Grapevine cross: Difference between revisions

▲It is recognisable by the slight drooping of its horizontal arms. Traditional accounts credit Saint Nino, a [[Cappadocia]]n woman who preached Christianity in Iberia (corresponding to modern eastern Georgia) early in the 4th century, with this unusual shape of [[cross]]. The legend has it that she received the [[grape]]vine cross from the [[Virgin Mary]] (or, alternatively, she created it herself on the way to [[Mtskheta]]) and secured it by entwining with her own hair. Nino came with this cross on her mission to Georgia. However, the familiar representation of the cross, with its peculiar drooping arms, did not appear until the early modern era.

▲According to traditional accounts, the cross of St. Nino was kept at [[Svetitskhoveli Cathedral]] in Mtskheta until 541. During the [[Persian Empire|Persian]] invasions it was taken to [[Armenia]] and stayed there until [[David IV of Georgia]] recovered the Armenian city of [[Ani (Armenia)|Ani]] from the Muslims in 1124, and brought the cross to Mtskheta. King [[Vakhtang III of Georgia]] (1303-1307) enshrined the cross in a special envelope, decorated with the scenes from St. Nino's life. During the 1720s, when Georgia was subjected to Persian and [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] invasions, the cross was taken to safer areas, to [[Ananuri]] in highland Georgia. From there, the Georgian bishop Timothy brought the cross to the émigré Georgian prince [[Prince Bakar of Kartli|Bakar]], residing in [[Moscow]] and then in [[Lyskovo, Nizhny Novgorod Oblast|Lyskovo]]. The Georgian king [[Heraclius II of Georgia|Erekle II]] tried to recover the relic for Georgia from Bakar's family, to no avail. In 1801, Bakar's grandson [[Georgy Gruzinsky|Georgy]] presented the cross to the Russian [[tsar]] [[Alexander I of Russia|Alexander I]], who returned it to Georgia in 1802 on the occasion of Georgia's incorporation within the Russian Empire. Since then, the cross has been preserved in the [[Tbilisi Sioni Cathedral|Sioni Cathedral]] in [[Tbilisi]], Georgia.<ref>{{ge icon}} [http://orthodoxy.wanex.net/sitsmindeebi/vazis/jvari_vazisa.htm საქართველოს სიწმინდეები - ჯვარი ვაზისა]. Accessed on April 4, 2007.</ref>