President Zourabichvili congratulates Georgia on St. Nino Day
By Tea Mariamidze
Monday, June 3
Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili congratulated the country on Saint Nino Day, celebrated on June 1.
The president first visited the Paravani Lake in Samtskhe-Javakheti where the locals gathered to celebrate the 1700 anniversary of the arrival of Saint Nino in Georgia. At the site, the locals made a bonfire, which was lit up by the president.
Afterward, Zourabichvili attended the festive day of St. Nino's visit to the Poka Fathers' Monastery, after which she joined the march with 2000 participants passing through St. Nino's road.
"I would like to congratulate everyone on St. Nino Day! She came to Georgia about 1700 years ago, and after that Georgia was converted to Christianity and united. St. Nino is our protector and this day is very important for Georgia," she stated.
Georgian Prime Minister, Mamuka Bakhtadze also addressed the locals and parish in Poka.
"1700 years ago, Saint Nino stepped into this land with a vine cross in her hand, to continue the conversion of Kartli. It was an epoch-making event for the Georgian state and our centuries-old history," he said.
The PM noted these are the strongest roots on which the Georgian state is based, and each of the citizens is proud of it.
On June 1, in 319, St. Nino arrived in Georgia, and in 323, Christianity was declared as the state religion of the whole country. According to most widely traditional accounts, she belonged to a Greek-speaking Roman family from Kolastra, Cappadocia, was a relative of Saint George and came to Georgia (ancient Iberia) from Constantinople.
Other sources claim she was from Rome, Jerusalem or Gaul (modern France). According to the 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 the official religion (c. 327) and Nino continued her missionary activities among Georgians until her death.
Her tomb is 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.
