The miraculous icon of Mary "Liberatrix of Russia"

The miraculous icon of the Mother of God of Kazan has the sad look of the Russian Virgins, who tenderly press the Child Jesus to their heart. Previously covered with an oklad (protective sheet, revetment) of gold or silver and adorned with precious stones, this icon had the reputation of restoring their sight to the blind, who would offer to her, in gratitude, perfectly pure emeralds.

Its history is known since the great fire that destroyed part of the city of Kazan in 1579. The icon was discovered that year under the rubble of a burned house by a 10-year-old girl, to whom the Virgin appeared several times, giving her the order to search in that place. The Virgin of Kazan has since been venerated as the "Liberatrix of Russia", earning victories against the Swedes and Napoleon. The last political act of Czar Nicholas II, in 1918, was to consecrate his Empire to her. He was arrested a few days later and, on the orders of Trotsky, executed along with his entire family.

The Kazan icon disappeared in the horrors of the Russian Revolution. Many believed that it was lost in the vast destruction of icons and holy images of that period, but in 1965, the news came out that it was on sale at a major antique dealer in New York, without its oklad and very damaged. The asking price of $500,000 was astronomical for the time. The Soviet government bid on it, but the Russians of the diaspora bought it first, and had it restored. It was placed in Fatima, because of the prophecies about Russia given there by the Virgin Mary, in the Domus Pacis, in a bullet-proof room inside the chapel dedicated to her.

The icon was gifted to John Paul II during one of his visits there, then the pope entrusted his legate, Cardinal Walter Kasper, President of the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity, with the task of handing it over to the Russians on August 28, 2004, on the feast of the Dormition of the Virgin, during a long ceremony in which the rich Orthodox liturgy unfolded in the grandiose setting of the Cathedral of the Dormition of the Kremlin. On this occasion, Patriarch Alexis II thanked the Pope "wholeheartedly for this event, which is a joint contribution to overcoming the negative consequences of a twentieth-century history marked by unprecedented persecution against faith in Christ." 

AFALE Magazine, No. 293, September 2004