Andronevskaya icon of the Mother of God. Andronikovskaya icon of the Mother of God in Pereslavl prayer. Icon of the Mother of God "Andronikovskaya"

Among the household relics of the Byzantine emperor Andronikos III Palaiologos, who occupied the throne from 1328 to 1341, was a miraculous icon of the Mother of God, according to legend, one of three once painted by the Evangelist Luke. The name of the crowned owner gave it its name, and in subsequent centuries it became known as the icon of the Andronikov Mother of God.

Icon saved from fire

Shortly before his death, the emperor (his image is given below) presented it as a gift to a Greek monastery located on the Peloponnese peninsula. There, under the arches of the ancient monastery, the Andronikov Icon was kept until the invasion of the Turks, who captured the peninsula in 1821 and destroyed the monastery.

The Ottoman conquerors plundered all the valuables stored in the monastery, and what they could not take out was set on fire. Only the icon, once a gift from the Byzantine emperor, was miraculously preserved. Bishop Agapius saved her from the hands of the Gentiles. At the risk of his life, he took the shrine to the city of Patras (the modern name of Patras), free from invaders, and there he handed it over to his relative, Russian consul A.N. Vlassopoulo.

The icon, painted on a wooden board, had a very small size ─ 35 cm x 25 cm. The Most Holy Theotokos was depicted on it alone without Her Eternal Child. A characteristic feature of the image was the bleeding wound on the neck of the Mother of God, left after a spear strike inflicted in the 8th century, when Byzantium was engulfed in the fire of iconoclasm.

Road to Russia

In 1839, the icon of the Andronikov Mother of God was sent from Greece to St. Petersburg by the son and heir of the consul who had died by that time. Upon arrival in the capital of the Russian Empire, the shrine was located in the house church of the Winter Palace until 1868, and then for some time in the Trinity Cathedral, located on It is believed that Andronikovskaya’s akathist was compiled in those same years

In April 1877, the holy image was sent to Vyshny Volochok, where it was received with extraordinary honors by the local clergy and townspeople. After the solemn service in the Kazan Cathedral, the shrine was transferred in a religious procession to a convent located not far from the city, founded in honor of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God.

Miracles revealed in the Feodorovsky Monastery

After the icon of the Andronikovskaya Mother of God took pride of place in the main church of the monastery, its abbess, Abbess Dosithea, petitioned the Holy Synod to establish an official day of celebration dedicated to the acquired shrine. Soon her request was granted, and since then, celebrations dedicated to this icon have been held annually on May 1.

There is evidence that prayer to the Andronikov Icon of the Mother of God often brought the fulfillment of the most cherished and difficult desires. The monastery book is full of records about the healing of hopelessly sick people, about finding family happiness and successful childbearing. It is not surprising that after this the image began to be revered as miraculous.

Years of Bolshevik rule

This continued until the tragic events of 1917, which radically changed the entire way of life in Russia. With the coming to power of the atheistic forces, the women's monastery was closed. Most of the buildings located on its territory were destroyed, and those that, according to the authorities, were of economic value were rebuilt and used for the needs of the military unit located there.

Two miraculous icons of the Mother of God that were kept in the monastery before its defeat, Andronikovskaya and Kazanskaya, were transferred to the only city church that remained open at that time. This was the same Kazan Cathedral, which in 1877 became the site of celebrations on the occasion of the arrival from St. Petersburg of the image painted by the hand of the Evangelist Luke.

The fate of this temple is very sad. Having successfully survived all the decades of communist rule with their regular anti-religious campaigns, it was destroyed in 1993, when, in the wake of perestroika, the Churches were returned and thousands of devastated and desecrated shrines were restored. The vestments and icons in it were transferred to another city church ─ Epiphany. The icon of the Andronikovskaya Mother of God was also placed there in the early 80s.

Stolen shrine

Simultaneously with the destruction of the Kazan Cathedral near Vyshny-Volochok, the revival of the women's monastery began, in which, before its abolition, the miraculous Andronikov icon was located. However, she was not destined to return to her previous place. Back in 1984, the icon, under very mysterious circumstances, was stolen from the Epiphany Church, and to this day has not been found. For more than two decades, nothing is known about her fate.

Andronikovskaya Icon of the Mother of God in Pereslavl-Zalessky

The news of the appearance of a stolen icon in Pereslavl spread throughout the country in 2005. However, as it turned out, it was not true. The reason for its appearance was events that in themselves deserve attention. It all started back in 1998, when one of the parishioners brought a life-size lithographic copy of the stolen Andronikov Icon to the church of the Pereslavl-Zalessky Feodorovsky Convent (photo below). After some time, another woman donated an icon case to the monastery, its size exactly matching the previously brought lithograph.

The icon thus acquired was placed in the temple, but since it did not represent any artistic or historical value, its appearance went unnoticed. This continued until 2005, when the lithograph, according to eyewitnesses, began to emit a wonderful fragrance that filled the entire temple.

An inexhaustible source of miracles

Moreover, in subsequent times, numerous miracles of healing were recorded, revealed through prayers before her. This caused an extraordinary stir among believers and served as a reason to consider the lithographic copy as miraculous as its stolen original. The celebration of the day of the newly found icon takes place on May 14 and November 4.

A year later, the Andronikov Icon, or rather its lithographic copy, began to stream myrrh abundantly, which gave it universal fame and, accordingly, increased the number of pilgrims. For the information of skeptics, we note that there is a lot of evidence of people living today who received healing from ailments after their visit to the Feodorovsky Monastery, where the Andronikov Icon of the Mother of God is still located.

What they pray for before her can be clearly seen from the text of the short prayer given along with the photograph that opens the article. The main thing is the petition for the intercession of the Mother of God for us before the Throne of the Most High, who bestows life, health and all earthly blessings.

The Andronikov (Andronikovskaya) icon of the Mother of God, the Greek Andronikov Icon is a miraculous icon that allegedly was the home shrine of the Byzantine Emperor Andronikos III Palaiologos (in whose honor it was named). The Mother of God is depicted shoulder-length, without the Child. There is a bleeding wound on the right side of the Mother of God’s neck. At the bottom of the icon was attached a case in which a Damascus steel knife with a bone handle was stored, with which the icon-hater Turk stabbed the icon, after which a bleeding wound appeared.

Days of celebration: May 14 (May 1, old style) and November 4 (October 22)

According to Andronikov's legend, the icon was painted by the Evangelist Luke. According to the first surviving documentary evidence of the icon, in 1347 Andronik donated it to the Monemvasia monastery in Morea, where it remained until the beginning of the 19th century. Based on the name of the monastery, the icon was also called Monemvasia.

When the Turks attacked Greece in 1821 and devastated many cities, including Monemvasia, the abbot of the monastery, Bishop Agapius, leaving all the treasures of the monastery in the hands of the enemies, saved only the miraculous Andronikov icon and disappeared with it to the city of Patras. Before his death, Agapius bequeathed this shrine to his relative, Russian Consul General N.I. Vlassopulo, whose son and heir, A.N. Vlassopulo, sent it from Athens in 1839 with a letter addressed to the Highest Name in Odessa to forward it to St. Petersburg to Emperor Nicholas Pavlovich.

From 1839 to May 12, 1868, the Andronikov Icon was in the Winter Palace, and from May 12, 1868 to April 16, 1877, in the Trinity Cathedral, on the St. Petersburg side.

In 1877, this icon was transferred to a convent in the name of the Kazan Mother of God in the Tver province, near the city of Vyshny Volochok.

In 1984, the icon was stolen from the Epiphany Cathedral of Vyshny Volochok and its current location is unknown.

A miraculous lithographic copy of the Andronikov Icon of the Mother of God is currently located in the Vvedenskaya Church of the Feodorovsky Convent of Pereslavl Zalessky.

Prayer to the Andronikov Mother of God

Oh, Most Holy Lady and Lady Theotokos! Thou art the Highest of all Angels and Archangels, and of all creatures, the Most Honest: Thou art the Helper of the offended, the hopeless Hope, the poor Intercessor, the sad Consolation, the hungry Nurse, the naked Robe, the sick Healing, Salvation of sinners, Help and Intercession of all Christians. Oh, All-Merciful Lady, Virgin Mary and Lady! By Your grace, save and have mercy on our most pious, autocratic, Great Sovereign, Emperor Nicholas Alexandrovich of All Russia, and his wife, the most pious Empress Alexandra Feodorovna; his mother, the most pious Empress Maria Feodorovna; his heir, the blessed Sovereign Tsarevich and Grand Duke Alexy Nikolaevich, and the entire reigning house. Save, O Lady, and have mercy on Thy servant, the Most Holy Governing Synod, and the most reverend metropolitans, archbishops and bishops, and the entire priestly and monastic rank, and the faithful governing council, and military leaders, city governors, and the Christ-loving army, and well-wishers, and all Orthodox Christians in the robe By your honest protection; and pray, Lady, from You without seed the incarnate Christ our God, that He may gird us with His power from above against our invisible and visible enemies. Oh, All-Merciful, Lady and Lady Theotokos! Raise us from the depths of sin, and deliver us from famine, destruction, from cowardice and flood, from fire and sword, from the presence of foreigners and internecine warfare, and from sudden death, and from attacks of the enemy, and from all evil. Grant, O Lady, peace and health to Thy servant, all Orthodox Christians, and enlighten their minds and the eyes of their hearts to salvation, and make us, Thy sinful servants, worthy of the Kingdom of Thy Son, Christ our God: for His Power is blessed and glorified, with His beginningless Father, and with His Most Holy and Good and Life-giving Spirit, now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen.

Many secrets and unsolved mysteries are associated with the Andronikov Icon of the Mother of God. This icon is one of three painted by Luke. It is also known that for a long time the icon was kept by Andronikos III Palaiologos, emperor of the Byzantine Empire, and the icon was named in his honor. The first documented mention of the icon dates back to 1347 AD. This year Andronik donated an icon with the face of the Mother of God to the monastery in the city of Morea.

Celebration days:

• May 14
• November 4

Only in the 19th century, under Nicholas I, did the shrine come to Russia. This is due to the attack of the Turkish invaders on Greece. The monastery servant managed to save only the icon of the Mother of God; he secretly sent it to a relative, a Russian general. In 1839, the icon was stored in Russia. For many years the icon was untouched; it also survived the revolutionary years, moving from one church to another. Unfortunately, in 1984 the miraculous icon was lost; it was stolen from the Kazan convent. The location of the shrine is still unknown.

Description of the Andronikov Icon

In all images, the Mother of God appears to us with a kind, but sad and humble look. And this is not at all surprising; her son, who voluntarily and patiently accepted everything, was tortured before her eyes. The Mother of God is immaculate and peace-loving, giving protection to all who ask. On the Andronikovskaya Icon, the Mother of God is depicted shoulder-length and without the Child. The embroidered coat of arms of Byzantium - a double-headed eagle - was attached to the icon - this once again confirms the imperial origin of the ancient image.

There is a bleeding wound on the neck of the Mother of God and this is not the icon painter’s idea. According to legend, under the icon there was a case with a Damascus steel knife, the handle of which was made of bone. One day, a Turk, known for hating icons, grabbed a knife from its case and hit the icon with it. A wound from the blow appeared on the neck of the icon of the Mother of God, and blood flowed from the icon.

Protector Icon

Not a single church or monastery can do without an icon of the Mother of God. There were cases when the Mother of God herself came to the sick in dreams. The icon with the face of the Mother of God is one of the most miraculous; it can help in all worldly matters. The Mother of God is asked for guidance on the true path, for strengthening faith and dispelling bad thoughts. The Mother of God helps with diseases of the body and soul. Eyewitnesses claim that the blind man received his sight next to the Andronikov Icon. The childless pray to the Mother of God for a cherished gift, those who are expecting pray for a successful birth, for a healthy and strong baby, and parents pray for their children, asking to protect and guide them.

Prayer to the Andronikov Mother of God:

Oh, Most Holy Lady and Lady Theotokos! Thou art the Highest of all Angels and Archangels, and of all creatures, the Most Honest: Thou art the Helper of the offended, the hopeless Hope, the poor Intercessor, the sad Consolation, the hungry Nurse, the naked Robe, the sick Healing, Salvation of sinners, Help and Intercession of all Christians. Oh, All-Merciful Lady, Virgin Mary and Lady! By Your grace, save and have mercy on our most pious, autocratic, Great Sovereign, Emperor Nicholas Alexandrovich of All Russia, and his wife, the most pious Empress Alexandra Feodorovna; his mother, the most pious Empress Maria Feodorovna; his heir, the blessed Sovereign Tsarevich and Grand Duke Alexy Nikolaevich, and the entire reigning house. Save, O Lady, and have mercy on Thy servant, the Most Holy Governing Synod, and the most reverend metropolitans, archbishops and bishops, and the entire priestly and monastic rank, and the faithful governing council, and military leaders, city governors, and the Christ-loving army, and well-wishers, and all Orthodox Christians in the robe By your honest protection; and pray, Lady, from You without seed the incarnate Christ our God, that He may gird us with His power from above against our invisible and visible enemies. Oh, All-Merciful, Lady and Lady Theotokos! Raise us from the depths of sin, and deliver us from famine, destruction, from cowardice and flood, from fire and sword, from the presence of foreigners and internecine warfare, and from sudden death, and from attacks of the enemy, and from all evil. Grant, O Lady, peace and health to Thy servant, all Orthodox Christians, and enlighten their minds and the eyes of their hearts to salvation, and make us, Thy sinful servants, worthy of the Kingdom of Thy Son, Christ our God: for His Power is blessed and glorified, with His beginningless Father, and with His Most Holy and Good and Life-giving Spirit, now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen.

Andronikovskaya Icon of the Mother of God in Pereslavl

A copy of the miraculous shrine has been kept in Pereslavl for many years. Its exact location is the Vvedenskaya Church of the Feodorovsky Convent, which is located in the city of Pereslavl-Zalessky in the Yaroslavl region. The city has historical significance; its construction was associated with the name of Yuri Dolgoruky, which is why the city is part of the Golden Ring of Russia tourist route. The size of the icon kept in the monastery is slightly larger than an ordinary sheet of office paper, but inexplicable powers emanate from the icon. Parishioners note that being near the icon makes their soul feel lighter; they don’t want to leave this place.

The appearance of a copy of the Andronikov Icon of the Mother of God in Pereslavl is shrouded in mystery. The place and time of its writing is unknown. And the first appearance of the icon in the church is associated with miracles. According to eyewitnesses, in 1998, one of the parishioners brought this icon, at the same time another parishioner, entering through another door, brought an icon case, ideal for the icon.

(celebration May 1, Oct. 22), according to legend, was invested in 1347 by Byzantium. imp. Andronikos III Palaiologos in the Monemvasia monastery in Morea (information about the presence of the icon in Monemvasia from 1347 is contradicted by both the date of death of Andronikos III Palaiologos - 1341, and the absence of mentions of it among the shrines of the monastery). In 1821, during the Greek. uprising, the rector of the Monemvasia Monastery, Bishop. Agapiem A. and. was moved to Patras and bequeathed to the Russian Consul General in Greece I.N. Vlassopulo, from whose son A.I. Vlassopulo in 1839 was delivered from Athens to St. Petersburg to the Highest name of the Emperor. Nicholas I. Oct 30 1839 A. and. was placed in the court sacristy and until 1868 was kept in the Big Center. Winter Palace. From 1868 to 1877 it was in the Trinity Cathedral on the St. Petersburg side. After a lawsuit initiated by the bankruptcy department for the affairs of the insolvent debtor A. Vlassopulo, the icon came into the possession of the St. Petersburg resident M. A. Fedorov, who in 1885 sold it to the St. Petersburg merchant E. N. Sivokhin. On May 1, 1885, Sivokhin moved the icon to Vyshnevolotsky in honor of the Kazan Icon of the Most Holy. Mother of God women mon-ry. After the monastery was closed in 1924, the icon was kept in the Epiphany Cathedral of Vyshny Volochok, from where it was stolen in 1983.

The legend conveyed, apparently, by Bishop. Agapius, called A. and. one of the 3 images written by the Evangelist Luke (doubts about the reliability of these data were expressed in 1866 by the confessor of Their Imperial Majesties, Archpriest P. Bazhanov). According to information delivered to the imp. Nicholas I A. Vlassopulo, A. and. was made using the wax-mastic technique; its size is approx. 33´ 24 cm. The iconography is characteristic of the icons that were part of the main Deesis ranks - the Virgin Mary is depicted without the Infant Christ, in a three-quarter turn to the right, with a slightly bowed head, wearing a crown on top of the maforium. A distinctive feature of the image is the depiction of the wound on the neck of the Mother of God.

There is evidence of the frame and chasuble for the icon made by Bishop. Agapius, and the work on decorating the icon undertaken in 1825 by I. Vlassopulo and in the 70s. XIX century M. Fedorov. On the lower field of the icon on a silver plate there was a chased (?) inscription: “῾Η Κυρία τοῦ ̓Ανδρονίκου Αὐτοκράτορος Κ. Γ. Π. Σ." (Mistress Andronika the autocrat). The 2nd inscription was placed on the silver gilded frame of the image: “Αὐτὴ ἡ παντίμιος ἁγία εἴκων ὑπάρχει δώρημα τοῦ εὐσεβ οῦς βασιλέως ̓Ανδρονίκου Παλαιολόγου εἰς Μονεμβασίαν" (This all-honorable holy icon is a gift from the pious king Andronikos Palaiologos in Monemvas yu). The icon was decorated with the image of the coat of arms of the Byzantine Empire, embroidered in gold on green velvet, and a knife was also attached to it; according to legend, the icon was wounded. During the years of A. and. in the Trinity Cathedral, at the expense of St. Petersburg citizen I. F. Gromov and his wife, a case was made for the icon with images on the sides of Saints Alexander Nevsky and Mary Magdalene; When transferred to the Vyshnevolotsk Monastery, the image was inserted into a frame (size 103´ 90 cm) with images of St. Ephraim the Syrian and MC. Neonillas (patrons of E. Sivokhin and his wife). Copy of A. and. in 1885 it was kept in the Trinity Cathedral on the St. Petersburg side. Lists of the icons have been preserved. XIX century small in size (TsMiAR, TsAK MDA), the inscriptions on which do not correspond to the original.

The celebration of the image on May 1 was established in 1885 in memory of its transfer from St. Petersburg to Vyshny Volochyok.

Lit.: Bringing the ancient Greek icon of the Mother of God from the Winter Palace to the Trinity Cathedral on the St. Petersburg side on May 12, 1868. St. Petersburg, 1868, 1875; Historical and statistical information about the St. Petersburg diocese. St. Petersburg, 1873. Issue. 3. P. 371, No. 488; The celebration of the bringing of the ancient Greek. icon of the Mother of God, called “Andronikova”, from St. Petersburg to Kazan Vyshnevolochsky women. mon-ry, May 1, 1885 St. Petersburg, 1885; Snessorev. The earthly life of the Blessed Virgin Mary. pp. 468-470; Dimitry (Sambikin). Monthsword. Tver, 1899. Issue. 9. Part 1. May. pp. 19-20; Bukharev I. Icons. pp. 133-134; Villager E. Our Lady. pp. 678-679; Rejoices in You: Rus. icons of the Mother of God XVI - early. XX century: Cat. vyst. from the funds of the Museum. Andrey Rublev. M., 1995. P. 71, No. 66.

N. IN . Pivovarova