Historical memory: July 9 - celebration of the Tikhvin Icon of the Blessed Virgin Mary - defender of the Russian landtranslated

July 9, 2026 · 1 min read

According to legend, the Tikhvin Icon of the Blessed Virgin Mary is one of the icons painted by the holy Apostle of the 70s and the Evangelist Luke during the earthly life of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Apostle Luke gave the icon to his disciple Theophilus, after which it came to Antioch. Then the icon was in Jerusalem. In the 5th century, the Byzantine empress Eudokia moved the shrine from Jerusalem to Constantinople, the capital […]

Source: Site: Нижнетагильская епархия · Read the full story →

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Степан Тарасов

The article correctly states that the icon came to Tikhvin in 1383, just when serious changes began in Rus' after the Tatars. Just this week we sang Tikhvin’s troparion in our choir, and every time I think how many times she really covered our land. I wonder when the first list from it appeared in Tula?

David Scott

Yeah, the 1383 arrival timing lines up with the end of the Tatar yoke like Stepan said. Our youth group read about how the icon stopped the Swedish invasion in 1613 during one of our meetings last year — pretty wild how it kept showing up at the right moment. Anyone know if the original is still in the Тихвин monastery or did they move it again?

Elizabeth Taylor

The timing with the Swedes in 1613 really is something — our sewing circle read the same account last fall and everyone kept saying how the icon just “appeared” when the town needed it most. I think the original is back in the Тихвин monastery now, though they did move it around a lot during the 20th century for safekeeping. Did your youth group talk about any of the later Soviet-era stories?

Luke Johnson

Yeah, that 1613 Swedish bit is wild — our youth group read the same story last year and everyone was struck by how the icon just turned up right when the town was about to fall. The article’s point about it coming in 1383, right as the Tatar hold was loosening, lines up with what Stepan said too. Ours is a copy at our parish, but we still sing the troparion every July.

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