O handmaiden of the Word of God,
who in preaching equaled the first-called Apostle Andrew,
and imitated the other Apostles,
enlightener of Iberia and reed pipe of the Holy Spirit,
holy Nina, equal of the Apostles,
pray to Christ God to save our souls.

The Life of St. Nina

Articles and stories of the life of St. Nina.

Icons of St. Nina are written with her holding her grapevine cross and scroll. According to the Life of St. Nina, she had two visions in which she was called to evangelize the people of Georgia. In the first she received instructions from the Theotokos to preach and was presented with a vine-covered cross as a pledge of her special protection. In the second vision she received a scroll on which were written the quotations below. St. Nina is called Equal-to-the-Apostles because she preached the gospel in Georgia. Her title, her cross, and her scroll are the manifestations of her working with God to spread His word and to bring into His fold a new land. 

Born in Cappadocia in the late third century, St. Nina (or Nino, the Georgian form) was the only daughter of a Roman general, Zabulon, and his wife, Susanna. On her father's side, she was related to St. George, and on her mother's, to the Patriarch of Jerusalem. When Nina was twelve, her family traveled to Jerusalem, where with the Patriarch's blessing, her father became a monk; her mother became a church worker; and Nina became the foster child of Nianfora, a pious elderly woman. Under the tutelage of her foster mother, Nina quickly learned the rules of faith and piety.