The icon of the Mother of God, which is considered healing, is located in the Caucasus, in one of the monasteries. This image has a long history, shrouded in legends and miracles.
Icon location
At the moment, the icon of the Mother of God “The Redeemer” is located in the New Athos Simon-Kananitsky Cathedral at the foot of Mount Athos in Abkhazia. This is a monastery founded in 1875 by the monks of the Church of St. Panteleimon with the participation of the Russian Emperor Alexander III.
Since 2011, it has been handed over to the Abkhaz Orthodox Church. Dozens and hundreds of Christian pilgrims try to get to this cathedral after overcoming a long way. It is not he who seduces them, but a wonderful icon depicting the Virgin Mary. The Redeemer icon was handed over from the holy Mount Athos in Greece, where the elders live, who constantly pray in churches for the salvation of the human race from various misfortunes.
The shrine was handed over to the new temple by the monk Martinian in 1884. He lived in the Monastery of St. Panteleimon, which is traditionally considered Russian.
Martinian got the icon “The Redeemer” from Theodulus, his ascetic. However, only retellings of the miraculous deeds of the image got into church records.at the moment when the monk owned it. Theodulus was not endowed with the ability to retell the will of the Virgin Mary.
Legend from Greece
The Redeemer icon created many miracles, proving more than once that prayers can be heard. Her first miracle was saving an entire city.
According to legend, the image helped the inhabitants of the Greek city of Sparta to resist the attack of locusts. Bad weather came suddenly, when the townspeople were not ready. Large flocks of insects began to destroy the crop, and people were doomed to starvation and extinction.
Martinian stopped in their city with a miraculous icon. He learned that people in the city were afraid of imminent death, and persuaded them to start praying frantically to the Mother of God. Five thousand believers followed the monk who came to the nearest field and began to pray to the icon that the elder had installed in the middle.
And then a miracle happened. Hearing the prayers of the parishioners, the icon of the Mother of God “The Redeemer” saved those places from locusts. People could once again see the sun, which was previously hidden behind millions of insects.
And that locust that still remained was eaten by a flock of birds that came from nowhere.
The boy Anastasy and the miraculous rescue
It so happened that there and at that time a little boy, whose name was Anastasy, was ill. Parents fought in vain with an incurable disease. When she began to progress and there was no hope left, the baby was asked to take communion. But the local priest did not have time to arrive on time. He invited with him andMartiniana. Together they went to the sick man's house. But they didn't. Anastasy died.
The priest did not know his peace because he was late to the dying. Martinian brought the icon with him, and together with the priest, they began to pray to the Mother of God to help and resurrect the child. The icon “The Redeemer from Troubles” was always on his body. The priest, the elder, and the parents of the deceased baby asked.
After the prayer was over, Martinian christened the face of Anastasius three times with an icon. The boy's eyes opened at that. After the priest gave him communion, the child was also cured of his past illness.
After such incredible miracles, the elder was known not only throughout the city, but also far beyond its borders. Every day new people came to him and asked for help.
Martinian's departure
Every day the old man's thoughts became more and more difficult. He did not like the fact that people who came to him for help began to venerate both the icon itself and him.
He decided it was time to leave people. When Martinian found a remote cave near the sea and already wanted to settle there, the Mother of God came to him in a vision. She told him to return to the suffering and continue to do good deeds, healing others. Martinian obeyed. By the time he left the cave, the relatives of a certain girl named Elena, who was possessed by a demon, were waiting for him. Only the icon “The Redeemer from Troubles” was able to drive out the devil inside Elena.
Icon helps in Russia
After many years of helping people, the elder had to return to Athos, where he took the goalkeeper herself. He took it to the Panteleimon Monastery. In the same place, it was decided to transfer the icon to Russia. From there, she continued to treat pilgrims.
In 1891, a publication appeared in the press about how the miraculous icon “The Redeemer” cured three suffering people in the monastery.
All the deeds that the image did were entered into the lists of St. Petersburg, in the church at the Marine Hospital. From there you can also learn about the miraculous healing of an entire workshop of workers during the cholera epidemic in 1892. Where the hard workers prayed to the face, not a single case of illness was recorded. Other shops were affected.
The icon was often worn to factories, praying that the Blessed Virgin would help and protect against diseases.
Transferring the holiday icons
Initially, the holiday in honor of the image was scheduled for April 4th. But on this day in 1866, an attack was made on Emperor Alexander II. Despite the fact that the shooter's attempt to kill the king failed, it was decided to postpone the holiday.
The Day of the Icon began to be celebrated on October 17, still according to the old style. The number was not chosen by chance, but in honor of the fact that Emperor Alexander III managed to miraculously survive with his entire family during a train accident at the Borki station. It was believed that the icon of the Mother of God “The deliverer from troubles” helped them.
Now the face of the Saint has two holidays. One on April 30 and one on October 30.
Icon Style
The icon of the Mother of God “The Redeemer” belongs to a special style called “Hodegetria”. It can be deciphered as "Guidebook". This style is characterized by the image of the Virgin Mary only to the waist. In her left hand is baby Jesus. The faces of the saints are turned to those who pray before them. The right hand of the baby is depicted in a blessing gesture, and in the left he has a scroll.
The Mother of God placed her free hand near her chest towards her son.
In ancient times, the icons with the Virgin Mary also depicted a pentagram - a five-pointed star. It was supposed to symbolize loy alty and chosenness. But after the Masonic organizations appropriated this symbol to themselves at the end of the 16th century, and later the communists, they stopped drawing the star on the icons.
The Mother of God has often been portrayed in the past and still does so sitting with her son on the heavenly throne. This is done in order to emphasize the royal position of the Virgin Mary and God's son. They are also depicted with crowns on their heads.
Characteristic features of this icon
- The Mother of God has a royal crown, but her son does not;
- the icon of the Blessed Virgin Mary “The Redeemer” differs in very few small details from the image called “Quick Hearer”;
- image was considered for a long time the protector of the monarchical family, in particular the royal family of the Romanovs. Nevertheless, the icon could not protect the family of the last Emperor Nicholas II from cruel reprisals;
- existsanother version of the face. It depicts Saints Panteleimon, a healer from Athos, and Simon the Zealot. Both support the Redeemer icon. Away from them is a temple. And above them in the cloud, three angels are sitting at the table.
The icon “Tashlinskaya deliverer from troubles” is considered to have been brought from Athos in 1917 to the Samara region. According to church records, a certain Chugunova Ekaterina, a resident of the village of Tashla, three times during each night the Virgin Mary came in a dream. She insisted that her icon was buried in a ravine not far from the village. When, after three days, the woman was walking near that place, the image of the Mother of God appeared before her. The face was carried by two angels and lowered into this ravine. She told about her dream in the church, and, believing such a sign, the icon was immediately taken out of the ground.
Where the relic was dug up, a miraculous spring appeared. She was carried to the Church of the Holy Trinity, where a prayer service was immediately served. On the same day that the icon appeared, a certain Trolova Anna from the same village, after 32 years of illness, was miraculously healed. A well was built near the spring, to which believers came with their requests for healing.
Having survived church persecution, the icon in 2005 returned to the church, rebuilt in honor of it. The well, which was covered with garbage, was restored and they saw that the water continued to flow there.
The style of the image is somewhat different from the icon in the Caucasian monastery. The inner corners of the painting are decorated according to the New Athos style of iconography. It has a flower with ten petals,while there are eight petals on the Tashli guarantor, and the Mother of God looks at her son. The baby in the image has legs almost touching the bottom.
Who prays before the icon
Believers who suffer from any problems come to the Mother of God for help, turning to her through a holy image. The icon of the Blessed Virgin Mary “The Redeemer”, according to church beliefs, answers the prayers of people who are pure in spirit.
Most often those who pray to her are:
- obsessed with any kind of addiction: alcohol, gaming, smoking, etc;
- suffer from disease;
- want to get rid of spiritual sadness;
- asking for help in times of trouble;
- seeking advice in a difficult situation.
Akathists in honor of the Mother of God
The first written akathist to the icon “The Redeemer” asks that the Mother of God take away from the enemies the opportunity to influence them, as well as teach joy and songs in the name of the Blessed Virgin, who saves from troubles, from grief, from death.
The second song refers to the Mother of God as the protector of people and the head of the angels, sending them to help humanity.
In the third akathist, both the Mother of God herself and her son are glorified.
