Appearance of the Tikhvin Icon of the Mother of God

The Tikhvin Icon of the Most Holy Mother of God is of great importance for Orthodox Christians Believers believe that the holy Apostle and Evangelist Luke himself painted this image Until the 5th century, the icon was in Jerusalem, then it was taken to Constantinople, where it was kept for a long time in the Blachernae Church, built specifically for this purpose 70 years before Constantinople was captured by the Turks, in 1383 the icon disappeared from the temple After that, it miraculously appeared in different places in Rus' For the first time she was seen over Lake Ladoga, illuminated by an unearthly light Then the holy face of the Mother of God appeared to people near the city of Tikhvin, and on this very spot, in honor of the significant and miraculous event, the Church of the Dormition of the Mother of God was built All miracles associated with the icon were described in “Tales of the Tikhvin Icon of the Mother of God” - a handwritten source, the first entries in which appeared around the 15th century This book says that the icon of the Mother of God “walked luminously through the air,” appearing to the residents of Russian villages People who were lucky enough to witness this amazing phenomenon had no doubt that the icon was being carried across the sky by angels In total, the icon appeared to the people seven times: its first appearance was over Lake Ladoga, then the image of the Mother of God appeared on the Oyat River, in the Smolkovo churchyard in Imochenitsy After this, the icon was seen on Kukova Mountain on Kozhel, and soon the image appeared above the Tikhvinka River (first on one bank, then on the other) It was the last place where the image of the Mother of God appeared that was chosen for the construction of the temple, which became the storage place for the great Orthodox shrine The church, built of wood, burned several times, however, the icon always remained safe and sound In 1560, Tsar Ivan the Terrible ordered a monastery to be built around the temple and surrounded by a powerful stone wall In 1614, when Novgorod was captured by the Swedes, the monastery was subjected to numerous attacks, but the enemy failed to capture it or destroy it The miraculous salvation of the monastery is associated with the protection of the Mother of God, whose icon was kept within the walls of the monastery They say that when the monks learned about the approach of the Swedish army, they tried to hide the icon outside the monastery, however, no matter how hard they tried, they could not move the holy image of the Mother of God At the sight of such a miracle, even the most cowardly of the monks were filled with faith and decided to stay in the monastery to protect it from the enemy, completely relying on the protection and patronage of the Mother of God Despite the fact that the enemy forces significantly outnumbered the inhabitants of the monastery, the monks successfully repelled all attacks of the Swedes, preventing them from penetrating the walls of the holy monastery At this time, Russian soldiers who marched from Moscow rushed to help the Novgorodians, and soon the Swedes had no choice but to flee For a long time, the icon served people, protecting and preserving them In 1920, the Assumption Monastery was closed, and the image itself was placed in the local history museum Until 1941, the icon was kept in the Tikhvin Museum, then the Germans transported it to Pskov In 1944, the image of the Mother of God was already in Riga, then the icon visited Libau, Jablonec nad Nisou, and the American zone of occupation of Germany In 1950, the image was sent to Chicago The icon returned to its homeland only in 2004, and was solemnly placed in the revived Tikhvin Monastery Here she remains to this day The celebration of the appearance of the Tikhvin Icon of the Blessed Virgin Mary takes place on July 9 - on this day Orthodox Christians ask the patron saint for health for themselves and their loved ones, as well as for help in war