Life of St Nino

tr. Wardrop, 1900

The Words of Abiat’har the Priest, Who Was Converted by the Holy and Blessed Nino

I, Abiat’har, became priest, chosen by lot, in that year when the holy and blessed mother Nino arrived in Mtzkhet’ha. After that², I received from the Jewish priests in Antioch a letter wherein were these words:—

‘God has broken into three parts the kingdom of Israel, for lo! our prophets have ceased, and those in whom the Spirit of God still dwelt told us that all was fulfilled. We are scattered over all the earth, and the Romans have seized our land; we do nought but weep, for the wrath of God our Creator is fallen upon us. Now search, therefore, the Book of Moses³, who described all this to us—how He who on earth called Himself the Son of God would be slain. And we have been the cause of the slaying of this Nazarene. Now we see how from the first our fathers have sinned against God and have wholly forgotten Him. Then He gave them into the hand of the wicked, but they turned again and cried aloud unto God, and He speedily saved them from their woes; and thus did they do, as we know from the Scriptures, even unto the seventh time. Now, since the hands of our fathers have been raised against the Son of the Virgin, and they have killed Him, God has become wroth with us. He has destroyed our kingdom, and has sent us away from His temple. Our race is altogether despised. And from those days three hundred years (nay, more) have passed, and He has not hearkened to our prayers. Therefore it seems that this surely is not false, but that Man was from heaven.’

Much more did they write unto us, concerning themselves. When I had heard this, I began to inquire of the woman Nino about this Christ: who He was, and why the Son of God had become man. St. Nino opened her mouth, from which the words flowed forth like water from a well, and she began to tell unto me by heart our books, even from the beginning, and to declare their power. And lo! she awakened me as from sleep, and cast light upon my stony heart, and made the misery of my fathers manifest unto me. I trusted in the new law, and believed in the words of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who had suffered and risen again, and who would come a second time with glory, and who was, and is in truth, the expectation of the Gentiles. My daughter Sidonia and I became worthy to receive sprinkling by the water of baptism, for the cleansing from sins, which the prophet David had desired, and of which he could not partake. I heard the voice of those that chanted together the new law, which David also had longed to hear. And I became worthy to partake of the true body and blood of Christ, the Son of God, of the Lamb slain for the sins of the world, which is of a sweet savour; and in this faith, O Lord, may my soul pass from my body! And lo! we saw with our eyes many kinds of miracles performed, in Mtzkhet’ha, by St. Nino⁴.

Notes

In A.V. this chapter comes after the story of the miracle performed by the holy pillar (p. 41).
A.V. ‘letters arrived from Rome and Egypt, and from the Hebrew priests and scribes in Babylon.’
A.V. ‘who tells us: “He who calls Himself God on the earth shall be hanged on a tree.”’
A.V. adds: ‘And the house of Eliozi was in the west of the city, at the Gate Mogvet’hi (of the Magicians), on the river Kura; and there was their little cemetery, upon which St. Nino raised the cross of Christ, and one by one the nobles were baptized there by Jacob the priest and Prosila the archdeacon. They called the place “The Nobles’ Place of Baptism,” and it was very well known in our days, for it stood in a plain, without other buildings.
‘In those days the Jews of Mtzkhet’ha were filled with hatred towards me; and they tore down the tree-fern (?) (cilamo) which stood over against the door of the sanctuary and adorned the place, for its branches were entwined over all the front of the building.
‘And they began to go thence, except those of the house of the Barabeans, of whom fifty souls were baptized, and they became inhabitants of Mtzkhet’ha, and Mirian gave them a village which is called Tzikhe didi. They were great before the king, and were all Christians, by the grace and guidance of the blessed Nino.’
(The Barabeans are mentioned on p. 43 as Cabrabians.)