Celebration in honor of the Smolensk Icon of the Mother of God, called “Hodegetria”

For the Orthodox Church, August 10 is a patronal feast day in honor of the Smolensk Icon, especially revered by believers of the Mother of God This visible expression of the Incarnation became a symbol of the Russian faith, capable of providing stunning, miraculous help The prototype of the icon is a version of the iconographic Mother of God, made by the closest follower of the faith - Evangelist Luke, whose author's works are also owned by the Russian Orthodox Church The icon represents the image of Jesus, already somewhat grown up, in contrast to another, common type of depiction of icons called “Eleusa” This word is interpreted as tenderness, an expression of love For the Smolensk image, the dogma is somewhat different - it glorifies the fact of the appearance of the Heavenly King to the whole world in the form of a divine baby, as evidenced by the characteristic gesture of the right hand of the Mother of God The shrine belongs to a certain iconographic type and is known as Hodegetria - “Guide” from Greek She is able to lead believers to salvation along the true path - to Christ There is a legend about how the Blessed Virgin helped healing by showing the way to the temple to two blind men who received it in front of the image But there are no reliable facts about how the icon itself came to the territory of the future Russia The most acceptable version is considered to be the transfer of the icon as a parental blessing from the Byzantine Emperor Constantine to his daughter when she was married to Prince Vsevolod in 1046 His son, the famous Vladimir Monomakh, then moved the icon from Chernigov, his father's inheritance, to Smolensk in 1095 A few years later, he laid the foundation for the Assumption Cathedral, where this icon was placed It began to be called Smolensk and protects the people inhabiting these lands For the first time, miraculous help came from the icon in 1239, when Smolensk was surrounded by the troops of Khan Batu, whose numerical superiority seemed to leave no chance for the inhabitants Skeptics may question subsequent events, but they can be classified as true miracles The fervent prayer of the Smolensk residents, who turned to the protectress, granted salvation in the person of the believing warrior Mercury The holy voice from the icon directed his actions At the cost of his life, he made his way into the camp and defeated many enemies, including the strongest warrior of the horde And not a single critic will be able to deny that the Orthodox Church united the Russian people from fragmentation, especially during the period of the Tatar-Mongol invasion But subsequent historical realities forced the Smolensk Mother of God to leave her refuge This happened in 1395, when the principality lost the right to Hodegetria after being captured by Lithuania But again, another wedding in 1398, this time of the daughter of the Lithuanian ruler and the Moscow prince, the son of Dmitry Donskoy, returned the icon to the Russian land as a dowry, only to Moscow And half a century later (1456), at the request of the Smolensk ambassadors, it was solemnly returned The exact list, that is, a copy of the icon, was subsequently transferred on July 28 (August 10), 1525 to the Novodevichy Convent, built in honor of the liberation from Lithuanian rule From this moment the period of celebration begins On August 10, the Divine Liturgy takes place, glorifying the earthly life of Jesus and the Mother of God Not all images are awarded their own temple patronal feast 4 other images of the Mother of God have these (for example, Vladimir, Kazan) For those believers for whom the significance of the icon is great, there is the opportunity to take part in a religious procession organized by Orthodox activists It has become a traditional, annual event with a pilgrimage route Vitebsk-Smolensk, and is called “Hodegetria” Celebrations and celebrations strengthen the spiritual ties of the Orthodox and fill life with joy, although the prototype itself disappeared after the German occupation of Smolensk, which was established in 1943 His fate is still unknown, but the Orthodox do not lose hope