Before I continue with my story, here’s some interesting information. Reading through this filter may be helpful.

Georgia is one of the most Christian nations in the world, with 84-88% of her population following the Georgian Orthodox Church. Georgia was the second country in the world (after Armenia) to adopt Christianity as the official state religion in 326 CE. But her Christianity is not in the distant past. The flag, with five red crosses, was adopted in January 2004 after Georgian citizens freed themselves from Soviet control by the . . . drum roll, Revolution of Roses, or the Rose Revolution, in November, 2003. The peaceful, pro-Western change of power in November 2003 was accomplished by 20 days of widespread protests over disputed parliamentary elections. The protests culminated in the ousting of a president and an end of Soviet leadership in Georgia. The event derives its name from the climactic moment, when demonstrators stormed the Parliament session holding roses. Georgia’s tensions with Russia continue to this day.

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Sunday, Day One

We awoke Sunday morning, at 8:30 to indulge ourselves in the Lvovi large breakfast spread with local fruits and vegetables, and other Georgia fare. Lia had told us to be ready at 10 a.m. for our first adventure. My internal clock, which of course had to be ignored, was trying to remind me that it was just after midnight, home-time. But the sun had risen over Tbilisi hours ago.

We walked out into the bright morning, and pink roses greeted us on both sides of the narrow street. I hadn’t seen them when we arrived in the dark. My expectations about our trip only heightened. God was with us.

A white van arrived and Lia and Elene jumped out, all smiles and enthusiasm, introducing us to Misha, our driver. Misha was a friend of the family. He replaced our first tour guide four days before we left on June 2. His fee was $700, compared to our first tour guide’s fee of $1300. I knew God had intervened and brought Misha into our story for a reason.

Bruce and I had read over the itinerary in advance, but it meant little to us, since we were unfamiliar with all our destinations. I watched some videos of the stunningly beautiful landscapes.  I read that Georgians consider visitors a “gift from God,” and already they were treating us as such, as loved and treasured members of their family.  

We boarded the over-sized Toyota van, Bruce in the front, passenger seat on the left, and Elene, Lia and I piled into the middle seat. Elene leaned over to tell me Misha used to drive a sports car. It didn’t take me long to recognize that Misha still had a little sports-car-driver left in him.

Misha’s speeding and whiplash stops and starts, even in downtown between traffic lights, and passing when oncoming cars were uncomfortably close, in my humble opinion, seemed to alarm no one but the Americans in the van. Or at least one of the Americans. As we were darting in and out of traffic, I noticed Lia and Elene were not phased and chatted happily. Although seat belts are not required to be worn in the backseat in Georgia, I wore mine, snuggly fastened.

At first I thought Misha’s driving was an anomaly. Then I noticed the roads were filled with cars manned by drivers like Misha. Other cars pulled out in front of us as often as Misha cut others off. And the truly amazing thing was, I witnessed no road rage. No one was offended when Misha almost ran them off the road. And he didn’t get mad when others did the same to him. There were no angry horn blasts, no ugly faces, and no obscene hand gestures. Everyone seemed to respect that some drivers were more in need of getting to their destinations first. I wondered if stress-related heart disease and blood pressure ailments are less in Georgia. 

As Lia pointed to the ancient structure perched on the faraway, towering mountaintop, she smiled at me, eyebrows raised, hinting that was to be our first stop of the morning. 

The Church of the Cross, or Jvari Monastery,  in the city of Mtskheta was a half-hour drive from our hotel. I was surprised to see only English as an alternate language on road signs and museum and church markers right under the undecipherable Georgian alphabet. I saw no Russian Cyrillic anywhere. Perhaps this former Soviet state had purged all remaining vestiges of that seven decade occupation of the Communists. This is a country who, in her long history, has known many occupiers. Today, Georgia is a free republic. 

Our guides mentioned Saint Nino, Georgia’s patron saint, often during our week together, with such reverence and familiarity, it was as if they assumed we knew her too. I knew more research was required about the young woman credited to bringing Christianity in the early fourth century to pagan Georgia, then known as the Kingdom of Iberia.

Saint Nino (296-338 AD) was born in Cappadocia, a Roman province in present day Turkey. She was a niece of Saint George. When she was twelve, her devout parents left her in the care of a nun for her religious upbringing who taught her about Christ’s life and his suffering. Nino learned how Christ’s Robe, His seamless tunic, had arrived in Iberia, a pagan nation. According to the Gospel of John 19;23, the soldiers who crucified Jesus did not divide his tunic after crucifying him, but cast lots to determine who would keep it because it was woven in one piece, without seam.  Later, while living in Rome, Nino was convicted to pray to the Virgin Mary, asking to be allowed to travel to Iberia, over 1500 miles away, to venerate the Sacred Tunic removed from Christ before his crucifixion. The story goes that the garment was sold to a Jew who eventually carried it to the Kingdom of Iberia. 

Mary heard Nino’s prayers, and appeared to her in a dream, telling her to go to that land to preach the Gospel of Jesus, and Mary would be her protector. The dream frightened Nino, who questioned if it were a real Visitation. In response, Mary presented her with a cross of grapevines and proclaimed, “Receive this cross as a shield against visible and invisible enemies.” 

When Nino awoke, she was holding the cross in her hands. She dampened it with her tears of rejoicing and tied it securely with her own hair.  

Before she left Rome, Nino baptized almost forty virgins who consecrated their lives to Christ. The Roman Emperor at that time, Diocletian (284-305), a ruler infamous for persecuting Christians, took a liking to one of them, Rhipsimia, and wanted to marry her. The forty nuns escaped to Armenia. The furious emperor sent his soldiers to follow them, and sent a message to alert King Tiridates (286-344).

King Tiridates intercepted the women, but he, too, was charmed by Rhipsimia’s beauty and resolved to marry her. When she spurned him, the king had her tortured to death, and almost forty other nuns beheaded. Saint Nino, being prepared for a greater task, was spared by hiding among some rose bushes. (I love how God has used roses before!) 

Nino finally arrived in Mtskheta alongside a group of pilgrims coming to venerate a pagan god. Nino watched with great sadness the people tremble before a powerless idol. She prayed, “Oh Lord, send down Thy mercy upon this nation . . . that all nations may glorify Thee alone, the One True God, through Thy Son, Jesus Christ.” 

Suddenly a violent wind blew and hail fell, smashing the pagan statues, scattering the worshippers. 

Saint Nino made her home beneath a bramble bush in the garden of the pagan King Mirian III. The gardener and his wife were childless, but through the prayers of Nino, God granted them a child. The couple rejoiced and declared that Christ was the True God. Wherever she went, those listening converted to the Christian Faith in great numbers. 

King Mirian was not pleased with the attention Nino was getting in his village with all the talk of this Jesus. His gardeners claimed Jesus, through this young woman, had cured their childlessness. Then his own wife, Queen Nana fell deathly ill, and Nino used her power to heal her too. Queen Nana also confessed that Jesus was Lord. 

While hunting, King Mirian determined to have all the Christians killed. But now his plot would also kill his wife for failing to renounce Jesus. During the hunt, the sun suddenly darkened. All alone, King Mirian was terrified, and he prayed in vain to his pagan gods. Then he turned to Christ and prayed, “God of Nino, illumine this night for me and guide my footsteps, and I will declare Thy Holy Name. I will erect a cross and venerate it and I will construct for Thee a temple. I vow to be obedient to Nino and to the Faith of the Roman people!’ 

Suddenly the night fell away, and the sun shone again. King Mirian gave thanks to the Creator and surrendered his life to God. He returned home to inform Saint Nino of his transformation, and declared the Kingdom of Iberia to be a Christian nation in 326 AD. He called Saint Nino the Enlightener, and Equal of the Apostles. 

It is interesting to note that many modern astronomers have attributed the miracle of King Mirian to a solar eclipse on May 6, 319. 

Saint Nino, who is credited to converting the country to Christianity, erected a large wooden cross on the site of a pagan temple. The cross is reported to have been the site of miracles, and therefore drew pilgrimages from all over the Caucasuses. A small church was built over the remnants of the wooden cross in c. 545, named the “Small Church of Jvari.” The present monastery, the “Great Church of Jvari” was built between 590 and 605. The octagonal base of the original cross is still preserved in the church. 

The importance of the monastery and grounds increased and attracted more pilgrimages during the late Middle Ages, when a stone wall and gate were added. During the Soviet era, the church was preserved as a national monument, but no visitors or congregants were allowed on the site. When Georgia gained independence, in 1991, the church was restored to active religious use. 

The Church of the Cross, or Jvari Monastery, commissioned by the first Christian King of what would later become Georgia was the first of two UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization) protected sites that we visited on our first day in Georgia. 

Continue with Chapter 40