Peter's Icon of the Mother of God: ancient history

2024 Author: Miguel Ramacey | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 06:11

The icon, which will be discussed further, is very famous, its authorship is attributed to the Metropolitan of Kyiv and All Russia Peter, who lived in the XIII century. This was the first metropolitan, whose permanent place of residence since 1325 was Moscow. Peter's Icon of the Mother of God - this is how it is called and revered as miraculous. The celebration in honor of her takes place on September 6 according to the new calendar, on this day the Church remembers the transfer of the incorruptible relics of St. Peter to the newly rebuilt Assumption Church (1479).

St. Peter Rathensky (or Ratsky)

He was born in Volyn in the pious family of Theodore. His mother, Eupraxia, even before the birth of her son, had a vision of the Lord, in which it was revealed that her child would serve for the Glory of God.

At the age of 12, young Peter entered the Volyn Spaso-Preobrazhensky Monastery, where he devoted almost all his time to the study of Holy Scripture and icon painting. He distributed his icons to the monastic brethren and to Christians who visited their monastery. One of these is the Peter's Icon of the Mother of God,dated 1327, according to the life of the saint. This icon and the icon of the Assumption of the Most Holy Theotokos, Saint Peter, accepting the blessing of the saint, presented it as a gift to the Metropolitan of All Russia Maxim, who visited their holy monastery. He sent the Petrovsky icon to Vladimir, where the chair of the Kyiv metropolitans was then located, and before the icon of the Assumption he prayed all his life.

A miraculous image. Peter's Icon of the Mother of God: photo

In 1305, after Metropolitan Maximus reposed in the Lord, the Vladimir cathedra was free for three years of troubled times, then there was a dispute over the place of the primate. Prince Yuri of Galicia sent Peter to Constantinople, and Mikhail Yaroslavovich of Tverskoy and Vladimir sent his ascetic, hegumen Gerontius. Setting off on the road to Constantinople, Gerontius took with him the Peter's icon and the hierarch's baton. As he was sailing on the sea, he had a vision. The Mother of God herself told him that he was working in vain, for he would not get the rank of saint, he would belong to the one who painted Her image - the servant of Her Son - Abbot Peter of Rat, who will take the throne of the Russian Metropolis, he will godly live to old age and with joy will go to the Lord of all.

In Tsargrad, Gerontius involuntarily told about his vision to Patriarch Athanasius of Constantinople, and he, taking the rod and the icon from him, handed them over to Peter and blessed him to become the Metropolitan of All Russia. So the Petrovsky Icon of the Mother of God returned to its creator and left for Vladimir. And when in 1325 the Russian metropolis was transferred fromVladimir to Moscow, where Metropolitan Peter transferred his icon and placed it in the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin.

Reverence

In general, many interesting historical events are associated with this icon. For example, Patriarch Job, when he went to Boris Godunov to accept the kingdom, took with him three icons - Peter, Vladimir and Don.

And in 1613, a highly venerated delegation with the Ryazan Archimandrite Theodoret, who went to Kostroma to call on Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov to reign and put an end to the turmoil, took the Petrov Icon with them.

In the church annals of the 15th century, the Peter's icon was mentioned in stories about the salvation of Moscow from the conquerors and was called "life-giving" and, most likely, stood at the tomb of St. Peter. She was especially revered by the Moscow primates, she was brought to worship at their tombs or at religious processions.

Assumption Cathedral of the Kremlin

Today, the Peter's Icon of the Mother of God is located in the Assumption Cathedral, the bulk of icon painting specialists claim that this is the same icon that St. Peter painted, although there are claims that its original disappeared before the revolution.

In the period of the 19th-20th centuries, this ancient icon really disappeared from the cathedral, but the icon-spinner remained, the size of which was 30.5 by 24.5 cm. Its origin was unknown, but it dates back to the end of the 14th - beginning of the 15th century and was located in the wall iconostasis in the Assumptioncathedral. Most likely, she is that revered ancient image, as evidenced by her exact list, made in 1614 by Nazariy Savin. In any case, it exactly repeats it and is inscribed as "Petrovskaya".

Peter's Icon of the Mother of God: what they pray for

The Peter's icon has become one of the most revered shrines in Russia and a symbol of the beginning of Moscow's formation. Thanks to her, many miraculous events and healings were received for Orthodox Christians. She has become a powerful symbol of Russia's protection from various evils.

Before this image, people pray for happiness in marriage, for children in case of childlessness and for help in difficult births and various illnesses. In such cases, the Akathist to the Peter's Icon of the Mother of God is usually read.

This icon belongs to the most beloved type of the Mother of God for the Russian people, and the closest iconographic analogy of this image is the Vladimir icon.

Iconography

In the Petrovsky icon, the Mother of God and the Child are depicted bust. Its characteristic features are that the Mother of God hugs the baby with her left hand, and with her right hand points to Him, in which lies the whole True Path and Life. The right hand of the Mother of God has another meaning - the maternal caress of her Son. The hands of Christ the Savior respond to maternal love and affection. He clings to the Mother, holds a scroll in his left hand, and the right hand blessing Him rests on the breast of the Virgin. This conveys the warmth of the expression of mutual love of the Virgin and the Child.

Peter's Prayericon of the Mother of God begins with the words: “Oh, all-merciful Lady Theotokos, Heavenly Queen, our shameless Hope…”.