Salome of Ujarma

Righteous Queen Salome of Ujarma (born after 297, died around 361) was an Armenian princess of the Arsacid dynasty, married into the ruling family of Iberia, helper and companion of Saint Nino, the enlightener of Georgia. She is canonized by the Georgian and Armenian Churches, and in the Georgian Church she is commemorated, together with Saint Perozhavra of Sivnia, on 15 January, the day after the commemoration of Saint Nino. The English source says that local canonizations are recognized throughout the Orthodox Church.

Lineage

She was a daughter of King Tiridates III of Armenia and Queen Ashkhen. She is known from the early Georgian chronicle "The Life of Kings". In Georgian tradition she is called Salome of Ujarma, after the castle where she is said to have erected a cross. Her birth name is said to have been Beoun, changed to Salome at her marriage. According to genealogical reconstructions, she had a brother, Khosrov III, and a sister who married Saint Husik I, one of the first catholicoi of the Armenian Church.

Queen of Iberia

According to Georgian tradition she was the wife of King Rev II of Iberia, son and co-⁠ruler of Mirian III, first Christian king of Georgia; according to Armenian tradition she was the wife of Mirian himself. Mirian ruled from 284 until his death in 361, and Rev ruled with him from 345 to 361. Mirian established peaceful relations with the emperor Constantine the Great and with Tiridates III, and the marriage of Rev with Salome was arranged in 326. They had two sons, Saurmag II and Trdat. Rev had as his appanage the fortress of Ujarma, where he lived with his wife and family. Before turning to Christianity, Salome was a Zoroastrian. In 337 she played a role in the conversion of Iberia. She was a contemporary of Saint Nino, who converted the Iberians to the Christian faith, and, according to one of the Lives, Nino healed Salome of an incurable illness. Salome was one of the first to receive Christianity and then supported the conversion of Mirian, the royal court and Iberia.

With Perozhavra of Sivnia, a noblewoman married to the ruler of Kartli, she was helper and closest companion of Saint Nino. Saint Nino taught them to pray; the women fasted and did good works and, being of high rank, helped spread the Christian faith. After Mirian received the faith, at God's command, Salome erected a cross at Ujarma. When Saint Nino fell ill in the village of Bodbe, Salome and Perozhavra stood by her bed weeping bitterly, and on her deathbed she told them her life. Nino died between 338 and 340. In memory of her and as a continuation of her work, Salome and Perozhavra wrote down from her words the Life "Saint Nino, Enlightener of Georgia".

Veneration

Salome died on an unknown day, about 361, around the time her husband died. In the calendar of the Georgian Church her name and Perozhavra's were entered in the twentieth century; in the Armenian Church no day of commemoration has been set, but it is supposed that it was 29 October.