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Nino of Georgia

December 15, 2025

2 Kings 5:1-14|Psalm 17:6-10|Philippians 1:12-18|Luke 13:10-17

The people of the country of Georgia (located, then and now, at the southeastern end of the Black Sea) were Christianized during the fourth century. One tradition historians take seriously ascribes the genesis of this national conversion to the witness of Saint Nino, whose life and example we remember today. That tradition describes Nino as an enslaved young woman brought to Georgia from Cappadocia (in Asia Minor). Her piety, joy, and virtue aroused the attention of her captors, and when asked about it, Nino replied that her way of life was an act of worship to Christ, her God.

Nino’s example and witness resulted in a sick child being brought to her and healed through Nino’s prayers. After that, the gravely ill Queen Nana came to Nino and was similarly healed. Some time later, King Mirian converted when, after becoming lost in great darkness in a forest and appealing to God, whom his queen had witnessed to him, he was shown the way home by a miraculous light. The king then sent to Rome for priests to catechize his people.

This story ends with the evangelization of an entire people. However, it started with a stranger in a strange land, a slave who did not despair but instead followed Peter’s injunction to “…[serve] with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised…” (1 Peter 4:11b). Nino did not abandon her faith but let her light shine before others (Matthew 5:16), bearing witness to the Source of her strength. And when a sick child was brought to her, Nino courageously applied her faith in praying for a healing. That faith opened the way for God to manifest grace by healing first the child and later a great lady. The latter healing brought a witness of that grace to the king, later leading him to recognize the Source of the light that rescued him and inspiring him to act to evangelize his people.

Nino, of course, knew none of this in advance. But she practiced what she did know. Nino served with the strength God provided. She let her light shine before others and, when queried about it, pointed others to its Source. She kept her faith and practiced it. Her actions opened a pathway for God’s grace that led to a grand result.

Likewise, we do not know what will result from our actions. But we do know that God can use them to manifest grace in a time and place of God’s choosing. Nino gives us an example of keeping faith and performing apostolic action in a strange place and difficult time. She was not called to great deeds, and (mostly) neither are we. But she was called to act in her place and time. And so are we.

Steve Capps