A woman who had the misfortune of having the devil in her for eight whole years, was deprived of the power of reasoning and here tore her clothes to pieces and became idiotic—there became greatly weakened. For twelve days they held her in front of the cross; in the end the Lord healed her and she returned home, healthy in body and soul, lauding God and honoring His holy cross. It happened that a little baby fell from a certain height and was instantly killed. His mother put the breathless corpse near the foot of the cross and from morning till evening unceasingly prayed with tears constantly in her eyes.
“Woman!” they said to her, “take him away and bury him, for he is dead, and thy prayers will be of no use!”
But she continued praying and loudly lamenting without giving up hope throughout the night, the next day and a third day, and lo! to the seventh day.
On this seventh day, however, in the evening, the baby came back to life and was carried off living and healthy by his mother, who did not cease to praise and thank God. Such great wonders persuaded many fruitless husbands to resort to the strength of the holy cross, and having begged with real faith, they became the fathers of numerous families and daily came to adore the cross and bring gorgeous presents. Not only the sick who personally came to pray at the foot of the cross were successfully cured, but also the warriors combatting far, far away from Djouar, if they only implored the help of the cross, became able to defeat their enemies and unharmed returned to Mtzkhet to justly glorify God. Many infidels, when in great need, addressed the cross with prayers and receiving salvation from destruction, hastened to Djouar to give thanks unto God and be baptized. Besides these already mentioned, masses of other suffering people were healed and the unhappy comforted by invoking the holy cross, created by the almightiness of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost, and to them is due all glory, honor, and veneration, now, henceforth, and evermore. Amen.
At that time Saint Nina, the Tsar, and the nation received a message from the patriarch from Rome. Just then, too, arrived a deacon from the land of the Brandjees in order to congratulate Saint Nina and ask her to pray for them. He also brought a letter from his Tsar to Saint Nina, whose father had baptized all Brandjees. At Jerusalem and Constantinople a report was spread that the sun of truth was now shining in Georgia and Jee—from all possible regions they sent letters asking to give precise details of the wonders which had happened at the pillar and the rose bush and of the extraordinary cases of cures. Having carefully inquired about all this, the brandja-deacon glorified God and went home with numerous letters containing the longed for statements. Then the Tsar spoke thus to the Saint and the bishop:
“It is my wish with the power of the sword to force the mountain inhabitants as well as my brother-in-law Pkheros to serve the Son of God and to oblige them to venerate and respect the honest cross!”
“God doth not order thee to convert them with the sword!” was their unanimous answer. It is thy duty to convert them after having pointed out to them with the help of the New Testament and the cross—the road of truth leading to life eternal and how to be thankful to the Lord, who lightens up the terrible darkness of their souls.
Saint Nina, together with the bishop, left for the mountain regions, and the Tsar ordered the kristav (most likely district governor) to accompany them. Upon arriving at Tsorbanne, they called together the mountaineers, inspected Dsrbin, Tchartal, Tkkhela, Tsilkammy, and Gorangor. They assembled the Tchartalians, who were almost like wild beasts, the Fkholians, the Gondamakavians, and to all these tribes they preached about the holy cross of Christ. But they did not want to listen, and so the royal kristav drew his sword and destroyed their idols and subjected them.
From there they went into Yaletia (the present Mtaletka) and taught the nations of Tionet and Ertso (in Armenian Erdzoitk), who received them well and were baptized, but the Fkholis (nowadays the Pchaves), settled over to Doushet. The remaining mountain inhabitants also refused to become Christians, for which the Tsar doubled their taxes and thus forced them to emigrate. It is true later on, Saint Avive, bishop of Nekretsa, converted several of them to Christianity, while the rest are even to this day infidels. Saint Nina started for Ranne in order to enlighten Pkeros, but as she approached Kouket and reached Bondi, she was obliged to make a longer stop. Kakhetians streamed there in great number, questioned her and many became persuaded in the correctness and truthfulness of her teachings. At Bondi, however, she fell ill. Hardly had the news of this deplorable event reached Revv and Salome, who lived at Oudjarmo, when they hastened to the Saint and also informed the Tsar and Tsaritsa. The sovereign gave orders that Bishop John should bring over the Saint, but she really preferred to remain where she was, and so the Tsar set out for Bondi with a numerous suite.
The whole nation rushed to the invalid, whose glance was illuminated with true heavenly brilliancy. With love and veneration did the true believers cut off little bits of pieces from her garment and covered their souvenir with kisses. The Tsaritsa and the princesses crowded around her, showering blessings upon her, and with tears and sorrow they looked forward to their separation from their teacher, protector, and healer. The Princess Salome, Kherosh Avrizounelle (in Armenian Perojavr Sounetsi), the kristaves and mtavares began to implore the Saint to relate her life to them, saying: