Meeting of the Vladimir Icon of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Meeting of the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God

(August 26, old style) On this day we celebrate the commendable recovery of the miraculous icon, our Most Holy Lady Theotokos of Vladimir from the invasion of the godless Hagarians, the filthy king Temiryaxak (Pl.). Before the icon of the Most Holy Theotokos of Vladimir they pray for deliverance from the invasion of foreigners, for instruction in the Orthodox faith, for preservation from heresies and schisms, for the pacification of those at war, for the preservation of Russia.

According to church tradition, the icon was painted by the Evangelist Luke in the 1st century from the Birth of Christ on the board of a table that was in the house of Joseph, Mary and Jesus. The icon came to Constantinople from Jerusalem in the 5th century under Emperor Theodosius. This icon is attributed to the evangelist not in the sense that it was painted by his hand; Not a single one of the icons he painted himself has reached us. The authorship of the holy evangelist Luke here must be understood in the sense that this icon is a list of icons once painted by the evangelist

Theodosius II Greek Θεοδόσιος Β’, Bust of Theodosius from the Louvre. Byzantine Emperor 408 - 450

The icon came to Rus' from Byzantium at the beginning of the 12th century (about 1131) as a gift to the holy prince Mstislav from the Patriarch of Constantinople Luke Chrysovergos. The icon was delivered by the Greek Metropolitan Michael, who arrived in Kyiv from Constantinople in 1130. At first, the Vladimir Icon was located in the women's monastery of the Mother of God of Vyshgorod, not far from Kyiv, hence its Ukrainian name - the Vyshgorod Icon of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The son of Yuri Dolgoruky, Prince Andrei Bogolyubsky, brought the icon to Vladimir in 1155 (from which it received its current name, where it was kept in the Assumption Cathedral.) By order of Prince Andrei, the icon was decorated with an expensive frame. After the murder of Prince Andrei Bogolyubsky in 1176, Prince Yaropolk Rostislavich removed the expensive decoration from the icon, and it ended up with Gleb of Ryazan. Only after the victory of Prince Mikhail, Andrei’s younger brother, over Yaropolk did Gleb return the icon and headdress to Vladimir. When Vladimir was captured by the Tatars in 1237, the Assumption Cathedral was plundered, and the frame was torn off the icon of the Most Holy Theotokos. The “State Book” reports on the restoration of the Assumption Cathedral and the restoration of the icon by Prince Yaroslav Vsevolodovich.

During the invasion of Tamerlane under Vasily I in 1395, the revered icon was moved to Moscow to protect the city from the conqueror.

The celebration of the Vladimir Icon of the Blessed Virgin Mary happens several times a year. Each of the days of celebration is associated with the deliverance of the Russian people from enslavement by foreigners through prayers to the Most Holy Theotokos:

September 8 according to the new style (August 26 according to the church calendar) - in memory of the salvation of Moscow from the invasion of Tamerlane in 1395.

June 3 (May 21) - in memory of the rescue of Moscow from the Crimean Khan Makhmet-Girey in 1521.

The most solemn celebration takes place on September 8 (new style), established in honor of the meeting of the Vladimir icon when it was transferred from Vladimir to Moscow.

The history of the meeting in Moscow of the Vladimir Icon of the Blessed Virgin Mary

The Feast of the Presentation of the Vladimir Icon of the Blessed Virgin Mary, falling on September 8, points to a specific date - 1395. The word "meeting" means "meeting." And indeed, in the indicated year in Moscow there was a meeting of the holy image of the Most Holy Theotokos by Muscovites. Later, the Sretensky Monastery was built on the site of the meeting. This monastery gave its name to Sretenka Street.

In 1395, the terrible conqueror Khan Tamerlane (Temir-Aksak) with hordes of Tatars entered Russian soil and reached the borders of Ryazan, took the city of Yelets and, heading towards Moscow, approached the banks of the Don.

Timur / Tamerlane Chagat. تیمور, Great Emir of the Timurid Empire
April 9, 1336 - February 18, 1405 15th century miniature

Grand Duke Vasily I Dimitrievich, the eldest son of Dmitry Donskoy, went with an army to Kolomna and stopped on the banks of the Oka. The number of Tamerlane's troops was many times greater than the Russian squads, their strength and experience were incomparable. The only hope remained in chance and God's help.

He prayed to the saints of Moscow and St. Sergius for the deliverance of the Fatherland and wrote to the Metropolitan of Moscow, St. Cyprian, so that the upcoming Dormition Fast would be devoted to fervent prayers for pardon and repentance.

The clergy were sent to Vladimir, where the famous miraculous icon was located. After the liturgy and prayer service on the feast of the Dormition of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the clergy accepted the icon and carried it to Moscow with a procession of the cross. The journey with the Vladimir Icon from Vladimir to Moscow continued for ten days. Countless people on both sides of the road, on their knees, prayed: “Most Holy Theotokos, save the Russian land!” In Moscow, the icon was greeted on August 26 (September 8 according to the new style) “the whole city came out against the icon to meet it”... .

At the very hour when the residents of Moscow greeted the icon on Kuchkovo Pole (now Sretenka Street), Tamerlane was dozing in his tent. Suddenly he saw in a dream a great mountain, from the top of which saints with golden rods were coming towards him, and above them the Majestic Woman appeared in a radiant radiance. She ordered him to leave the borders of Russia.

Waking up in trepidation, Tamerlane called the wise men. “You won’t be able to deal with them, Tamerlane, this is the Mother of God, the intercessor of the Russians,” the fortune tellers said to the invincible khan. “And Tamerlane fled, driven by the power of the Blessed Virgin”...

In memory of the miraculous deliverance of the Russian land from Tamerlane, the Sretensky Monastery was built on Kuchkovo Field, where the icon was met, and on August 26, an all-Russian celebration was established in honor of the meeting of the Vladimir Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos.

After this event, the miraculous Vladimir Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos, after 235 years in Vladimir, remained in Moscow forever. She was placed in the cathedral built in honor of the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos. Before her, kings were anointed as kings and the most important events in Russian church history took place: the election and installation of St. Jonah - Primate of the Autocephalous Russian Church (1448), St. Job - the first Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' (1589)

And less than a century had passed, in 1480 the Khan of the Golden Horde, Akhmet, marched on Moscow. He had already reached the Ugra River. The Grand Duke of Moscow John III was waiting for the khan on the other side of the river. Chroniclers write that unexpectedly and without any reason, the Tatars were attacked by animal fear of an inexplicable nature. He paralyzed both the physical strength and will of the Tatars. Khan Akhmet was unable to cope with the demoralized army and was forced to retreat...

In 1547 there was a strong fire in the Moscow Kremlin. They were going to take out the miraculous icon: several of the strongest and bravest men were sent to remove it and take it to a safe place outside the Kremlin. But no force could move the shrine from its place. According to eyewitnesses, at that moment a vision of a “luminous Woman overshadowing the temple” appeared in the sky above the Assumption Cathedral... Soon the fire subsided. Among the ashes stood the Assumption Cathedral, untouched by fire.

In Soviet times, the icon was placed in the Tretyakov Gallery; fortunately, it was not lost like many Orthodox shrines during the years of persecution of the Church.

In September 1999, one of the main Orthodox shrines of Russia - the icon of the Most Holy Theotokos of Vlaimir - was transferred by the Russian Orthodox Church to the Church of St. Nicholas at the Tretyakov Gallery.

There it is kept to this day under bulletproof glass, and special devices maintain a special temperature and humidity regime...

Iconographically, the Vladimir Icon belongs to the Eleus (Tenderness) type. The Baby pressed his cheek to the Mother's cheek. The icon conveys the tender communication between Mother and Child. Mary foresees the suffering of the Son in His earthly journey.

A distinctive feature of the Vladimir Icon from other icons of the Tenderness type: the left leg of the Infant Christ is bent in such a way that the sole of the foot, the “heel,” is visible.

On the reverse are depicted the Etymasia (Prepared Throne) and the instruments of the passions, dating very roughly to the beginning of the 15th century.

The prepared throne (Greek) Etimasiya) - the theological concept of the throne prepared for the second coming of Jesus Christ, coming to judge the living and the dead.

The Vladimir Icon of the Blessed Virgin Mary is an all-Russian shrine, the main and most revered of all Russian icons. There are also many copies of the Vladimir Icon, a significant number of which are also revered as miraculous.

“Rejoice, thou who has loved Orthodox Rus'; Rejoice, you who established the true faith in her... Rejoice, our warm Prayer Book; Rejoice, zealous Intercessor! Rejoice, Most Pure One, flowing mercy to us from Your icon.”
From an akathist to the Most Holy Theotokos in honor of Her Icon of Vladimir.

On August 26 / September 8, the Russian Orthodox Church celebrates a bright holiday established in honor of the meeting, that is, the meeting, of the Vladimir Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos when it was transferred from Vladimir to Moscow. This miraculous image of the Queen of Heaven was written by the Evangelist Luke on a board from the table at which the Savior dined with the Most Pure Mother and Righteous Joseph. “From now on all generations will call Me blessed. May the grace of the One born of Me and Mine be with this icon,” said the Mother of God when she saw this icon.

In gratitude to the Heavenly Intercessor for the miraculous deliverance of Moscow from the hordes of Khan Timur-Tamerlane, the Sretensky Monastery was founded at the site of the meeting of the miraculous icon on August 26/September 8, 1395. On Saturday, September 30, thanks to Yulia rijaya_koshka I again went on a tour of the monastery and learned about important milestones in its history and the lives of the holy ascetics of piety.

Our wonderful guide from the pilgrimage service of the Sretensky Monastery - Maria

In the 13th-15th centuries, Rus' suffered from the devastating raids of the Tatar-Mongol hordes. The most important role in the beginning of the fight against foreign yoke and strengthening the importance of Moscow as the center of the unification of Russian lands was played by the duel between schemamonk Alexander Peresvet and warrior Khan Mamai Chelubey on the Kulikovo Field. Armed with only a schema and ardent faith in Christ, the monk of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra won a great spiritual victory over the Horde hero, sacrificing himself and thereby fulfilling the commandment of Love given by the Savior. “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends” [John. 15:13]. On September 8 (21), 1380, on the day of the celebration of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the army of the holy noble prince Demetrius Donskoy won a significant victory over the horde of Khan Mamai, thus marking the beginning of the liberation of the Russian land from the Golden Horde oppressors.

In the Sretensky Monastery

But for about a century since then, Rus' has suffered from the raids of the Horde khans. So, 15 years after the victory of Prince Dimitri Donskoy on the Kulikovo Field, a new terrible threat hung over Moscow - Khan Tamerlane (Temir-Aksak) reached the borders of Ryazan, took the city of Yelets and, heading towards Moscow, approached the banks of the Don.

In the Sretensky Monastery

Grand Duke Vasily Dimitrievich, the eldest son of Dimitri Donskoy, went with an army to Kolomna and stopped on the banks of the Oka in anticipation of the enemy. The Grand Duke, Metropolitan Cyprian of Moscow and all the people fervently prayed to the Savior, the Most Holy Theotokos and all the saints of God for mercy and protection from the infidel. Vasily Dimitrievich asked the Metropolitan to deliver the miraculous image of the Queen of Heaven from Vladimir to Moscow. The procession with the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God lasted ten days, and on August 26, according to the old style, the city clergy, the family of the Grand Duke, the nobility and all honest people from infants to elders met the image in tearful prayer on Kuchkovo Pole (the modern territory between Lubyanka Square and the Sretensky Gates) Most Pure. Praying for the help of the Almighty, they carried the shrine in procession to the Assumption Cathedral of the Kremlin.

The Queen of Heaven heeded the prayers addressed to her and interceded for the people calling through Her to the Savior. At the very hour when the miraculous icon of the Most Pure One was met in Moscow, Khan Tamerlane saw a vision in a dream. Saints with golden rods descended from a high mountain, and above them, in the radiance of bright rays and surrounded by Angels, the Radiant Woman hovered. The Horde Khan woke up in fear. He turned to his elders and sages with a request to explain what he saw, to which he was told that this is the Mother of God and the Intercessor of the Orthodox, whose power is irresistible. Khan Tamerlane was afraid and ordered to deploy his troops. “And Tamerlane fled, driven by the power of the Blessed Virgin!” says the chronicle.

Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God in the cathedral church of the monastery

In 1397, in memory of the intercession and intercession of the Mother of God, the Sretensky Monastery was founded at the meeting place of her miraculous image. And many more times the Queen of Heaven protected the Christ-loving people from various troubles and sorrows. And to this day, the Most Holy Theotokos continues to intercede before Her All-Merciful Son for all who, with faith and repentance in their hearts, cry out to her for help.

Temple in honor of the Presentation of the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God

The original monastery buildings have not survived to this day. The temple in honor of the Presentation of the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God, with a visit to which our excursion began, was built in 1679 by Tsar Feodor Alekseevich. In the temple there is a copy of the miraculous icon of the Vladimir Mother of God. This holy image itself appeared in Rus' around 1131, when the Patriarch of Constantinople Luke Chrysoverg (Chrysoverg) sent the icon as a gift to Grand Duke Yuri Vladimirovich Dolgoruky. Prince Yuri Vladimirovich placed the image in the women's Vyshgorod Mother of God Monastery near Kiev.

In 1155, Vyshgorod became the inheritance of the son of Yuri Dolgoruky - Prince Andrei Yuryevich, nicknamed Bogolyubsky. The young prince, having decided to move to the Rostov-Suzdal lands, without his father’s knowledge, took with him a miraculous image from the Vyshgorod monastery. Along the way, the God-loving prince continually prayed before the icon of the Most Pure One. Having reached Vladimir, the prince wanted to move further to Suzdal, but then the Queen of Heaven miraculously revealed her will to him. A few miles from Vladimir, the prince's horses stopped and, despite many urgings, refused to continue their journey. During the night prayer, the Mother of God appeared to Prince Andrei and said that Her icon should be in the city of Vladimir. So the prince realized that the capital of his principality would henceforth be the city of Vladimir. The miraculous icon of the Queen of Heaven was taken to the city, where it was placed in the Assumption Cathedral built for it. Since then, this icon began to be called Vladimir. And on the site of the miraculous phenomenon, by order of the prince, the Bogolyubsky Monastery was founded in honor of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

After the revolution of 1917, the monastery belfry was lost. The oldest bell is now in the bell tower of the new church in honor of the Resurrection of Christ and the New Martyrs and Confessors of the Russian Church

After the miraculous rescue of Muscovites in 1395 from the troops of Khan Timur-Tamerlane, the holy image was returned to Vladimir, where it remained for about a hundred years. The event, which became the reason for the final transfer of the icon to Moscow, went down in history under the name “standing on the Ugra”. The troops of Grand Duke Ivan III and Khan Akhmat met on the Ugra River. And again, the Queen of Heaven protected the people fervently praying to her and averted a terrible misfortune from Moscow. The troops of Khan Akhmat fled, and this outcome of the confrontation between Russian and Horde troops within the Kaluga borders was of the greatest importance - from that moment on, Rus' ceased to be a tributary of the Horde. In memory of this event, a religious procession from the Assumption Cathedral to the Sretensky Monastery began to be held annually in Moscow, and the Ugra River has since been known as the Belt of the Virgin Mary. From 1480 to 1918, the miraculous Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God was in the Assumption Cathedral of the Kremlin, and currently the shrine is in Moscow, in the Tretyakov Gallery, and its miraculous copy is in the Sretensky Monastery.

In the church in honor of the Presentation of the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God

Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God

To the right of the Royal Doors there is an old shrine, in which until 2017 the relics of the Hieromartyr Hilarion (Trinity), Archbishop of Verei, rested. After the consecration of the new church in honor of the Resurrection of Christ and the New Martyrs and Confessors of the Russian Church, the holy relics of the saint were transferred into it. Believers, fervently revering the Bishop, continue to reverently venerate the old shrine in the Church of the Presentation, and by their faith and God’s Providence receive every consolation. We heard about the life of St. Hilarion a little later, when we visited the new church, but for now Maria drew the group’s attention to an unusual icon in the iconostasis - “The Opening of the Fifth Seal.”

An old shrine in which the holy relics of Hieromartyr Hilarion (Trinity) rested

Icon "Opening of the fifth seal"

The subject of the image was the words from the Revelation of the Apostle John the Theologian (Apocalypse): “And when He opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who were killed for the word of God and for the testimony that they had” (Rev. 6:9). The icon depicts the royal passion-bearers Emperor Nicholas II, Empress Alexandra, Tsarevich Alexy, princesses Olga, Tatiana, Maria, Anastasia. Before the church glorification, their names were not inscribed on the icon, but after the glorification of the Royal Passion-Bearers in 2000, the icon was completed.

Saint Tikhon, Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' and Saint Philaret (Drozdov), Metropolitan of Moscow

Nicholas the Wonderworker, Archbishop of Myra in Lycia

Sretensky Monastery was founded on the site where the church in honor of Mary of Egypt was previously located. In memory of this, a chapel was built in the cathedral in her honor. The main shrine is a shrine with a particle of the relics of the holy ascetic. The wife of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, Maria Ilyinichna, whose heavenly patroness was Mary of Egypt, greatly revered “her” saint. The Empress petitioned for a piece of the relics of Mary of Egypt to appear in the monastery. However, it was possible to deliver the shrine to the monastery only after the death of the queen. This happened around 1700. After the closure of the monastery and the destruction of the temple in the 30s of the 20th century, the ark with the shrine was moved to the State Historical Museum, where it is still located.

Ark with a particle of the relics of St. Mary of Egypt

Started in the 90s. The revival of the Sretensky Monastery also renewed the veneration of St. Mary of Egypt in the monastery. Due to the historical value of the ark itself, which contains a particle of the relics of Mary of Egypt, they decided not to return the shrine to the monastery from the museum’s funds. However, providentially, the Greek monks learned about this injustice and wanted to correct it. On March 25, 2004, an ark with the relics of the saint was delivered to the Moscow Sretensky Monastery from the Greek monastery of St. Nicholas on the island of Andros. Mary of Egypt. The shrine was solemnly greeted by the clergy, brethren and parishioners of the monastery. On Great Wednesday, April 15, 2009, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus' performed the rite of small consecration of the chapel in the name of the Venerable Mary of Egypt in the Cathedral of the Presentation of the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God. Holy Reverend Mother Mary of Egypt, pray to God for us!

The life of the Venerable Mary is extremely instructive for all of us. Mary was a great sinner. At a young age, she left her father's house and began to lead an extremely dissolute, sinful life. One day, still captivated by passion, she went with other people to Jerusalem for the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. And in the Holy Land, Mary did not abandon her vicious occupation. When the people began to enter the temple to venerate the Life-Giving Cross, God’s Power did not allow the woman, along with everyone else, to cross the threshold into the House of God. Several times the Invisible Hand pushed Mary out of the vestibule of the temple. Finally exhausted, the sinner stepped aside.

And suddenly the grace of God touched the woman’s heart, Mary burst into bitter tears of repentance, realizing all the darkness of her life. She saw an icon of the Most Holy Theotokos, before which she began to fervently pray for the mercy of the Almighty and ask to guide her on the path of repentance and correction. When Mary felt that her prayers were heard, she again dared to try to enter the temple. This time nothing prevented the woman from coming up and venerating the Cross of the Lord. Leaving the temple, Mary turned to her Intercessor with gratitude and a request to show her the way, to which she heard a voice: “If you cross the Jordan, you will find blessed peace.” So, taking with her three loaves of bread and communion of the Holy Mysteries of Christ, Mary retired into the desert.

For 47 long years, Mary labored in the solitary desert, begging the Almighty for mercy and humbly enduring many hardships. And then one day the Lord arranged a meeting between Mary and Elder Zosima from the Jordan Monastery of St. John the Baptist. According to ancient custom, the monk went beyond the Jordan to spend the days of the Holy Pentecost in fasting and prayer. In the desert, the Lord showed him a great ascetic who amazed the elder with her holiness and gift of clairvoyance. One day he saw how, during prayer, Mary rose in the air to an elbow from the ground. Another time, Abba met a righteous woman walking across the Jordan River, as if on dry land.

Parting with Zosima, the Monk Mary asked him to come again to the desert a year later to partake of the Holy Mysteries of Christ. The elder returned at the appointed time and fulfilled the saint’s pious desire. Going into the desert for the third time, the elder hoped to communicate with the saint again and learn spiritual work from her, but God prepared a different kind of obedience for him. At the meeting place indicated by Mary, Zosima found the saint dead. The elder washed the remains of the Venerable Mary with his tears and began to prepare for their burial. And again, Abba Zosima was shown evidence of the repentant sinner’s pleasingness to God. When the elder tried to dig a grave in the dry, unyielding soil, a lion came. However, the predator did not attack the monk, but began to lick the saint’s feet. Then Abba Zosima, having prayed, ordered the lion to dig a hole, which the king of beasts immediately humbly did. Zosima buried the saint in a grave dug by a lion.

Thus, from a great sinner, the Venerable Mary became, with God’s help, the greatest saint and left such a vivid example of repentance. (Read the full life of the Venerable Mary of Egypt).

While telling the life of the Venerable Mary, I remembered a conversation with Hieromonk Alexandra from the Feodorovsky Gorodetsky Monastery, which I visited during the pilgrimage trip “To the glory of the Holy Prince Alexander Nevsky” with the Night Wolves motorcycle club. Father Alexander talked to us about faith, the true path to Christ and the calling of everyone to holiness.

From the chapel of St. Mary of Egypt, the pilgrim group went to the crypt - a similarity to the first cave Christian churches.

Since 1997, the crypt of the Sretensky Monastery has housed an exact copy of the Shroud of Turin. There are five copies of it in the world. The Shroud itself - a large canvas 4.3 meters long and 1.1 meters wide, in which the righteous Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus wrapped the body of the Savior - is kept in the Catholic Cathedral in the Italian city of Turin.

The Holy Gospel says the following about the death of Jesus on the Cross and His burial:

“Jesus cried out loudly and gave up the ghost.
And the veil of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom.
The centurion standing opposite Him, seeing that He had given up the ghost after having cried thus, said: Truly this man was the Son of God.
There were also women here who looked from afar: among them was Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the less and Josiah, and Salome,
who, even when He was in Galilee, followed Him and served Him, and many others who came with Him to Jerusalem.
And when evening had already come, because it was Friday, that is, the day before Saturday,
Joseph came from Arimathea, a famous member of the council, who himself expected the Kingdom of God, dared to enter Pilate, and asked for the body of Jesus.
Pilate was surprised that He had already died, and, calling the centurion, asked him how long ago He had died?
And, having learned from the centurion, he gave the body to Joseph.
He bought a shroud and took Him off, wrapped him in the shroud, and laid Him in a tomb, which was hewn out of the rock, and rolled the stone to the door of the tomb.
Mary Magdalene and Mary of Josiah looked where they laid Him” [Mk. 15:37-47].

Replica of the Shroud of Turin

Along with a copy of the Shroud of Turin in the crypt is its negative, which clearly shows Jesus Christ in the first moments after His burial. On the Shroud there are traces of blood flowing from the Savior’s numerous wounds: traces of bruises on the head from the thorns of the crown of thorns, traces of nails in the wrists and feet, traces of whip blows on the chest, back and legs, a large bloody stain from a wound in the left side . Sretensky Monastery keeps evidence of miracles performed through prayers in front of the shrine.

We were incredibly lucky - the group was blessed not only to go on a tour of the cathedral church and the territory of the monastery, but also to visit the seminary and the temple in honor of the Resurrection of Christ and the New Martyrs and Confessors of the Russian Church, but in order not to overload you with information, I will continue my story in the next post.

Temple in honor of the Resurrection of Christ and the New Martyrs and Confessors of the Russian Church

The Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God is celebrated three times a year. One of the most magnificent venerations is dedicated to the meeting of the image in Moscow. The story of saving the capital from the Tatar-Mongol raid is connected with this holiday.

The Vladimir icon is one of the most revered Orthodox shrines. As soon as she appeared in our area, she immediately began to work miracles. The Mother of God herself controlled the fate of her image, more than once appearing in dreams to generals, princes, and simply pious Christians.

The word “meeting” means “appearance”, “bringing to the temple.” It is most often used in relation to Jesus Christ. The Meeting of the Lord is the name given to the Virgin Mary bringing her son to church for baptism. When they talk about the meeting of an icon, they mean its appearance in a particular temple or city.

Brief history of the shrine

According to legend, the icon from which the Vladimir copy was made was painted by Luke himself. Instead of canvas, he used the top of the table at which Jesus, Joseph and the Virgin Mary dined. Seeing the image, the Virgin Mary blessed it, saying that it would protect all Christians and bestow grace. About 500 years later, the shrine ended up in Constantinople. Further opinions about her fate differ. Some say that a list was made and sent as a gift to Yuri Dolgoruky. Others claim that the original icon was transferred. Having studied the stylistics and subjected the painting to a series of analyses, scientists are inclined to the first option. The Vladimir icon was painted around the 12th century and is a striking example of Byzantine painting of those times.

Yuri's son, Andrei Bogolyubsky, took the shrine and went with it to Moscow to organize a state there, independent of Kyiv. On the way he stopped in Vladimir. As we left the city, the inexplicable happened. The horses refused to go. Changing the team did not produce results. Then the prince began to pray, and the Virgin Mary appeared to him. She ordered not to take the icon from the city, but to build a temple there. And so it was done.

Miraculous Rescues

Three times through the Vladimir Icon the Mother of God revealed her will to the cities. The number of miraculous healings cannot be counted.

1395: Khan Tamerlane and his army headed for Moscow. Along the way, he destroyed Russian cities, killing almost everyone, regardless of gender, age, or religion. The number of the horde was many times greater than the Russian squad. The combat experience and cruelty of the khan’s warriors had practically no analogues. There was no chance to withstand such a force. All that was left was to pray, hoping for a miracle.

The Prince of Moscow sent to Vladimir for the miraculous icon. The clergy organized a religious procession. As we exited the city, there were people standing on both sides. When they saw the icon, they fell on their faces, fixed their gaze on it and prayed to the Virgin Mary for only one thing: to save Rus'. On August 26, the shrine ended up in Moscow - the meeting of the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God took place.

On the same day, the khan had knowledge in a dream. A huge mountain from which saints with golden rods descend. The Mother of God hovers above them, protected by countless angels. Waking up, Tamerlane gathered his priests. From the description, they immediately realized that this was the Mother of God, the intercessor of Rus'. With one voice, the elders advised the khan to leave the Russian lands as quickly as possible. That's what he did. In gratitude for the liberation, the Sretensky Monastery and the Cathedral of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary were built, where the icon was installed.

Historians have found their explanation for Tamerlane’s retreat. The official scientific version: the khan did not intend to capture Rus' at all; he came here by accident - in pursuit of one of the commanders of the Golden Horde. He wanted to destroy the entire top of the empire. This explanation bears little resemblance to the truth: why would a person suffering from delusions of grandeur, who wants to take over the whole world, suddenly leave a significant part of it intact, especially if the strength and number of troops make it easy to enslave the state?

1480: Akhmet, Khan of the Golden Horde, gathered an army to capture Moscow. Having reached the Ugra River, on the other side of it the commander saw the squad of John the Third, the then Moscow prince. The chronicles say: the Tatars suddenly fell into fear and began to scatter. Khan could not cope with this and was forced to retreat. It is difficult to explain such a phenomenon, given that the Golden Ordn army was significantly superior to the Russian army in numbers and was not inferior to it in courage, experience, and equipment. It was the Virgin Mary who again interceded for the city, granting him pardon for his sins. In honor of this, every year on June 23, a religious procession is held in the capital from the Cathedral of the Assumption to the Sretensky Monastery.

Less than half a century had passed before the Golden Ordians again decided to attack Rus'. Khan was replaced, and along with him, they forgot about the fear they experienced then. 1521 An army of 100 thousand people was gathered by Mehmet Giray. Vasily the Third, who ruled the capital at that time, did not expect an attack; he himself did not prepare any campaigns. Therefore, most of the military personnel were scattered around the country - they rested at home with their families. In total, no more than 50 thousand people managed to oppose the khan. The forces were not equal, only a miracle could save the city from destruction. And so it happened: the Virgin Mary appeared to the invader in a dream. He was afraid of this sign and retreated.

The further fate of the shrine

Another miracle occurred during the fire of 1547. The Moscow Kremlin was burning. The strongest men tried to bear the miraculous image, but to no avail - it seemed to have grown into the ground. At this time, the Virgin Mary appeared above the temple. She protected the cathedral - the fire did not touch it.

After miraculous rescues, the Vladimir Icon became one of the most significant in Rus'. Princes and kings prayed before her, high government officials took an oath of allegiance to the monarchs and the state, they took her on campaigns so that every soldier could ask the Virgin Mary for his needs. When electing the metropolitans of Moscow, lots were placed on this shrine. It was believed that through her the Mother of God herself would choose the most worthy.

For a long time the icon was in the Assumption Cathedral. In September 1999, it was transferred to the Church of St. Nicholas, which works at the Tretyakov Gallery. It is kept here to this day.

The Vladimir icon is preserved today using modern technologies. It is protected by bulletproof glass. Special devices strictly maintain the specified temperature and air humidity, which are optimal for preserving the materials from which the shrine is created.

The Vladimir icon went through the history of Rus', often being a participant in it. No one doubts the miraculousness of this image.

A rare Orthodox icon has three whole days of celebration during the church year. And the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God has exactly that much - in honor of the threefold deliverance of Rus' from the invasion of enemies through the prayers of the Intercessor. Today we will talk about the very first, celebrated on September 8 according to the new style (August 26 according to the old style), on the day of the liberation of Rus' from the invasion of Tamerlane.

Although the Vladimir Icon is popularly known as “the most Russian”, it was, according to legend, painted by the Evangelist Luke. Moreover, he did this on a board from the table at which Jesus Christ took a meal together with the Mother of God and the righteous Joseph the Betrothed. The Church also preserves the words of the Most Pure Mother at the sight of the magnificent image: “From now on, all generations will bless Me. May the grace of Him who was born of Me and Mine be with this image.” And so it happened.

The icon was immediately kept in Jerusalem. The Byzantine Emperor Theodosius the Younger moved it to Constantinople in the middle of the 5th century. And it ended up in Rus' in the 12th century as a gift to Yuri Dolgoruky from the Patriarch of Constantinople, Luke Chrysoverkh. First, in 1131, it was installed for the worship of believers in a monastery in Vyshgorod, near Kyiv. And already in 1155 she found herself in Vladimir. True, the movement of the holy image turned out to be a very significant event.

The icon was brought to this northern city by Prince Andrei Bogolyubsky, the son of Yuri Dolgoruky. He decided to leave Kievan Rus and was heading to Suzdal land, when suddenly, within the boundaries of Zalesskaya Rus, the horses carrying the shrine stopped. The believing ruler ordered a prayer service to be performed in front of the icon, asking for permission to proceed further. And the Mother of God answered his tearful prayers by appearing in a dream. She spoke about Her will to remain in Vladimir, or rather, at the place of Her appearance, and to “fulfill a monastery for monks” with a temple in Her honor. And Saint Andrew Bogolyubsky in 1158 erected the “White Stone Queen,” as the locals call the Assumption Cathedral.

Many miracles were performed through prayers before the icon of the Mother of God. They started in Vyshgorod. During the campaign of Prince Andrei Bogolyubsky against the Volga Bulgarians in 1164, the image of the “Holy Mother of God of Vladimir” helped the Russians defeat the enemy. It is no wonder that the Vladimir Mother of God was considered the intercessor of the entire country. The icon was updated, numerous copies of it appeared, which also became famous for their miracles.

This was revealed to all the people in 1395. At the end of the 14th century, the Russian land was shaken by Tatar raids. Victories were interspersed with defeats, but when Tamerlane himself advanced against Moscow with hordes of Tatars, a real threat loomed over Russia.

Fortunately, sincere faith and hope for God’s help lived in the hearts of people. The rulers at that time were Orthodox not only due to the duty of Baptism. The Grand Duke of Moscow Vasily Dmitrievich himself ordered to turn to the Mother of God and ordered the miraculous icon of the Most Pure Virgin to be brought from Vladimir to the capital city. The entire journey of the Mother of God (and it lasted ten days) was accompanied by intense fasting of the clergy, authorities and people. Along the road, people were on their knees and crying out to the Mother of God: “Mother Mother of God, save the Russian land.” As the chronicle testifies, “the whole city came out opposite the icon to meet it, men and wives, young men and virgins, children and babies, orphans and widows, from young to old, with crosses and icons, with psalms and spiritual songs, moreover, all with tears that cannot be found without crying with silent sighs and sobs.”

It was August 26th. The procession of the cross carried the miraculous icon to the Assumption Cathedral of the Kremlin... And at this time a miracle took place: a meeting (in other words, a meeting) at the city walls on Kuchkovo Field of the Mother of God with the tired children of God; the meeting of despair and fears with real hope and peace in the eyes of the Most Honest Cherub; a meeting of good and evil, for at that very hour the formidable Tamerlane had a sleepy vision. He rested in his tent and clearly saw above the huge mountain the Light-Bearing Woman in unspeakable grandeur - around Her there were countless hosts of angels with fiery swords, at Her feet saints with golden staves descended. The Radiant Maiden ordered the Iron Lame to leave the borders of Russia. The desperate commander, who inspired fear in many nations, woke up in horror. He called all the wise men, fortune tellers and elders of the Tatars and ordered them to explain what this meant. Their answer was this: This wife is the Intercessor of the Orthodox, the Mother of God. Tamerlane and no mortal can defeat Her. And then Tamerlane ordered the troops to retreat. The Tatars were surprised, boasting about the courage of their fierce commander. Happy Muscovites clasped their hands. The chronicler wrote: “And Tamerlane fled, driven by the power of the Blessed Virgin!”

At the site of the miraculous meeting on August 26, 1395, the Sretensky Monastery was built. Also, in memory of the miraculous deliverance of Rus' from the invasion of Tamerlane, the church holiday of the Presentation of the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God was established. The icon itself remained in Moscow, providing assistance many times during raids by foreign enemies.

“Rejoice, thou who has loved Orthodox Rus'; Rejoice, you who established the true faith in her... Rejoice, our warm Prayer Book; Rejoice, zealous Intercessor! Rejoice, Most Pure One, flowing mercy to us from Your icon.”

How could one not love and save the sincerely believing and praying children of God! Little children hug very touchingly and trustingly when you hold them in your arms, hold them tightly by the neck and gently lean against their mother’s cheek in a fit of pure childish love. On the Vladimir Icon, the Infant God clings to the Most Pure Virgin in exactly this way. His gaze is entirely fixed on Her. It was precisely this childlike, pure faith that the Russians showed in the face of inexorable danger. And this is exactly how the Most Holy Theotokos holds “all those who come in faith” tightly in Her heart and in Her arms.

Sermon by Archimandrite Hesychius (Klypy), delivered on September 8, 2014.

In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit!

“Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”- says our Lord Jesus in His Holy Gospel. And we, Orthodox Christians, must, first of all, seek the Kingdom of Heaven, study the commandments of God, try to fulfill them in our lives, ask for God's help and the grace of the Holy Spirit for this saving procession into the Kingdom of Heaven.

But we often, due to our sinful weakness, due to our general preoccupation with worldly pleasures and various pleasures, forget about this main goal of our Christian life - the acquisition of the Holy Spirit, the journey into the Kingdom of Heaven. And being carried away by this or that pleasure, we spend most of our lives in negligence, forgetting the Commandments of God and walking along the narrow path.

And the Lord, knowing that such is our condition and such our life will lead to the fact that, due to the attraction of our sinfulness, we will not be worthy to enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but will fall into eternal torment, He, wanting to correct us and turn us away from this temporary and vain life, first sends us good thoughts. These good thoughts represent to us the short duration of this life, the vanity of those goods that we are chasing. After all, many people, although they put all their desire to acquire either wealth, or fame, or other earthly honors and benefits, but even in this temporary life, often due to illness, or relaxation, or because of imprisonment, or any other external circumstances, they were unable to take advantage of all these benefits that they strived for and wanted to acquire. And in any case, death inevitably takes away from us everything that we strived for and wanted to acquire.

The Lord, wanting to show us this vanity, first gives us these thoughts. But a person often does not pay attention to these thoughts, does not look at other people who have suffered such a “shipwreck”, but, nevertheless, begins to continue to strive to acquire earthly pleasures. Then the Lord sends small sorrows and temptations to a person so that they shake off his mind and direct him in the right direction, but often this does not affect him. And then the Lord, in His mercy, wanting to correct us so that we do not perish for eternal life, sends some kind of nationwide disasters.

All this happens not for the reason that the Lord wants to torment us or humiliate us in any way, but He wants us not to cling to this temporary earthly life. We must remember the words of Christ that even two small birds that are sold for a small coin do not fall to the ground without the will of the Heavenly Father, remember that all the hairs that are on our heads are numbered. We don’t know how many hairs we have on our heads, and we’ve never even thought about how many there are, but the Lord provides for even this little.

Moreover, no more significant events occur without His will or without His permission when we need to be corrected. And we see that our pious ancestors, during these public disasters, remembered all these words of Christ, began to sincerely repent and correct their sinful lives. And people live a sinful life not only in our time, but also in those ancient times, although outwardly, perhaps, then there were not so many conveniences and various sinful pleasures that exist now. But, nevertheless, you can forget about your purpose, that we are Christians, at any time, and get carried away by this earthly and vain life.

And our ancestors, encountering national disasters, immediately remembered these words of Christ, sincerely uttered the words of prayer that “we have sinned, committed lawlessness, and acted unrighteously, O Lord, before You,” and that everything that befell us did not happen due to any reason. either external circumstances, or the hatred of certain peoples, but all this happened precisely for the main reason - because of our sinful and unrepentant life.

And when they, with such a contrite heart, turned to the intercession of the saints of God, the sorrowful of the Russian land - Sergius of Radonezh and others, to the intercession of the Mother of God, they often saw a wondrous and extraordinary intercession. And on this holiday we remember the great help of the Mother of God, which in 1395 She showed over Holy Russia.

At this time, the huge hordes of Tamerlane, who with his troops came from Mongolia, and, having passed through all the lands of Central Asia, ruined all the states that were on his way, approached the Russian land. He reached the city of Yelets and stopped there, executed many Orthodox Christians, and stayed there for two weeks. At this time, Grand Duke Vasily Dmitrievich, the son of Dmitry Ioannovich Donskoy, together with his spiritual father, Metropolitan Cyprian, remembered the miraculous original painted icon of the Mother of God - Vladimir, which was, by its name, in the city of Vladimir. And they wanted this miraculous icon to be transferred to their capital - to the city of Moscow, in order to encourage the Russian army, who were in despondency, and all the inhabitants who were in the capital of Holy Rus'.

The miraculous deliverance of the Russian land from Tamerlane on Kuchkovo Field (meeting the Vladimir Icon of the Blessed Virgin Mary)

With prayer singing, the chosen people went from both the Tsar and the Metropolitan to the city of Vladimir, raised the miraculous icon and then, with a procession of the cross, with many prayers, the icon was transferred. All residents of the city of Moscow came out to meet the miraculous icon. And knowing about the enormous strength of Tamerlane’s warriors, that it was impossible for the then devastated Russian land to resist them, knowing about the cruelty of Tamerlane, when he built entire pyramids from the severed heads of people in one or another captured city, they with great cry and tenderness They fell with their hearts to the icon of the Mother of God and asked Her intercession.

And the Queen of Heaven did not disgrace their sincere repentance of sins, their appeal to Her Mother’s protection. She herself appeared in a dream vision to this formidable conqueror, the Moscow saints walked ahead of her, holding golden staffs in their hands, and she, standing on the top of a high mountain, was surrounded by the Heavenly army. The Heavenly Host threatened this invader, and the Mother of God, raising Her hands to heaven, prayed to Her Son for the intercession of the Russian land, and showed Tamerlane with signs to leave Her borders.

When he woke up, all his bones were shaking, and he was in the greatest confusion and horror. Calling together his advisors and military leaders, he told them about this vision. And they told him: “That Woman whom you saw is undoubtedly the Mother of the Christian God, Who intends to protect Her land.” To this Tamerlane replied: “If She sends even one of those luminous youths whom I saw on the mountain surrounding Her, then he will defeat us all, and there will not even be a place on earth where we could escape.” And then all this huge army from the city of Yelets, without moving further, rose from its place and went to Asia Minor, to the territory of modern Turkey, where it ruined many states, and plunged many peoples and people into the greatest sorrow.

Even without this vision, the Mother of God could have simply brought fear and terror to this formidable army, and they would have abandoned their weapons, booty and captives and fled from our land. But the Queen of Heaven wished that we, in the vanity of our minds, would not attribute all this to any natural events, or the fear of this army, or what they heard about any rumors, or anything else, but Herself, having appeared to the terrible conqueror, wanted us to know the true reason why the Russian land was spared from this terrible disaster in those days.

And we, brothers and sisters, looking at this intercession of the Mother of God, when not one person, but the entire land of Svyatorusskaya was delivered, we will try in our time with a sincere heart, with contrition for our sinful and uncorrected life, to pray to the Queen of Heaven. She has the same great boldness as in those days before Her Son, Creator and Creator. In the hands of Her Son are all destinies: both of an individual person and of each state. And therefore, He, looking at the state of people, what they strive for, how they relate to His holy and saving commandments, controls all these states and the destinies of each person.

Therefore, we will not give up and become discouraged, but following the example of our pious ancestors, who always intensified their prayer during public disasters, attacks and circumstances, we, imitating them, will cry out to the Queen of Heaven: “Queen of Heaven, save the land of Svyatorus, and cover us with Your honorable cover”. Amen.