“O King!” answered Saint Nina, “as the representative of our Lord Jesus Christ and the prayers of His All-holy Mother and all saints existing, I am sent by God, the Creator of Heaven and Earth, the Father of all great and small beings, from man down to the last degrees of insects, through His indescribable mercy, like a piece of coal out of the stove of His goodness in order that thou shouldst learn to believe in and reach heavenly heights, the sunny world, the depths of the sea, earthly magnitude! Find out and acknowledge now thou, O Tsar, Him who covers the sky with clouds, who fills the air with the sound of thunder and shakes all creation, who lights up the sky with lightning, makes the tops of mountains slip off or turns them into volcanoes! Before His voice the foundations of earth tremble and mountains disappear like sea-waves! Know thou all this and admit thou the invisible God, living in heaven, who has sent His Son begotten of Him, to earth in the form of a mortal man, who having accomplished everything His Father wished Him to do, rose to Heaven in sublime glory. Dost thou not see that this, the eternal, only and true God looks after the needs of the humble and turns His face away from the proud? O Tsar! the time is already approaching when even thou shalt know and recognize God and verily shalt behold the wonder of light, which there is in this town. I am speaking of the Lord’s robe; and the sheepskin of Illina, and many other treasures indeed, are hidden here, which God will point out to thee. I shall cure thy archimage just as I healed thy wife in the name of my Lord Jesus Christ and by the strength of His honest cross. The Tsaritsa already informed thee that she recovered from her illness only after she had sincerely renounced the idol-worship. Now her mind has broadened out and with ardor she does everything that is ordered in the Christian law—nay, that other people may learn from her righteous way of living!”
Then, upon the command of the Saint, they placed the image facing the East. The Tsaritsa fell down on her knees and began a prayer under the cedar while the Saint raised the hands of the sick man towards Heaven and ordered him to loudly repeat thrice:
“Renounce thou Satan! Bow thou down before my Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God!”
But from great weakness the sick man could not speak. Then the Saint began to implore God to restore him to health, with tears and great lamentations, and her pupils stood by her side.
One day and two nights she continued her prayers, and when at last the invalid had repeated the holy words for the third time, the badness of his soul suddenly abandoned him, he became a healthy man and a Christian, together with his family and servants and glorified the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost! Mirian began to fear the wrath and revenge of the Persian Tsar and wanted to have the Saint immediately executed—alone the desperate lamentations and tearful supplications of his beloved wife could cut short his anger, and dissatisfied, he decided to seek distraction in hunting. This is how Sidonia, daughter to Abiatkar, and pupil to Nina, relates the event:
“On Saturday, July the twentieth, a royal hunt was appointed in the direction of Mouknar. The devil disturbed the royal heart, awakening in him the old love for idols and fire, and so he firmly resolved to exterminate all Christians with the sword. Four of his nearest councillors accompanied him upon the hunt, and to them he turned and made the following speech:
“‘We are worthy to be punished by our gods for forgetting their glory and permitting Christian witches to preach their law and teachings in our country. Through their witchcraft they accomplish wonders, but not at all by the might of their God. I have now made up my mind that all those who pay homage to and adore the Crucified shall perish by the sword, and furthermore, I insist that an effort shall be made to increase the love of serving the gods, the real rulers of Kartla (the native word for Georgia). I shall propose to my wife to abandon the faith of the Crucified, and if she doth not fulfil my order, I shall forget her love for me and have her put to death with the rest!’” With joyfulness the heathens listened—it seemed to them as though the monarch’s speech had come out of their own hearts. They had long reflected about such an event, but did not dare to express their thoughts, knowing the attachment of the sovereign for his wife. Now they strongly supported his views and encouraged him in his actions.
In the meantime they had already passed Moukkvar and Mirian ascended the high mountain Tekkhotk (in Armenian Tkakoutk) in order to look at Kaspii and Ouplis Tzikke. When, however, he reached the tiptop, although this was just at noon, the sun suddenly disappeared before his eyes and day turned to night. An impenetrable fog covered all the surroundings and the Tsar himself not noticing this, rode a long way off from his followers. An unusual thought weighed upon him.
Surprised, he wished to ask whether all the rest were also in the fog or whether he alone was dazzled, but nobody answered his questions. In vain he rode over the mountains covered with bushes, his horse constantly stumbled and fell, the trees scratched his face and tore his clothes, the Tsar was involuntarily trembling, while his exhausted and tortured horse at last succumbed to fatigue and rose no more, thus depriving its reckless rider of any hope of saving his life. Then he remembered his former doubts and understood Whose hands were pushing him down.
“I called to the gods, but they did not help me!” he exclaimed. “Now I shall turn to Him who was crucified on the cross, whom Nina preached about and with whose help she succeeds in healing men. Is He not strong enough to deliver me from this disaster? I am already fully in the darkness of terrible sin and do not know whether this darkness has come for all, or whether I alone am punished with blindness.