Zavulon of Cappadocia

Holy Venerable Zavulon of Cappadocia was the father of Saint Nino, Equal to the Apostles, enlightener of Georgia, and the husband of Venerable Susanna. He lived between the third century and the beginning of the fourth.

He came from a noble Christian family of Cappadocia, from Colastra, the homeland of the Holy Great Martyr George, and at the time when George suffered he had become a commander in the Roman army, at the emperor's court. He took part in an expedition against the "Brandzhi", by one view the Franks, whom Rome regarded as a danger. In the battle on the "field of Pitalan", which scholars identify with the battle of the Romans with the Gauls on the Catalaunian Plains in 273, he captured the king of the Brandzhi and his nobles. The emperor ordered them put to death, but the prisoners begged Zavulon to allow them to receive his faith before dying. Zavulon interceded with the emperor and the bishop of Rome, and the captives were baptized, with Zavulon as godfather. The next day they put on burial garments and went out to the place of execution singing prayers. At his request the emperor pardoned them and let them go with gifts. They then asked that the emperor and Zavulon go with them to their country, to give them the faith of Christ and baptize the whole people with water. At the "great river Gdamara" the imperial retinue was met by the people of the ten principalities of the Brandzhi. The king divided the people in two along the banks, the priests blessed the water and baptized, and Zavulon laid his hands on all for ten days, the Liturgy being served in tents set up there and the people receiving the Holy Mysteries. Having arranged all Christian matters and blessed them, the saint returned to Rome with many gifts.

He then went to Jerusalem, wishing to give the poor everything he had gained, and there he became close to Archbishop Juvenal of Jerusalem and to his sister Susanna, also from Cappadocia. After their marriage Zavulon and Susanna went to Cappadocia, where Saint Nino was born. Her mother raised her "under her roof, in unceasing service of the poor, day and night". When the girl was twelve years old, the parents moved again to Jerusalem, where they gave the poor all the savings from the sale of their property. With the blessing of the archbishop, Zavulon took leave of his wife, directed his daughter on the path of the service of God and went to the hermits. Susanna and Nino remained in Jerusalem, caring for the poor and for sick women.

The Orthodox Church of Georgia numbered them among the saints on 23 December 1996, and the Holy Synod of the Russian Church entered them in the diptychs on 17 April 1997. Saint Zavulon is commemorated on 2 June, in the new style, together with Susanna.