Icon of the Sign of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Virgin of the Sign) - an Orthodox icon with an image belonging to the icon-painting type of Orant . One of the most revered icons in Russian Orthodoxy. The celebration in honor of the icon takes place on November 27 ( December 10 ).
| Icon of the Sign of the Blessed Virgin Mary | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Date of appearance | 12th century |
| Iconographic Type | Oranta |
| Location | Saint Sophia Cathedral in Veliky Novgorod |
| Celebration date | November 27 ( December 10 ) |
Content
Description
The icon shows the image of the Virgin with hands prayerfully raised ( Oranta ) and with the image of the Divine baby on her chest. The Virgin is depicted as sitting and standing.
The icon has dimensions 59 by 52.7 cm. The image is two-sided (on the back there are images of the righteous Joachim and Anna standing in prayer before Jesus Christ), it has a pole, that is, it is an external icon [1] . In the 16th century, the painting of the icon was renewed (the archbishop Makarius , the future metropolitan of Moscow [1], is called a possible master). From the original ancient painting, only fragments of the maforia and dresses of the Virgin and the medallion around the image of the baby Jesus were preserved. The image on the back of the icon is fully preserved in ancient painting.
History
Messages about miracles attributed to the icon of the Sign of the Blessed Virgin Mary date back to 1170 , when the troops of Prince Andrei Bogolyubsky and his allies besieged Novgorod the Great . The forces were unequal, and the Novgorodians began to pray to the Lord for a miracle. According to legend, on the third night of the siege, the Archbishop of Novgorod John heard a voice telling him to take out the icon of the Blessed Virgin Mary from the Church of the Transfiguration on Ilyin Street and enclose a fortress wall with it.
During the procession, the besiegers fired a cloud of arrows, and one of them struck the face of the Virgin. Tears poured from the eyes of the Virgin, and she turned her face to the people of Novgorod. At this time, the enemies were seized with inexplicable horror, threw down their weapons and, beating each other, began to hastily leave the city. The Novgorodians pursued the enemy and won a complete victory (see Miracle from the Icon of the Sign (Battle of the Novgorodians with Suzdal) ).
In memory of this miracle, Archbishop John back in the 12th century established a celebration in honor of the Icon of the Sign of the Virgin, performed in the Russian Church to the present. In 1354, the icon was transferred to the Church of the Sign of the Virgin (Sign of the Mother of God), built at the behest of Archbishop Moses . In 1560, the icon was again in the Church of the Transfiguration of the Savior on Ilyin, and then was transferred to the Znamensky Cathedral . Being in Russia on the day of the celebration of the Icon of the Sign of the Virgin, Athos hieromonk Pakhomiy Logofet wrote two canons for this holiday.
After the 1917 revolution, the icon fell into the museum collection. During World War II, the icon was evacuated and returned to the museum at the end of the war.
On August 15, 1991, the icon of the Russian Orthodox Church was returned from the Novgorod Museum-Reserve.
Lists
In Russia, numerous lists with this icon were known. Some of them are revered as miraculous , and are named after the place where the miracle happened: Abalakskaya , Kurskaya , Serafimo-Ponetaevskaya, Dionisievo-Glushitskaya.
September 30 - October 11, 2009 the list of the “Sign” icon made 176 orbits around the Earth on the Soyuz TMA-16 spacecraft [2] . The flight took place in the framework of the Orthodox Expedition project with the blessing of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Kirill as a procession [2] .
Similar Icons
Images of the Mother of God, similar to the Icon of the Sign, are found even at the dawn of the Christian era. The earliest is the image of the Virgin from the catacomb of St. Agnia in Rome , dating back to the 4th century, where the Virgin is depicted with a divine baby on her knees. Further, the tradition develops in Byzantine icon painting. In Greece, a similar image is usually associated with the Nativity of Christ , and only in Russian Orthodoxy did it also become a Sign, a sign of the mercy of the Mother of God to people.
Notes
- ↑ 1 2 Kvlividze N.V. , E.P. I. Sign. // Orthodox Encyclopedia . - M .: Church and Scientific Center "Orthodox Encyclopedia" , 2009. - T. XX. - S. 271-277. - 752 s. - 39,000 copies. - ISBN 978-5-89572-036-3 .
- ↑ 1 2 At the exhibition “Orthodox Russia”, an icon will be presented that has made a procession in low Earth orbit
Literature
- Kvlividze N.V. , E.P. I. Sign. // Orthodox Encyclopedia . - M .: Church and Scientific Center "Orthodox Encyclopedia" , 2009. - T. XX. - S. 271-277. - 752 s. - 39,000 copies. - ISBN 978-5-89572-036-3 .