Some Miraculous Icons of the Blessed Virgin Mary

It is customary to name the miraculous icons of the Virgin Mary according to the towns in which they originated.

The Vladimirskaya Icon is one of the most ancient miraculous icons of the Mother of God. In the middle of the 5th century the Icon was transported from Jerusalem to Constantinople, and in the middle of the 12th century it was sent by the patriarch to Kiev, to the Grand Duke Yury Dolgoruky, and was placed in the Dievichy monastery in Vyshgorod. In 1155 Prince Andrew of Vyshgorod, when traveling to the North, took with him the miraculous Icon of the Blessed Virgin. On the way, there were held short divine services praising the Lord (Te Deums), and miracles occurred. On the banks of the Klyazma river the steeds carrying the Icon could not move. The prince called that place Bogolubov, that is, Beloved by God, and built there two stone churches, into one of which the Icon was placed. On September 21, 1160, the Icon was transferred into the church at Vladimir, and from then on it has been known as the “Vladimirskaya.” Since 1395 the Icon has been located in the Uspensky Cathedral in Moscow, to the left of the royal gates. The Icon became famous due to many miracles performed. Before this Icon Russian tsars were anointed as rulers, and metropolitans were appointed. The feast day of the Icon is celebrated on August 26/September 8, as well as on May 21/June 3 in honor of the liberation of Moscow in 1521 from its bondage to the Crimean Khan.

The Icon of Kazan. In 1579, a nine-year-old girl by the name of Matrona, whose parents’ house burned down during the 1579 fire in Kazan, saw in a dream the image of the Blessed Virgin Mary and heard a voice commanding her to retrieve a holy Icon hidden in the ashes of the burned house. The holy Icon was discovered wrapped in an old cloth under the stove, where it was buried, most likely during the rule of the Tartars when Christians were forced to conceal their faith. The holy Icon was triumphantly transported to the nearest church, the Church of St. Nicholas, and later to the Cathedral of the Annunciation, where it received renown for curing the blind. A copy was made of the Icon and sent to the tsar, Ivan the Terrible. In honor of its arrival, a special feast day was established on the July 8/21.

The Icon of Znamenia, which means “The Sign,” also known as the Icon of Kursk. It was found on September 8, 1295, by a hunter at the root of a tree on the bank of the Tuskor River in the province of Kursk. When he took the Icon in his hands, a spring of water came from under the tree. The hunter built a chapel near the tree and placed the Icon therein. From that time the Icon began to perform many miracles. In 1383 the Tartars of the Crimea, devastating the province, cut the Icon into two parts and threw them into opposite directions. They took as prisoner the priest Bogolyub, who performed the services in the chapel. Having been redeemed by the envoys of the Grand Duke of Moscow, Bogolyub found the split pieces of the Icon, joined them, and miraculously they grew together. In 1597 the Icon was brought to Moscow by the will of Tsar Feodor Ioannovich. In view of the return of the holy relic, a monastery was founded which was given the name of the Root Hermitage. Since the time of Tsar Feodor Ioannovich, the Icon has been encased in a cypress board, with the portrayal of the Lord Sabaoth above and of Prophets on the sides.

In 1612 the Icon miraculously saved Kursk from being captured by the Poles. The grateful inhabitants built the monastery of Znamenie, into which the Icon was brought every year and stayed from the 12th of September until the Friday of the 9th week of Easter. The rest of the time it remained at the Hermitage.

On March 7, 1898 the Icon remained unharmed during an attempt by revolutionaries to blow it up in the cathedral of the Znamensky monastery. After midnight a bomb placed under the Icon went off with a terrible noise. Everything around was torn apart and scattered. Only the Icon remained intact. During the revolution the Icon was also stolen in April of 1918, but was miraculously found in a well several months later. Finally the Icon was taken from Russia in 1920 by Bishop Theophan of Kursk and placed in Holy Trinity Church in Belgrade, Yugoslavia. This Holy Image rendered great assistance when Belgrade was bombarded during the Second World War. Bombs never fell on the houses visited by the Icon, although they destroyed the surrounding areas. Presently the Icon resides in the Znamenia Cathedral in New York City, though from time to time it is taken to different temples of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad for adoration. Every year numerous healings continue to flow from this Holy Icon.

The Weeping Icons. During the past 100 to 150 years there have appeared several Icons of the Blessed Virgin Mary with flowing tears. These miraculous events most probably point to the grief the Virgin Mary feels toward mankind at the approach of the antichrist.

In February of 1854, in the Romanian Orthodox monastery of Sokol, one of the Icons of the Blessed Virgin Mary began to weep. This miracle coincided with the Crimean war in Russia and drew thousands of pilgrims daily. The weeping sometimes occurred every day, and sometimes at intervals of 2 to 3 days.

In March of 1960, a lithograph of the Icon of the Virgin Mary, known as that of the “Passion,” that belonged to a Greek Orthodox family from Long Island, New York, began to weep. When the Icon was transported to the Cathedral of St. Paul, white doves hovered above the Icon. The paper on which the Icon was imprinted became wrinkled from the copious flow of the tears. At times the tears appeared bloody, and pious pilgrims pressed pieces of cotton to the Icon to take home and apply to the ill. Shortly afterward a lithograph of the Icon of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Iveron that belonged to another Greek Orthodox family in that same area also began to flow tears. These two weeping Icons drew a great number of praying people, and both local and foreign papers have described the great number of miracles emanating from them. One of the Icons has been examined by scientists in order to determine the origin of this fountain of tears, and scholars at the University of British Columbia confirmed the fact that the tears did flow but could not explain this from a scientific point of view (Orthodox Life, 1960, n. 8, p. 8).

On December 6, 1986, the Icon of the Blessed Virgin Mary on the altar screen in the Albanian Church of St. Nicholas the Complaisant, in Chicago, began to weep. This miracle has been attracting up to five thousand people to the church who wished to see this miraculous Icon with their own eyes. The weeping Icon was painted 23 years ago by a Manhattan painter by the name of Constantine Yussis. A specially gathered committee confirmed that “there could be no explanation of this enigma.”

The Myrrh-Pouring Icon. An Orthodox Chilean by the name of Joseph (Jose), who had been living on Mount Athos since 1981, saw in a monastery a copy of the Iveron Icon of the Blessed Virgin Mary and wished to own it. At first he received a refusal; then unexpectedly the abbot handed the image over to him with the words: “Take it, this Icon must go with you!” Joseph brought the Icon to Montreal. On November 24, 1982, at 3 o’clock in the morning, Joseph’s room was filled with a wondrous fragrance: on the surface of the Icon appeared drops of wondrously fragrant myrrh. The Archbishop Vitaly of Canada, now Metropolitan and Chief Hierarch of the Russian Church Abroad, offered to bring the Icon to the Russian cathedral in Montreal. Since then the Icon has Russian Orthodox churches in several countries. Sometimes during services attended by multitudes, the myrrh appeared not only on the icon itself, but on the outer surface of the glass, before the eyes of those praying, and even starting to drip on the floor, filling the church with a wondrous fragrance. It is remarkable that each year during Passion Week the Holy myrrh would stop flowing from the Icon and then resume its flow after Easter. The Icon was responsible for many wondrous cures.

Tragically, on October 31, 1997 while in Athens, Greece, Joseph was murdered and the icon mysteriously disappeared. A copy of this icon resides in St. John the Baptist Cathedral in Washington, DC.

It is impossible to enumerate here all the miraculous icons of the Blessed Virgin Mary. After the revolution in Russia many ancient icons began to restore themselves (become shining, as if newly painted). On occasion, in front of a person’s eyes, old and dark icons have lightened as if new. There are thousands of such self-restored icons. The faithful saw in these miracles signs of the forthcoming spiritual revival in Russia.

Miracles and apparitions do not occur without cause. Most likely the miraculous apparitions of the Virgin Mary are meant to awaken our faith in God and a sense of repentance. Unfortunately, many in our day have become deaf to spiritual subjects, are turning their back to God, and choose a pagan way of life. But we, Orthodox Christians, should always remember our Heavenly Mother, our Intercessor at the Lord’s Altar, and ask Her guidance and protection. O most holy Theotokos, save us!

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