman, and the rest of her ladies in waiting fled, and all were slaughtered but Nino, who hid in a rose bush. She had a vision of the Mother Of God, the Most Holy Virgin Theotokos, giving her a cross and telling her to go to Iberia to spread

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336-537: The age of 16 with that name residing in the country, according to the Georgian Ministry of Justice . It also continues to be a popular name for baby girls. Bodbe Monastery The Monastery of St. Nino at Bodbe ( Georgian : ბოდბის წმინდა ნინოს მონასტერი , bodbis ts’minda Ninos monasteri ) is a Georgian Orthodox monastic complex and the seat of the Bishops of Bodbe located 2 km from

364-520: The gospel. When she awoke, there was a cross on her chest. She cut some of her hair to fasten the cross, and took it into villages in Iberia and converted the whole country. According to legend, she performed miraculous healings and converted the Georgian queen, Nana , and eventually the pagan king Mirian III of Iberia , who, lost in darkness and blinded on a hunting trip, found his way only after he prayed to "Nino's God". Mirian declared Christianity as

392-514: The growing Christian community in his kingdom. His isolation to Christianity did not last long because, according to the legend, while on a hunting trip, he was suddenly struck blind as total darkness emerged in the woods. In a desperate state, King Mirian uttered a prayer to the God of St Nino: As soon as he finished his prayer, light appeared and the king hastily returned to his palace in Mtskheta. As

420-720: The legend, Nino received a vision where the Virgin Mary gave her a grapevine cross and said: She woke up from this vision with the cross in her hands, and she tied the cross together with her own hair. Shortly after, Saint Nino entered the Iberian Kingdom in Caucasus from the Kingdom of Armenia , where she escaped persecution at the hands of the Armenian King Tiridates III . She had belonged to

448-590: The monastery was repaired and adorned with murals. Upon John’s death in 1837, the Russian Orthodox exarchate active in Georgia since 1810 abolished the convent and converted it into a parish church . In the following decades, the monastery went into disrepair, but, in the 1860s, Archimandrite Macarius (Batatashvili) began to restore the monastery and established a chanting school. The chapel housing St. Nino’s relics were refurbished by Mikhail Sabinin in

476-561: The neighbouring Persian Empire which played an important role as the regional power in the Caucasus. The Iberian King Mirian III and his nation worshiped the syncretic gods Armazi and Zaden . Soon after the arrival of Nino in Mtskheta, Nana, the Queen of Iberia requested an audience with the Cappadocian. Queen Nana, who suffered from a severe illness, had some knowledge of Christianity but had not yet converted to it. Nino, restoring

504-599: The official religion of his kingdom (c. 327) and Nino continued her missionary activities among Georgians until her death. Her tomb is still shown at the Bodbe Monastery in Kakheti , eastern Georgia. St. Nino has become one of the most venerated saints of the Georgian Orthodox Church and her attribute, a grapevine cross , is a symbol of Georgian Christianity . Many sources agree that Nino

532-831: The region was in comparatively favorable conditions, isolated from attention of civil officials as population of ethnically mixed borderline region. In the 1990s, following the collapse of Soviet Union and rise of nationalist pressure (both local Armenian and state-imposed Georgian), a significant part of remaining Russian settlers abandoned their homes to settle in Russia. 41°15′52″N 43°35′27″E  /  41.26444°N 43.59083°E  / 41.26444; 43.59083 St. Nino Saint Nino (sometimes St. Nune or St. Ninny ; Georgian : წმინდა ნინო , romanized : ts'minda nino ; Armenian : Սուրբ Նունե , romanized :  Surb Nune ; Greek : Ἁγία Νίνα , romanized :  Hagía Nína ; c. 296 – c. 338 or 340)

560-495: The revival of monastic life in Bodbe, a theological school was opened. The monastery also operated one of the largest depositories of religious books in Georgia and was home to several religious writers and scribes. After the annexation of Georgia by the Russian Empire (1801), the Bodbe monastery continued to flourish under Metropolitan John Maqashvili and enjoyed the patronage of Tsar Alexander I of Russia . In 1823,

588-693: The site of an 11th-century church to restore it. The Sacred Monastery of Saint Nina is the home of a monastic community of Georgian Apostolic Orthodox Christian nuns in the Patriarchate of Georgia's North American Diocese. It is located in Union Bridge, Maryland , USA, and was established in September 2012. Nino and its variants remain the most popular name for women and girls in the Republic of Georgia . There are currently 88,441 women over

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616-430: The town of Sighnaghi , Kakheti , Georgia . Originally built in the 9th century, it has been significantly remodeled, especially in the 17th century. The monastery now functions as a nunnery and is one of the major pilgrimage sites in Georgia, due to its association with St. Nino , the 4th-century female evangelist of Georgians, whose relics are shrined there. The Bodbe Monastery is nested among tall Cypress trees on

644-525: Was a woman who preached Christianity in the territory of the Kingdom of Iberia , in what is modern-day Georgia . Her preaching resulted in the Christianization of Iberia . According to most traditional accounts, she belonged to a Greek-speaking Roman family from Kolastra, Cappadocia , was a relative of Saint George , and came to Iberia from Constantinople . Other sources claim she was from Rome , Jerusalem or Gaul (modern France). At

672-718: Was born in the small town of Colastri, in the Roman province of Cappadocia, although a smaller number of sources disagree with this. On her family and origin, the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church have different traditions. According to the Eastern Orthodox Church tradition, she was the only child of a famous family. Her father was Roman general Zabulon and her mother Sosana (Susan). On her father's side, Nino

700-526: Was brought to Iberia not by her own will, but as a slave, and that her family tree is obscure. Nino reached the borders of the ancient Georgian Kingdom of Iberia from the south about 320. There she placed a Christian cross in the small town of Akhalkalaki and started preaching the Christian faith in Urbnisi , finally reaching Mtskheta (the capital of Iberia). The Iberian Kingdom had been influenced by

728-514: Was constructed, in the 1990s, to house a St. Nino’s Spring, which, according to a local legend, emerged through Nino’s prayers and is believed to have a healing power. According to Georgian tradition, St. Nino, having witnessed the conversion of Georgians to the Christian faith, withdrew to the Bodbe gorge, in Kakheti, where she died c. 338-340. At the behest of King Mirian III ( r. 284-361),

756-542: Was finally completed in 379 on the spot where now stands the Svetitskhoveli Cathedral in Mtskheta. Nino, having witnessed the conversion of Iberia to Christianity, withdrew to the mountain pass in Bodbe, Kakheti . St Nino died soon after; immediately after her death, King Mirian commenced with the building of monastery in Bodbe , where her tomb can still be seen in the churchyard. The Georgian name Nino

784-438: Was related to St. George , and on her mother's, to the patriarch of Jerusalem, Houbnal I. During her childhood, Nino was brought up by the nun Niofora-Sarah of Bethlehem . Nino's uncle, who was the patriarch of Jerusalem , oversaw her traditional upbringing. Nino went to Rome with the help of her uncle where she decided to preach the Christian gospel in Iberia, known to her as the resting place of Christ's tunic. According to

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