The Appearance of the Feodorovskaya Icon of the Most Holy God-bearer #
The entire history of our country is filled with miraculous events associated with the Most Holy Virgin God-bearer: the appearance of many of Her wonderworking icons, Her aid in times of trouble, battles, and plagues. One such wonderworking icon is the Feodorovskaya image of the Immaculate One.
According to Tradition, the Holy Apostle Luke, who was both a physician and an iconographer, created a number of icons, among which was an image of the Most Pure God-bearer that later came to be known as the Feodorovskaya. By the ineffable providence of God, the icon found its way to an ancient Russian town called Gorodets (within the present-day Nizhny Novgorod region). The earliest mentions of this wonderworking icon appear in the history of this town. In 1239, Gorodets was set ablaze by the Mongol-Tatar hordes, and the holy icon disappeared from there, only to be discovered soon after by Prince Vasily Yaroslavich of Kostroma, the younger brother of Alexander Nevsky.
While hunting in the forest, the prince suddenly beheld the icon standing among the branches of a pine tree. He attempted to take it down, but the icon soared into the air. That same day, many residents of Kostroma witnessed a mysterious warrior walking through the city, holding in his hands an icon of the God-bearer. The people noticed that the warrior bore a striking resemblance to the image of the Holy Great Martyr Theodore Stratelates, in whose honor a church had been built in Kostroma.
When the prince returned to the city, he hastened to inform the clergy of what had happened. Upon arriving at the place indicated by the prince, the priests beheld the icon of the God-bearer upon the pine tree. They prayed before it for a long time, bowing to the ground. After removing the icon from the tree, they placed it in the Kostroma cathedral and named it the Feodorovskaya, in memory of the fact that St. Theodore Stratelates had walked through the city with the icon and had often aided Russian warriors by appearing to them on the battlefield. At the site of the icon’s discovery, the first monastery in the Kostroma region was founded—the Spaso-Preobrazhensky (Transfiguration of the Savior) men’s monastery.
During the time that the wonderworking icon remained in Kostroma, many miracles occurred. Twice, the cathedral church in Kostroma caught fire, yet both times, the icon remained unharmed in the flames. In 1260, the Mongol-Tatars came to Kostroma, threatening to destroy the city completely. The prince’s army consisted only of a small detachment that he had managed to assemble in haste. Having little hope in military strength, the prince ordered the image of the Heavenly Protectress of Christians to be carried before him. During the battle, a miracle occurred: dazzling rays of light began to emanate from the face of the God-bearer. Blinded by the scorching brilliance, the enemy fled in terror, and the Kostroma forces emerged victorious. In honor of this miracle, the prince erected a cross at the site where the Feodorovskaya icon had stood during the battle. Later, a stone church was built there, and a nearby lake came to be called Holy Lake.
One of the significant events in the history of the country associated with the wonderworking Feodorovskaya Icon was the election of Michael Romanov to the throne in 1613. The delegation from the All-Russian Zemsky Sobor had long and unsuccessfully pleaded with the young Mikhail Fyodorovich and his mother, the nun Martha, to accept the Council’s decision. Both mother and son remained steadfast, despite all entreaties. This took place in the Trinity Cathedral of the Ipatiev Monastery, where the Feodorovskaya Icon was present.
At that moment, Archbishop Theodorit of Ryazan turned to the God-bearer for help. Moved by this plea, the nun Martha finally agreed to bless her son to accept the throne. She fell prostrate before the Feodorovskaya Icon and said: “Let Thy will be done, O Sovereign Lady! Into Thy hands I commit my son: guide him on the true path, for Thy glory and the good of the Fatherland!” From that time onward, the Feodorovskaya image of the Most Holy Virgin was especially venerated by all members of the Romanov dynasty. Many Russian tsarinas and princesses, who were taken as wives by Russian tsars and princes, received the patronymic Fyodorovna in honor of the family’s revered icon.
The nun Martha commanded that a copy of the wonderworking icon be made, which she took with her to Moscow. Copies of the icon spread in great numbers throughout all of Rus’.
Today, the wonderworking Feodorovskaya Icon of the Mother of God is kept in the Epiphany-Anastasiin Monastery in Kostroma, under the Moscow Patriarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church.
In Kostroma, two solemn feasts are established in honor of the wonderworking image:
- August 16 (Old Style) / August 29 (New Style), commemorating the miraculous appearance of the icon in 1239.
- March 14 (Old Style) / March 27 (New Style), honoring the election of Mikhail Romanov to the throne.
The Russian Orthodox Old Believer Church also celebrates a feast in honor of this wonderworking icon on the second Sunday of Great Lent, in accordance with the ancient typikon of Moscow’s Dormition Cathedral.
The Feodorovskaya Icon of the God-bearer belongs to the Eleusa (Tenderness) iconographic type. It is a half-length depiction of the Most Holy Virgin, turned slightly to the left (from the viewer’s perspective). The God-bearer holds the Pre-eternal Christ Child on her right arm. The Infant Jesus extends his right hand toward her left shoulder while his left arm embraces her neck. The left hand of the Immaculate One is raised in supplication toward the Divine Infant, whose left leg is bare up to the knee. The Christ Child is usually depicted wearing a red tunic, girded with a blue sash. A distinctive feature of the God-bearer’ attire on this icon is the presence of stars on her maphorion (veil), arranged in square shapes turned diagonally downward.
Christians pray before this wonderworking image of the God-bearer in all their needs and tribulations, but especially in petitions for the gift of children.