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Miraculous icons The Virgin Mary is highly revered in everything Orthodox world. They say that Tolga icon The Mother of God healed Ivan the Terrible himself when he could not walk from pain in his legs. A friend of our neighbor on the landing told us about this icon. A baby for whom doctors could not make a correct diagnosis was miraculously healed. The mother fervently prayed to the Mother of God, confessed and received communion. The result was the baby's complete recovery. In the article I will talk about the appearance of the icon to the Bishop of Rostov, miracles of healing and prayer to it. History of the iconThe holy image was bestowed by heaven in the most miraculous way in 1314. One day Bishop Prokhor went to Yaroslavl on church business. The path ran along the Volga River, and for the overnight stay the pilgrims chose the area where the Tolga River flows into the Volga. When it got dark, the bishop saw a column of fire coming from the sky. He went to that place and saw that a bright light was coming from the image of the Virgin Mary with the Child of God in her arms. The bishop began to fervently pray to the Holy Face and spent the rest of the night in prayer vigil. Returning to the parking lot, Prokhor noticed that his staff remained at the site of the night prayer vigil. When the servants returned from the search site, they brought with them a miraculous icon of the Mother of God: it was located next to the staff. Prokhor immediately recognized the image of the Mother of God on the icon, which appeared to him in a vision. The pilgrims knelt down and offered praise to the Mother of God. On the same day, the place where the icon was found was cleared for the construction of a church. During construction, God's miracles occurred, as the temple was erected in just one day. In the evening it was consecrated, and all the sick people were healed. Later, the Tolga Monastery was erected next to the church. Tolgsky stood for about 600 years monastery, and after the revolution a children's colony was opened there. The image of the Mother of God was moved to the Yaroslavl Museum, and only in 2003 did the Holy Face return to its monastery. The holy face of the Tolga Mother of God is the protective cover of the city of Yaroslavl.
The icon is in the Assumption Cathedral, it distinctive feature is a sign of divinity above the head. Above the image of the Mother of God with the Child of God, who pressed his cheek to her, are the archangels Gabriel and. Lists with icons have the same miraculous power, like the prototype. What does it help with?Miracles iconsIn 1995, an article appeared in a Yaroslavl newspaper written by the grandmother of a healed 14-year-old grandson. The boy had a hump and a secondary vertebral fracture. Prayers, anointing lamp oil A miracle was performed in front of the icon. Doctors could not explain where the hump and the fracture disappeared. This was a real miracle revealed by the Mother of God in our days. Also in 1995, with the help of prayer to the icon, a boy who could only walk with crutches was healed. The boy was brought to the Tolga Monastery by his parents from Volgograd. The child went back without crutches. In 2001, through the prayer of his mother in front of the icon, his son was healed. He suffered from heart disease. A woman came to the monastery from Moscow to venerate the shrine and ask for the healing of her son. Later she brought a medical certificate about the complete recovery of her child. In 2006, warts disappeared from the girl’s hand, which were planned to be removed with a laser. She drank monastery water from the spring and prayed to the Holy Face. In 2008, a woman suffering from alcoholism completely got rid of her addiction by venerating the Holy Face in the Tolga Monastery. In 2011, a woman was completely healed from terrible swelling on her leg. She attended water-blessing prayer services, offered prayers to the icon for three days and anointed her sore leg with lamp oil.
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Image reproduced from edition: Lazarev V. N. Russian icon painting from origins to early XVI century. M.: Art, 2000.
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With. 202¦
162. Our Lady of Tolga 1.
1 This icon was named Tolgskaya by the art historians who discovered it conditionally, after the monastery where this monument was found. In Russian iconography, Tolgskaya is called the waist-length Mother of God from the Vvedensky Cathedral of the same monastery. The canonicity of the half-length composition is confirmed by a copy of Our Lady of Tolga from 1744, a letter from Ivan Andreev from the Vysokopetrovsky Monastery in Moscow, now in the State Historical Museum. V.N. Lazarev (see bib.) believes that “Tolgskaya I” is a Russian icon, executed in the last quarter of the 13th century.
Meanwhile, V.N. Lazarev himself (V. Lasareff, Studies in the iconography of the Virgin. - “The art Bulletin”, vol. XX, No. 1, 1938, march, p. 54) notes the spread in Georgia of a rarely found on Rus' type of throne Hodegetria, a variant of which is Eleusa on the throne. Below historical reference sheds light on the origin of “Tolgskaya I”.
The Simeonovskaya Chronicle preserved the news of the import from Georgia in 1278, “full of great self-interest” by the Yaroslavl prince Fyodor Rostislavich Cherny: “... Prince Fyodor Rostislavich ... and many other princes with boyars and servants went to war with Tsar Mengutemer, and God help the Russian prince, who took the glorious city of Yassky Dedyakov... and he was full and took great gain... The Tsar, having honored the goodness of the Russian princes and praised the lords and bestowed them, sent them home with much honor, each to his homeland” (quoted from the book. : A. N. Nasonov, Mongols and Rus', M.–L., 1940, p. 64).
The location of the city of Dedyakov, under which Prince Mikhail Yaroslavich of Tverskoy was killed in 1318, is clarified by the information of the Great Menaions (November, notebook III, M., 1914, l. 1080b): “... beyond the Terk River, on the rivers Seventsy, near the city of Tetyakov, having passed all the high cities of Yassky and Cherkasy, near the iron gates...” Dedyakov was located not far from the Daryal iron gates and the Sundzha River (otherwise Seventsa or Sevendzha), located in the Dzaudzhikau region (see J. Rotoski, Voyage dans les steps d"Astrakhan et du Caucase, t. 1, Paris, 1829, pp. 339–340, as well as F. Brun, On the wanderings of Tsar Prester John. - “Notes of the Novorossiysk University”, Odessa, 1870, pp. 13).
Thus, from this region of Ossetia, located in the 12th–13th centuries. under the strong influence of Georgian culture (see. Sh. Ya. Amiranashvili, History of Georgian Art, vol. 1, M., 1950, p. 139) a work of Georgian painting, executed before 1278, which today turned into Tolgskaya I, could have been exported.
Russian belt icons “Tolgskaya II” (1314, Yaroslavl regional local history museum) and “Tolgskaya III” (first half of the 14th century, Russian Museum) were written in Yaroslavl under the influence artistic image this work, which I define as a rare example of Georgian easel painting of the third quarter of the 13th century. In Russian icons of the 14th century. the composition of “Tolgskaya I” is close to the iconography of waist-length Tenderness, popular at that time. Subsequently, this composition changes even more, giving rise to variants far from the original (see, for example, the half-length “Tolgskaya Podkubenskaya” of the 14th century in the Vologda Museum).
XIII century. Rostov-Suzdal school (?).
The Mother of God is presented on the throne. Supporting the baby standing on her lap with both hands, Mary bows her head towards him. Jesus hugs her, pressing his mother's cheek. In the upper corners are life-size angels standing before the Mother of God with their hands covered with clothes. The clothes combine cube-blue and brown-red colors of two shades. The abundant white spaces are better preserved on the blue parts of the clothing. Lined with red cloth, depicted at the forehead, the reddish-brown maforium of Our Lady is decorated with a silver border and a cufflink with pearls and colored stones. Ocher throne painted in yellow floral ornament, depicted with an arcature in three rows (the upper two are end-to-end); the throne is seated with pearls and colored stones along a black stripe framing it. There is a bright green pillow on the throne, and a curtain of the same color can be seen below. Under the pillow there is a dark brown carpet (?), embroidered with stones and pearls, as is the footstool on which the feet of the Virgin Mary in red shoes rest. The swirl is dense, clay-brown with a brownish tint, along yellow sankir. Olive and dark red shadows are splashed in, as are white highlights around the mouth, nose and under the eyes. The eyes are dark brown, almost black, with bright white. Spas's hair is dyed black-brown with a greenish preparation; on the baptismal halo there are traces of paints precious stones. The upcoming angels are presented in pink and blue clothes. At the top left above the angel there are traces of a cinnabar inscription (Georgian (?)). The star on the forehead of the Mother of God, the ornament of the throne and the wings of angels were painted in the 16th century. In few places of loss ancient painting(on the clothes of the Mother of God and the pillows of the throne) later inserts were left. The background and fields are silver, possibly filled with tin. The upper and lower margins are sawed off; the roller-like thickenings on the lateral margins are hewn away.
Thin cypress board, dowels on forged nails driven on the back and front sides 2. Coarse-grained pavoloka, gesso, egg tempera. 140×92.
2 These features - the type of wood of the board and the method of attaching the dowels - also speak in favor of the Georgian origin of the icon.
From the Vozdvizhenskaya Church of the Tolgsky Monastery near Yaroslavl, then the Yaroslavl Regional Museum of Art.
Discovered at the Central State Russian Museum in 1925 by G. O. Chirikov, P. I. Yukin and I. I. Suslov.
Received from the Central State Russian Museum in 1930. With. 202
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With. 168¦
25. Large icon of the Tolga Mother of God (Tolga I)
Last quarter of the 13th century. 140×92. Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow .
From the Vozdvizhenskaya Church of the Tolga Monastery near Yaroslavl. The condition is generally good. The greatest losses are on the halo and background, the silver of which has oxidized. There are inserts of new gesso on the clothing. The upper and especially the lower margins are shortened. Iconographic type of Our Lady of Tenderness with standing baby borrowed from Byzantine sources. It occurs on two Sinai icons XII–XIII centuries ( Sotiriou G. et M. Icones du Mont Sinaï, vol. I, fig. 148, 201). The image of the Mother of God sitting on a throne was also well known to the Byzantines (ibid., fig. 54, 157, 171, 191, 222, 232), although it became more widespread in Ducento painting. But from here it would be wrong to draw a conclusion about Italian influences on the icon. The closest iconographic analogies for it are the miniature of the Exultet scroll, reproducing the Greek original, in the Paris National Library (Nlles Acq. lat., no. 710, around 1115: Bertaux L. L"art dans l"Italie Meridionale. Paris, 1904, p. 228–229; Wed with scrolls Exultet pl. II, 11 s), 13th-century Byzantine relief at San Marco ( Demus O. The Church of San Marco in Venice, p. 121, fig. 35), gold icon of the 13th century in the Hermitage ( Bank A.V. Byzantine art in collections Soviet Union. L.-M., 1967, ill. 247, p. 374). But on the Tolga icon the entire composition is flattened. V. I. Antonova’s attempt to attribute the icon of the Tolga Mother of God to the Georgian school is fantastic. The icon is written not on a cypress board, but on a linden board, which speaks against its southern origin. With. 168
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Icon of the Mother of God Tolga
Surrounded by a relict cedar grove, the domes of the Tolga St. Vvedensky Monastery shine over the Volga waters. By the providence of God it became the first convent opened on the territory of Russia after many decades of persecution and devastation. Since January 1988, here, a little above Yaroslavl and on the northern bank of the great Russian river opposite this city, the first nun sisters settled, whose deliberate ministry was caring for the elderly and lonely ministers of the Church. Over time, the honest relics of St. Ignatius (Brianchaninov), a subtle religious thinker and psychologist, who in his writings brought the centuries-old ascetic experience of Orthodox asceticism closer to understanding, were also transferred to Tolga modern man. In his earthly life, Saint Ignatius was not particularly connected with Tolga: he died and was buried in another Upper Volga monastery, the Nikolo-Babaevsky monastery, which stood halfway from Yaroslavl to Kostroma.
The original shrine of Tolga for almost seven centuries was the miraculous myrrh-streaming icon Our Lady of Tolga, taken to Yaroslavl in the mid-1920s Art Museum. Once upon a time religious processions with the Tolga Icon were carried out from here to Yaroslavl, and to Rostov the Great with its neighboring Borisogleb, and to Rybinsk, and to the northern districts bordering Vologda.
In 1314, when Yaroslavl was owned by Prince David Fedorovich, the local bishop Prokhor (in the schema Tryphon) was returning from the monastery of St. Cyril of Belozersky to his cathedral city. The path, which ran first along the Sheksna, then along the Volga, was long and difficult, and, not having reached Yaroslavl only seven miles, the Bishop and his companions were forced to land for the night on the right elevated bank. The tired travelers had long been asleep when a bright light suddenly leaked into the bishop’s tent. The Lord went outside and saw a marvelous pillar of fire rising on the opposite bank, at the mouth of the Tolga River, where at that time there was a dense forest. The reflection of the pillar in the Volga water formed a light path similar to the moon. Falling to his knees before this mysterious sign, the archpastor crossed himself and, leaning on his holy staff, stepped onto the water lowered by the unearthly light and walked along it like dry land. Having crossed to the other side, the ruler saw that at the top of the pillar of fire the image of the Most Pure One with the Eternal Child was hovering. With tears of tenderness, the bishop began to pray: “Mistress, You look upon Your children and do not forget Your heritage! What shall we render, what gifts shall we bring to You?” Exhausted, he returned through the same wondrous fiery bridge to his tent and fell asleep until the morning. When the time came to set off, the bishop realized that he had forgotten his holy staff on the opposite bank. And then, having told his unsuspecting companions about the night vigil, he crossed with them into the forest beyond the river and saw an icon already standing on the ground with a staff lying in front of it. Having made sure that everything that happened at midnight was not a sleepy vision, the archpastor fell before the appeared image, and then took an ax in his hands and began to chop down the forest. And until the bishop and his servants built a wooden church on the site of the appearance of the Most Pure One, they did not return to the city. The Yaroslavl residents who heard about the miracle flocked to Tolga in droves to join the builders, so that by noon the church was ready, and by the evening it was consecrated in the name of the Introduction.
More than half a century has passed. A monastery had long been formed around the church, where pious monks and pilgrims who had heard about miracles from the icon flocked. On September 16, 1392, Abbot Herman proclaimed during Matins the usual words from the liturgical rite: “Let us exalt the Mother of God and the Mother of Light in song,” and suddenly at that very moment myrrh began to flow from the right hand of the Most Pure One, whose fragrance spread throughout the entire cathedral. When the amazed monks began to serve a prayer service on the occasion of a new miracle, while singing the words “Mistress, accept the prayers of Thy servant,” myrrh appeared on the left leg of the Baby. The pilgrims collected it and carried it to the surrounding towns and villages, and everywhere the Tolga myrrh brought healing to the sick and sorrowful.
However, soon the wooden buildings of the monastery were destroyed in the flames of a fire, and the cathedral church could not resist the fire. The icon was then considered lost, and what was the surprise of the monks when they saw the unharmed miraculous one standing in the branches of one of the monastery cedars.
Soon the monastery was restored. In 1553, Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich the Terrible visited Tolga while passing through and received an unexpected healing from the pain in his legs that tormented him. As a token of gratitude, the sovereign built a stone cathedral in the monastery.
The Tolga icon became famous for many miracles in subsequent times; Many sovereigns donated for the improvement of the monastery after Grozny: Mikhail Fedorovich, Feodor Alekseevich, Ivan Alekseevich, Peter I, Anna Ioannovna, Pavel Petrovich. While making her trip along the Volga, Catherine II, having served a prayer service at the miraculous one, walked in a cedar grove.
Old guidebooks to the Volga mention a pious custom: every passenger steamer sailing along the main road of Russia would certainly make a stop at the monastery pier so that travelers could attend a prayer service at the miraculous one.
The men's monastery existed on Tolga until 1926. Soon a colony for juvenile delinquents moved into its walls (it remained here until 1987), and in the mid-1930s, nearby, near the village of Norskoye, the GULAG began construction of a dam. The reservoir raised by it would have flooded many cities and villages up the Volga, including ancient Uglich. However, this project was soon abandoned and construction was moved near Rybinsk, to the mouths of the Sheksna and Mologa; only the name of the village neighboring Tolga - Volgostroy - reminds of the original plan.
The miraculous one was given to the museum. According to its iconographic type, it is “Eleusa” or “Tenderness”. The image of the Most Pure Mother is half-length, the Savior, touching Her cheeks, fell to the left shoulder of His Most Pure Mother, and with His shuytsey he hugs Her by the neck. In terms of composition, Tolgskaya is in every way similar to the palladium of neighboring Kostroma - the Fedorovskaya Mother of God - but only in a mirror image. For a long time, lists were made from Tolgskaya, especially revered among them were the icons in the maiden monastery in Nezhin, in the Resurrection Church in the Vologda village of Podkubenskoye, in the Peter and Paul Monastery of Mtsensk and in the town of Illukste in the Courland province.
Troparion, tone 4
Today Your image, the Most Pure Virgin Mother of God, shines brightly on Tolga, and, like the never-setting sun, the faithful have always appeared, having seen it in the air, invisibly, the Angels, like no one, are holding, the Right Reverend Bishop of the city of Rostov Tryphon flowing towards the revealed luminous pillar of fire, and across the waters , as if on dry land, pass, and pray to Thee faithfully for the flock and for the people. And we, who flow to You, call: Most Holy Virgin Theotokos, truly save those who glorify You, our country, the bishops and the entire Russian people from all troubles according to Your great mercy.
Prayer
O Most Holy Lady, Virgin Mother of God, Supreme Cherub and Seraphim and Holiness of all saints! You, the All-Blessed One, on Tolga, You deigned to display Your multi-healing icon to the blessed Saint Tryphon in a fiery way, and with it You performed many and ineffable miracles and are now doing them, according to Your ineffable mercy towards us. To You, before Your most pure image, we bow down and pray, Most Blessed Intercessor of our race: in this earthly journey, much sorrowful and much rebellion, do not deprive us of Your intercession and sovereign protection. Save and protect us, Lady, from the kindled arrows of the crafty enemy of our salvation. Strengthen our weak will to do the commandments of Christ, soften our hardened hearts with love for God and our neighbors, grant us heartfelt contrition and true repentance, so that, having been cleansed from the filth of sin, we can bring to the Creator the fruits of good deeds pleasing to Him and be honored with a peaceful Christian death and a right answer at His Terrible and impartial Judgment. Hey, Lady All-Merciful! In this terrible hour, mortal, especially show us Your powerful intercession, then hasten to help us who are helpless and with Your sovereign hand snatch us from the power of the fierce ruler of the world, for truly Your prayer can do much before the face of the Lord, and nothing is impossible for Your intercession, unless you only desire it. Moreover, looking at Your holy image with tenderness and before it, as if alive, You who exist with us, worshiping, with good hope, we ourselves and each other and our whole life to You in God prayerfully commend and we magnify You with our Savior born of You, the Lord Jesus Christ, To Him, together with His Beginning Father and the Most Holy Spirit, is due all glory, honor and worship, now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen.
21 / 08 / 2005
The name is due to its appearance on the Tolga River, which took place in 1314. This event was preceded by the following story.
Bishop Prokhor of Rostov and Yaroslavl, on one of his trips to protect the diocese entrusted to him, stopped for the night seven miles from Yaroslavl on the right bank of the Volga. At midnight at night Rostov ruler I saw on the opposite bank of the river a pillar of fire and a fiery bridge leading across the Volga to the other bank, where a dense forest was located. The bishop said a prayer and, taking with him his archpastoral staff, set off across a wonderful bridge consisting of condensed supernatural power water, to the other side.
There the bishop approached the pillar of fire and saw in the air an icon of the Mother of God with the baby Jesus Christ. Bishop Prokhor began to pray long and earnestly in front of the icon. After the prayer, the bishop returned back, forgetting his staff at the site of the appearance of the icon.
In the morning, when they began to look for the rod, the bishop remembered where he had left it. The Lord told about the night event and sent his novices for the rod. When the novices arrived at the place, they saw the holy icon between the trees. Then the saint himself hurried to the other side of the river and recognized the icon he had seen at night.
Immediately after the miraculous appearance of the image of the Mother of God, a decision was made to build a temple. Residents of Yaroslavl, having heard about such a miraculous appearance of the Mother of God, assisted in the construction with great enthusiasm. Subsequently, a monastery was founded on the site of the appearance of the Tolga Icon of the Mother of God, in which the holy image is still located.
The Tolga Icon of the Mother of God is miraculous. From her, believers received and are receiving various healings from illnesses, as well as help in everyday needs and sorrows.
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Tip 2: Feast of the Intercession Holy Mother of God: history and modernity
The Most Holy Lady Theotokos is greatest intercessor of the human race. Numerous cases of patronage are known from history Holy Virgin, the memory of which is preserved to this day in various Orthodox celebrations. The Day of the Intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary is one of the great holidays based in historical fact help of the Blessed Virgin to believers.
Orthodox Church Russia celebrates Intercession Day Holy Lady Theotokos in mid-October (14th according to the new calendar). This day of the Orthodox calendar is highlighted in bold red, indicating special reverence for this celebration.
The Feast of the Intercession is historical evidence of the miraculous appearance of the Intercessor of the human race in the Blachernae Church of the capital of Byzantium - Constantinople. This event dates back to the beginning of the 10th century. Meanwhile, when the ruler of the Byzantine Empire was Emperor Leo the Wise. The beginning of the tenth century was marked by attacks on Constantinople by Saracen invaders. In times of such distress Orthodox people with special zeal he resorted in his prayers to the Lord and the Mother of God for help and intercession.
Well-known in Russia hagiographical source "The Lives of the Saints" of the Metropolitan Rostovsky Dimitri narrates that during the Saracen attack on Constantinople, the people diligently offered up their prayers during the Sunday all-night service (other sources do not indicate the specific day of the appearance of the Mother of God, only the data is preserved that it occurred during the all-night vigil). Among those praying in the temple was Saint Blessed Andrew, called the holy fool in the month of God. It was he who saw the Most Holy Virgin walking through the air, accompanied by the Savior’s beloved disciple John the Theologian, the great prophet and Forerunner of the Lord John, the saints and angelic hosts. The disciple of the holy fool Andrei Epiphanius was also honored with such a wondrous vision.
The Most Holy Theotokos prayed for the people of Constantinople, after which she removed the covering from her head, called Christian tradition omophorion, and spread it over those present in the temple. The meaning of this phenomenon pointed to the visible and tangible help and intercession of the Virgin Mary. And the holiday itself, established in honor of the appearance of the Mother of God in the Blachernae Church, received its name - the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos.
After the miraculous appearance of the Mother of God, the conquerors retreated from the royal city of Constantinople. Many residents were saved, and Orthodox shrines were not trampled by the invaders.
In honor of the events in the Blachernae temple, it was decided to establish a special holiday, which in the 12th century passed into orthodox calendar and to Rus'. Prince Andrei Bogolyubsky expressed special reverence for this day, who initiated the construction of the first Intercession Church ( famous temple Intercession on the Nerl, erected in 1164). In the following centuries, they began to erect Pokrovsky monasteries and build numerous churches. IN modern times Almost every diocese has a temple, the main altar of which is consecrated in honor of the miraculous event of the appearance of the Mother of God in the Blachernae Church of Constantinople.
Orthodox believers to this day strive to attend the holiday on the eve of the Intercession, and on the day of the holiday itself to pray at the liturgy, to ask the Most Holy Virgin for intercession and help in all everyday needs and troubles.
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Tip 3: Kazan Icon of the Mother of God: meaning and history
The icon of the Kazan Mother of God is one of the most revered in Orthodoxy. All over the world people pray to this image and ask the Mother of God for intercession. It is believed that the icon has great power, helps and bestows healing.
The history of the acquisition of the icon
The prototype of the icon was found back in 1579, it is unknown who exactly and when it was painted. There was a huge fire in the city of Kazan, entire streets were on fire, and most of the wooden buildings were destroyed. According to a legend that has survived to this day, immediately after a terrible fire, the little daughter of the merchant Onuchin appeared in a dream and pointed out the place where the miraculous image, untouched by the fire, lay. The merchant sorted out the rubble of his burnt house and found under it an icon written on a cypress board.
The icon was not only beautiful, but also differed from other famous icons of the Mother of God. On the icon of the Kazan Mother of God, the infant Christ is depicted on the left side of the mother, and his right hand raised in a blessing gesture.
The icon of the Kazan Mother of God had mysterious healing powers. Many people applied themselves to the image in the hope of healing. There is evidence that the icon restored vision, relieved headaches and other ailments. It was installed in the Annunciation Church in Kazan. Crowds of people came to see and pray at the image.
The news of the miracle icon spread far beyond the city and reached the king. A copy of the icon of the Kazan Mother of God was made and sent to Ivan the Terrible. She made a stunning impression on everyone royal family. Ivan the Terrible ordered the construction convent at the location of the holy image.
The role of the icon in the history of Russia
In addition to miracles of healing, the icon of Our Lady of Kazan played an important role in the history of the Russian state. At the beginning of the 17th century, misfortunes befell Russia, the throne was left without a ruler. The Poles took advantage of the turmoil and captured Moscow, and installed their prince Vladislav as king. The prince did not want to change his Catholic faith to the Orthodox and honestly rule the Russian people. As a result, Patriarch Hermogenes called on the people to rise up, overthrow the Poles and place an Orthodox king on the throne.
In 1612, a copy of the icon of the Kazan Mother of God was brought to Moscow by Kazan militias; it was in the chambers of Prince D.I. Pozharsky. Before battles, the warriors prayed to the image and asked the Mother of God for help.
After the victory over the Poles, Pozharsky assigned the icon to the Church of the Entry on Lubyanka. In gratitude for victory and salvation in the battles, the prince erected the Kazan Cathedral on Red Square, where the miraculous image of the Virgin Mary was transferred.
The prototype of the Kazan Mother of God is associated with the triumph of Russian troops in the battle of Poltava in 1709, as well as the victory in the war with Napoleon. It is noteworthy that before the Battle of Poltava, Peter the Great prayed with his army in front of the icon of the Kazan Mother of God.
Great Catherine the Second ordered a precious crown to be made and personally crowned the holy image with it.
In 1812, during the First Patriotic War, leaving Moscow to the French, Field Marshal Kutuzov took the icon from the cathedral and took it out on his chest under his overcoat. After the victory, the icon returned to its place.
The third copy of the image of the Kazan Mother of God was brought to St. Petersburg by order of Paul I in 1708. First, she was placed in a wooden chapel on the St. Petersburg side, and then transported to the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary on Nevsky Prospekt. The icon remained here until 1811, then it was moved to the newly built Kazan Cathedral, where it remains today.
The holy image also played a huge role during the Great Patriotic War. According to historical records, the icon was secretly delivered to besieged Leningrad. She was carried through the streets of the city, and he survived. Also, during the war, the icon was taken to Moscow, and in Stalingrad a prayer service was served in front of it. It is believed that the Mother of God is the protector of Russia and helps the country to withstand its enemies.
Miracles of Moscow
It is interesting that in the first days of the icon’s stay in Moscow, many miracles and healings occurred. The story of Savva Fomin has reached our time. This Kazan townsman, who lived in Moscow, decided to commit a terrible crime. He called on the devil and promised to give him his immortal soul. But after the crime was committed, Savva was struck by a serious illness, and over time he wanted to repent of his crime. Preparing for death, he confessed to the priest, after which the Mother of God appeared to him in a dream and ordered him to arrive on July 8 at the Kazan Cathedral. Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich heard about this and ordered the sick Savva to be taken to the cathedral on a carpet. During the service, Sava began to experience severe pain, he began to cry out to the Queen of Heaven, and the Mother of God appeared to him and ordered him to enter her church. To the amazement of the parishioners, Savva stood up and entered the Kazan Cathedral on his own feet. He fell to his knees in front of the icon and promised to devote his life to serving God. Subsequently, he gave away all his property and became a monk at the Chudov Monastery.
The mystery of finding the original icon of the Kazan Mother of God
Currently, many copies of the miraculous icon have been painted, but the location of the original sacred image still remains a mystery.
There are several versions about the disappearance and secret storage of the icon. The original was lost in early XIX century. At that time, there were rumors about the theft of an icon from the Bogoroditsky Monastery. Allegedly, along with the Mother of God, an image of the Savior and valuable church utensils were also stolen. A reward of 300 rubles was offered for the capture of the thieves or information about the location of the icon.
The thief was caught after some time Nizhny Novgorod. He turned out to be a seasoned thief - a repeat offender with 43 years of hard labor behind him, a certain Chaikin. His “specialty” was church robberies. During interrogations, he changed his testimony several times, first he claimed that he burned the icon, then he began to say that he chopped it with an ax. However, neither the court nor the people believed him, since even such an inveterate criminal could not have been unaware of the value of the relic. But until 1917, Chaikin claimed that he had destroyed the icon of the Virgin Mary.
The clergy thought that the icon had fallen into the hands of the Old Believers. The fact is that the Old Believers believed that having found the icon of the Kazan Mother of God, they would receive freedom of religion. In essence, this is practically what happened: in 1905, a law on religious tolerance was issued and the Old Believers were restored to their rights. People began to say that this bad sign and troubles await Russia. After the bloody events of 1917, the trace of the icon was lost forever.
According to the second version, only a copy of the icon was stolen, and the original was in the chambers of the mother abbess of the monastery at the time of the crime.
The historian Khafizov conducted his own investigation into the mysterious disappearance of the holy image. He believes that the icon was taken from Russia in 1920 during Civil War and sold at an underground auction to an English collector. After which the icon passed into the hands of new owners several times and was eventually purchased by the Blue Army organization and transferred to the Vatican, from where it returned to Russia in 2004.
There is another version: the original icon of the Kazan Mother of God was not destroyed and was never taken out of the country. The face is securely hidden in a secret place.
Interesting fact: even modern lists from the icon have great power and there are many eyewitnesses who claim that they experienced its miraculous power.
How to contact an icon
You can consult the icon both in the church (temple) and at home. For appeals and prayers you need an image; you can purchase an icon in any church shop. Light a candle in front of the icon and concentrate. The most important condition is sincerity; prayer must come from your heart. Most often, they pray to the Mother of God for the health of children and loved ones, asking for help and intercession in family and everyday matters. It is customary to bless the newlyweds with this icon for a lasting and happy marriage.
IN troubled times before the Mother of God they pray for intercession, the success of soldiers in battles and the liberation of the country from enemy forces.
There is a wonderful maternal custom - to place the icon of the Kazan Mother of God at the head of the crib, thereby protecting the child from adversity and serious illnesses.
There are special appeals for reading in front of the icon of the Kazan Mother of God:
- prayer;
- kontakion;
- troparion
The celebration of the image in Russia takes place two days a year: July 21 and November 4. Summer holiday dedicated to the appearance of a miraculous face, and in the fall to the liberation of Moscow from Polish invaders in 1612. Currently, divine services are held every day in the Kazan Cathedral in Moscow, and the gaze of parishioners turns to the holy image.
In Orthodoxy, the Mother of God is revered more than all saints. She helps people in all pious deeds; there are icons of the Mother of God in any Orthodox home. Moreover, if a saint is usually depicted in one way, then there are thousands of images of the Mother of God. They are called differently, so as not to cause confusion, but each has its own, unique characteristics. Thus, although there are many icons, there is still a certain number of them in the world; the Mother of God cannot be painted any way you like.
How did all these icons appear and why are there so many of them? The images of the Mother of God are the first icons of the Christian world. According to legend, the very first image was painted by the Evangelist Luke, and he wrote it from the original. But all the other images were not a copy of that first image. They appeared in the world the most different ways: painted by icon painters, and then glorified by miracles, appearing in the most unexpected places (in such cases, the image is considered miraculous).
For example, the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God was found in a fire, and the Tolga Icon of the Mother of God was found on a tree branch, high above the heads of all the people. Such images are revered from the moment they are acquired and are considered miraculous.
The Tolga Icon of the Mother of God was found by Bishop Prokhor, through a short time A monastery began to be built nearby.
The icon itself is named after the place of its appearance and current residence. It was not far from a small river in Tolga that the icon of the Mother of God of Tolga was found. Almost 700 years have passed since its acquisition; the image is considered very ancient and valuable.
Before the revolution it was male, but in the decades since the start of perestroika, it was restored as female. Its revival began at the dawn of the nineties; it was difficult for the community to gather. But the Tolga Icon of the Mother of God helps the nuns of the monastery. Gradually all material difficulties were overcome, repair work was completed. The Tolga icon is not the only shrine of the monastery. Here rest the relics of whose books began to be published again in last years. Now the icon of the Mother of God of Tolga is in Yaroslavl region, in the Tolgsky monastery. And in Soviet times the icon was kept in the city museum, but in the nineties it was transferred back to the monastery. At first it was brought here on holidays: the image is ancient and extremely valuable, so transportation was carried out in a special car with security. But now the monastery has managed to create the conditions necessary for storing such an ancient icon. Therefore, the icon of the Mother of God of Tolga now resides in the temple, and you can venerate it any day.
The monastery lives a measured life, akathists are read daily in front of the Tolga icon, prayers are served in front of the relics, and an incessant psalter is read. The nun sisters record evidence of miracles that occurred through prayers before the Tolga Icon.
Every year the monastery celebrates Tolgin Day - August 21, on the day special veneration Tolga Icon of the Mother of God. Many pilgrims flock here. After the Liturgy, the sisters distribute food from the relict park - a cedar forest on the territory of the monastery, and treat them to monastery kvass. Everyone who comes on this day to pray to the Mother of God at the monastery leaves comforted and joyful.
