О чудотворной иконе Пресвятой Богородицы, нарицаемой «Одигитрия»

For a list of icons of the Mother of God with images, see the miraculous icon of the Most Holy Theotokos, called “Hodegetria” After some time had passed after the descent of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles, the holy Apostle and Evangelist Luke, who was a skilled icon painter, wrote on the board an outline of the image of our Most Holy Lady Theotokos and brought it to the Most Pure Virgin. Looking at the image of Her face on the icon, the Most Pure One remembered her previous prophecy about Herself and said: for from now on all generations will bless Me (Luke 1:48). Then, pointing to the icon, she said: May my grace be with this icon. And this word of the Most Holy Theotokos was fulfilled in reality: by the grace of the Most Blessed Virgin, from that icon, many different and ineffable miracles actually flowed, and healings were given to the sick. Subsequently, the Evangelist Luke sent this icon to Antioch 4163 to the sovereign Theophilus, who was among those who believed in Christ and for whom Luke wrote his Gospel and the book of the Acts of the Apostles. In Antioch, the icon was worthily venerated not only by Theophilus, but also by all the Christians who were here. Many years passed after that, and the holy icon was taken from Antioch and transferred first to Jerusalem, and then to Constantinople. Her transfer to this capital of the Greek kingdom took place under such circumstances. Queen Eudokia, the wife of the Byzantine emperor Theodosius the Younger 4164, having arrived in the holy land to venerate the shrines there, took the icon of the Most Holy Theotokos written by Evangelist Luke and sent it as a gift to the royal sister, blessed Pulcheria, as it is written in the life of the latter. Pulcheria accepted the miraculous icon with joy and love and placed it in the Church of the Most Holy Theotokos, which she built in Blachernae 4165. Since then, this icon has become a significant decoration for the reigning city, for many different miracles and healings of the sick flowed from it. After some time, the icon was called “Hodegetria”, which means: “Guide”. This name was established for her after the Mother of God Herself appeared to two blind men and led them to Her Blachernae church to the miraculous icon, where, after praying, they received their sight. During the reign of Heraclius 4166, the Greek kingdom was simultaneously attacked by the Persians and Scythians. The commander of the Persian king Khozroe 4167, Sarvar, and the Scythian prince approached Constantinople itself with a large army and besieged the city, cutting it off from the rest of the world and preparing to deal it a decisive blow. Then the Patriarch of Constantinople Sergius, taking with special reverence the miraculous icon “Hodegetria”, as well as the robe of the Most Pure Mother of God, began to walk around the walls of the city with them and other sacred icons and perform a prayer service to the Lord God and His Most Pure Mother. And by the grace of God, through the intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos, the Greeks were granted the miraculous deliverance of their reigning city from the barbarians. When the patriarch and clergy, after fervent prayer before the icon of the Most Pure Virgin, lowered the robe of the Mother of God into the waters of the sea bay, a disturbance occurred in the sea and sank the ships of the approaching enemies; At the same time, those of the attackers who were on land also came into confusion, and therefore were driven out by the Greek troops without much difficulty. In remembrance of this wonderful intercession of the Most Pure One, manifested over the reigning city, it was established to sing an akathist of gratitude annually on the fifth Saturday of Great Lent. When the dominance of the iconoclastic heresy came and persecution was instituted against the icons, as well as against their admirers, by the wicked kings, then some of the Orthodox spiritual ranks secretly took the Hodegetria icon from the Blachernae church at night and took it to the monastery of Pantocrator 4168. Here they hid her in the church wall; then, having prayed, they lit a lamp in front of the image and blocked it so that it would not be desecrated by the iconoclasts. So the miraculous icon remained for many years, until all the patrons of the heresy perished. And when peace came again in the Church and the adversarial warfare against the holy icons ceased, they spent a long time searching for the location of the venerable icon of the Most Holy Theotokos, painted by the Evangelist Luke and later called Hodegetria. Finally, by God's revelation, the icon was found hidden in the wall of the church of the Pantocrator Monastery, and they saw that the lamp lit in front of it had not gone out. All the faithful, having learned about this discovery of the miraculous icon, were filled with great joy, and with prayer and singing they solemnly transferred it to its original place in the Blachernae Church. Antioch is a city in Syria, on the river. Oronte. Emperor Theodosius II the Younger reigned from 408 to 450. Blachernae is a locality in Constantinople, in the western corner of the city. During the prosperity of the Byzantine Empire, it was famous throughout the East for its shrines; Blacherna was especially famous for the Church of the Virgin Mary, built by Leo the Great (457–474); under him, the honorable vestments of the Most Holy One were placed in this church. Virgin Mary, transferred from Palestine; Here Her omophorion and part of the belt were kept in a gold-plated ark. Emperor Heraclius reigned from 610 to 641. Of course Khosroes II from the Sossanid dynasty; reigned from 590 to 621 That is Lord Almighty; the monastery was located on the outskirts of the city You might be interested in: