The icon of the Mother of God of Iverskaya, one of the most revered in Orthodoxy, has several other names related to her history - “Hodegetria”, or “Guidebook”, “Goalkeeper”, “Gatekeeper” or in Greek “Portaitissa”, “Gracious” .
Icon Iveron
Mother of God is covered in legends. According to legend, the first mention of it dates back to the 9th century, the time of hard iconoclasm. On the territory of modern Turkey, near the town of Nicaea, in the house of an orthodox widow and her son, a shrine was stored and revered, which later became known as the Icon of the Mother of God of Iversa. In order to destroy it, soldiers came to the house. Bribed by the widow, they left the icon until morning. But when at the exit one soldier struck the holy face with a spear, blood poured plentifully from the icon (therefore, the Virgin Mary is sometimes depicted on the icon with a wound on her cheek, sometimes without). Frightened soldiers fled, and the widow, in order to preserve the holy face, carried him to the sea. But the icon did not sink, but, being in an upright position, began to move away from the coast.
For two centuries, she was not heard. According to legend, after this time the icon approached Athos, where the Iversky Monastery was located. Gabriel, one of the holy elders, brought the icon out of the sea and installed it in the temple, beyond the gates of which they found it in the morning. After the repeated repetition of this action, the monks realized that the face of the Virgin does not want to be protected by anyone, but wants to serve as a guard of the monastery. For her, outside the gates of the church, a church was built, in which the icon was placed (hence the name “Goalkeeper”, “Gatekeeper”). There she is now.
The icon of the Mother of God of Iver is revered as miraculous. Under her tutelage, the monastery escaped the invasion of the barbarians, its supplies were not scanty, the sick people recovered. Her fame was carried throughout the Orthodox world, providing an inexhaustible influx of pilgrims.
During the reign of Alexei Mikhailovich Romanov, who, due to his piety, was nicknamed the “Silent”, the icon of the Iberian Mother of God began to be directly related to Russia.
Under Patriarch Nikon, on his initiative and with the support of the "Quietest" Romanov, in the likeness of Mount Athos, a monastery was built on Valdai, which later became known as the Valdai Iversky Bogoroditsky Svyatozersky Monastery.
By order of the king, a copy of the Iveron Mother of God was written on Athos, which at the end of the work was delivered to a new monastery and placed in a gatehouse. There were several lists of icons, also made on Mount Athos and brought to Russia. One of them was in the church at the Resurrection Gate of the Kremlin, the other traveled in a special carriage in Russia. It has survived to the present day and is located in the
temple in Sokolniki. The Kremlin’s gatehouse church, destroyed in 1928, has now been restored, but the icon stored in it has disappeared without a trace.
The prayer of the Iveron icon of the Mother of God does not exist in the singular. The icon saves in case of fire, heals mental and bodily wounds, helps farmers, preserves crops, and increases the fertility of the earth. In addition, she relieves sorrow and sorrow, heals illnesses. Therefore, the number of prayers, voices and kondakas so pronounced before this bright face, the sanctuary of the entire Orthodox world, is so great.