The miraculous icon of the Mother of God, called the “Vsetsaritsa” (in Greek - “Pantanassa”) is located on Holy Mount Athos in Greece in the cathedral church of the Vatopedi monastery, to the left of the royal gates. This icon, small in size, was painted in the 17th century and, according to legend, was the blessing of the famous Elder Joseph the Hesychast on Athos to his disciples.
The icon depicts the Most Pure Virgin in a scarlet robe, seated on the royal throne. In Her arms is the Infant God with a scroll in his left hand and with a blessing right hand. With her right hand, the Mother of God points to Her Royal Son as the Savior of all people. In the background are two angels who reverently overshadow the Most Pure Virgin with their wings.
According to an ancient monastery legend, one day a young man approached the icon and began to mutter something inaudibly. Suddenly the face of the Mother of God shone with a wondrous light, some invisible force threw the young man away, and he fell to the ground. Rising, he ran in fear to the elder monks and with tears in his eyes confessed to them that he had led an ungodly life, practiced witchcraft, and had come to the monastery to test the power of his magic on the holy icons. The miracle that happened at the icon of the Most Holy Theotokos turned the young man away from witchcraft forever, directed him to the path of repentance and returned him to the path of a pious life. The miraculous image of the Mother of God “The Queen of All” is revered both on Athos and far beyond its borders. The very name of the icon - All-Mistress, All-Mistress - speaks of its special, all-encompassing power.
Having demonstrated its miraculous power for the first time against magical spells, the “Tsarina of All” also has the grace of healing patients with cancer - the most terrible disease of modern humanity (and the spread of passion for magic, witchcraft and the occult throughout the Christian world can be compared to the defeat of the human body by a malignant tumor).
On August 11, 1995, a copy of the miraculous icon “The Tsaritsa” arrived in Russia - at the Moscow Children’s Oncology Center on Kashirka. At prayer services to the Mother of God “The Queen of All,” sick children and their parents pray with the hope of the heavenly help of the Intercessor and Healer.
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St. Theophan the New, Athos, abbot († XV, commemorated August 19)
The Monk Theophan the New, originally from the city of Ioannina, lived in the 15th century. He took monastic vows in his early youth on Holy Mount Athos in the Dokhiar monastery. Subsequently, for his high virtues, he was elected abbot of this monastery. Saving his nephew from the Turks, who was forcibly taken to Constantinople and there converted to Islam, Saint Theophan, with the help of God, freeing the young man, hid him in his monastery and blessed him to take monastic vows. The brethren, fearing revenge from the Turks, grumbled against the saint, and he, not wanting to be the cause of discord and embarrassment, together with his nephew humbly withdrew from the Dochiar monastery, left the Holy Mountain and went to Verria. There, in the skete of St. John the Baptist, St. Theophan created a church in honor of the Most Holy Theotokos. He gathered the monks here and gave them a communal charter. When the monastery became stronger, the saint retired to a new place, to Naoussa, where he erected a church in honor of the holy Archangels and founded a monastery. Until the end of his days, Saint Theophan did not leave his care for the monks of both monasteries, who considered him a common father.
Having foreseen his death by revelation and having given his last parting words to his flock, the saint died at a ripe old age in the Verri monastery. During his lifetime, the Lord glorified the humble saint: saving people from death, he tamed the storm with prayer and turned sea water into drinking water. And after his repose, the saint never abandoned people with his gracious help.
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Light-painted icon of the Mother of God