The story of the birth of this image is closely intertwined with the life of one person who fought for Orthodoxy, preached Christianity and called for the veneration of icons. This man's name was John of Damascus, and he lived in the distant 9th century, it is with him that the Three-Handed, the icon of the Mother of God, is associated.
A little about the life of John
The Monk John of Damascus at that time was in the service of the Caliph of Damascus as a minister. John was an honest man and did not hide his views: he zealously spoke out against heretics and pagans, urged everyone to honor the One God and not to defile the holy icons.
About the same time Emperor Leo the Isaurian took the Byzantine throne. He opposed icon worshipers and Orthodox Christians in general. With the coming to power of this man, terrible persecution of believers began. Of course, having learned about the views of John of Damascus, about his sermons and sayings, Emperor Leo the Isaurian was furious.
In fact, it was because of this man that the Three-Handed, the icon of the Mother of God, was soon born,before which Damaskinos so often prayed.
Punishment for John
As a result, the emperor decides to punish him in this way: a letter was written allegedly on behalf of Damascus, in which John seemed to call on Leo to attack Damascus.
The letter was sent to the caliph, who, in turn, gave the order to cut off the hand of St. John for betrayal and hang it as a sign of intimidation in the local market.
In the evening of the same day, tormented by terrible pains, John wrote a letter to the Caliph and asked him to give him a severed hand. They gave him the brush. The crippled John could not sleep all night, he sat near the image of the Most Holy Theotokos, putting his severed hand to the joint and prayed tirelessly, asking to heal him from a terrible wound. When Saint John fell asleep, the Virgin Mary appeared to him in a dream and said that his wound would soon be healed. But for this she commanded to work with a cured hand and not be lazy.
Miraculous healing
When John woke up, he found that his hand had grown together, and from yesterday's wound there was a large scar. In gratitude for his healing, he decided to make a gift to the Mother of God. From a good piece of silver, John cast a hand and applied it to the icon, before which he prayed all night. Since then, the icon of the Mother of God with Three Hands has appeared.
Further history of the image
As the legend says, in addition to the silver hand, John wrote a whole song as gratitude, which was called “About You, O Gracious, everycreature . Subsequently, Damascene went to the monastery and completely dedicated his life to God.
The Three-Handed Icon in the 13th century was presented as a gift to Savva of Serbia, and he brought this shrine to his homeland. From there, a few years later, when the Turks went to war with Serbia, the image was sent on a free journey, tied to a donkey. So they hoped to save the icon from outrage.
To my great surprise, the donkey with the icon safely reached one Athos monastery, where the monks accepted this shrine with reverence.
Miracles of the Three-handed
Of course, the first miracle that this icon did was the healing of St. John. But her miracles did not end there!
When the abbot died in the Athos monastery, the monks began to choose a new mentor, but could not do it. No matter how much they argued, or chose, they did not come to a single decision. And one morning, when they came to work, they saw that Troeruchitsa was standing at the abbot's post. This icon was immediately transferred to its place, but the next morning it was again at the post of abbot. The astonished monks could not understand what was the matter. Then she was again returned to her place, and in the evening, leaving work, all the doors were firmly closed.
But early in the morning the image again waited for the monks at the site of the abbot. On the same night, the Mother of God came to one of the monks in a dream and said that she herself would be the abbot of this monastery and she herself wanted to manage it.
Since then, the Hilendar Monastery has been under the control of the Mother of God, and the abbot is not there.
The Three-Handed Icon inRussia
The first copy of this legendary image came to our homeland in the 16th century. Over time, several more lists were made from this copy and installed in different temples of the country.
So, in one of the Russian churches there is evidence of miraculous healings of parishioners. Prayer to the Three-Handed Icon healed many people who came to her with their last hope. It is noteworthy that many of those healed had similar injuries to that of John of Damascus.
So the image “works” today, and everyone can ask for he alth in front of him or just pray for those who are sick, because the Three-Handed is an icon that actually heals.
