In Orthodoxy, the Mother of God is revered more than all saints. She helps people in all pious deeds, there are icons of the Virgin in any Orthodox home. Moreover, if usually a saint is portrayed in any one way, then there are thousands of images of the Mother of God. The icons of the Virgin are called differently, so that there is no confusion, but each has its own unique features. Thus, although there are a lot of icons, there are a certain number of them in the world, the Mother of God cannot be written as you like.
How did all these icons come about and why are there so many of them? The image of the Mother of God is the first icon of the Christian world. According to legend, the very first image was written by the Evangelist Luke, and he wrote it from the original. But all the other images were not a copy from that first image. They appeared in the world in a variety of ways: they were painted by icon painters, and then glorified by miracles, appeared in the most unexpected places (in such cases, the image is considered miraculous).
For example, the Kazan icon of the Virgin was found on a conflagration, and the Tolgskaya icon of the Mother of God - on a knot of a tree, high above the heads of all people. Such images are revered from the moment of their acquisition, are considered miraculous.
The icon of the Mother of God of Tolga was acquired by Bishop Prokhor, a short time later a monastery began to be built nearby.
The icon itself is named after the place of occurrence and present stay. It was not far from a small rivulet in the Tolga that the icon of the Mother of God Tolgskaya was found. Almost 700 years have passed since its acquisition; the image is considered very ancient and valuable.
Before the revolution, the Tolgsky monastery was masculine, but in the decades since the beginning of perestroika, it was restored as a female. The beginning of its revival was laid at the dawn of the nineties, the community was gathering hard. 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 relics of St. Ignatius Brianchaninov rest , whose books began to be published again in recent years. Now the icon of the Mother of God Tolgskaya is located in the 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 she was brought here on holidays: the image is ancient and unusually valuable, so the transportation was carried out in a special car with security. But now the monastery managed to create the conditions necessary for the storage of such an ancient icon. Therefore, the icon of the Mother of God of Tolgskaya now resides in the temple, and you can attach to it on 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, an indestructible hymn is read. Nun sisters record testimonies of miracles that occurred through prayers before the Tolga Icon.
Each year, the monastery celebrates Tolgin day - August 21, the day of special veneration of the Tolga Icon of the Mother of God. Many pilgrims flock here. After the Liturgy, the sisters give out cedar cones from the relict park - cedar forests on the territory of the monastery, are treated with monastic kvass. All who come on this day to pray to the Mother of God in the monastery, leave comforted and joyful.