During the reign of Ivan the Terrible, in the city of Kazan, the Mother of God appeared in a dream to the daughter of a warrior and indicated the place where Her icon was located. Waking up, the girl told her mother about this phenomenon. Both of them, mother and daughter, went to the indicated place, began to dig the ground and at a depth of one and a half arshins they found an icon of the Most Pure Virgin with the Eternal Child in her arms. She shone with an extraordinary light, as if the dust of the earth had not touched her. The archbishop, having learned about the discovery of the icon, accompanied by all the clergy and many people, went to the place of the appearance of the holy icon with a procession of the cross, took St. icon and placed it in the church. The Tsar, having learned about the appearance of a miraculous icon in Kazan and the healing of a blind man who venerated it, ordered a church and a women’s monastery to be built on the site of its appearance. This monastery still exists today.
32 years after the appearance of the icon of the Kazan Mother of God, Russia was saved by Her from the threatening danger of losing its independence. In 1611, during the so-called hard times, the Poles insidiously captured Moscow. To save the fatherland, the Russian people took up arms and, first of all, turned with fervent prayer for help to the Lord and His Most Pure Mother. In Moscow, occupied by the Poles, Archbishop Arseny was held captive by them. When he was at his last breath from hunger and prison suffering, the Monk Sergius, the Wonderworker of Radonezh, appeared before him in a dazzling light and said that the Lord had heard the prayer of His servants and, at the intercession of the Most Holy Lady, the next day would help them gain victory over their enemies. The news of this vision reached the uprising Orthodox Russian people and inspired them so much that the next day they attacked the Poles, expelled them from Moscow and entered the city with a prayer of gratitude to their heavenly Intercessor.
In memory of this intercession of the Mother of God, the Russian Church established the holiday of October 22, and on this day the Orthodox send praise to the Blessed Virgin with the words of the troparion:
Zealous Intercessor, Mother of the Lord Most High! Pray for all of Your Son, Christ our God, and grant to all those who seek refuge in Your sovereign protection. Intercede for all of us, O Lady, Queen and Lady, who in adversity and sorrow and illness are burdened with many sins, coming and praying to You with a tender soul and a contrite heart before Your most pure image with tears, and those who have irrevocable hope in You, deliverance of all angry Grant what is useful to everyone and save everything, O Virgin Mother of God: for Thou art the Divine protection of Thy servant.
Greatness.
It is worthy to magnify Thee, the Mother of God, the most honorable cherub and the most glorious seraphim without comparison.