Section 09: Legacy and Reception

The title St. Nino bears and the scholarship that recovers her sources. The first file treats the honorific Equal-to-the-Apostles — a calling, not an office — places Nino among the women who bear it (Mary Magdalene, Photini, Thecla, Helena), reflects on women apostles in the Orthodox tradition, and states what the Church claims in glorifying a saint whose biography is layered and partly legendary: it ratifies a holiness manifest in veneration, not a documentary life. The second file surveys the modern source scholarship on which the whole collection rests — Stephen Rapp, Constantine Lerner, Marjory Wardrop, Tamila Mgaloblishvili, Antony Eastmond, and the editions a reader should know.

Tradition: Georgian Orthodox / Pan-Orthodox

Contents

File Topic
Equal-to-the-Apostles The title isapostolos; the women who bear it (Mary Magdalene, Photini, Thecla, Helena); comparison with Thecla and Mary Magdalene; women apostles in the Orthodox tradition; what the Church glorifies in a thin-source saint
Modern Scholarship The source scholarship: Stephen Rapp; Constantine Lerner’s translation of the Conversion of Kartli; Marjory Wardrop; Tamila Mgaloblishvili; Antony Eastmond on the visual tradition; Cyril Toumanoff and David Marshall Lang; the editions of the early layer

How to Use

  • Read Equal-to-the-Apostles for the meaning of Nino’s title, her place among the women apostles, and the theology of glorifying a saint whose biography is layered and late.
  • Read Modern Scholarship for the scholars and editions behind this collection — the indispensable guide for the reader who would go to the sources.
  • The source-critical method these scholars supply is applied from Section 01 onward.

Cross-References