Icons of the Mother of God
Icon of the Mother of God of Pozhai
The Pozhai Dormition Monastery was founded in the XVII century on the banks of the Neman River. Its precious shrine was a wonderworking Icon of the Mother of God called Pozhai. It is of very ancient origin and was sent from Rome by Pope Alexander VII as a sign of special favor to the founder of the…
Icon of the Mother of God Theodotiev
This Icon appeared in 1483 in the vicinity of Ryazan in a desert place called "Staroe," near the village of Theodotiev Since numerous healings began to occur from the Icon, by order of the Ryazan prince it was transferred to the city of Ryazan and placed with due honor in the cathedral church of…
Icon of the Mother of God of Akhtyr
The Akhtyr Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos appeared on July 2, 1739 in the village of Akhtyr in the area of Kharkov, east of Kiev. Father Basil Danilov, a righteous man of strong faith, was the priest of the Dormition church in Akhtyr. He wanted to try out a new scythe, and so he went out to a…
Icon of the Mother of God the “Milk-Giver” of the Hilandar Monastery on Mount Athos
The “Milk-Giver” Icon of the Mother of God was originally located at the Lavra of Saint Savva the Sanctified near Jerusalem. Before his death, the holy founder of the Lavra foretold that a royal pilgrim having the same name as himself would visit the Lavra. Saint Savva told the brethren…
Icon of the Mother of God of Galatea
The Galatea Icon of the Mother of God is found in Galatea (one of the districts of Constantinople), at Perge (in a tower). In honor of the holy icon a monastery was formed, which existed until the seventeenth century. An exact copy of the icon is located in Moscow, in the Church of Saint Tikhon, at…
“Economissa” Icon of the Mother of God
The Economissa (or Stewardess) Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos depicts the Mother of God seated on a throne, with Her Son on her left knee. Saint Athanasius of Mt Athos (July 5) stands on her right, holding a model of the Great Lavra. On her left is Saint Michael of Synnada (May 23). Two angels…
Translation of the “Blachernae” Icon of the Mother of God to Russia
The Blachernae Icon of the Mother of God was discovered at Jerusalem by the empress Eudokia during the time of Saint Juvenal, Patriarch of Jerusalem (July 2), and Saint Euthymius the Great (January 20). The holy icon was sent to Constantinople, where the empress Pulcheria placed it in the Blacernae…
Kazan Icons of the Mother of God in Kazan, St. Petersburg, and Moscow
The wonderworking Kazan Icon has great significance for the faithful of Russia, and Russian Orthodox families treat it with unparalleled reverence. The magnificent Kazan Cathedral was built in Saint Petersburg, to house the Icon. For the most part, it is this Icon that blesses the young to the…
“Our Lady of Sitka” Icon of the Mother of God
Located at the Cathedral of Saint Michael the Archangel in Sitka, Alaska is one of the most revered Icons in North America: the Sitka Mother of God. This Icon has been attributed to a famous Iconographer, Vladimir Lukich Borovikovsky (1758-1826), a protégé of the Empress Catherine II…
“Tenderness” Icon of the Mother of God in Novgorod
The Tenderness icon of the Mother of God belongs to the Eleousa (Umilenie) type. On July 8, 1337 a caretaker in Holy Trinity Church in Novgorod heard a noise inside the church and went to investigate. He was astonished to see that the icon of the Mother of God from the second tier of icons above…
Miracle of the Annunciation Icon of the Mother of God at Ustiug
The Ustiug Annunciation Icon of the Mother of God The “Ustiug Annunciation” is a venerable icon, before which Saint Procopius, Fool-for-Christ (+ 1303) prayed with intense fervor on June 25, 1290 for the salvation of the city of Ustiug from the wrath of God. The icon was painted by a…
Kazan-Yaroslavl Icon of the Mother of God
The Kazan-Yaroslavl Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos was found in the year 1588 by a man named Gerasimos, who had traveled to Kazan to pray before its famous Icon, because his right hand had become crippled. The Mother of God appeared to him and ordered him to go to a certain place, and then to take…
Icon of the Mother of God of Tambov
The Annals of Tambov state that the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God was in the Transfiguration Cathedral of Tambov from the first years of the city’s existence (it had been founded in 1636), and it was the main shrine in the region of Tambov. According to the Annals, “on December 6,…
Icon of the Mother of God of Koloch
The Koloch Icon of the Mother of God manifested itself in the year 1413 during the reign of Basil I, 15 versts from the city of Mozhaisk, in the vicinity of Koloch in the Smolensk governia. A peasant of this village by the name of Luke found the holy icon and took it to his home. One of his…
Icon of the Mother of God of Cyprus
The Cyprus Icon of the Mother of God belongs to the Panachrana type. In this icon the Mother of God is depicted sitting on a throne with the Divine Infant in Her arms. On either side of Her is an angel. The prototype of this holy icon manifested itself in the year 392 on the island of Cyprus at…
Icon of the Mother of God Konevits
According to Tradition, the Konevits Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos was brought from Mount Athos by Saint Arsenios the wonderworker (June 12) in the year 1393. He was tonsured as a monk at Lisogorsk Monastery in Novgorod, and then spent three years living on Mount Athos. Igoumen John Zidon gave…
Icon of the Mother of God of Rzhevsk
The Rzhevsk (or Okovetsk) Icon of the Mother of God is from the Rzhevets Monastery in Poltava. On May 26, 1539, on the day of the Descent of the Holy Spirit (Pentecost), in Tver diocese, in Vyryshensk town situated in a virgin forest on the bank of the rivulet Vyryshna in the Okovetsk district, not…
Icon of the Mother of God “of the Three Hands” on Mount Athos
The Icon of the Mother of God “Of the Three Hands”: The wonderworking icon, before which Saint John of Damascus (December 4) received healing of his amputated hand, was given by him to the Lavra of Saint Savva the Sanctified. In the thirteenth century the icon was in Serbia, and…
Prodromitsa Icon of the Mother of God
This Icon is kept in the Moldavian Theophany (now Prodromou)1 Skete on Mount Athos, about an hour's walk from the Lavra of St. Athanasios. In 1863, Igoumen Niphon, accompanied by several monks, went to Moldavia on the Monastery's business. Arriving at Iași, the capital of Moldavia, the Athonite…
“It Is Truly Meet” (“Axion Estin”) Icon of the Mother of God
The “It is Truly Meet” Icon of the Mother of God is in the high place of the altar of the cathedral church of the Karyes monastery on Mount Athos. One Saturday night an Elder went to Karyes for the all-night Vigil. He left, instructing his disciple to remain behind and read the service…
Icon of the Mother of God of Chirsk-Pskov
In the XV century, in the territory of the Pskov principality, there was a certain village called Chirsk, or Chersk, where, in the church of the Nativity of Christ, there was a Hodēgḗtria Icon of the Mother of God. In 1420, during the reign of Tsar Basil I of Moscow, and when Archbishop Simeon…
Icon of the Mother of God of Sviatogorsk
The Sviatogorsk Icon of the Mother of God is from the Sviatogorsky Monastery in the province of Pskov. In the year 1563, during the time of Ivan the Terrible, in the environs of Pskov a “Tenderness” Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos appeared to a fifteen-year-old shepherd and fool named…
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. Having stopped with…
“Chukhloma” Icon of the Mother of God from Galich
The Chukhloma Icon of the Mother of God of Galich appeared in the year 1350 to Saint Abraham of Galich, who came there from the north for ascetical labors with the blessing of Saint Sergius of Radonezh. On the wild shores of the Galich lake near the large mountain, hidden in the dense forest, he…
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 Armatios, nephew of the tyrant Basiliscus, and a…
Icon of the Mother of God of Pochaev
Commemoration of the Miraculous Appearance of the Mother of God at Pochaev, which saved the Monastery from the assault of the Tatars and Turks The Pochaev Icon of the Mother of God is among the most revered sacred objects of the Orthodox Church. Located in the Dormition Cathedral at Pochaev,…
Icon of the Mother of God “the Joy of All who Sorrow” (with coins) in St. Petersburg
The Icon of the Mother of God “Joy of All Who Sorrow” (With Coins) was glorified in the year 1888 in St. Petersburg, when during the time of a terrible thunderstorm lightning struck in a chapel. All was burned or singed, except for this icon of the Queen of Heaven. It was knocked to the…
Icon of the Mother of God in Constantinople of “Emvolon”
No information available at this time.
Seraphim-Diveyevo Tenderness Icon of the Mother of God
The Seraphim-Diveyevo Tenderness Icon of the Mother of God belonged to Saint Seraphim of Sarov, and was the Icon he kept in his cell. The Saint anointed the sick with oil from the lampada burning before this Icon, and they received healing. The holy ascetic reposed while praying before the Icon on…
Appearance of the Smolensk “Directress” Icon of the Mother of God brought from Constantinople
The Smolensk “Hodēgḗtria” Icon of the Theotokos, or “She who leads the way,” was, according to Church Tradition, painted by the holy Evangelist Luke during the earthly life of the Most Holy Theotokos. The holy hierarch Demetrius of Rostov suggests that this icon was…
Icon of the Mother of God of White Lake
The White Lake Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos resembles the Vladimir Icon (May 21, June 23, August 26) in appearance. It was originally in the cell of Saint Cyril of White Lake (June 9), who often prayed before it. One day, while he was chanting the Akathist before this icon, the Mother of God…
Icon of the Mother of God of Greben
The Greben Icon of the Mother of God, glorified by miracles and located in a church in the city of Greben (on the River Chira, flowing into the Don), was presented by the inhabitants of the city to Great Prince Demetrius of the Don upon his return from the Battle of Kulikovo in 1380. In 1471,…
Icon of the Mother of God of Kostroma
The Kostroma Hodēgḗtria Icon of the Mother of God was painted in 1672 on the wall of the southwest tower of the Kostroma Theophany monastery. In 1779 a great conflagration occurred at the monastery, and the tower was all enveloped by flames, but the holy Icon of the Mother of God did not suffer…
Icon of the Mother of God of Ustiuzhena
The Ustiuzhena Icon of the Mother of God (1290), glorified by many miracles, was situated in the city of Ustiuzhna under Novgorod governance (now Vologda district). At the beginning of the seventeenth century the inhabitants of Ustiushna, praying for salvation before this holy icon, were delivered…
Icon of the Mother of God of Voroninsk
The Holy Icon of the Voroninsk Mother of God was situated in the Voroninsk Dormition of the Mother of God hermitage in the Cherepovetsk district of Novgorod governance. Its appearance occurred in 1524.
Icon of the Mother of God of “Saint Christopher”
In 1555, the Icon of the Mother of God “Of Saint Christopher” was put in the church of the monastery founded by Saint Christopher of Solvychegodsk (July 25), a disciple of Saint Longinus of Koryazkemsk (February 10). This icon was glorified by many miracles, and near the monastery a…
Icon of the Mother of God of Suprasl
The Holy Suprasl Icon of the Mother of God was in the Annunciation women’s monastery of Grodnensk governance at the beginning of the sixteenth century. It was glorified by many miracles and both Orthodox and Catholics piously reverence it. The icon is one of the Hodēgḗtria type.
Icon of the Mother of God of Vydropussk
The Vydropussk Hodēgḗtria Icon of the Mother of God in the fifteenth century was in the church of the Great Martyr George in the village of Vydropussk, Novgorod governia. During the time of a conflagration of the church, this holy icon remained undamaged. After the taking of Novgorod by the…
Icon of the Mother of God of Yuga
The Wonderworking Yuga Icon of the Mother of God appeared at the beginning of the seventeenth century to the Elder Saint Dorotheus, schemamonk of the Pskov Caves monastery. The Mother of God, during an invasion of the Swedes, commanded him to take Her image to a place She specified, and to bring…
Icon of the Mother of God of Igritsa
The Holy Igritsa Icon of the Mother of God appeared in the year 1624 in Igritsa at the River Pesochna not far from the city of Kostroma. Local peasants found the icon in an old half-ruined church, for fifty years it was left neglected after a deadly plague. The icon stood in the altar and shone…
Icon of the Mother of God of Shui
The Holy Hodēgḗtria Icon of the Mother of God, named the Shui, appeared in the city of Shui of Vladimir diocese at the very height of a raging deadly epidemic in the years 1654-1655. The inhabitants of the city combatted this misfortune by prayer, and gathered together in the churches,…
“Seven Lakes” Icon of the Mother of God
The Seven Lakes (Sedmiezernaya) Icon of the Mother of God was glorified by great miracles in the seventeenth century in the area around the city of Kazan. This holy icon was in the Seven Lakes hermitage near the city of Kazan. Originally, seven small lakes surrounded the monastery, but these later…
Icon of the Mother of God of the Trinity-Saint Sergius Lavra
The Holy Smolensk Icon of the Mother of God is located at the Holy Trinity Sergiev Lavra in the Smolensk church on the left side of the Royal Doors. From this icon in 1730 there a cantor, whose hands were bent and rigid to the back, received healing. The Mother of God appeared to him in a vision…
Icon of the Mother of God of Okonsk
There is no reliable historical information about the origin of the Okonsk Icon of the Mother of God, but it is thought that the Icon came from Georgia. According to tradition, the Okonsk Icon was received by the Georgian King Vakhtang IV from Jerusalem in the XV century, and at first it was at…