What helps the icon "Softening the Evil Hearts"

Among the many icons one of the most necessary in each house is the icon "Softening the Evil Hearts". By praying before this image, you protect yourself from your own anger and irritability, which are not the best human qualities. In addition, in prayer before the icon ask for a family truce or that there is no enmity between neighbors, and also about peace between whole states. In our culture, the image of the Mother of God, whose breasts are pierced by arrows, is one of the most emotional and expressive in icon painting. He gives the opportunity to feel mercy and compassion.

The origin of the icon

The icon "Softening the Evil Hearts" is completely shrouded in mystery, so its exact origin is unknown to this day. According to one assumption, she came from the South-Western part of Russia, and according to another, from the West, since this image is revered in Catholicism. In addition to this name, the image has another - "Simeon proverb". According to the story of Evangelist Luke, the revered Elder Simeon the God-Bearer visited the Holy Spirit, who predicted that he would not be able to leave this world until he saw the Messiah. When on the fortieth birthday Jesus was brought to the temple, Simeon hurried there too. Taking the Baby in his arms, he uttered the words, which we now know as a prayer sounding at every night service in the temples. It is in these words that he points out that the soul of the Most Pure will be pierced by suffering and pain, the fullness of which is symbolized by the number seven.

Icon "Softening the Evil Hearts": the meaning of the image

On this icon the mother of God is depicted alone. It is pierced by seven swords, symbolizing the fullness of heart disease and sorrow, which were experienced by the Blessed Virgin Mary on earth. These seven swords convey the prophecy of Simeon, since this number in the Holy Scriptures characterizes the completeness of something. There is also another icon, which has a similar meaning - "Seven-shot". Many do not recognize the differences between these images, but they are, albeit insignificant. So, on the icon described in the article, three swords pierce the Virgin Mary on the right, three on the left, and one - from below. As for the icon "Seven-Shot", it depicts the Mother of God, which is pierced by three swords on the left, and four on the right. In prayer practice, no distinction is made between these icons, since they have the same iconographic type.

The icon "Softening the Evil Hearts" has another interpretation concerning the seven swords, according to which they convey the fullness of the sorrow of the Mother of God, but not because of the pain of the Son crucified on the cross, but because of our sins. The number seven symbolizes the number of the main sinful passions of a person, reflected by pain in her chest. But She is ready to ask her Son for everyone who asks for Her holy intercession.

Honored lists of the icon

The miraculous icon "Softening of Evil Hearts" is located in the temple of the same name, which rises in a small village of Bachurino in the Moscow suburbs. Until recently, this image was a private property of the Moscow family Vorobiev. In 1998, the Vorobyovs carried their icon to the Intercession Women's Monastery, because they wanted to attach it to the relics of the Blessed Elder. Immediately after this, the icon began to melt. To this family from all corners began to go pilgrims. Such a number of people they could not receive at home, so the icon "Softening the Evil Hearts" was given to the temple. A similar image is found in the one-shift church in the village of Kamenka. There is a miraculous list of this icon in Venice.