History of the Kremlin shrinetranslated

On July 20, the Orthodox Church celebrates in honor of the Blachernae Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos. This shrine has a long history that dates back to the Byzantine Empire.

In the middle of the 17th century, this miraculous image was brought to Moscow from Constantinople. It was given as a gift to Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich from the rector of the Jerusalem courtyard in Constantinople, Gabriel. At this time, Moscow recognized itself as the heir of Constantinople captured by the Turks and the universal custodian of Orthodoxy, which resulted in the process of collecting many Christian shrines.

In 1653, a solemn meeting of the Blachernae Icon took place in Moscow. The Certificate of Attestation of Patriarch Paisius of Constantinople and the Epistle of Gabriel were sent to Russia, which told the story of this image. According to these documents, the icon was one of the ancient shrines of the Blachernae Temple.

Vlaherna is the territory of the northwestern part of Constantinople and its suburbs on the southern shore of the Golden Horn. In 453, outside the city walls, on the site of a revered spring, Empress Pulcheria built a basilica in honor of the Mother of God. After 626, when the Byzantines in the vicinity of Blachernae...