Orthodoxy Iberian icon of the mother of God. What helps the Iberian Icon of the Mother of God. Icon Iberian myrrh-streaming
The Iberian icon of the Mother of God is one of the most revered in the Orthodox world. She has a miraculous gift, which has helped all the suffering many times.
The icon of the Mother of God "Iberian" is revered by Christians all over the world. Prayers before her are offered by everyone who needs help and support. They ask the Mother of God for healing from all kinds of ailments, forgiveness for sins and impious deeds. The grace emanating from the icon is able to point the way to correction, give hope for a brighter future, and also heal diseases.
History of the icon
According to one of the legends, the Mother of God, together with the apostles, after the celebration of Pentecost, cast lots, according to which she was to go to Iberia (modern Georgia). However, she was stopped God's messenger. The angel announced that the Mother of God should remain in Jerusalem. Then she asked the apostles to bring her a board on which icons were written. After washing herself, she kissed the board. She sent this icon along with the Apostle Andrew the First-Called, indicating that her image would accompany the envoy and give him strength in preaching Orthodoxy.
No less interesting is the acquisition of a miraculous icon. There was peace in the Christian world, but not for long. Another wave of struggle has begun Orthodox icons. Once the iconoclasts broke into the church where the Iberian icon was kept. At that time, a righteous woman and her son were praying there, on whose donations this cathedral was built. They demanded from her a large sum money, and having heard the refusal, one of the wicked hit the icon, which began to bleed. In horror, the iconoclasts ran out of the church, and the widow began to pray even more fervently, asking higher powers advice. They continued their prayer words on the seashore, and then laid the icon in calm waters. Miraculously, the face of the Most Pure rose and floated away in an unknown direction. The widow saved her son, telling him to run away from the city, and the young man went to Athos. There he took monastic vows and told the monks the miraculous story of saving the face. After his death, the monks spent time on the seashore for conversations. Suddenly, a pillar of fire rose up from the water, which lit up everything around with a bright flame. When the radiance subsided, among the waters they found the very face of the Iberian Mother of God. However, it was given into the hands of believers only after long prayers to the Lord. Since then, the Iberian Monastery has become her “habitat”.
Where is the Iberian Icon of the Mother of God
Initially, the face of the Mother of God was in Greece. In the 17th century, copies of the icon began to spread throughout Russia. Now the icon can be found in almost every corner of the country, and the most famous following temples:
- Moscow, Novodevichy Convent;
- Valdai, Iversky Monastery;
- Tambov, Sukhotinsky monastery;
- Pechory, Pskov-Caves Monastery;
- St. Petersburg, Resurrection Cathedral;
- Samara, Iversky Monastery;
- Rostov-on-Don, Holy Iberian Monastery.
Description of the miraculous face
The icon is written in the classical style. On it we see the Mother of God, on the left hand of which the Child is located. Right hand The Mother of God is raised in a blessing gesture, which at the same time points to the Divine Infant. The wound depicted on the cheek of the Mother of God is an echo of the tragic events when one of the iconoclasts struck the icon with a sword. This detail is hallmark icons. In the left hand of the Infant, a scroll with holy texts is written out, and the right hand is raised in a gesture of blessing and directed to the Mother.
What helps the miraculous image of the Mother of God
Anyone who needs support and support in life can pray before the miraculous face. The Iberian Mother of God is trusted with all heart and soul hardships, they ask for forgiveness of sins, guidance and patronage. Prayer words heal many from bodily and mental ailments. Also, the Mother of God is the guardian of the hearth and household, protecting them from any evil, both from human and from diabolical machinations. Cases of healing from deadly ailments are not uncommon, as evidenced by the records that have come down to our time. So, in 1982, a list from the icon of Our Lady of Iberia in Canada at a divine service began to exude myrrh and healed parishioners from paralysis, blood diseases and other diseases.
Days of celebration icons
In the Orthodox world, the Mother of God of Iberia is venerated several times a year:
- 25 (12 old style) February:
- on Tuesday of Bright Week (the celebration is rolling) in honor of the miraculous finding of the icon on Mount Athos;
- 26 (13 old style) October, the day the list was transferred from the icon to Moscow in 1648.
Prayers before the miraculous image
“Holy Mother of God, Virgin Mary, be glorified! Accept our prayers for the salvation of our sinners' souls. Listen to our words and do not leave the servants of God in confusion. Forgive us the sins of which we repent, but show with your hand the path that ascends to the Lord. Comfort our spiritual sorrows and soothe bodily ailments. May we praise the name of our Lord Almighty forever and ever. Amen".
“Theotokos and Intercessor of the whole human race! We offer prayers to You in humility. Deliver us, the servants of God, from the intrigues of the devil and from the gossip of people. Do not let us drive ourselves into temptation and help us find the Kingdom of Heaven at the end of the path of life. Guide, Mother Virgin Mary, us sinners, with your hand and hide from the wicked and infidels. Yes, let me preach the Word of God, educate your children in Orthodoxy and splendor. protect our homes and families from any evil. Amen".
The icon of the Iberian Mother of God is in many home iconostases. People resort to the help of the Mother of God, praise her for protection and patronage, pray before her face, and also talk about victories in life. Everyone can purchase this miraculous icon and pray before it not only in sorrow, but also in joy. We wish you happiness, and do not forget to press the buttons and
According to church tradition, there are several Ecumenical Lots on earth - the inheritances of the Mother of God, which, by Her grace, are in Her special care. The Iberian icon combines four such Lots: Iberian, Athos, Kievan Rus and Diveevsky. Briefly, the story goes like this.
Guardian of Iberia
Version of the origin of the original list of the Iberian Icon
The Mother of God received Her first lot on the day of Pentecost, when the apostles were appointed by lot, in which country they should go to preach the Lord's faith. The Blessed One said that She also wishes to take part in this, so that She too would have a country by the will of the Lord, and, having cast lots together with the apostles, she received Iveria (as Georgia is now called). She joyfully prepared to go there, but an angel brought her the good news that she would remain in Jerusalem for the time being, and Christian faith it will also come to the pagan at that time Iveria. Instead of Herself, She sent the Apostle Andrew the First-Called to the Iberian land, and here we meet with another version of the origin of the original, original list of the icon of the Mother of God, called the Iberian. The tradition of the Church says that the Queen of Heaven ordered to bring her a board on which icons were painted, and, having washed herself, put her luminous face on the board. And when she took away her face, Her image with the Christ Child in her arms was imprinted on the board. Her face on the icon was strict, almost stern, and She herself told the holy Apostle Andrew that in this way She sends Herself on this image and so She will become the Guardian of Iveria and those who inhabit this country, and will pray for them Her Son. By that time, the holy Apostle Simon the Zealot was already preaching the Christian faith in Iberia.
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But, having already left the earthly inheritance, the Queen of Heaven lamented that Her first inheritance - Iberia - had not yet been baptized in due measure. Therefore, in the 4th century, She sent Saint Nina to the Iberian land, appearing to her in a dream and handing her a cross, which was made of vine(we remember that Iberia - ancient name Georgia, famous for its vineyards and winemaking tradition). Saint Nina tied up the cross, which, upon awakening, she found in her hands, with her hair and, asking for blessings from the Patriarch of Jerusalem, went to Iberia. Here she learned the customs of the people, learned the language.
The city of Mtskheta in ancient times was the capital of the Kartli kingdom. Saint Nina came here when some kind of pagan holiday, but for the Orthodox it was the feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord - an event that transforms the spiritual state of a person. She began to pray fervently. And immediately got up hurricane wind who destroyed the idols to which the people made sacrificial requests. Saint Nina preached the Gospel, and the Lord gave her the ability to heal people from diseases.
After she healed the wife of King Mirian, the king received holy baptism, and Bishop John, who arrived here on behalf of Tsar Constantine the Great, together with Saint Nina, baptized both the king of the country and all its people. Thus, the instruction of the Mother of God to convert to the true faith of Her First Ecumenical Destiny was fulfilled, and the history of Georgia as a Christian country began in the 4th century. In memory of the fact that the baptism of Georgia began on the feast of the Transfiguration, a church of the Transfiguration of the Lord was erected in Mtskheta.
Approximately in the tenth century, Georgian monks from the family of kings Bagration arrived from Iberia to Athos. Their names were John of Iberia and John of Torniky, and until the 19th century, the inhabitants of the monastery, restored by them on the site of the Clement Monastery, from which only ruins remained by that time, were only monks of Georgian origin. This monastery was called Iveron, it is located in the same region of Athos as the no less famous Vatopedi, and here the miraculous Iberian Icon of the Mother of God was revealed from the sea, connecting the First and Second Destinies of the Queen of Heaven.
Guardian of Athos
The Miraculous Finding of the Iberian Icon of the Mother of God
The acquisition of the icon happened miraculously. After the carriers of the Arian heresy were finally put to shame, and the long-awaited peace without troubles and throwings came in the Christian world, a new heresy appeared - iconoclasm, directed against the veneration by Orthodox Christians of their shrines - icons.
Heresy came from Greece to late XIII century, and the persecution of the Orthodox lasted until the Seventh Ecumenical Council, held in 747, at which icon veneration was restored, and the iconoclasts were excommunicated. However, the period of iconoclasm dragged on until 843, when the defender of icon veneration, Methodius, at the council he convened, established and performed the rite of proclaiming eternal memory zealots of Orthodoxy, and we, Orthodox Christians, remembering this event, celebrate the “Triumph of Orthodoxy” on the first week (Sunday) of Great Lent.
So, during the time of iconoclasm in Asia Minor (the territory of modern Turkey), in the region of Nicaea, there lived a widow with her son, who professed a saint Orthodox faith. The widow was rich, and therefore she built a church near the house, where there was an ancient image of the Most Pure, which she revered as a priceless treasure. When the iconoclasts arrived at the woman's house, they saw the temple through the window. Bursting in there, they began to demand money, but the woman said that now she did not have such an amount, then one of the wicked struck the face of the Mother of God with a sword, and from it, as if from a living human face, blood flowed. The robbers were horrified and ran away, but as they ran away, they promised that they would return in the morning.
At night, the widow, together with her son, prayed for a long time in the temple, so that the Lord would give them a sign on how to preserve the most radiant face of the Mother of God. Then they took the icon and went to the seashore and there they prayed before it, as they would pray before the Lady Herself. With a prayer, they laid the icon flat on the water, but it suddenly stood upright and floated away from the shore in an unknown direction. After this miracle, the mother and son embraced, deciding that the son should run away from Nicaea, and the mother would try to stay and hide somewhere from the iconoclasts.
The young man fled to Thessaloniki, from there to Athos, where he was admitted to the Iberian Monastery. There he took tonsure, led the life of an ascetic, and died there - from him the Iberian monks learned about the miraculous salvation of the icon, which had gone into the sea.
And then one day, when the elders were sitting above the sea at the monastery gates and were having salutary conversations about faith, they suddenly saw a pillar of fire over the sea, soaring up to the sky. The vision terrified them, they cried out to God, but the pillar did not disappear and by night shone even more strongly. The news of the miracle quickly spread throughout Athos. When the brethren of all Athos monasteries converged on the shore, on which Iveron was located, the pillar died out, and they saw the icon of the Mother of God in the sea and wanted to get it. But as soon as they approached her in order to pick them up, the icon moved away.
During his short sleep, the Mother of God Herself appeared to him and ordered him to put aside the hermitage and go to the monastery to the abbot. There, tell him that She wants to give her image, who came by sea to the monastery, and then he, Gabriel, must, with faith and without fear, walk along the sea surface, take the icon and take it ashore, to the monastery, which from now on She will protect …
He did everything as the Queen of Heaven commanded: everyone gathered and went ashore with prayers and censing. Gabriel stepped into the water, passed over the abyss, the icon itself approached him. Singing praises to the Lord in prayerful singing, he took Her image and brought it to the shore. For three days, then, in the temple, there was a continuous service in front of the image placed on the holy altar. And the next day, when the ktitor entered the church to prepare for matins, he did not find the icon there. The monks began to look for her and found her above the monastery gates. They again placed her on the altar, and again by unknown forces she found herself above the gates, and this happened more than once or twice, until the monks realized that such was the will of the One depicted on the icon.
This was again announced to them by the hermit Gabriel, to whom the Most Pure appeared and demanded that he again go to the monastery and tell the abbot and the brethren that She sent them her icon not because they guarded it, but so that Herself, whose face is on this icon , to become forever the Keeper of both Iveron and all of Her Second Destiny - Athos. Since then, the icon has been called Portaitissa - the Goalkeeper.
(It should be noted an interesting parallel - the monk Gabriel, who led an angelic life, had the same name as the archangel Gabriel - one of the main messengers about the Lord and the Mother of God, who appeared with messages from God and to Saints Joachim and Anna about the birth of the Mother of God from them, and to Virgin Mary and Joseph the Betrothed with the news of the Nativity of the Infant Jesus (He also announced to Zacharias and Elizabeth about the birth of John the Baptist, and to the Old Testament prophet Isaiah about the future coming of the Messiah. And so the angelic monk Gabriel also became the messenger of the Queen of Heaven.)
Since then, the Iberian Monastery has become the home of this icon, and in the courtyard of the monastery a small temple was erected in the name of the patroness of Athos - Portaitissa, and since then it has been in the side aisle, slightly protruding forward, in a rich frame, decorated precious stones. The expression of Her face seems to some to be extremely strict, others look at the image, but see nothing but majestic peace. In front of the icon hangs an inextinguishable lamp, just as marvelously decorated, it is called the "Lamp of the Goalkeeper". The lamp has wonderful property- without the slightest influence from outside, during the hours of worship, it sometimes begins to swing like a pendulum, warning of the approach of disasters of enormous proportions - epidemics, earthquakes with fatal consequences, invasions of enemies. The inhabitants of Athos say: before the Turks attacked the island of Cyprus, the lamp swayed so that oil poured over its edges, but the Goalkeeper did not allow them to invade Athos. Today, such an inexplicable swaying occurred before the American invasion of Iraq, before the Spitak earthquake, before other events on a planetary scale.
And constantly the Guardian of Iveron - the Mother of God showed the brethren her significant presence and care. During the famine, She sent the abbot, saddened by the fact that there was nothing to feed the monks, to the barn, and it turned out to be full of flour. The bins were always full of other necessary provisions, the fires that arose spontaneously went out, and the enemies did not dare to approach Athos. Unrepentant sinners cannot enter the gates of Iveron. According to legend, in 422 the daughter of King Theodosius Placidia arrived in Vatopedi, but the voice of the Mother of God forbade her to enter the monastery. Since then, Athos, by the command of the Mother of God, has not been accessible to women.
The third and fourth destiny of the Virgin
Here, in the first capital of Russia, the Mother of God announced her new future destiny - Her Fourth Ecumenical Lot. They became the Diveevo monastery. The Mother of God appeared to schema nun Alexandra - her worldly name is Agafya Semyonovna Melgunova. The Blessed One ordered the nun, just as She sent the Monk Anthony of the Caves from Athos to Kyiv to arrange Her Third Lot, to go north to Diveevo. Until now, the Diveevo monastery, to the construction of which the holy Reverend Seraphim of Sarov made great efforts (the Mother of God appeared to him more than once, calling him “My beloved”), has become a place ruled by the Queen of Heaven Herself.
So miraculously they turned out to be interconnected through the Holy Mount Athos and Iberian Icon of the Mother of God all four Ecumenical Lots of the Queen of Heaven.
The monks of Iveron came every morning to see if Portaitissa had left them, because they believe that if such a tragic day comes, it will become a universal tragedy, a sign that the end of time is near.
What a miracle happened
About healings from complex and neglected diseases after prayer appeals, there are, in addition to the oral ones, which were kept by tradition, and a lot of written evidence.
The famous Moscow merchant Domety Diomidov Meshchaninov informed Athos Archimandrite Theodosius, who, after an akathist before the Iberian Icon of the Mother of God, who arrived in Moscow from Sophroniev Hermitage, received complete healing from gout at the age of 71. The case for such an age is amazing.
The wife of a merchant from the city of Bobrov, Voronezh province, Lyubov Grigorieva, had a vision in which she received an order to go to the Sofroniy Hermitage and serve there before the Iberian Icon of the Mother of God a prayer service with an akathist for the health of a seriously ill two-year-old son. In the same place, after the fulfillment of everything assigned to her in the vision, the son was healed, and she publicly announced in the temple in front of the elders and other people present about the complete healing of the boy.
In 1982, in Montreal (Canada), the myrrh-streaming Iberian icon, painted in 1981 from the original of Portaitissa by a Greek monk, was brought from Athos by a Spaniard who professed Orthodoxy, Joseph Munoz Cortes. The icon constantly streamed myrrh, except for Holy Week before Easter. Myrrh flowed from the hands of the Mother of God, the Child and the star on the right shoulder of the robe of the Most Pure. After prayers and akathists, the most severe and incurable diseases were cured before her - for example, complete paralysis, leukemia, etc.
No less amazing and blessed are the cases when, after seeing this icon, people resumed church life - they again began to attend services and participate in the sacraments of the church, such as confession, communion, chrismation, etc. There is a known case when a woman, after the death of her son, decided to commit suicide, but after praying before this icon, she repented of her decision and regained her joy and desire to live.
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On the night of October 30-31, 1997, the keeper of the Montreal Iberian Icon, Joseph Muñoz Cortes, was killed under undisclosed circumstances, and the icon disappeared.
But one must believe that the Montreal Iberian shrine will still reveal itself when the time comes, for the One that is depicted on it will not tolerate free treatment of Her holy image and will again open to the world, as one more gospel of the inexpressible mercy of the Lord, eternally stretching over us.
The meaning of the icon
Iberian Icon of the Mother of God- direct evidence that She really took in adoption, under her holy intercession, the entire human race. Having miraculously come to Athos, she became a shield for all who pray day and night on the Holy Mountain for the entire human race. The goalkeeper - the Iberian icon - combines an indication of all four Ecumenical Lots of the Queen of Heaven on earth. This is one of the most amazing images in terms of miraculous manifestations, showing the most diverse actions of the Mother of God within the earthly limits - the Intercessor and Guardian, Healer and Protector from all misfortunes emanating from the elements and from human vices.
The celebration of the icon takes place on February 25 (12), Tuesday bright week Holy Easter, and 26 (13) October. These dates are the patronal feasts of our church.
In the reign of Emperor Theophilus, a pious, rich widow lived near the city of Nicaea. only son. She had an icon of the Mother of God, respected by her, for which this pious widow built a church not far from her house and placed a holy icon in it.
In 829 Emperor Theophilus began to persecute the worshipers of holy icons. Tsarist soldiers were sent throughout the empire to look for icons and destroy them, and cruelly torture those who honored them. One of the soldiers, seeing the widow's icon, with anger struck with a sword at the cheek of the Mother of God depicted on the icon. But the Most Holy Lady enlightened the erring one. To the horror of the warrior, blood flowed from the ulcer. Struck by this, the warrior with repentance fell before the icon of the Mother of God, left heresy and ended his life as a monk.
He advised the widow to hide the icon in order to save her from reproach. Praying fervently before the icon of the Mother of God, the pious widow put it into a small boat and let it into the sea, asking the Most Holy Lady to save the icon from drowning, and her and her son from the cruelty of the impious king.
The Most Holy Theotokos heard the fervent prayer of this pious woman.
Having released the icon, which, to her joy, standing straight, rushed to the west, the widow said to her son: “My dear child, I am a woman and cannot go far, therefore I will either hide, or, if they seize me, I will die for the love of the Mother of God, and you went to Greece, so that the royal soldiers would not harm you. loving son he obeyed the advice of his mother, went to Thessalonica, and 15 years later he arrived on Athos and took the vows as a monk in the Iberian monastery. Then he saw a holy icon thrown into the sea by his mother and told the monks why his mother had to part with the precious shrine.
The appearance of this icon on Mount Athos happened as follows: one evening the monks of the ancient Iberian monastery saw a pillar of fire on the sea, rising to the very sky. The miraculous phenomenon continued for several days and nights. Having sailed closer to the apparition, they saw that the pillar of fire was coming from the icon of the Mother of God, but when they approached it to take it, the boat with the icon moved away. The monks gathered in the temple and in earnest prayer asked the Mother of God to grant them her icon.
Among the brothers of this monastery was Elder Gabriel, a Georgian, distinguished by a particularly strict life. The Mother of God appeared to him in a dream and said: “Proclaim to the rector and brethren that I want to give them My icon as protection and help, and, having entered the sea, walk with faith on the waves, then everyone will know My love and goodwill towards your monastery.” The elder revealed the will of the Mother of God to the rector; all the monks with prayer singing, censers and lamps went to the sea. Icon Holy Mother of God approached them. Gabriel entered the sea and took the icon. When he went ashore and placed an icon on it, pure, sweet water flowed from the earth, flowing to this day. This place is a quarter of an hour's walk from the monastery and a chapel was built here. After fervent prayer, the icon was solemnly brought into the cathedral church of the monastery.
The next day, the monk who lit the lamps in the temple, having entered it, did not find the icon of the Mother of God in its place in the temple. She was found above the gates of the monastery on the outer wall and again placed in the temple; but the next day she again appeared above the gate, and this was repeated several times.
Finally, the Mother of God appeared to Elder Gabriel and said: “Go to the monastery and tell the monks not to tempt Me again. I have come not for you to guard me, but for me to guard you, not only in real life but also in the future. May all who here dwell in a virtuous life and in the fear of God trust in the mercy of My Son. And here is a sign for you: as long as My icon is in your monastery, until then the grace and mercy of My Son will not fail you.”
From that time on, the icon was left in its chosen place above the gate, and therefore it is called the Iberian Portaitissa, that is, the Goalkeeper. Soon after that, at the site of the icon's stay at the gate, a temple was built in the name of the Mother of God, the Guardian of the monastery.
Many times the Iberian monastery, being on the seashore, was attacked by enemies, but the Most Holy Lady, by Her intercession, preserved it to this day. There were many miracles and healings from the holy icon of Iberian, the Goalkeeper. All the miracles that were from this icon cannot be described by their abundance, and therefore we present here some.
Euthymius, the son of the rector of the Iberian monastery, St. John, Ivir, fell so ill in his youth that he did not hope to recover. John, seeing that people could no longer help his son, left him in his cell, and he himself went to the temple of the Most Holy Theotokos and, falling before Her icon, with tears, begged Her to heal the lad, and the Queen of Heaven heard his prayer; after the prayer, John asked the priest to commune Euthymius with the Holy Mysteries of Christ. Returning to the cell, to his surprise, he felt a wonderful and unimaginable fragrance in it, but he saw his son sitting on the bed and completely healthy.
The elder, amazed by this, said with joyful tears: “My child, what is the matter with you?” “I don’t know, father,” answered Euthymius, “recently some empressed Tsaritsa appeared to me and said to me in Georgian: “What is this and what happened to you, Euthymius?” "My queen, I'm dying!" - I said. Then She approached me, took my hand and said: “There is no more illness with you, do not be afraid!” And then she became invisible. Since that time, as you can see, I am completely healthy.
Hearing this, the overjoyed father fell to the ground and thanked the Queen of Heaven and Earth, the Blessed Virgin Mary, and from that time on, Euthymius received an extraordinary grace and the gift of the Georgian language.
Once, as the Iberian legend says, the Agarians, under the command of the Emir, sailed to Athos on 15 ships and, first of all, attacked the Iberian monastery. The monks with church utensils and a holy icon took refuge in the tower. Enemies began to devastate and destroy the monastery. The monks with tears asked the Most Holy Theotokos to protect them, and the Most Holy Lady hurried to their aid. At night a terrible storm arose and broke all the ships, except for one, in which the chief himself was. Seeing in the morning the shores covered with fragments of broken ships and the corpses of his soldiers, the commander, struck by this miracle, repented and asked the monks to beg God for his mercy and gave the abbot of the monastery a lot of gold and silver, with which he corrected, decorated and strengthened the monastery.
On another occasion, the monastery was threatened by famine. The abbot was in great sorrow. The Mother of God appeared to him and said: “Why are you so upset. Go to the granary and you will see that it is full of flour.” Waking up, he went and found a granary full of bread. Again: there was no wine, and She filled all the vessels with it. Once She also multiplied butter, once garden vegetables, once delivered the monastery from a fire, another time from a deadly ulcer, and performed many other miracles in the monastery with Her honest Icon.
On this icon, the Mother of God is depicted with the Savior on her left hand. Her face is bowed left side to the Infant, Who blesses with his right name, and holds a scroll with his left. Above the sides of the crown of the Mother of God in the corners formed by the upper and side fields are two archangels facing the Mother of God (Michael and Gabriel); 12 apostles are depicted on the two side margins, six on each side.
In the Iberian Athos Monastery, the solemn celebration of the Mother of God takes place on Tuesday of Bright Week on the day of the appearance of the icon of the Mother of God. At this time, there is a procession with the holy icon to the seashore, where it was received by the hermit Gabriel, and there the liturgy is celebrated. In addition, two feasts are celebrated in the monastery especially lightly - the Dormition of the Mother of God and the Epiphany. On all three holidays, many pilgrims gather and eat from the monastery during the day.
Believing Christians are very happy that there are so many miraculous icons. They help the Orthodox in difficult moments of their lives, healing the souls and bodies of people who resort to them. The images of the Mother of God are especially revered among the people - it is not for nothing that there are so many of them - the images were created in honor of the Mother of God, entire churches were also built in her honor. People admire the fortitude of the Most Pure Virgin when she had to sacrifice her own son for the sake of everyone's salvation.
She will also save you from failures in business. All Orthodox women can count on the intercession of the icon for them before the Lord. With the help of the image, they even remove the crown of celibacy, both for women and men.
Meaning
Iberian icon Mother of God, also called the Gatekeeper, appeared in the 10th century in Athos (Iberia, Georgia). The image not only heals various ailments, but also protects a person’s home from someone else’s hostile invasion. The icon was saved in the 9th century by a very believing woman, a widow, when the holy Christian faces were massively destroyed. A woman who lived near the city of Nicaea (Asia Minor) hid the image at home, but the soldiers came to her anyway when they found out about it.
They pierced the face of the Mother of God with a spear, and blood poured out of it, as if from a living thing. The soldiers saw this, were amazed and believed, and therefore decided to help the widow save the image.
Under the cover of darkness, the woman took the icon to the sea and let it float on the waves, but she did not drown, but stood on the waves. Soon the image was washed ashore, and not just anywhere, but to Mount Athos. The monks from the Iberian Monastery noticed how something glows in the sea, but not just glows, but a column of fire rises to the very sky.
This went on for many days, until the monks decided to see what was happening. Seeing the icon, they were very surprised and wanted to get it out of the sea. But the image floated farther and farther away from them and was not given into their hands. Then it was decided to serve a prayer service to the Mother of God, so that she would help the monastery acquire its face.
The prayer service helped, one of the elders, following the dream in which the Mother of God appeared to him, went to the sea, and the icon went into his hands. With special honors, the image was placed on a place of honor in the temple. However, every morning the icon “ran away” from their temple and ended up above the entrance gate to it, no matter how much it was returned.
Once the Mother of God again appeared in a dream to the same old monk and explained that she herself wanted to protect the monastery of monks, so she would hang over the entrance to the monastery. The Blessed Virgin announced that as long as the image is on the territory of the monastery, there will always be peace and prosperity.
And indeed, there are many cases when the face saved the monks from starvation, the invasion of enemies and serious illnesses.
Over time, a silver salary was made to the image. The feast of the image is celebrated on February 25 every year.
Icon Goalkeeper Iverskaya description
The image of the Iberian Mother of God is believed to have been created by the icon painter Luke himself. He was the first to portray Mother of God with a child in the arms of a mourner.
Temple of the Iberian Icon
The temple where the image of the Mother of God the Gatekeeper is located. It is located on the holy Mount Athos. This monastery was founded by Georgians. Every year they take the icon to the sea, where it was discovered for the first time. During the procession, anyone can hold the face in their hands.
Photo icons
We invite you to admire the image of the icon of the Mother of God of Iberia.
Akathist to the Iberian Icon
By reading the akathist to the Iberian Icon of the Mother of God every day, one can understand the history of the image, and under what circumstances life circumstances you can contact him.
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Church of the Iberian Icon
The Church of the Icon of Our Lady of Iverskaya, built of brick and decorated with white stone decor, is located in the area of Bolshaya Ordynka Street in Moscow (this is the Tretyakovskaya metro station). The church building, which can be seen from afar, is painted in thick pink color and looks very nice. This church also contains a list of the image of the Mother of God of Iberia.
This temple was destroyed several times during the war with Napoleon. And also during the revolution. At the end of the 20s of the 19th century, the authorities finally closed it, destroying the most valuable paintings and looting it. For many years, a club and a cinema were arranged in the temple building. In the 1990s, the church began to be restored.
Where is located in Moscow?
Several copies of the Iberian Icon of the Mother of God are also in Russia. One of them is in Valdai, where the church of the same name was later built, and the other is in Moscow.
In the capital city, not a single tourist will pass by the chapel where the image is located, since this chapel is located on Red Square, where the gate through which everyone enters it.
Once, in tsarist times, all Muscovites began their business only after they came to the icon and asked her blessing for the day: merchants - for good trade, students - to pass exams, pilgrims - on a good road. None of the true believers violated this tradition. Other behavior was considered bad manners and disrespectful.
In the 17th century, Greek monks who came to Moscow wrote a copy of the image of the Iberian Mother of God for the Russian Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich. The icon painter responsibly approached the mission entrusted to him, fasted almost constantly, eating only on Saturdays and Sundays. So, this icon appeared in the chapel. Rich people from time to time took her from the chapel to serve prayers in front of seriously ill relatives.
When the icon was taken away, a copy was put in its place, there were many such copies, but the real icon disappeared somewhere, and they still don’t know who has it. Although it is assumed that she settled in Sokolniki in the Church of the Resurrection of Christ (near the Sokolniki metro station).
Previously, if someone came to Moscow, the first thing they did was to bow and greet the Iberian Icon of the Mother of God. Even Peter 1, who once did not, incurred the enmity of the inhabitants in the 17th century.
A prayer service before the icon in the chapel on Red Square is served every two hours from 8 o'clock in the morning. The last service with an akathist begins at 6 pm and ends at 8 pm. All the priests of Moscow take turns doing this, which is a special honor.
The veneration of the miraculous image of the Most Holy Theotokos, now called Iberian, dates back to the 9th century. According to legend, during the reign of the iconoclast emperor Theophilus, a pious widow lived in the vicinity of the city of Nicaea in Asia Minor, in whose house a revered icon of the Most Holy Theotokos was kept. One of the royal overseers, seeing the icon, pierced it. Blood flowed from the right cheek, as from a wound of a living person, and the villain, horrified, fell to his knees and with tears asked the Virgin Mary for forgiveness. Realizing that the miraculous image could be found and destroyed, the repentant iconoclast advised the widow to hide it. The widow went to the seashore at night and, having prayed, let the icon float on the sea - to the will of God.
After some time, the icon sailed to the shores of Athos. The monks of the Iversky Monastery noticed at night that from an object floating on the waters of the sea, a radiance emanates, similar to a pillar of fire rising to the sky. This marvelous phenomenon continued for several nights in a row. Having sailed closer in the boat, the monks saw the icon of the Mother of God, but they could not take it out of the water: as they approached, the image was removed. The monks gathered in the temple for joint prayer, asking the Mother of God Herself for help in finding the icon. The Mother of God appeared in a vision to one of the monks, the monk Gabriel, saying that she wanted to bestow Her image on the Iberian monastery. After the fervent prayers of the monks procession went to the seashore, the icon approached the shore, Gabriel entered sea waters and reverently received it.
The image was brought into the monastery church, but the next morning it disappeared: the monks found it on the wall above the gates of the monastery. He was returned to the temple, but the next morning history repeated itself. The Mother of God again appeared in a vision to the monk Gabriel and revealed Her will: the icon should be above the gates of the monastery, protecting it. The monks fulfilled the will of the Blessed Virgin: a small temple was built over the gates, and the miraculously acquired icon of the Mother of God was called the Portatissa or Goalkeeper.
The origin of the icon became known a few years later, when the son of a widow, the former owner of the icon, came to the Iberian monastery; he took monastic vows here.
The history of the veneration of the Iberian icon in Russia begins in the first years of the reign of Alexei Mikhailovich Romanov (1645-1676), when the abbot of the Athos Iberian Monastery, Archimandrite Pachomius, arrived in Moscow to collect donations at the monastery of the Holy Mountain.
Having heard about the miraculous Iberian icon, called the Vratarnitsa, the archimandrite, the future All-Russian Patriarch, turned to the holy mountaineer with a request to grant the shrine to the Moscow kingdom. Knowing that without the will of the Queen of Heaven, the Gatekeeper would not leave her monastery, the guest promised to make an exact list of her for the Russian sovereign.
According to Archimandrite Pachomius, during the entire time of his work, the icon painter, Hieromonk Iamvlikh Romanov, strictly fasted, eating food on Saturdays and Sundays, and all the brethren of the Iberian monastery celebrated all-night vigils and Liturgies twice a week. The list is completely identical to the ancient miraculous image, not differing from it either in size or image. The icon has the autograph of the master on Greek: “I wrote this with diligence Iamblichus Romanov, who lives in the cells of Iberian. Leta 7156 (1648)”, as well as another Greek inscription: “Through the diligence and dedication of Pachomius, Archimandrite of Iver. Summer 1648". Above the head of the Mother of God, between the images of two angels, there is an inscription “The Goalkeeper of Iberian”, above Her right shoulder - “Merciful”, on the right cheek of the Most Pure One - a wound inflicted on the image by the hand of an iconoclast. On the margins of the icon are images of the 12 apostles.
On October 13, 1648, the list of the Iberian Icon was delivered to Moscow by three Svyatogorsk monks: Ecclesiarch Pachomius, Hierodeacon Damaskin, and Cellar Ignatius. A solemn procession led by Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich and the clergy, boyars and many people came out towards the image of the Mother of God at the Resurrection Gate of Kitay-Gorod. In memory of the bringing of the Iberian Icon to Moscow, an annual celebration was established on October 13/26.
Initially, the Goalkeeper was placed in the Kremlin, then in the house church of Tsarina Maria Ilyinichna Miloslavskaya. In 1654, the image was taken by the sovereign on a military campaign, which ended with the defeat of the Poles near Vyazma. Upon his return to Moscow, Alexei Mikhailovich, in gratitude for the victory, placed the Athos Iberian icon in the Smolensk Cathedral, which in XVI-XVII centuries It was called the house of the Most Pure Mother of God and had the status of "royal pilgrimage".
The veneration of the Iberian icon quickly spread throughout Russia. In 1656, through the efforts of Patriarch Nikon from Athos, the second list of the Goalkeeper was delivered - for the Valdai Iberian Monastery. In 1669, in Moscow, at the Resurrection Gates of Kitay-Gorod, the Iverskaya Chapel appeared, where, by the tsar’s command, the third list of the Goalkeeper, made already in Moscow from the Athos image from the Novodevichy Monastery, was placed, but bigger size. Now he is in Sokolniki. The Tretyakov Gallery has another list of the Iveron Icon - it was located in the Iverskaya Chapel and was intended for performing prayers at home for seriously ill people; at the bottom of this icon there are special loops for easy transportation.
The first copy of the Iberian Icon, brought to Russia in 1648, remained within the walls of the Moscow Novodevichy Convent for three and a half centuries. Only once, in 1913, on the occasion of the celebration of the 300th anniversary of the Romanov dynasty, the image was taken out for general worship in the Metropolitan Chambers of the Chudov Monastery in the Moscow Kremlin.
After the closure of the Novodevichy Convent, the Vratarnitsa, along with other relics and valuables of the monastery sacristy, was kept in the funds of the branch of the State Historical Museum organized within the walls of the monastery.
In 1994, monastic life was revived in the Novodevichy Convent; in 2010, the architectural ensemble of the Novodevichy Convent was transferred to the gratuitous perpetual use of the Moscow diocese. In 2008-2010, the icon was transferred to the temple for worship several times, but then left the monastery in connection with the withdrawal of the branch of the Historical Museum from the monastery.
On April 25, 2012, the Patriarchal Viceroy sent the Minister of Culture Russian Federation A.A. Avdeev a letter with a request to transfer to the Novodevichy Convent, located in the State Historical Museum and included in the federal museum fund, the historical shrine of Russian Orthodox Church- The Iberian Icon of the Mother of God, taken out in 2010 from the Smolensk Cathedral, as well as a set of Eucharistic vessels that belonged to the monastery.
By order of the Minister of Culture of the Russian Federation dated April 26, 2012, the State Historical Museum was given permission to transfer the requested shrines to the free use of the Moscow Diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church in the manner prescribed by the state legislation of the Russian Federation. On the same day, an agreement was concluded between the State Historical Museum and the Moscow diocese on the transfer of religious museum items for free use. In accordance with this agreement, for storage and use for liturgical purposes, free of charge for the period of existence of the Orthodox religious organization of the Moscow diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church, the icon of the Mother of God of Iveron, as well as a set of silver Eucharistic vessels of the 19th century - a chalice, diskos and an asterisk, are transferred to the Novodevichy Convent of the Moscow diocese.
May 6, 2012 venerated image in the Novodevichy Convent. The solemn ceremony was attended by the Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation, the elected President of Russia, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia, Metropolitan Yuvenaly of Krutitsy and Kolomna. The primate of the Russian Orthodox Church led the prayer singing in front of the icon in the Smolensk church of the monastery.
Then the shrine was transferred to the Assumption Cathedral of the monastery, where it will be located from now on, since the historical location of the shrine - the Smolensk Cathedral - is a summer church, services in which are held only a few times a year.