You heard, children, from your parents, and you yourself probably said something like this: today is the feast of the Kazan Mother of God, we live in the parish of the Vladimir Mother of God; prayed to the Tikhvin Mother of God; “Joy to all who mourn” and so on. How so? Isn’t the Mother of God one, why does She have different names? On holy icons She is depicted in different ways; sometimes She has the Divine Son on her right hand, sometimes on her left, sometimes She is written alone, without the Eternal Child - Christ. So, children, do you think: is the Mother of God one, if She is called and depicted differently? The Mother of God, the Blessed Virgin Mary is one, and I will now tell you how the different names came about.
When the Mother of God still lived on earth, one of the disciples of Jesus Christ, the Evangelist Luke, painted three icons from Her. When these icons were shown to the Mother of God, She, looking at them, said: “Let the grace of Him who was born of Me and Mine be with these icons.” And indeed, children, from then on miracles began to happen to the icons of the Mother of God. For example, some inevitable misfortune will happen to Christians, and no one will be able to help them; Heartbroken, they begin to pray for help in front of the image of the Mother of God, and the misfortune that threatened to make them unhappy suddenly passes. Many Christians began to receive healing from incurable diseases. When our land was attacked by enemies much stronger than the Russians, and everyone saw that we could not get rid of the enemy, then our ancestors began to pray before the image of the Mother of God, took it with them to war and defeated the seemingly invincible enemy. It happened that in some place: in a forest, on a lake, in an empty building, even in the air, the image of the Mother of God would suddenly appear, shining with an extraordinary light.
In a word, countless miracles occurred from the icons of the Mother of God. In memory of them, the icons of the Mother of God began to be called by different names. A miracle happened in the city of Vladimir from the icon of the Mother of God, and they began to call it the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God, in Smolensk - Smolenskaya, in Kazan - Kazanskaya, in Tikhvin - Tikhvinskaya; people in various illnesses, sorrows and misfortunes repeatedly received relief after praying before the icon of the Mother of God, so they called it “Joy of All Who Sorrow.” All the names of the icons of the Mother of God refer to the Most Holy Virgin Mary, therefore, on all holidays in honor of these icons, Christians equally pray in front of them, sing and say: Most Holy Theotokos, save us - Save Thy servants from troubles, Mother of God!
You and I, children, just like all Orthodox Christians, must deeply venerate the miraculous icons of the Mother of God.
What icons of the Mother of God do you know? Where and how did the various names of the icons of the Mother of God come from? Who painted the first icons of the Mother of God? What miracles happened from Her icons? What short prayer to the Mother of God do we hear in church? How should Orthodox Christians venerate the miraculous icons of the Mother of God?