The icon of the Theotokos "The Burning Bush" has a very unusual history of appearance, which goes back many centuries ago, in the days of early Christianity.
A bit of history
According to legend, not far from Sinai, very close to Mount Horeb, there was a green bush bush. And suddenly this bush flared up with a bright flame. The fire engulfed every leaf and every branch of the bush. What was special about this sight was that the plant burned, but did not burn out.
The prophet Moses, passing by, noticed this miracle, stopped in front of the flame and heard the voice of God, who told him that very soon the Israelites would be freed from Egyptian captivity.
This Old Testament event can be read in the book of Exodus (Chapter 3, 4).
Soon, the phenomenon seen by Moses was called the "Burning Bush" and was depicted on the first icon of the same name.
Besides, in honor of the event described above, a beautiful chapel was erected right behind the altar of St. Catherine's Monastery. They say that under the altar are the roots of the same, biblical,bushes.
The icon of the "Burning Bush", the meaning of which is important for Christians, was written just at the foot of the mountain, approximately in the place where the prophet noticed the burning bush.
How this image got to Russia
In 1390, Palestinian monks brought this shrine to Moscow. Today, the most ancient icon of the Burning Bush, whose meaning has not changed over time, is located in the Annunciation Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin.
Image Description
This image of the Mother of God has different versions, among which you can meet the Mother of God depicted in a bright flame that burns, but does not scorch her. And there is one where the Virgin Mary is depicted against the background of an octagonal star formed from two quadrangles with sharp concave edges. One of the quadrangles is green and symbolizes the bush bush, and the other is red, which means fire.
On the oldest icons, you can see an almost verbatim depiction of what happened: a green thornbush, engulfed in flames, and above it rises the Virgin Mary with the baby Jesus in her arms. The prophet Moses kneels next to a bush.
Miracles of Our Lady
The Burning Bush icon, whose meaning for Christians has not changed after so many centuries, has many legends about miracles associated with it.
One of these miracles was the case that occurred in 1820-1821. In the small town of Slavyansk, frequent fires began to occur, the cause of which was someone's arson. criminalcould not catch.
Once an old parishioner had a dream in which the Mother of God came to her and said that the fires would stop if the Burning Bush icon was painted in this city. Its significance as an image that saves from fires and various disasters caused by lightning or fire has long been known.
The old woman told the local archpriest about her dream, and the image was painted very soon. What was the surprise of the people when, after the prayer to the icon "Burning Bush" was read, the culprit, or rather the culprit, of arson was found! She was a local resident of Mavra, who suffered from dementia. She stepped out of the crowd, confessed everything, and there were no more fires.
This case is not the only one. There are other miracles in history that happened thanks to this image.
In addition to salvation from fire, there are some cases of help from the icon, which are not related to natural disasters and fires. So, for example, after tireless prayers before the Burning Bush, the unjustly convicted Dmitry Koloshin, who served as a groom for Tsar Fyodor Alekseevich, was released.
