Grapevine cross

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Cross of Saint Nino, Sioni Cathedral , Tbilisi

The grapevine cross ( Georgian : ჯვარი ვაზისა, Jvari Wasissa ; also Georgian cross or the cross of Saint Nino ) is a cross of the Georgian Orthodox Apostle Church . Its characteristic are the hanging arms, sometimes it is also shown with a curved crossbar. It is one of the main symbols of Georgian Orthodoxy and dates back to the 4th century when Christianity became the state religion in Georgia .

hagiography

Holy Nino

According to Orthodox hagiography , Saint Nino is said to have received the vine cross from the Virgin Mary and brought it from Cappadocia to Mtskheta in Georgia. Another legend describes how she made it herself from two vines on her journey, using strands of her own hair.

Only on icons of the early modern era is the vine cross depicted with arms hanging down.

relic

The cross of Saint Nino was kept as a relic in the Svetitskhoveli Cathedral in Mtskheta for centuries. To protect it from conquerors, it was in the Middle Ages with the Georgian Crown Treasure in the secluded and 2170  m above sea level. NN located church Gergetier Dreifaltigkeitskirche (Zminda Sameba) stored on Mount Kazbek . Persian conquerors are said to have later brought it to Armenia . From there it finally got to Moscow . The Russian Tsar Alexander I existed after the annexation of Georgia to the Tbilisi Governorate in 1801 . It is now in the Sioni Cathedral in Tbilisi.

literature

  • Ilma Reissner: Church under the vine cross. In: The Christian East. Vol. 51, 1996, ISSN  0724-4207 , pp. 77-97.
  • Peter Hauptmann : Under the vine cross of St. Nino. Church history of Georgia at a glance. In: Church in the East. Vol. 17, 1974, ISSN  0453-9273 , pp. 9-41.