In the northeast of modern Syria, between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, from 137 BC to 242 AD there was a small state Osroen, who first declared Christianity the official state religion. Here the icon of the Savior Not Made by Hands is mentioned for the first time.
Legend of the icon
According to numerous legends, the Oswroan king Avgar V, whose residence was in the capital of the state of Edessa, fell ill with an incurable disease - black leprosy. In a dream, a revelation appeared to him that only the face of the Savior would help him. The court painter, sent to Christ, could not capture his image because of the divine radiance emanating from Jesus, who, having met the royal prayers, washed his face with water and wiped it with a towel (cloth). On it, a bright image remained, captured under the name "Ubrus", or Mandilion, or the icon of the Holy Savior. That is, in the classic version, it is the face of Christ, made on the canvas, at the edges of which a canvas is launched, and the upper ends are tied in knots.
After the miraculous healing of Avgar, there is no mention of this icon until 545, when the Persian troops took Edessa into blockade. As often happens, in a difficult moment, providence comes to the rescue. In the nave above the gates of the city were discovered not only the very well-preserved icon of the Holy Savior, but also its imprint on the ceramic wall of the vault, or Ceramidione. The blockade of the city was lifted in the most miraculous way.
Icon Features
This miraculous image in both its manifestations (executed both on canvas and on ceramics) has a number of features and customs associated with it. So, it is recommended to beginner icon painters as their first independent work.
The Icon of the Savior Not Made by Hands is the only image on which the halo around the head of Jesus has the shape of a regular vicious circle with a cross inside. All these details, as well as the Savior’s hair color, the general background of the icon (on the most ancient icons, the background always remained clean), carry their own semantic meaning.
There are opinions that the portrait created without a brush and paints, which, in its essence, is the icon of the “Holy Face Not Made by Hands”, is a photo of Christ depicting his face.
In Orthodoxy, this icon always, from the moment its list was brought from Constantinople in 1355, played a special role. Although the most ancient icons of this species appeared in Russia in the XI century, only from the second half of the XIV century everything connected with the “Holy Savior” was positioned at the level of the state cult and is being introduced everywhere. Temples are built under it, this face is depicted on the banners of the Russian troops in the most decisive battles for the country - from Kulikovskaya to the battles of the First World War. The word "banner" is gradually replaced by the word "banner" (from the "sign"). The banners with the image of the "Savior Not Made by Hands" became an integral part of the victories of Russian weapons.
Icon "Holy Miraculous" today
The arrival of this miraculous icon, the fame of which spread throughout Russia, from the Novospassky
Monastery in the city of Vyatka to the Assumption Cathedral of the Kremlin, has acquired national scale and significance. Thousands of Muscovites and visitors came to meet the icon and at the sight of it fell to their knees. The Frolovskiy gates through which the icon was carried began to be called Spassky. You could only go through them with your head uncovered, as a sign of the divinity of your face.
“The Savior Not Made by Hands” is an icon the significance of which cannot be overestimated. It is perceived as one of the main symbols of Orthodoxy, in terms of meaning it is equated with a cross and a crucifix.
In recent years, which are sometimes rightly called the Second Baptism of Russia, an unprecedented number of churches, monasteries and temples have been built. In Sochi, to the opening of the Olympics in record time, the Temple of the Savior was not built or consecrated on January 5, 2014.