The Gatekeeper and Guardian (I)

The Iberian Icon of the Most-Holy Virgin, which is especially honored above all of the icons of Mt. Athos, first appeared about the middle of the 9th Century. The Holy Orthodox Church at that time was profoundly agitated by fresh waves of iconoclasm under Emperor Theophilus, and to protect the Holy Icons from being burnt and desecrated, pious people tried to hide or set them afloat on swift rivers or seas, entrusting their destiny to God's will. Such was the case of the Iberian Icon of the Mother of God. According to Church Tradition, to save the icon, a widow from the town of Nicaea set the icon afloat on the waters of the sea, entrusting it into the hands of the Theotokos. But as the widow and her son watched, the Holy Image did not disappear into the water, instead it floated westward in an upright position. This moved the widow's son to dedicate himself to God and he secretly left for Thessalonica and from there to Mt. Athos, where he settled after taking monastic vows at the Iberian Monastery (Iveron). It was he who told the monks there about the icon and thus preserved its sacred memory. One day in the latter half of the 10th century, the monks of Iveron Monastery saw a pillar of fire rising from the sea. It continued for several days and nights. Soon the monks who gathered on the shore saw an icon of the Madonna which seemed to be standing upright on the surface of the water, giving off rays of light. The mystery of the miraculous appearance of the icon was revealed by the Holy Mother of God herself to Gabriel, a pious hermit of Iveron, whom she willed to walk over the water and receive the icon in his hands. With great rejoicing and ceremony the monks greeted the Holy Image on the shore and a chapel was built on the spot soon after.