Icons of the Mother of God
"Foreteller" Icon of the Mother of God
The "Foreteller"1 Icon of the Mother of God is located in the katholikon (cathedral church) of Konstamonitou Monastery on Mount Athos, and it became famous in the following way. On August 1, 1020, the eve of the monastery’s Feast Day (The Transfer of the Relics of the Protomartyr Stephen from…
Valaam Icon of the Mother of God
One of the greatest treasures in the possession of the Monastery of New Valamo in Heinävesi, Finland is the wonderworking icon of the Mother of God of Valaam. Painted on lime wood, the 132 x 79.5 cm icon depicts the Virgin Mary as a full-length figure standing on a cloud with lowered gaze,…
Icon of the Mother of God of Tolga
The Tolga Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos appeared on August 8, 1314 to the Rostov hierarch Prochorus (Tryphon in schema). Going about his diocese, the saint visited the environs of White Lake and from there traveled along the banks of the Rivers Sheksna and Volga, to Yaroslavl. He stopped with the…
Icon of the Mother of God of Constantinople
In the Constantinople Icon of the Mother of God, the child Christ is naked to the waist, and is carried in His Mother’s right hand. Her left hand rests on His knees.
“Seven Arrows” Icon of the Mother of God
On the Seven Arrows Icon, the Most Holy Theotokos is depicted without the Divine Infant. She inclines her head toward her right shoulder, and her heart is pierced with seven arrows or swords, of which four are on the left side and three on the right. A similar image of the Mother of God is also…
Icon of the Mother of God “of the Passion”
On Tverskaya Street in Moscow there are beautiful buildings, a cathedral, high walls, and a small bell tower with the sonorous bells of the Passion Monastery. This Icon received its name because on either side of the Mother of God two Angels are depicted with the implements of the Lord’s Passion:…
Icon of the Mother of God of Minsk
The Minsk Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos was brought by the holy Prince Vladimir from Korsun in the Crimea, and placed in Kiev’s Cathedral of the Tithes, where it remained for more than 500 years. The consecration of that church in 996 is commemorated on May 12. In the year 1500, during the…
Icon of the Mother of God of Narva
The Narva Icon of the Mother of God became famous in the year 1558, when the Russian army attacked the city of Narva. In one of the houses where Russian merchants had once lived, drunken Germans grabbed an icon of the Mother of God that had been left behind. Mocking the holy thing, they threw it…
“Conversational” Icon of the Mother of God
The “Conversational" Icon of the Mother of God received its name because it depicts the Mother of God and Saint Nicholas of Myra conversing with the sacristan George, also called Yurysh. This event occurred soon after the appearance of the Tikhvin Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos in 1383, when the…
“Enlightener of Minds” Icon of the Mother of God
This unusual icon comes from the Russian town of Rybinsk, in Yaroslavl province. The Mother of God and the Divine Child are wrapped in what appears to be a priest’s phelonion, and Angels are depicted on either side, holding lighted candles. Beneath the Virgin’s feet and on her head…
Icon of the Mother of God of Saint Theodore
Tradition ascribes a very ancient origin to this famous Icon. It is regarded as one of the icons painted by the Holy Evangelist Luke. It is not known by whom or when the Icon was brought to Russia, but at the beginning of the XII century it was kept in an old wooden chapel near the city of Kitezh.…
Icon of the Mother of God of the Kiev Caves
The Kiev Caves Icon of the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos is one of the most ancient icons in the Russian Orthodox Church. The Mother of God entrusted it to four Byzantine architects, who in 1073 brought the icon to Saints Anthony and Theodosius of the Caves. The architects arrived at the…
Svena Icon of the Mother of God
The Svena Icon of the Mother of God has two commemorations: May 3, the Feast of Saint Theodosios of the Caves, and August 17, the Feast of Saint Alypios of the Caves. The Svena Icon of the Mother of God was painted by Saint Alypios of the Caves († August 17, 1114). It depicts the Mother of God…
Icon of the Mother of God of Armatia
The Armatia Icon of the Mother of God was in Constantinople at the Armatian monastery. The place where the monastery was located, was called “Armation” or “of the Armatians” and received its name from the military magister Armatias, nephew of the tyrant Basiliscus, and a…
“Directress” Icon of the Mother of God
The Hodēgḗtria (or “Directress”) Icon of the Mother of God. According to Tradition, this icon in the Mela monastery near Trebizond was painted by the Evangelist Luke.
Don Icon of the Mother of God
The Don Icon of the Mother of God was painted by Theophanes the Greek. On the day of the Kulikovo Battle (September 8, 1380, the Feast of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos), the Icon was with the Russian army, giving it help, but after the victory it was passed on by the Don Cossacks as a…
Icon of the Mother of God of Georgia
In 1622, the Persian Shah Abbas I, after the devastating invasion of Orthodox Georgia, took part of the Robe of the Lord, and some especially revered icons. Three years later, when the Russian clerk Stephen Lazarev was in Persia to do some trading, a certain person from the Shah's retinue offered…
Prousiotissa Icon of the Mother of God
High upon the fir-covered mountain peaks of southwestern Eurytania, wedged between vertical grayish rocks in savage majesty, is the Holy Monastery of Proussos. It is an historic stauropegial monastery, with magnificent three-storey buildings. There among them a cave has been carved out, inside of…
“Saint Peter of Moscow” Icon of the Mother of God
The Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos “Of Saint Peter” was so called because it was painted by Saint Peter, Metropolitan of Moscow (+ December 21, 1326) while he was igumen of the Ratsk monastery near Volhynia. During a visit to the Ratsk monastery by Saint Maximus, Metropolitan of Kiev…
“Virgin of Tenderness” Icon of the Mother of God of the Pskov Caves
The “Tenderness” Icon of the Most Holy Mother of God was found in the monastery of the caves in 1521, and was transferred to the city of Pskov by the pious Christians Basil and Theodore. The Icon is particularly renowned for the deliverance of Pskov and the Pskov Caves monastery from…
Commemoration of the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God and the deliverance of Moscow from the Invasion of Tamerlane
The Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God was painted by the Evangelist Luke on a board from the table at which the Savior ate together with His All-Pure Mother and Righteous Joseph. The Mother of God, upon seeing this image, exclaimed, “Henceforth, all generations shall call Me blessed. The…