On the miraculous icon of the Most Holy Theotokos of Vladimir (Glykofilussa). depicts the Mother of God with the Infant clinging to Her cheek, She gently embraces Him with both hands.
The Russian Orthodox Church celebrates three times a year in honor of this icon in gratitude for the threefold deliverance of the Fatherland from enemies: May 21, June 23 and August 26.
According to legend, this icon was painted by the Evangelist Luke on the board of the table at which Jesus Christ dined with His Mother and righteous Joseph. The icon was painted during the earthly life of the Mother of God. In 450, under Emperor Theodosius the Younger, the icon was transferred from Jerusalem to Constantinople, and in the 12th century it was brought to Kiev: as a gift from the Patriarch of Constantinople Luke Chrysoverg to the Grand Duke Yuri Dolgoruky. The icon was placed in a nunnery in Vyshgoro-de and soon began to glorify itself with miracles.
So, once the nuns of the Vyshgorod monastery, entering the church, saw that the icon had left its place and was floating in the air in the middle of the church. They put it in its original place, but soon the miracle was repeated. Then Prince Andrei, the son of Yuri Dolgoruky, realized that the miraculous icon needed a different place. Then he began to pray fervently, served a prayer service in front of the icon, and at night left with the icon from Vyshgorod. On the way, he performed prayers, and the entire princely path was accompanied by miracles. When the prince arrived in Vladimir, he was greeted by crowds of jubilant people. After that, the prince went to Rostov, but ten miles from Vladimir the horses stopped and did not go further. Other horses harnessed to the carts also did not move. Then the prince began to pray before the icon and received from the Mother of God the order to put the icon in Vladimir. Having done everything at the behest of the Mother of God,The prince, among other things, laid the foundation for the Church of the Assumption in Vladimir, which was completed in 1160. The Prince, having decorated the icon with a frame of gold and silver with precious stones, installed it in the Church of the Assumption. Since then it is called Vladimirskaya. After the icon found its permanent place, new great miracles began to emanate from it. In 1164, the icon was with Andrei Bogolyubsky during his campaign against the Volga Bulgarians, whom he defeated thanks to the intercession of the Mother of God. Before the battle, the prince strengthened his spirit with Communion and prayer in front of the miraculous icon. Following his example BCQ, the warriors prayed fervently in front of the icon and with faith in the support of the Heavenly Lady went to the enemy. The Bulgarians were defeated, and immediately after the victory, the prince arranged a thanksgiving service to the Mother of God.which was completed in 1160, the Prince, having decorated the icon with a frame of gold and silver with precious stones, installed it in the Church of the Assumption. Since then it is called Vladimirskaya. After the icon found its permanent place, new great miracles began to emanate from it. In 1164, the icon was with Andrei Bogolyubsky during his campaign against the Volga Bulgarians, whom he defeated thanks to the intercession of the Mother of God. Before the battle, the prince strengthened his spirit with Communion and prayer in front of the miraculous icon. Following his example BCQ, the warriors prayed fervently in front of the icon and with faith in the support of the Heavenly Lady went to the enemy. The Bulgarians were defeated, and immediately after the victory, the prince arranged a thanksgiving service to the Mother of God.which was completed in 1160, the Prince, having decorated the icon with a frame of gold and silver with precious stones, installed it in the Church of the Assumption. Since then it is called Vladimirskaya. After the icon found its permanent place, new great miracles began to emanate from it. In 1164, the icon was with Andrei Bogolyubsky during his campaign against the Volga Bulgarians, whom he defeated thanks to the intercession of the Mother of God. Before the battle, the prince strengthened his spirit with Communion and prayer in front of the miraculous icon. Following his example BCQ, the warriors prayed fervently in front of the icon and with faith in the support of the Heavenly Lady went to the enemy. The Bulgarians were defeated, and immediately after the victory, the prince arranged a thanksgiving service to the Mother of God. Since then it is called Vladimirskaya. After the icon found its permanent place, new great miracles began to emanate from it. In 1164, the icon was with Andrei Bogolyubsky during his campaign against the Volga Bulgarians, whom he defeated thanks to the intercession of the Mother of God. Before the battle, the prince strengthened his spirit with Communion and prayer in front of the miraculous icon. Following his example BCQ, the warriors prayed fervently in front of the icon and with faith in the support of the Heavenly Lady went to the enemy. The Bulgarians were defeated, and immediately after the victory, the prince arranged a thanksgiving service to the Mother of God. Since then it is called Vladimirskaya. After the icon found its permanent place, new great miracles began to emanate from it. In 1164, the icon was with Andrei Bogolyubsky during his campaign against the Volga Bulgarians, whom he defeated thanks to the intercession of the Mother of God. Before the battle, the prince strengthened his spirit with Communion and prayer in front of the miraculous icon. Following his example BCQ, the warriors prayed fervently in front of the icon and with faith in the support of the Heavenly Lady went to the enemy. The Bulgarians were defeated, and immediately after the victory, the prince arranged a thanksgiving service to the Mother of God. Before the battle, the prince strengthened his spirit with Communion and prayer in front of the miraculous icon. Following his example BCQ, the warriors prayed fervently in front of the icon and with faith in the support of the Heavenly Lady went to the enemy. The Bulgarians were defeated, and immediately after the victory, the prince arranged a thanksgiving service to the Mother of God. Before the battle, the prince strengthened his spirit with Communion and prayer in front of the miraculous icon. Following his example BCQ, the warriors prayed fervently in front of the icon and with faith in the support of the Heavenly Lady went to the enemy. The Bulgarians were defeated, and immediately after the victory, the prince arranged a thanksgiving service to the Mother of God.
After the murder of Prince Andrei Bogolyubsky in 1173, when the crowd robbed Bogolyubov and Vladimir, priest Nikolai, who had arrived with the prince from Vyshgorod, marched with the Vladimir icon through the city in a procession with the cross, and the rebellion subsided.
During the fire on April 13, 1185, when the cathedral church completely burned down in Vladimir, the Vladimir icon miraculously remained unharmed. While the icon was in Vladimir, its fame and greatness steadily increased. As soon as the icon was transferred to the Assumption Cathedral in Moscow, it was the turn of the rise above all the Russian principalities of Moscow. The icon also performed many miracles in Moscow. So, in 1395, the great conqueror of the East, Tamerlane, entered the borders of Russia. With his armies, he reached the Don, intending to capture Moscow. Grand Duke Vasily Dmitrievich with an army went to Kolomna and stood on the banks of the Oka. With all his army and people, he began to fervently pray to the Foot and the Most Holy Theotokos, realizing that without Their intercession it would not be possible to save the Fatherland. The prince commandedso that the onset of the Dormition Fast throughout the principality was associated with fervent prayers and repentance. Princes and clergy marched around Moscow, accompanied by crowds of people; in front of them carried the miraculous face of the Mother of God, specially brought from Vladimir. Zealous prayers were not in vain: on the very day and hour when the inhabitants of Moscow met the icon of the Mother of God, Tamerlane had a vision. In a dream, he saw a great mountain, from the top of which saints with golden rods descended, and above them in the air in a radiant radiance - the Virgin of indescribable grandeur, surrounded by an army of angels with flaming swords. Tamerlane woke up in horror and, after consulting with the commanders, ordered the hordes to turn backZealous prayers were not in vain: on the very day and hour when the inhabitants of Moscow met the icon of the Mother of God, Tamerlane had a vision. In a dream, he saw a great mountain, from the top of which saints with golden rods descended, and above them in the air in a radiant radiance - the Virgin of indescribable grandeur, surrounded by an army of angels with flaming swords. Tamerlane woke up in horror and, after consulting with the commanders, ordered the hordes to turn backZealous prayers were not in vain: on the very day and hour when the inhabitants of Moscow met the icon of the Mother of God, Tamerlane had a vision. In a dream, he saw a great mountain, from the top of which saints with golden rods descended, and above them in the air in a radiant radiance - the Virgin of indescribable grandeur, surrounded by an army of angels with flaming swords. Tamerlane woke up in horror and, after consulting with the commanders, ordered the hordes to turn back
Half a century after the invasion of Tamerlane, in 1451, the Nogai prince Mazovsha approached Moscow. He had already begun to ravage and burn the suburbs when Saint Jonah performed processions of the cross along the walls of the city. Residents of Moscow selflessly fought the enemy. But in the morning they saw that the enemy was no longer under the walls: at night, for some unknown reason, he fled from Moscow.
As it turned out later, the enemies heard a noise in the distance and thought that it was the Grand Duke, who had gathered a large army, had come to the rescue of Moscow. Grand Duke Vasily III hurried to church and on his knees with tears thanked the Heavenly Intercessor.
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On June 23, the celebration of the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God takes place in memory of the miraculous deliverance of Russia from the Horde king Akhmat in 1480. During the great reign of Ivan III Vasilyevich, the khan of the Golden Horde, Akhmat, gathered a huge army and moved to Moscow. The Grand Duke, having received the advice and prayers of the saints, prepared to defend the faith and the Fatherland. Khan Akhmat reached the Ugra River, which in Russia was called the belt of the Mother of God. Both troops - both Russian and Tatar - stood against each other on different sides of the Ugra all day. By the will of the Mother of God, a miraculous phenomenon occurred: the Grand Duke ordered his troops to retreat, which the Tatars perceived as an ambush and fled. Standing on the Ugra River is considered the final overthrow of the Mongol-Tatar yoke, which gravitated over Russia for 200 years.
On May 21, the Russian Orthodox Church also celebrates the feast of the Vladimir Icon. This is timed to coincide with the deliverance of Russia in 1521 from the Crimean Tatars under the leadership of Mahmet-Girey, who invaded the borders of the Moscow principality so quickly that Grand Duke Vasily Sh Ioannovich barely managed to withdraw his troops to the banks of the Oka. Having plundered villages from Nizhny Novgorod and Voronezh to the banks of the Moskva River, the Tatars took many inhabitants prisoner. Makhmet-Girey was already a few miles from Moscow, and there was nowhere to wait for help. The panic began. All residents rushed to the Kremlin to pray in churches, and God again granted salvation to Moscow. At midnight one blessed one was tearfully praying at the door of the Assumption Cathedral. Suddenly, his prayer was interrupted by a loud noise, and it seemed to him that the doors were opening and the miraculous icon of the Mother of God was leaving its place. From the icon, he heard a voice: "I will come out of the city with the Russian hierarchs," after which the entire cathedral was filled with flame, which instantly disappeared. On the same night, the blind nun of the Ascension Monastery suddenly saw that a whole host of saints were going to the Spassky Gate, and among them was the miraculous icon of Vladimir. The saints who emerged from the gates were met by Saints Sergius of Radonezh and Barlaam of Khutynsky, who asked them where they were going and to whom they were leaving the city. The saints answered: “We prayed much to the All-Merciful Lord God and the Most Holy Theotokos for deliverance from the impending sorrow; The Lord commanded us not only to leave the city, but also to carry with us the miraculous icon of His Most Holy Mother: because people have despised the fear of God and have neglected His commandments. "Saints Sergius and Barlaam began to beg the saints not to leave the capital, and together with them they began to pray to the Lord and the Mother of God. After this, the saints overshadowed the city with a cross and the icon of the Mother of God was returned to the Assumption Cathedral. And again, through the intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos, Moscow was saved from the enemy.
As it became known later, the Tatars saw a large Russian army around the city. The khan did not believe the messages of the envoys, announcing the danger, and ordered his commanders to verify this, who confirmed the message received and advised the khan to move away from Moscow.
But not only from the Tatars did the Mother of God deliver our Fatherland. When, in troubled times, the Poles and Swedes seized whole regions from Russia, an impostor sat on the throne. His adherents committed sacrilege: they burst into the Assumption Cathedral during the liturgy and began to tear off the sacred clothes from Patriarch Job. The patriarch himself took off his vestments, put it on the icon of the Mother of God of Vladimir and said: “Here, in front of this icon, I was awarded the rank of bishop and for 19 years kept the sanctity of the faith; now I see the calamity of the Church, the triumph of deception and heresy, Mother of God, save the Orthodox! Prince Shuisky opposed the impostor and before the campaign also asked for intercession before the image. And after that, the impostor was deposed, and Russia was saved.
Since ancient times, before the Vladimir icon, they took an oath of loyalty to the Fatherland. Russian monarchs received the wedding and chrismation to the kingdom in front of the face of the Vladimir icon in the Assumption Cathedral. During the election of metropolitans and patriarchs, the Vladimir Icon blessed the new guardian of souls.
During severe fires in Moscow, the people always turned to the Mother of God in front of this icon. When in 1547 there was a terrible fire, they wanted to take the Vladimir icon out of the Assumption Church, but they could not move it from its place. At this time, many witnessed the Mother of God in a radiant robe over the Assumption Cathedral, who prayed and overshadowed the cathedral - the fire died down without causing harm to the cathedral.
The Vladimir Icon is celebrated on June 23 / July 6.
From the book: "Miraculous icons in Russia". Author: Grishechkina Natalya Vasilievna