Icon of the Georgian Mother of God: description, history and prayer. Temple of the Georgian Icon of the Mother of God

Orthodox Christians have long revered not only Jesus Christ, but also the Mother of God. A quivering attitude towards her was embodied in seven hundred icons, depicting the Queen of Heaven as one, and with the Divine Son. Even the very first temple in Russia, consecrated in 996, was named after the Virgin. A lot of hymns and prayers addressed to the Blessed Virgin Mary fill the hearts of believers with love and hope, and already the second millennium gives people salvation, healing and happiness, not one miraculous icon of the Mother of God. Georgian is no exception. About its amazing properties and will be discussed further.

The role of icons in Orthodoxy

From the point of view of the clergy of the Orthodox Church, the icon is a kind of link between the earthly and divine worlds. The main idea of worship before images is that honors and prayers do not refer to the image, but to the essence that they represent.

Only a deeply religious person can understand the icon, not doubting the reality of the Lord and his incomprehensible nature. God has rewarded his children with the ability to imagine, which allows us to represent something that can not be seen every minute and every hour. But it is easier for us to address the saints, if their image is before our eyes, and with their symbols reminds us of the importance of these or those moments.

What are the icons of the Mother of God?

All the images of the Virgin, written during the procession of Christianity on the planet, can be divided into several types of compositions. One of the favorite icons of all Orthodox is the icon of the Georgian Mother of God.

Hodegetria (Guidebook)

The icon we are considering belongs to this type. A specially constructed image, in which the Virgin Mary points to the Son with one hand, speaks of the path that mankind is destined to go through to purify its soul. Here the Virgin Mary appears before us as a guide to God. It is believed that the first icon was painted by the apostle Luke in this style.

Eleusa (Tenderness)

The images of the Virgin, embracing the God-loving God and accepting his embraces, represent a kind of icons, known as "affection". Infinite love, reflected in such images, you can see, for example, on the Vladimir icon.

Agiosoritissa (Intercessor)

The icon of the Georgian Mother of God is very different from those that refer to the species "Intercessor". On such images the Mother of God appears alone. She is portrayed in full growth, slightly turned to the right. A scroll can be depicted in the hand.

Oranta (Sign)

The fourth type of icons depicting the Virgin Mary is the "Sign". Here the Heavenly Queen, holding in the heart of the Divine Child (portrayed in the circle in the middle of Mother's breast) and raising her hands to heaven, symbolizes prayer for all mankind.

Pantanasse (All-Russian)

On the icons of this kind the throne, on which the Virgin is seated, holding the small Jesus in her arms, denotes the glory of the Mother of God, which spread both on earth and in heaven.

Features of writing the Georgian icon of the Mother of God

When we have before our eyes the belt icon of the Georgian Mother of God, we can determine the characteristic features of its writing. All the images located in the ark of the icon (a depression in the center of the board) occupy most of it and are constructed as a triangle, the longer side of which falls on the tilt of the Virgin's head toward the God-servant. The infant raises his right hand, blessing the Mother and all people. The scroll, which God's Son holds in his left hand, symbolizes the Old Testament, which will be supplemented by the Savior. The right leg of Christ is located under the left, and its bare outsole is visible.

The Virgin, portrayed frontally, slightly turned her head toward the sitting Son and bent toward Him, supporting her left hand. The Face of the Child is also addressed to the Mother, whose right hand pointing at Jesus indicates to the believers the path to Salvation. A special sign of this icon is the characteristic way of depicting the maforia that falls from the head of the Mother of God so that its folds leave a triangular section of the blue chiton and symmetrical lapels of the cape of another color in the field of view on the chest.

Those who constantly go to church, the icons of the Georgian Mother of God were seen mostly in large sizes. Temple images provide an opportunity to examine them in detail.

When and by whom the icon was captured

Abbas Mirza, better known in world history as Shah Abbas, joined the Iranian throne in the late 16th century. There is a legend that the day when the great despot was born, in Georgia, due to a strong earthquake, the monastery of St. George collapsed, which symbolized the huge losses that the country suffered in the future from the actions of the ruler of Persia.

Abbas, seeing in strengthening the ties between Georgia and Russia a threat to the Persian kingdom, organized in 1622 a devastating campaign against a mountainous country. He subjected it to plunder and captured many values and shrines for further sale to foreign merchants. The icon of the Georgian Mother of God also came to him.

Three years later, the steward of the Russian Yaroslavl merchant Stefan Lazarev saw her in the Persian bazaar. Of course, the true Christian could not pass by the miraculous image and acquired the icon, despite its high price. The shrine immediately manifested itself when the owner of the clerk Yegor (in some sources - George, Gregory) Lytkin in a dream was a divine indication of the transfer of the icon to one of the monasteries of the Arkhangelsk province. Not knowing about the icon, the merchant did not give a meaning to sleep and remembered it only in 1629, when the clerk returned and showed Yegor the image he had bought from the Persians.

The fate of the creation of Georgian icon painters in Russia

As was dictated in a dream, Lytkin sent an icon to the Pinega River in the Krasnogorsky Monastery, which stood in a mountainous forest area and was formerly called Chernogorsk (founded in 1603). The Georgian image of the Mother of God immediately showed miraculous nature, healing from the deafness and blindness of monk Pitirim. For further incomprehensible phenomena icon icon of the tsar's decree and the blessing of Patriarch Nikon in 1650 was honored with his own day of reverence - September 4.

The miraculous work of Georgian icon painters traveled throughout the country for a long time, even visiting Siberian cities. And everywhere the Mother of God healed the true believers, as evidenced by the church documents of those years.

Unfortunately, the original icon was lost when in the 1920s the Krasnogorsk Monastery was closed. After its opening in 1946, the icon was used in the procession of the procession of the Cross, about which the Moscow Patriarch was reported by the Bishop of Arkhangelsk, but since then the image was lost and nowhere else was it discovered.

The very first list of icons

Parishioners who know the history of Christianity and Orthodox shrines, always know which icon should be treated with a particular request, what to visit the temple. Icons of the Georgian Mother of God today in the form of lists are kept in various churches of our country. Many of them, like the original, are miraculous.

For the first time a copy of the image of the Virgin Mary from Georgia was written in 1654 in Moscow at the request of artisan Gabriel Evdokimov, who showed his gratitude for the healing of a seriously ill son. This list was transferred to the church on Glinishchy, which is now known as the Church of the Holy Trinity (Nikitnikov lane). The icon turned out to be miraculous and helped the residents of the capital to avoid a terrible disease when Moscow was plagued by an epidemic of plague.

What other lists are known from the original Georgian image

Incredibly glorious Georgian Raifa icon of the Mother of God. She appeared in the Kazan diocese in 1661. Then Metropolitan Laurence ordered the icon of the famous icon painter. For the image in the Raifa Bogoroditskaya desert, a separate church was built, and after bringing the shrine from the artist she began to perform real miracles, carrying healing to the blind, lame and mentally ill.

Another very revered Georgian icon of the Mother of God in Moscow is in the special side-chapel of the Martyr the Confessor Church, which is located on Taganka. Previously, this list was kept on the Vorontsov Field in the Church of the Intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and for him, at the behest of Queen Paraskeva Feodorovna, a precious kiot was created in the early 18th century.

In the museum-estate of Ostankino in Moscow there is a temple of the Life-Giving Trinity, the main chapel of which was consecrated in 1991, he also has an icon of the Georgian Virgin, whose history is very interesting. Previously, she owned Shihigumenya Tamar, in the world known as Princess Mardzhanishvili. The image was presented to a friend of the family by Yakov Nemsstveridze, whom the Virgin Mary appeared in a dream with a request to present an icon of the church in Ostankino. Jacob intended to attribute the image to the Georgian Orthodox Church, but all three times he was prevented from doing something, while the icon began to fly over the icon. Then Yakov listened to the advice heard in the vision, and came to Ostankino Temple, where he was met by a woman who also had a phenomenon about the imminent arrival of the icon in the church. During the restoration, the paints restored themselves, which was one of the wonders of a beautiful image. The Akathist to the Georgian Icon of the Mother of God is read here regularly, and the parishioners, who worship the shrine very much, make heartfelt prayers.

Another list of the image of the Mother of God from the Georgian original appeared in the 17th century in the Alekseevsky Women's Monastery, which was on Prechistensky Boulevard. One of the sick nuns wanted to appeal to the image that was in the temple at the barbaric gate, but no one could bring it. Then the monk, who appeared to her in a dream, reported that somewhere in the depths of the temple the list of the Georgian icon is kept. After a short search in one of the walls was found a sacristy with an image that immediately healed the nun. The icon was enclosed in a precious robe by the command of Emperor Alexei Mikhailovich with the blessing of Patriarch Nikon. In the 19th century the church was moved to Krasnoye Selo, and the list of icons found in the monastery is venerated in the Church of the Resurrection of Christ on Sokolnicheskaya Square.

Operating temples dedicated to the miraculous icon

The churches bearing the name of the Georgian shrine can be found in many cities of our country and even abroad. Raifa Cathedral is the most famous. It was built at the Bogoroditsky Monastery in 1842, specially to celebrate the miraculous icon. The parishioners celebrate the extraordinary beauty of the temple, the blessed atmosphere and unique energy coming from the ancient icons. The Georgian icon of the Mother of God in Raifa monastery is very famous, and the cathedral is visited by many tourists. Therefore, if there is a desire to be with the shrine almost in private, it is recommended to come there early in the morning.

Another functioning church of the Georgian Icon of the Mother of God is in the village of Yakshino, Moscow region. The temple is very beautiful, it was built in the 18th century, but under Soviet rule it was blown up. Restoration began in the 90s, worship services resumed in 2004. Before the revolution, the church had a miraculous icon of the Georgian Virgin, today such an icon is also there.

Many churches, chapels, chapels dedicated to the miraculous image are in Chuvashia, the Republic of Tatarstan, Tver, Ryazan, Kaluga and other regions of the Russian Federation.

Where else were the churches dedicated to the Georgian icon of the Virgin

In the Tver region, since 1714, the Gorbasievskaya (Gorbasievo) village church operated in the name of the icon described by us. It is said that the temple was built by a rich merchant from Georgia, who lost their way in the surrounding forests. Prayers to the Mother of God helped him to get to the village, thanks to this miracle, a church appeared. In 1860, its old wooden building was decided to replace the stone one. The temple ceased to function in the 30s of last century.

The ancient church of the icon of the Georgian Mother of God is in the village of Vasilyevskoye in the Shuya district. True, now the church complex, which includes the church, is in a state of neglect, and the ancient icons that make up the iconostasis are kept in the Tretyakov Gallery and the Russian Museum.

What are the icons praying for?

It is not for nothing that the Gospel says that people receive from God "according to their faith." It has long been noted that among the thousands of parishioners and pilgrims from whose mouth the prayer of the Icon of the Georgian Mother of God flows, the happiness of healing is not acquired by everyone, but only those whose souls are truly pure and ready for Grace.

It is believed that a beautiful image is able to give recovery to those who suffer from diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, various tumors, ailments that affect the eyes, teeth and ears, from obsession with evil spirits. With special reverence they rush to the image of a woman who is diagnosed as "infertile."

Very strong is a prayer pronounced by a person on his birthday, which coincides or is close to the day of celebrating a certain image. The Georgian icon of the Mother of God helps and helps a lot, as the believers pray, it is already written. In the end, there is a story about how this is usually done.

What you need to say in prayer

Prayer can sound differently, most importantly, that words come from the heart. With a request to give birth to the ability to conceive mention that the Queen of Heaven, attentive to the prayers of her earthly children, possesses miraculous powers, heals from the ailments and dominance of demons, facilitates sorrow, relieves grievances, saves from misfortunes and cleanses from sins. They ask the Virgin Mary to let infertile couples from infertility, intercede for them before her Divine Son and pray for those who worship her, hoping for her and tirelessly chanting Her Glory.

In some prayers, the role of Jesus, the intercession of the Mother of God before whom can heal or save from troubles, is highlighted. The supplicant says that he himself may not be worthy to be heard by the Lord, but His Mother, who never turns away from a simple man, can bring even the most silent but sincere prayer to the Son. They ask that God through the Virgin Mary help the person praying to live in the piety and light of the Lord's commandments.

Witnesses of gratitude to many people for the miracles given through a unique image are the crosses, which are hung in the churches of the icon of the Virgin. Whatever and wherever the Christian prayed to the Most Pure Virgin, his unbreakable faith and a pure soul will surely lead to a real miracle.