“A strong defense for the downtrodden art Thou, Immaculate Mother of God, a sure help, the redemption and foundation of the world, origin of grace and source of divine wisdom, the protection of the whole world. We faithfully sing Thy praises and have thankful hearts for Thy radiant protective cloak: Filled with joy, rejoice, the Lord is with Thee, the Lord, who through Thee hast bestowed plentiful grace on the whole world.” — Hymn for the Feast of Pokrov
The feast of the Protection of the Mother of God (Pokrov), celebrated October 1st, commemorates a vision of Andrew the fool for Christ, in which the Mother of God stepped through the Royal Doors of the Blachernae Church in Constantinople and began praying. After a long time spent in prayer, She held her mantle and sash over the people in the church, granting them her protection. This icon if very common among the Slavs.
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O Birthgiver of God, in giving birth you retained virginity, and in your falling-asleep you did not forsake the world. You are the Mother of Life and have passed into life, and by your prayers have delivered our souls from death. — Troparion for the Dormition
This icon was painted for the Sts. Cyril and Methodius Chapel at Camp Nazareth.
The prototype of this icon, known as “the One Who Shows the Way” is attributed to Saint Luke according to Byzantine Tradition. It is one of the most common types of the Mother of God, being frequently copied especially in the period following the end of iconoclasm. Many other types of the Mother of God are based on this type. The frontal and rigid stance of the figures in the icon shows the protective character of Christ and the Theotokos. — 16″ x 20″ based on a prototype by Michael Damaskinos in Corfu.
This icon was made to match a Christ enthroned, and depicts the Theotokos seated on a throne of cherubim, with the prophets Solomon, David, Isaiah, and Daniel encircling her. Each of the prophets holds a scroll with the words they wrote prophesying the Virgin Birth. — 9″ x 12″ based on a Cretan protype of the 18th century.
According to tradition, in the 14th century, St. Arsenius brought the original icon of the Konevitsa Mother of God to the site of where the Monastery of the Nativity of the Mother of God in Konevitsa was to be built. It was later removed to the New Valaam Monastery in order to keep it from being captured or destroyed by the Soviets in the 1940s. Miracles are said to have been worked through this image, and it is considered one of the greatest Treasures of the Orthodox Church in Finland. — 16″ x 20″
This icon is a variant of the Korsun Mother of God. The original was owned by a woman named Kasperova. During a long night of praying before the old, darkened icon, she looked up to see that the icon had renewed itself. — 7.5″ x 9″
This icon takes it’s name from a hymn composed by a monk who was told by the archangel Gabriel that the choirs of angels begin the hymn “More Honorable Than The Cherubim” with the words: “It is truly meet and right to bless thee, O Theotokos, ever-blessed, and all pure Mother of our God.”
13″ x 20″
This ancient holy image was brought to Yaroslavl in the 13th century by the Orthodox Princes Saints Vassily Vsevolodovich and Konstantin Vsevoiodovich of Yaroslavl, who became famous for the restoration of churches devastated during the invasion of the Tatar hordes led by Khan Bam. In 1501, a stone church was built for the incorruptible relics of the two brothers upon the order of Grand Duke Ivan the Great of Muscovy. The relics were placed between the columns of the new church under the princes’ old domestic icons, which included the miraculous Yaroslavl Icon of the Mother of God, Later on, the lower church in the Yaroslavl Church of St. Elijah the Prophet was consecrated in honor of this icon. Besides the iconographic type “Elousa,” There are another two versions, the Yaroslavl-Pechery and the Yaroslavl-Kazan, among the miracle-working Yaroslavl Icons of the Mother of God.
Feast day; June 8/21.
Named for Metropolitan Pimen of Moscow in the late 14th century, who brought the icon from Constantinople to Moscow. The original of this icon was credited with numerous healings after fragrant myrrh came forth from the icon.
This icon was painted for the iconostasis of Holy Transfiguration Antiochian Orthodox Church in Boise, Idaho as a wedding gift to my wife.
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The original of this icon, celebrated on 21 May, takes its name from the central Russian city of Vladimir. Tradition holds that the original was painted by the Evangelist Luke and approved by the Virgin Mary, then made its way from Jerusalem to Constantinople in the fifth century, thence to Kiev in the twelfth. In 1155, as Prince Andrei Iur’evich carried the icon into battle, miracles were reported to surround it. In 1160 it was moved to Vladimir, and that name became permanently associated with it — even though after 1395 its permanent home was Moscow’s Dormition Cathedral, where miracles of deliverance from enemies continued to be associated with it. — 10″ x 12″
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“A strong defense for the downtrodden art Thou, Immaculate Mother of God, a sure help, the redemption and foundation of the world, origin of grace and source of divine wisdom, the protection of the whole world. We faithfully sing Thy praises and have thankful hearts for Thy radiant protective cloak: Filled with joy, rejoice, the Lord is with Thee, the Lord, who through Thee hast bestowed plentiful grace on the whole world.” — Hymn for the Feast of Pokrov
