Празднование Владимирской чудотворной иконе Божией Матери 4111

In 1480, the wicked Akhmat, Khan of the Great Horde, came with a large army to the Ugra River to start a war with Grand Duke John Vasilyevich 4112. Moscow was threatened with siege. Then the Grand Duke, armed with the prayer and blessing of Gerontius 4113, Metropolitan of All Russia, and his confessor, Vassian, Archbishop of Rostov 4114, opposed the Tatars on the Ugra River; both saints earnestly begged the Grand Duke to courageously fight the pagans in defense of the Orthodox faith 4115. For a long time the troops stood against each other without taking decisive action. Finally, through the intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos, a wondrous miracle occurred: fear fell on the Tatars, and they, fearing each other, fled, persecuted by no one. Thus, the most merciful God, through the prayers of the Most Holy Theotokos, granted, to the joy of Christians, an unusual victory over their enemies without shedding blood, sparing His heritage - the city of Moscow and all of Russia. When Grand Duke Ivan Vasilyevich, together with his son Grand Duke John 4116 and with the entire army, returned to Moscow, all the people were filled with extreme joy, praising God and the Most Holy Theotokos 4117 for the glorious deliverance. From that time on, in the God-saved city of Moscow, a new holiday was established in honor of the icon of the Most Holy Theotokos, called Vladimir, therefore, on this day, June 23, a procession of the cross is held in glory and thanksgiving to the Savior of the whole world, Christ our God, and His Most Pure Mother. Today the most glorious city of Moscow brightly flaunts, as if the Lady has received the dawn of the sun, your miraculous icon, to which we now flow, and in prayer we cry out to you: O most wonderful Lady Theotokos! Pray from You to the incarnate Christ our God, that he may deliver this city, and all Christian cities and countries, unharmed from all the slander of the enemy, and save our souls, for he is merciful. To the chosen victorious commander, having been delivered from the evil ones by the coming of Your venerable image, Lady Theotokos, we brightly celebrate the celebration of Your meeting, and we usually call You: Rejoice, unmarried bride. On this day (June 23) in Moscow a solemn procession of the cross takes place from the Assumption Cathedral to the Sretensky Monastery with the miraculous icon of Vladimir. A similar religious procession, the first in time to be established, takes place on August 26 in memory of the deliverance of Russia from the invasion of Tamerlane in 1395; Frightened by the formidable appearance of the Mother of God, Tamerlane left Russia on the very day and hour when kneeling Muscovites met on Kuchkovo Field the miraculous icon of the Mother of God, brought from Vladimir to Moscow by order of Grand Duke Vasily Dmitrievich, who in the fight against the enemy relied more on the power of God than on his weapons. At the site of the meeting of the icon in memory of the miraculous intercession of the Mother of God, the so-called Sretensky Monastery was founded, where the aforementioned religious processions are held. Grand Duke from 1462 to 1505 He occupied the see of the Moscow Metropolitanate from 1473 to 1489. Since January 1506, Archbishop of Rostov, d. 1515 The Metropolitan wrote a conciliar message to the Grand Duke in the camp on the Ugra, rousing him to a courageous stand against the Christ-hating enemy. But with particular courage and directness, Saint Vassian of Rostov exhorted the Grand Duke not to make peace with Akhmat, as “some charmers” advised him, but to courageously go out to meet the “godless Hagaryan tongue,” jealous of the ancestor Demetrius, “who stood against the intelligent wolf Mamai.” Grand Duke from 1498; mind. in 1509 in captivity. “Let the frivolous not boast of the fear of their weapons,” Russian chroniclers said about this miracle, “no, not weapons, not human wisdom, but the Lord Himself saved Russia today.” On this day is the repose of the holy righteous Artemy of Verkolsky (see his life under October 20). On this day is the memory of the holy martyrs Eustochius, Gaius, Urvan and others who suffered under Maximian in the city of Ancyra, at the beginning of the 4th century. You might be interested in: