The Russian icon of Mary showing Christ the Way

In a Hodegetria-type icon, “showing the way”, the Virgin points with her hand to Christ, the only way we should follow: Christ. Like all Marian icons, it bears the inscription "Theotokos", “Mother of God”. On the Virgin’s forehead and shoulders, the three shining stars express the dogma that she is a virgin before, during and after the birth of her Son. The Child's golden tunic indicates that everything in him is luminous. He is, according to the definition of the Council of Nicea, “God born of God, light born of light, true God born of true God”.

The icon of the Pure God-bearer is said to have been painted by St. Luke for the Antioch community. It was later venerated in Constantinople in the Church of Blachernae, and finally brought to Russia in 1046, and placed in Smolensk's Assumption Cathedral in 1101.

This Virgin was invoked for advice and help. In particular, she helped Vladimir Monomach pacify and unite Russia. She is credited with protecting the city against the Tartar invasion. In 1398, the icon was brought to Moscow to the Annunciation Cathedral. It was then returned to Smolensk’s Cathedral of the Dormition of the Virgin, but a faithful copy of the icon in the same size was made for Kremlin Annunciation Cathedral, where it stayed until 1525, when it was transferred to the newly built “Cathedral of the Smolensk Icon of the Mother of God” at Moscow’s Novodevichy Convent.

In 1812, the icon was taken to the battlefields against Napoleon. “In front of and around the icon, behind and on all sides, crowds of soldiers marched, ran and prostrated themselves to the ground, their heads uncovered.” (Tolstoy, War and Peace)

On November 22, 1991, the icon was seen shedding tears all day in front of a large crowd of faithful. The bishop and patriarch acknowledged the authenticity of those miraculous tears.

Her feast days are:

November 5. This feast was instituted after the victory over Napoleon in 1912.

November 22. This feast commemorates the icon's tears in 1991.

Marian Encyclopedia