Disclaimer and Endorsement:
The Icons posted on this web site are for spiritual inspiration only. There are no claims for ownership of the Icons listed. This Icon Directory is intended as an Orthodox Christian medium for Spiritual education.
If an Icon listed is an infringement of copywright, I will gladly remove it.
For those authors who kindly allow the spiritual, educational, and memorial display of their beautiful work, thank you for your blessed ministry.
Many Miracle-Working Icons can be found on the Orthodox Church in America web site.
For purchasing information please visit the web site of The Icon Studio of the Convent of St. Elizabeth which produce Icons in all sizes of Jesus, the Theotokos, traditional Saints and Festal Ocasions.
They are in strict Byzantine or traditional Russian style.
For full or partial Church Iconography, large Icons can be produced on canvas by the studio and permanently applied to Church walls and ceilings.
Their Icon studio has a well-known reputation for the beauty and refined artistic quality of its work, and has the lowest prices available.
They also provide Icon prints of all Icon productions.
It is a pleasure to list and give the appropiate credit for all authorship listed.
Gilbert-Joseph
GGallant2@Tampabay.rr.com
Synaxarion or Legend:
Icons of Mary holding her Son Jesus have been popular since the Council of Ephesus which in 431 solemnly declared Mary to be the Theotokos or Mother of God.
St. Luke was the first one who painted the "Theotokos", "Mother of God", while she was still alive. He is credited with three icons of the "Panagia", in one case using the wooden table where Mary and St. John ate their meals.
Throughout history, many Icons of the Most Holy Mother of God have had miracles attributed to them.
In addition, there are those Icons which may not have been miracle working, but still been venerated with the hope of intercession from the Mother of God.
The Icons posted on this web site are for spiritual inspiration only. There are no claims for ownership of the Icons listed. This Icon Directory is intended as an Orthodox Christian medium for Spiritual education.
If an Icon listed is an infringement of copywright, I will gladly remove it.
For those authors who kindly allow the spiritual, educational, and memorial display of their beautiful work, thank you for your blessed ministry.
Many Miracle-Working Icons can be found on the Orthodox Church in America web site.
For purchasing information please visit the web site of The Icon Studio of the Convent of St. Elizabeth which produce Icons in all sizes of Jesus, the Theotokos, traditional Saints and Festal Ocasions.
They are in strict Byzantine or traditional Russian style.
For full or partial Church Iconography, large Icons can be produced on canvas by the studio and permanently applied to Church walls and ceilings.
Their Icon studio has a well-known reputation for the beauty and refined artistic quality of its work, and has the lowest prices available.
They also provide Icon prints of all Icon productions.
It is a pleasure to list and give the appropiate credit for all authorship listed.
Gilbert-Joseph
GGallant2@Tampabay.rr.com
Synaxarion or Legend:
Icons of Mary holding her Son Jesus have been popular since the Council of Ephesus which in 431 solemnly declared Mary to be the Theotokos or Mother of God.
St. Luke was the first one who painted the "Theotokos", "Mother of God", while she was still alive. He is credited with three icons of the "Panagia", in one case using the wooden table where Mary and St. John ate their meals.
Throughout history, many Icons of the Most Holy Mother of God have had miracles attributed to them.
In addition, there are those Icons which may not have been miracle working, but still been venerated with the hope of intercession from the Mother of God.
Appearance of the
Smolensk-Blachene Directress Icon of the Mother of God
brought from Constantinople
Smolensk-Blachene Directress Icon of the Mother of God
brought from Constantinople
The Smolensk "Hodigitria" Icon of the Theotokos, or "She who leads the way," was, according to Church Tradition, painted by the holy Evangelist Luke during the earthly life of the Most Holy Theotokos. The holy hierarch Demetrius of Rostov suggests that this icon was painted at the request of Theophilus, the prefect of Antioch. From Antioch the holy image was transferred to Jerusalem. From there the empress Eudokia, the spouse of Arcadius, gave it at Constantinople to Pulcheria, the sister of the emperor, who put the holy icon in the Blachernae church.
In 1046, the Byzantine emperor Constantine IX Monomachos (1042-1054), gave his daughter Anna in marriage to Prince Vsevolod Yaroslavich, the son of Yaroslav the Wise. He blessed her on her way with this icon. After the death of Prince Vsevolod the icon went to his son Vladimir Monomachos, who transferred it at the beginning of the twelfth century into the Smolensk cathedral church in honor of the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos. From that time, the icon was known as the Smolensk Hodigitria.
In the year 1238, at the bespeaking of the icon, the self-sacrificing Orthodox warrior Mercurius went by night into the camp of Batu and killed many of the enemy, in whose number was their most powerful warrior. Having accepted a martyr's death in battle, he was included by the Church in the ranks of the Saints (November 24).
In the fourteenth century, Smolensk came into the possession of the Lithuanian princes. The daughter of prince Vitovt, Sophia, was given in marriage to the Moscow Great Prince Basil Dimitrievich (1398-1425). In 1398, she brought the Smolensk Icon of the Mother of God with her to Moscow. They set the holy image in the Annunciation cathedral of the Kremlin, on the right side of the Royal Doors.
In 1456, at the request of the inhabitants of Smolensk with Bishop Misael at the head, the icon was solemnly returned to Smolensk in a church procession, and at Moscow there remained two copies. One was put in the Annunciation cathedral, and the other, "a measure for measure," was put in the Novodevichi monastery, founded in memory of the return of Smolensk to Russia. The monastery was built on Devichi Pole (Virgin's Field), where "with many tears" the Muscovites handed over the holy icon to Smolensk. In 1602 an exact copy was painted from the wonderworking icon (in 1666 together with the ancient icon they brought a new copy to Moscow for restoration), which they placed in the tower of the Smolensk fortress wall over the Dneprovsk Gates, under a specially constructed cover. Afterwards, in 1727, a wooden church was built there, and in 1802, a stone church.
The new copy took on the power of the old image, and when the Russian armies left Smolensk on August 5, 1812, they took the icon with them for defense from the enemy forces. On the eve of the Battle of Borodino they carried this icon through the camp, to encourage and inspire the soldiers to great deeds. The ancient image of the Smolensk Hodigitria, taken to the Dormition cathedral on the day of the Battle of Borodino went in procession with the Iveron and Vladimir Icons of the Mother of God through the Belo and Kitai quarters and the Kremlin walls, and then they sent it to the sick and wounded at the Lefortovo palace. After leaving Moscow, the icon was taken to Yaroslavl.
Thus were these sister-icons preserved, and the Mother of God defended Russia through Her icons. After the victory over the enemy forces the Hodigitria Icon was returned to Smolensk together with its glorified copy.
The celebration in honor of this wonderworking icon on July 28 was established in the year 1525 in memory of the return of Smolensk to Russia.