Cross of St. Nina

Cross of St. Nina

Holy Nina's Cross ( Georgian .არი ვაზისა - cross [of] vine) is a Christian relic, a cross woven of vines, which, according to legend, the Mother of God handed over to St. Nina before sending her to Georgia .

After the death of St. Nina, the cross was kept in Svetitskhoveli Cathedral in Mtskheta until 458 , but after intensification of pagan persecution, the cross was taken by the monk Andrei and transferred to the Taron region in Armenia . Later, the cross was sheltered in various Armenian cities and fortresses for about 800 years. In 1239, the Georgian queen Rusudan turned to the Mongol commander Charmagan, who captured the city of Ani , where at that time the cross of St. Nina was located, and asked to return him to Georgia. The charmagan granted the queen's request, and the cross returned to Svetitskhoveli. In times of danger, the cross was repeatedly sheltered in the Holy Trinity Church on Mount Kazbek or in the Ananuri fortress.

In 1749, the Georgian Metropolitan Roman , traveling from Georgia to Russia, secretly took the cross of St. Nina with him and handed it over to the Georgian prince Bakar, who lived in Moscow. Since that time, for more than 50 years, the cross has been kept in the village of Lyskovo, Nizhny Novgorod province , on the estate of Georgian princes. After the annexation of Georgia (1801), Prince George Alexandrovich presented the cross of St. Nina to Emperor Alexander I , who ordered the relic to be returned to Georgia. Since 1802, the cross has been kept in the Tiflis Zion Cathedral near the northern gates of the altar in a Kyoto bound in silver. On the top cover of the icon case, hammered miniatures from the life of St. Nina are placed.