Doctor of History
Senior Research Fellow
Tamaz Beradze Institute of Georgian Studies, the University of Georgia
Tbilisi, Georgia
ORCID: 0009-0001-3876-2591
kh.kokrashvili@gmail.com

The Award of the “Society for the Restoration of Orthodox Christianity in the Caucasus” and Its Symbolic Paradigms (The Order of St. Nino)

Phaleristic material, as a historical artifact, constitutes the socio-cultural heritage of a specific epoch. Such insignia encapsulate political, ideological, and symbolic layers that reflect the aspirations and identity-markers of both the state and particular social or religious organizations.

From the second half of the nineteenth century, the Russian Empire elevated its approach to the Caucasus and framed Orthodoxy within new ideological and religious paradigms, employing it as an instrument of cultural and political domination. This study focuses on the award established by the missionary organization active in the Russian Empire between 1860 and 1917 — the Society for the Restoration of Orthodox Christianity in the Caucasus. The Order of St. Nino, which it introduced, today represents a rare phaleristic specimen. While the architectural and stylistic structure of this insignia and its attributes have been analyzed in scholarly literature, its phaleristic symbolism and semantic correlations — on the one hand, with the vine cross of St. Nino, the Enlightener of Georgians, and on the other hand, with the central ideas and objectives of the Society — remain insufficiently studied.

The research aims to analyze the foundation, phaleristic statute, structural features, and cultural-symbolic significance of this order within the broader context of the missionary and religious policies of the Russian Empire. The article draws upon scholarly works, archival documents, visual sources, press materials, and the annual reports of the Society, which hold primary-source value. Based on these materials, an attempt is made to reconstruct the historical, phaleristic, and symbolic interpretations of the Order; to contextualize its foundation; to examine its ideological content and artistic design; to define its place within the contemporary ecclesiastical and social reward system; and to analyze its religio-political function, iconographic content, and ideological meaning that reflect the political-religious discourse of the Russian Empire in the Caucasus at the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

The study demonstrates that the nomenclature and iconography of the award reveal a symbolic-semantic correlation with St. Nino’s vine cross. This reflects the Russian Empire’s attempt to appropriate and reframe local Orthodox sanctities and nationally significant religious symbols as part of its strategy to shape a new cultural identity and to employ them as instruments of imperial authority. Assigning the name of St. Nino to the award created a nexus between local cultural heritage and the imperial project, underscoring the role of phaleristics in disseminating cultural influence and imperial ideology.

The introduction of the Order served several purposes for the Russian Empire: engaging society in supporting the mission of the Society for the Restoration of Orthodox Christianity, consolidating the loyalty of the local Orthodox population, encouraging active collaboration, and embedding Caucasian identity within the framework of imperial ideology.

 

Keywords: Phaleristics, Symbolism, Orthodoxy, Russian Empire.