The Image of the Mother of God "Smolenskaya"  

An icon with a miraculous image of the Mother of God "Smolenskaya" stands above a patterned pedestal of carved belts and flowery patterns. One of the most revered icons in Russia is represented in an oval medallion of a miniature banner decorated with buds, flowers and leaves. A dome with an eight-pointed Orthodox cross stands above the church banner, symbolizing the triumph of the Church of Christ and God's greatness. According to legend, the archetype of the icon of the Mother of God "Smolenskaya" was painted by the evangelist Luke for the Antiochian ruler Theophilus. "May the grace of Him who was born of Me and My mercy be with these icons," said the Most Pure Virgin when she saw the icons of the Apostle Luke. The image belongs to the iconographic type of Hodegetria, which means "Guide Book", where the Mother of God is depicted with the infant Jesus Christ. Christ blesses with his right hand, and holds a scroll in his left, a sign of his divine dignity. The icon especially emphasizes the pointing of the Mother of God's hand to Christ, Who is "The Way, the Truth, and the Life." It is known that in the 5th century, the blessed Queen Pulcheria transferred the icon of Odigitria to the Blachernae Temple in Constantinople, where it remained until the 10th century. Weekly processions with the removal of the icon of the Mother of God and its procession through the streets of Constantinople were also established by Pulcheria. The testimonies of foreign pilgrims describe this icon, covered with a silver chasuble with a large number of precious stones, in a kiosk, as well as processions with it, which gathered a large number of people. In 1046, the miraculous image was transported to Russia by the Byzantine Princess Anna, becoming the parental blessing of the Byzantine Emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus, who married his daughter to Prince Vsevolod Yaroslavich of Chernigov. The icon became the ancestral shrine of the Russian princes, a symbol of the continuity and dynastic proximity of Constantinople and Russia. In 1095, Vsevolod Yaroslavich's son Vladimir II Monomakh moved the miraculous icon from Chernigov to Smolensk, and in 1101 he founded the Cathedral Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary there. Ten years later, the icon was placed in this church and became known as Smolenskaya, the city of Smolensk — the city of the Most Holy Theotokos, and the cathedral — Her House. Since 1514, when Smolensk was annexed to the Moscow state, the Smolensk Icon acquired the significance of an all-Russian shrine and began to be regarded as the most important symbol of the unity of the Russian lands. In 1525, the Smolensk Cathedral of the Novodevichy Monastery, founded in Moscow, was founded in her honor. In the XVI—XIX centuries, dozens of temples were dedicated to the icon revered throughout Russia, and about 30 copies were written, many of which are considered miraculous. There is a prayer on the back of the icon.: "Now let us diligently approach the Mother of God, sinners and humblers, and let us fall down in repentance, calling from the depths of our souls: O Lady, help us, having mercy on us, strive, we perish from a multitude of sins, do not turn away Thy servants, for I am the only hope of the imams. Beseech, O Most Holy Lady, Thy Son, Christ our God, that He may make us worthy of the Kingdom of heaven."