The Nativity of Our Most Holy Lady Theotokos and Ever Virgin Mary: The Most Holy Virgin Mary was born at a time when people had reached such a degree of moral decay that it seemed altogether impossible to restore them. People often said that God must come into the world to restore faith and not…

The Kursk Root Icon of the Mother of God “Of the Sign” is one of the most ancient icons of the Russian Church. In the thirteenth century during the Tatar invasion, when all the Russian realm was put to the extremest tribulation, the city of Kursk, ravaged by the Horde of Batu, fell into…

In the year 1340, two monks came and settled in a cave on the hill where the monastery is now located. After reading his usual Prayer Rule, one of them went to the top of the hill, and and suddenly he beheld the Theotokos standing on a rock and enveloped in flames. He summoned the other monk, who…

The Kholm Icon of the Mother of God, by a tradition transmitted through Bishop James the Emaciated, was painted by the Evangelist Luke. It was brought from Greece to Russia in the time of Saint Vladimir, who after Baptism received many icons as a gift from Constantinople. The Kholm image of the…

The Icon of Sophia, the Wisdom of God (Kiev), occupies an unique place in the Russian Orthodox Church. On the icon is depicted the Theotokos, and the Hypostatic Wisdom, the Son of God incarnate of Her. In Wisdom or Sophia, ponders the Son of God, about Whom in the Proverbs of Solomon it says:…

The Syamsk Icon of the Mother of God was found at the Syamsk-Vologda monastery, established in the sixteenth century. In the year 1542, during a fire at the monastery, only the wonderworking icon was saved. After the fire, the monastery was rebuilt. In the year 1770, a church was built at the…

The Glinsk Icon of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos appeared in the seventeenth century in the Glinsk wilderness of the Kursk region. A monastery was established in 1648 and received its name from the noble Glinsky family.

The Domnitsa Icon of the Mother of God appeared in the year 1696 on the bank of the Domnitsa River in Chernigov diocese, not far from the city of Berezna. At the place of appearance of the icon a monastery was established, in which was situated the wonderworking image. In the year 1771 the…

The Isaakov Icon of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos appeared in the year 1659, not far from the village of Isaakievo. The peasants wanted to take the icon to their own village, but they were not able. They then turned to the priest, and he got vested, and in the company of choir and people…

The Lukianov Icon of the Nativity of the Theotokos is from a church in honor of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos in the village of Ignatiev. In 1594, it appeared three times in the wilderness area of Pokovitino-Ramen’e, not far from the village. The priest Gregory, after he consulted…

This wonderworking icon depicting the Nativity of the Theotokos is venerated on the Greek island of Ithaca.