In Orthodoxy, the Mother of God is revered more than all the saints. She helps people in all pious deeds, there are icons of the Mother of God in any Orthodox home. Moreover, if usually the saint is depicted in any one way, then there are thousands of images of the Mother of God. The icons of the Mother of God are called differently so that there is no confusion, but each has its own, only its own characteristics. Thus, although there are many icons, there are still a certain number of them in the world, the Mother of God cannot be written in any way.
How did all these icons appear and why are there so many of them? The image of the Mother of God - the first icons 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 Mother of God was found in a fire, and the Tolga icon of the Mother of God was found on a knot of a tree, high abovethe heads of all people. Such images are revered from the moment of their acquisition, are considered miraculous.
The Tolgskaya Icon of the Mother of God was acquired by Bishop Prokhor, after a short time a monastery began to be built nearby.
The icon itself is named after the place of appearance and current stay. It was not far from a small river in Tolga that the icon of the Mother of God of Tolga 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 a male monastery, but over the decades that have passed since the start of perestroika, it has been restored as a female monastery. The beginning of its revival was laid at the dawn of the nineties, the community gathered with difficulty. 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. The relics of St. Ignatius Brianchaninov rest here, whose books have been re-published 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, it was brought here on holidays: the image is ancient and extremely valuable, so the transportation was carried out in a special car with security. But now in the monastery it was possible to create the conditions necessary for the storage of such an ancient icon. Therefore, the icon of the Mother of God of Tolga now resides in the temple, and you can venerate it on any day.
The monastery lives a measured life, akathists are read daily in front of the Tolga icon, prayers are served before the relics, the indestructible ps alter is read. Sisters-nuns write down testimonies of miracles that happened through prayers before the Tolga Icon.
Every 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 distribute cedar cones from the relic park - the cedar forest on the territory of the monastery, treat them with monastery kvass. Everyone who comes on this day to pray to the Mother of God at the monastery leaves comforted and joyful.
