What Pavel Florensky wrote about. Florensky, Pavel Alexandrovich

Revered by Orthodox believers since the 12th century. The icon depicts the Virgin Mary raising both hands in prayer to the Almighty. On her lap sits a child, Saint Emmanuel. This is one of the most famous icons in the Orthodox Church, which is called miraculous. Why did the icon get such a name, and what miracles did it show to the people?

History and day of celebration

The icon of the Mother of God, called the Sign or Znamenskaya, was found in Rus' in the 12th century on Novgorod soil. It was not by chance that she began to be revered as a defender of Russian lands - she saved the city and its inhabitants from a bloody battle.

Initially, Novgorod was a city isolated from other lands. Residents did not want to submit to Grand Duke Andrei Bogolyubsky and defended their independence with all their might. In 1170, one of the sons of Prince Andrei Mstislav with his army approached the walls of the city and demanded submission to the capital of Rus'. He failed to convince the Novgorodians to surrender, and then the army began to besiege the walls of the city.

Saint Elijah prayed in the holy temple for three days for the salvation of his people and city in front of the icon of Jesus Christ. On the third day, he heard a divine voice, which ordered him to take the icon of the Mother of God in the church on Ilyinskaya Street and take it to the city walls.

Archbishop Elijah now has hope for salvation. He fell before the image of Christ and prayed all night. The next morning he gathered all the clergy and townspeople and told about the epiphany. Then it was decided to follow the Savior’s command and bring an icon of the Mother of God.

When the clergy came to the church for her, the first miracle happened - they could not lift her and move her. Then Archbishop Elijah fell in front of the icon and turned to the Mother of God in tearful prayers. The holy image seemed to tremble, which meant the favor of higher powers.

The icon was solemnly erected on the city wall and its face was directed towards the enemies besieging Novgorod. When an enemy arrow pierced the holy image, tears flowed from the eyes of the Mother of God, and the icon itself turned to face the city. Fear and horror fell on the attackers, and the Novgorod warriors, inspired by a miraculous divine sign, rushed with renewed vigor towards their enemies.

Since then, the image of the Mother of God, which protected the city from the siege, began to be called the “Sign”. According to the old style, the day of veneration of the icon is celebrated on November 27. IN Julian calendar The Icon of the Sign is honored on December 10.

Miracles

The image is famous for its miracles. There are many stories and legends about his divine power. The icon saved some from illnesses, while others helped escape from fires and enemy raids.

• In the 14th century people who came with her were healed from the plague that broke out in those days.
• In 1356 The Church of the Savior, where this icon stood, caught fire. The disaster ended after a prayer service before the holy image of the Virgin Mary.
• In the 16th century The icon again saved the city residents from the fire.
• Early 17th century The icon protected the Novgorodians from the Swedish invasion. When enemy troops entered the temple, an unknown force drove them back. Frightened, the Swedes wanted to flee from the church, but its gates suddenly closed.
• In 1636 The Znamensky Temple tried to rob Luka Melters. When he tried to take the icon in his hands, divine power pushed him away and he fell unconscious. Waking up in the morning, the thief repented and told everyone about the next miracle of the Znamensky Icon.

What do they pray to her for?

The Znamenskaya Icon of the Mother of God is considered an intercessor for everyone who needs help and strength. Since she became a protector from enemies, lists have been drawn from her, which later also saved cities from diseases and the attacks of enemies. This icon truly became the intercessor of the Russian lands and gained the glory of a miraculous image. What else is it customary to pray for before the face of the Virgin Mary of the Sign?

• about reconciliation warring
• about the world and peace in the family
• about healing from illnesses
• about fire rescue and natural disasters
• about protection against theft and criminals
• about intercession before enemies and envious people

Lists icons

Throughout Russia, lists of the Sign of the Mother of God are also revered. Copies are called copies that were redrawn by icon painters from different parts of the Russian land. In total, about ten lists are known, some of which have not survived to this day.

Prayers

• Prayer

  Oh, Most Holy and Most Blessed Mother of our Sweetest Lord Jesus Christ!

  We fall down and bow to You before Your holy, miraculous icon, remembering the wondrous sign of Your intercession, which was revealed to Great Novugrad from it during the days of the military invasion of this city.

  We humbly pray to Thee, O All-Powerful Intercessor of our race: just as in ancient times Thou hast hastened the help of our fathers, so now we, weak and sinners, have been granted Thy maternal intercession and care. Establish your holy church, your city and our entire Orthodox country, and all of us who fall to you with faith and love and tenderly ask with tears for your intercession, have mercy and save.

  Hey, Lady All-Merciful! Have mercy on us, overwhelmed by many sins, stretch out Thy God-receiving hand to Christ God and intercede for us before His goodness, asking us forgiveness of our sins, a pious, peaceful life, a good Christian death and a good answer at His terrible judgment, that we may be saved by Thy omnipotent Through our prayers we will inherit the bliss of paradise, and with all the saints we will sing the Most Honorable and Magnificent Name of the Most Worshipful Trinity, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, and Your great mercy to us forever and ever. Amen.

• Troparion

  Like an insurmountable wall and a source of miracles, which Your servants, Most Pure Mother of God, have acquired for You, we overthrow the resistant militia. We also pray to You, grant peace to Your city and great mercy to our souls.

• Kontakion, tone 4

  Thy people celebrate the honorable image of Thy sign, O Mother of God, to whom Thou hast bestowed a wondrous victory against Thy city, in the same way we cry to Thee by faith: Rejoice, O Virgin, praise to Christians.

• Greatness

  We magnify You, Most Holy Virgin, God's Chosen Otrokovice, and we honor Your holy image, through which you bring healing to all who come with faith.

Icon Original Sign of Novgorod.
The icon measures 59 by 52.7 cm. The image is double-sided (on the back there are images righteous Joachim and Anna, standing in prayer before Jesus Christ), has a shaft, that is, it is a remote icon. In the 16th century, the painting of the icon was renewed (Archbishop Macarius, the future Metropolitan of Moscow, is named as a possible master). From the original ancient painting, only fragments of the maforium and dress of the Virgin Mary and the medallion around the image of the baby Jesus have survived. The image on the back of the icon was completely preserved in ancient painting.

The united forces of the Russian appanage princes, led by the son of the Suzdal prince Andrei Bogolyubsky, approached the walls of Veliky Novgorod. The Novgorodians could only rely on God's help. They prayed day and night, begging the Lord not to leave them. On the third night, Archbishop Elijah of Novgorod heard a wondrous voice commanding him to take an image from the Church of the Transfiguration on Ilyinaya Street Holy Mother of God and take it to the city wall. When the icon was being moved, the enemies allowed in religious procession a cloud of arrows, and one of them pierced the iconographic face of the Mother of God. Tears flowed from Her eyes, and the icon turned its face to the city. After such a Divine sign, the enemies were suddenly attacked by inexplicable horror, they began to beat each other, and the Novgorodians, encouraged by the Lord, fearlessly rushed into battle and won.
In memory of the miraculous intercession of the Queen of Heaven, Archbishop Elijah then established a holiday in honor of the Sign Mother of God, which is celebrated to this day by the entire Russian Church.

The iconographic type of the Mother of God with raised hands and the young Christ in a medallion on her chest is one of the very first iconographic images of Her and goes back to the ancient famous image of the Blachernae Temple in Constantinople - Our Lady of Blachernitissa . Other Greek names for this iconographic type are Our Lady " Episkepsis», « Platytera" - "broader of the skies"», « Megali Panagia", called in Rus' " Great Panagia» what does “Great Icon of the Mother of God” or “ Oranta».

"Our Lady of the Sign" is an abbreviated version of the one presented in full height " Great Panagia", its peculiarity is the half-length image of the Mother of God.

In Rus', icons of the Mother of God, representing this iconographic type ORANTA , appeared in the 11th - 12th centuries, and began to be called "Sign" after the miracle of the Novgorod image, which, by the way, was the earliest example of this iconographic type among icons. These images could differ significantly from their Novgorod prototype.

So, in Yaroslavl icon of Oranta "Great Panagia" (circa 1224, Tretyakov Gallery) The Virgin Mary is presented in full growth, and under her feet there is an eagle rug, a not often encountered detail that reveals the liturgical aspect of this image.

On the other ancient icon beginning of the 13th century from Yaroslavl - “Our Lady of the Incarnation” , Unlike the Novgorod “Sign”, the Child blesses with two outstretched hands. What distinguishes “Our Lady of the Incarnation” from the “Sign”, which is similar in nature, is the absence of a medallion around the half-figure of the Child Christ. These iconographic features of the two ancient types were preserved in all icon lists, as well as in images on objects church utensils and in facial sewing.

The image of the Mother of God with raised hands and the Savior Emmanuel on her chest was often placed on the doors of the artos panagia, as well as in the main apse of the altar, which indicates the symbolic connection of the image with the sacrament of the Eucharist (in Rus' - the image of the Mother of God in the apse of the Church of the Savior on Nereditsa in 1199).

The iconographic type of the Mother of God “The Sign” correlated with the theme of the miraculous sign of the Incarnation of Christ, which is described in the prophecy of Isaiah (Is. 7.14): « So the Lord himself will give you sign: Behold, the virgin will be with child and give birth to a Son, and they will call His name Emmanuel» , quoted in the Gospels (Matt. I:23, Luke I:31) and hymnography ( « And Your womb was the most spacious of heaven» - this is how the Mother of God is called in the Akathist). The quoted words reveal the mystery of the Incarnation, the birth of the Savior from the Virgin. At the moment of contemplating the icon, the Holy of Holies, the inner Mary, is revealed to the prayer, in the depths of which the God-Man is conceived by the Holy Spirit.

Seraphim-Ponetaevskaya Icon of the Mother of God is an adaptation of the image of the Most Holy Theotokos “The Sign”. Written in 1879 by one of the sisters of the Seraphim-Ponetaevsky Monastery of the Nizhny Novgorod diocese - Claudia Voiloshnikova. The icon stood in the clerk's cell for six years, but after an unusual enlightenment appeared on the image in 1885, it was moved to the church. Many sick people began to receive healing after praying in front of the image of the Mother of God. Specially appointed commission cases miraculous healing confirmed.

Sign Kursk Root Icon of the Mother of God
At the end of the 13th century, on September 8, 1295, as legend says, in the surrounding forests near Kursk, in the roots of a tree, the Most Holy Theotokos revealed her face to one pious man. “... And he saw near the Tuskari river in a half-mountain? at the root of a large tree, a prostrate icon, which he had only just lifted from the ground, when a source of water immediately flowed from that place. Seeing this, the husband placed the honestly acquired icon in a hollow tree, and then he himself announced this Orthodox miracle to their comrades, who, having agreed among themselves, built a chapel several fathoms above the mentioned place and, having placed a miraculous icon in it, returned to their own world...”

Icon Mother of God "The Sign" Abalatskaya was written by Protodeacon of Tobolsk cathedral Matthew in honor of Sophia, the Wisdom of God, in fulfillment of the vow of the paralytic peasant Euthymius for the newly built Church of the Sign of the Most Holy Theotokos in the Abalatskaya monastery. By appearance The Abalatsk Icon is similar to the Novgorod Icon of the Sign, with the only difference that on the Abalatsk Icon the Most Holy Theotokos is represented by St. Nicholas and Reverend Mary Egyptian. Much is known miraculous lists Abalatskaya icon, reverently revered throughout Siberia.

Icon of the Mother of God "The Sign" of Tsarskoye Selo - ancient miraculous image, brought as a gift to Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich by one of the eastern patriarchs, believed to be Saint Athanasius of Constantinople. Peter I moved the icon, among other Moscow shrines, to the new capital. In 1747, the Church of the Sign was built for the icon in Tsarskoye Selo.On the icon, the Head of the Mother of God is overshadowed by cherubs. IN later time The icon also depicted the Apostle Peter, Saint Zechariah, Alexy, the man of God...

Verkhnetagil sign . .According to legend, it was brought to one of the Ural mining factories by several barge haulers, who had previously lived in the monastery with the monks. However, they became bored with the peaceful working life of the schema-monks, and they destroyed and plundered the monastery. The barge haulers, loaded with booty, were leaving the monastery, but suddenly they heard a voice from the icon of the Most Holy Theotokos “The Sign” demanding that they take the image from the ruined monastery. The frightened robbers took the icon and took it to the city.A distinctive feature of the Verkhnetagil icon is the image of a cherub on the right side of the face of the Mother of God, and a seraphim on the left.

Icon of the Sign Tavern . This icon of the Most Holy Theotokos “The Sign” received the name “Inn” after a widow living in Ryazan, suffering from an addiction to wine, pawned her home icon “The Sign” in the inn. The God-fearing innkeeper took the icon from the widow and placed it in his shrine. The next morning, the sobered widow, horrified by her act, collected money and bought the icon from the innkeeper.
However, the next day the image disappeared from the widow's house. At the same time, the innkeeper was surprised to see this icon in his shrine. From then on, the repentant widow, unexpectedly for everyone, stopped drinking, and the icon remained in the inn, having received such a thing among the people unusual name. Through prayers before the Tavern icon, the Mother of God often provided assistance to many who turned to Her.
After the inn ceased to exist in 1850, the icon was transferred to the church St. Simeon Stylite. Here the image stood until the closure of the temple in Soviet times. After the church was closed, the miraculous image of the Mother of God “The Sign” “Korchemnaya” was preserved in one pious Ryazan family. Currently located in the St. John the Theologian Monastery of the Ryazan diocese. The copy of the miraculous icon is in Ryazan, in the Nikolo-Yamsky Church, which is the courtyard of the monastery.

Such celebrations, the icon of the Sign, are only in Russian Orthodox Church, in Greece, this “Oranta” icon is directly connected with the Feast of the Nativity of Christ and prayerful veneration of it takes place on the Feast of the Nativity of Jesus Christ.

In Veliky Novgorod, a cathedral was specially built for this icon in the 17th century, which was called Znamensky.

Before this, the icon was kept in the Transfiguration Cathedral of Veliky Novgorod.

Now the icon resides in the St. Sophia Cathedral of Veliky Novgorod.

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This image of the Mother of God is one of Her very first iconographic images and inherits such ancient images as Oranta and Nikopeia. In Greece, such an image usually denoted the Nativity of Christ, and only in Russia did such icons receive the name “Sign,” i.e., a sign of the mercy of the Mother of God. Such icons of the Mother of God appeared in Rus' in the 12th century, and they began to be called so after a miraculous sign that happened in the year from such an icon in Novgorod.

Novgorod Sign of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Description of the icon

The Novgorod Znamenskaya Icon is 13 1/2 inches high and 12 inches wide. Above the left eye of the Mother of God there was a mark from an arrow. On the sides of the icon there are images of the Great Martyr George the Victorious, the Martyr James the Persian and the Venerables Peter of Athos and Onuphrius the Great. The icon had a golden chasuble weighing over 71/2 pounds with precious stones.

Story

In the year the icon was renewed by Metropolitan Macarius. IN next year A strong fire broke out in Novgorod, engulfing many streets. No amount of effort could stop the formidable element. Then Metropolitan Macarius went with a procession to the Church of the Sign and there, kneeling before the miraculous icon, he prayed for an end to the disaster. Then, picking up the icon, he carried it in a religious procession along the banks of the Volkhov. Soon the wind blew towards the river, and the fire began to subside.

In the year the Swedes captured Novgorod. Beating Novgorodians, they plundered houses and churches, desecrated icons, and carried away sacred dishes and utensils. One day, several Swedes approached the Church of the Sign, where a service was being held at that time, and the doors were therefore open. They rushed into the church to rob it, but an invisible force threw them back. They rushed to the doors again and were again driven back. This became known to all the Swedes, and none of them tried to enter this temple again.

In the year silversmith Luka Plavilshchikov planned to rob this church. At the end of the evening service on November 27, he hid in the church, and at night he entered the altar, collected silver vessels from the altar, poured money out of the mugs and, finally, began to approach the miraculous icon to tear it off. precious jewelry. But as soon as he touched the robe, he was thrown away from the icon and fell unconscious on the floor. Before Matins, the sexton who came to the church took him out, believing that Luke remained in the church drunk. He did not notice that Plavilshchikov had church vessels with him. The theft was discovered when they began to serve Matins, and everything was found in Luke’s house. The thief lost his mind for a while and only later spoke about the miracle that happened from the icon.

Subsequently, the miraculous icon of the “Sign” of the Mother of God stood in the iconostasis of the Cathedral of the Sign, to the left of the royal doors.

After the October Revolution of 1917, the icon entered the museum collection of the Novgorod Museum. During the Great Patriotic War it was evacuated and at the end of the war it was returned to the museum-reserve.

On August 15, the return of the icon to the Novgorod diocese took place. On this day, many present witnessed celestial phenomenon: a rainbow surrounded the golden dome of the Novgorod St. Sophia Cathedral with a ring, and then began to rise and dissolved in the cloudless sky. The icon resides in St. Sophia Cathedral Veliky Novgorod.

Miracle Lists

Numerous copies of the Icon of the Sign are known throughout Russia and beyond its borders. Many of them shone with miracles in local churches and were named after the place where miracles occurred. Such lists of the icon of the Sign include the icons of Abalak, Verkhnetagil, Vologda, Dionysievo-Glushitskaya, Kursk-Root, Pavlovsk, Seraphim-Ponetaevskaya, Solovetskaya, Tsarskoye Selo and many others.

Prayers

Troparion, tone 4

Like an insurmountable wall and a source of miracles, / having acquired Thee, Thy servants, Most Pure Mother of God, / we overthrow the resistant militias. / We also pray to Thee, / grant peace to our fatherland // and great mercy to our souls.

Kontakion, tone 4

Come, faithful ones, let us brightly celebrate / the miraculous appearance of the all-honorable image of the Mother of God / and from this we draw grace, / let us cry out most tenderly: // Rejoice, Mary Theotokos, Mother of God, Blessed One.

Prayer

O Most Holy and Most Blessed Mother of our Sweetest Lord Jesus Christ! We fall down and worship You before Your holy, miraculous icon, remembering the wondrous sign of Your intercession, which was revealed to the great Novegrad during the days of the military invasion of this city. We humbly pray to You, O All-Powerful Intercessor of our family: just as in ancient times You hastened to help our fathers, so now we, weak and sinners, have been made worthy of Your maternal intercession and care. Save and preserve, O Lady, under the cover of Your mercy, the Holy Church, Your city (Your abode), our entire Orthodox country and all of us who fall to You with faith and love, tenderly asking with tears for Your intercession. Hey, Madam All-Merciful! Have mercy on us, overwhelmed by many sins, stretch out Thy God-receiving hand to Christ the Lord and intercede for us before His goodness, asking us forgiveness of our sins, a pious peaceful life, a good Christian death and a good answer at His terrible Judgment, yes, we are saved by Thy almighty to Through His prayers, we will inherit the bliss of heaven and with all the saints we will sing the Most Honorable and Magnificent Name of the Most Worshipful Trinity, Father and Son and Holy Spirit, and Your great mercy to us forever and ever. Amen.

There may be an error, because By this time, Saint Macarius of Moscow had died.

Icon of the Mother of God “The Sign”- one of the oldest and most revered icons in Russian Orthodoxy. The main shrine of the Russian North. It belongs to the Oranta iconographic type and depicts the Most Holy Theotokos sitting and raising Her hands in prayer; on her chest, against the background of a round shield (or sphere) is the blessing Divine Infant - Savior-Emmanuel. This image of the Mother of God is one of Her very first iconographic images.

In the tomb of St. Agnes in Rome there is an image of the Mother of God with her arms outstretched in prayer and with the Child sitting on Her lap. This image dates back to the 4th century. In addition, the ancient Byzantine image of the Mother of God “Nicopeia”, 6th century, is known, where the Most Holy Theotokos is depicted sitting on a throne and holding in front of her with both hands an oval shield with the image of the Savior Emmanuel.

Icons of the Mother of God, known under the name “The Sign,” appeared in Rus' in the 11th century. -XII centuries, and they began to be called that after a miraculous sign from the Novgorod icon that happened in 1170.

The Suzdal prince Andrei Bogolyubsky planned to form one power in the north of the Russian land and wanted to crush the Novgorod power with one blow. The united forces of the Russian appanage princes headed by him - Smolensk, Murom, Polotsk and Ryazan - approached the walls of Veliky Novgorod. The Novgorodians could only rely on God's help. They prayed day and night, begging the Lord not to leave them.

On the third night, the Archbishop of Novgorod, praying before the image of our Lord Jesus Christ, heard a voice: “Go to the Church of the Holy Savior on Ilyin Street, and take the icon of the Holy Mother of God, and put it on the prison opposite the military.” Having performed a prayer service in the Church of the Holy Savior, Archbishop Ilia, in the presence of the praying people, raised the icon to the city wall.

When the icon was being carried, the enemies fired a cloud of arrows into the religious procession, and one of them pierced the holy image. At the same time, the face of the Most Holy Theotokos turned to the city and watered the archbishop’s phelonion with her tears, and he exclaimed: “Oh, wonderful miracle! Tears flow from a dry tree. Queen of Heaven! The besieged took what happened as a sign that the Queen of Heaven was praying before Her Son to deliver the city from the enemy. The enemies were suddenly attacked by inexplicable horror, their vision darkened and they began to beat each other, but the Novgorodians, encouraged by the Lord, fearlessly rushed into battle and won.

In memory of the miraculous intercession of the Queen of Heaven, the archbishop then established a holiday in honor of the Sign of the Mother of God, which is still celebrated by the entire Russian Church on December 10 (November 27). The Athonite hieromonk Pachomius Logothetes, who was present at the celebration of the icon in Russia, wrote two canons for this holiday. On some Novgorod icons Signs, in addition to the Mother of God with the Eternal Child, also depict the miraculous events of 1170. The miraculous icon was in the same Church of the Transfiguration on Ilyinaya Street for 186 years after the appearance of the sign.

Church of the Transfiguration on Ilyin Street (Veliky Novgorod)

In 1352, through prayer in front of this icon, those affected by the plague were healed. In gratitude for the numerous good deeds performed by the Mother of God, the Novgorodians built a special temple, and in 1356 the icon from the Church of the Transfiguration was triumphantly transferred to the one erected in 1354 new temple“The Sign of the Most Holy Theotokos”, which later became the cathedral of the Znamensky Monastery.

Znamensky Cathedral in Veliky Novgorod

Numerous copies of the Icon of the Sign are known throughout Russia. Many of them shone with miracles in local churches and were named after the place where miracles occurred. The most famous of them: Abalatskaya (1637, the main shrine of Siberia), Tsarskoye Selo (in the Znamenskaya Church of Tsarskoye Selo; considered the family shrine of the Romanovs), Seraphim-Ponetaevskaya (1879, the main shrine of the women's Seraphim-Ponetaevsky monastery), Kursk-Root Icon of the Mother of God " The Sign" is the most revered icon in the Russian Church Abroad, which received the name Hodegetria of the Russian Diaspora.

Looking at the holy icons of the Blessed Virgin, believers are lifted up in spirit in prayer, asking for mercy and bounty, intercession for salvation and the sending of peace to our country and the whole world.