Glorification of Sts. Zabulon & Sosanna, Parents of St. Nino, Enlightener to the Georgians

Commemorated on June 2

St. Nino’s father, Zabulon, was a general to Roman Emperor Maximian, in the third century, and introduced Christianity to ten fiefdoms of the Gallic lands. He was married to Sosanna, a sister of the Patriarch of Jerusalem. Their only daughter was Nino.

St. Nino was twelve years old when her family left their home and set out for Jerusalem. Zabulon gave all his possessions to the poor and chose a life of ascetic solitude in the Jordanian desert, while Sosanna looked after the weak and miserable. Nino’s uncle, the Patriarch of Jerusalem, gave her up to be disciplined by Sarah from Bethlehem, who served at Christ’s Sepulcher.

Little is known of Zabulon an Sosanna’s later life. A font and church is dedicated to them at St. Nino’s spring in Eastern Georgia.

By permission of Orthodox Wikipedia (www.orthodoxwiki.org)