The icon of the Mother of God, which is considered healing, is located in the Caucasus, in one of the monasteries. This image has a long history, shrouded in legends and miracles.
Icon location
At the moment, the icon of the Virgin āRedeemerā is located in the New Athos Simon-Kananitsky Cathedral at the foot of Mount Athos in Abkhazia. This is a manās monastery founded in 1875 by the monks of the church of St. Panteleimon with the participation of the Russian emperor Alexander III.
Since 2011, he was transferred to the Abkhaz Orthodox Church. Dozens and hundreds of Christian pilgrims try to overcome this long journey to get to this cathedral. Not he himself seduces them, but a wonderful icon depicting the Virgin Mary. The icon āRedeemerā was transferred from the holy Mount Athos in Greece, where elders live, who constantly pray in churches for the salvation of the human race from various misfortunes.
The shrine was transferred to the new temple by the monk Martinian in 1884. He lived in the Monastery of St. Panteleimon, which is traditionally considered Russian.
Martinian got the icon āThe Delivererā from Theodulus, his ascetic. However, only retelling of the miraculous deeds of the image at the moment when the monk owned it got into the church records. Theodulus was not endowed with the ability to retell the will of the Virgin Mary.
Legend from greece
The āRedeemerā icon created many miracles, proving more than once that prayers can be heard. Her first miracle was the salvation of an entire city.
According to legend, the image helped the inhabitants of the Greek city of Sparta withstand the locust attack. Bad weather came suddenly when the townspeople were not ready. Large swarms of insects began to exterminate the crop, and people were doomed to starvation and extinction.
In their city stopped Martinian with a miraculous icon. He learned that people in the city are afraid of imminent death, and persuaded them to begin to fervently pray to the Mother of God. Five thousand believers followed the monk who came to the nearest field and began to pray to the icon that the old man had set in the middle.
And then a miracle happened. Hearing the prayers of the parishioners, the icon of the Mother of God āDelivererā saved those places from locusts. People could again see the sun, which had previously been hidden behind millions of insects.
And that locust, which still remained, was eaten by a flock of birds, which came from nowhere.
Boy Anastasius and the miraculous salvation
It so happened that in the same place and at that time a little boy was ill, whose name was Anastasius. Parents struggled in vain with an incurable disease. When she began to progress and there was no hope left, the baby was asked to receive communion. But the local priest did not have time to arrive on time. He invited Martinian with him. Together they went to the patientās house. But did not have time. Anastasius is dead.
The priest did not know his peace because he was late to the dying man. Martinian brought an icon with him, and they, along with the priest, began to pray to the Mother of God that she would help and resurrect the child. The icon "Deliverer from troubles" was always on his body. Both the priest, the elder, and the parents of the deceased baby asked.
After the prayer was completed, Martinian christened the icon of Anastasiusās face three times. Then the boy's eyes opened. After the priest communed him, the child was cured of his past illness.
After such incredible miracles, the old man was learned not only throughout the city, but also far beyond its borders. Every day new people came to him and asked for help.
Martinian Care
Every day the old manās thoughts became more and more difficult. He did not like the fact that people who came to him for help began to read both the icon itself and him.
He decided it was time to leave the people. When Martinian found a remote cave near the sea and already wanted to settle there, the Mother of God came to him in a vision. She said that he would return to the afflicted and continue to do good deeds, healing others. Martinian obeyed. By the time he left the cave, the relatives of a girl named Elena, who was obsessed with a demon, were waiting for him. Only the icon "Deliverer from troubles" was able to drive from Helen inside the devil.
Icon helps in Russia
After many years of helping people, the elder had to return to Athos, where he took the goalkeeper herself. He took it to Panteleimon Monastery. There it was decided to transfer the icon to Russia. From there, she continued to treat the pilgrims.
In 1891, a press appeared in the press about how the three sufferers in the monastery were cured by the miraculous icon āThe Delivererā.
All the affairs that the image committed were recorded in the lists of St. Petersburg, in the church at the Naval Hospital. From there you can learn about the miraculous healing of a whole workshop of workers during the cholera epidemic in 1892. Where hard workers prayed for face, not a single case of the disease was recorded. Other workshops suffered.
The icon was often carried to factories, praying that the Blessed Virgin would help and protect against diseases.
Relocation holiday icons
Initially, a celebration in honor of the image was scheduled for April 4. But on this day in 1866, the emperor Alexander II was attacked. Despite the fact that the shooter failed to kill the king, the holiday, it was decided to postpone.
Icon Day began to be celebrated on October 17, still in the old style. The number was not chosen by chance, but in honor of the fact that Emperor Alexander the Third managed to miraculously survive with his whole family during a train accident at Borki station. It was believed that the icon of the Virgin "Redeemer from troubles" helped them.
Now the face of the Holy has two holidays. One on April 30, and the second on October 30.
Icon Style
The icon of the Mother of God, the Deliverer, belongs to a special style called Hodegetria. It can be deciphered as a "Guide". This style is characterized by the image of the Virgin Mary only to the waist. In her left hand lies the baby Jesus. The faces of the saints are addressed to those who pray before them. The baby's right palm is imprinted in a blessing gesture, and in his left is a scroll.
The Mother of God placed her free hand near her breast in the direction of her son.
In ancient times, the pentagram was also depicted on the icons with the Virgin Mary - a five-pointed star. She was to symbolize fidelity and selectivity. But after at the end of the 16th century, Masonic organizations appropriated this symbol, and later the Communists, ceased to draw a star on icons.
The Mother of God was often portrayed earlier and is still doing this sitting with her son on the throne of heaven. This is done in order to emphasize the royal position of the Virgin Mary and the Son of God. They are also painted with crowns on their heads.
Characteristics of this icon
- Our Lady has a royal crown, but her son does not;
- the icon of the Most Holy Theotokos āThe Redeemerā differs in very few small details from the image under the name āThe Naughtyā;
- the image was considered for a long time the protector of the monarchist family, in particular the royal family of the Romanovs. Nevertheless, the icon could not protect the family of the last emperor Nicholas II from brutal reprisal;
- there is another version of the face. It depicts the saints Panteleimon, the healer from Athos, and Simon Cananite. Both support the Redeemer icon. Away from them is the temple. And above them in the cloud are three angels sitting at a table.
The icon "Tashlinskaya Redeemer from troubles" is considered to have been brought from Athos in 1917 to the Samara region. According to church records, a certain Chugunova Catherine, a resident of the village of Tashla, Virgin Mary came in a dream three times during each night. She insisted that her icon was buried in a ravine near the village. When three days later the woman walked near that place, the image of the Mother of God appeared before her. Two angels carried the face and lowered it into this ravine. She told about her dream in the church, and, believing such a sign, the icon was immediately taken out of the ground.
Where the relic was unearthed, a miraculous spring appeared. She was carried to the Holy Trinity Church, where a prayer service was served immediately. On the same day when the icon appeared, a certain Trolova Anna from the same village after 32 years of illness miraculously healed. A well was built near the source, to which believers came with their requests for healing.
Having survived church persecution, the icon in 2005 returned to the church, re-erected in honor of it. A well filled with debris was restored and saw that the water there continued to flow.
Image style is slightly different from the icon in the Caucasian monastery. The inner corners of the painting are decorated according to the New Athos style of iconography. There is a flower with ten petals in it, while there are eight petals on the Tashlinsky Sporuchnitsa, and the Mother of God looks at her son. In the baby in the image, the legs touch almost the bottom edge.
Who prays before the icon
Believers who suffer from any problems come to the Mother of God for help, turning to her through a holy image. The Icon of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Deliverer, according to church beliefs, answers prayers of the pure spirit of people.
Most often, those who pray to her are:
- obsessed with any kind of addiction: from alcohol, games, smoking, and so on;
- tormented by disease;
- want to get rid of spiritual sadness;
- ask for help in times of trouble;
- Seek advice in a difficult situation.
Akathists in honor of the Mother of God
The first written akathist, the icon āThe Redeemerā, asks that the Mother of God take away from the enemies the opportunity to influence them, as well as teach joys and songs in the name of the Blessed Virgin, which saves from troubles, from grief, from perdition.
The second song refers to the Mother of God as the protector of people and the head of angels, sending them to help humanity.
The third akathist glorifies both the Mother of God and her son.