The Most Holy Theotokos appears before us in different guises - from a young virgin to a proud mother holding her Son on her lap. Despite the strictest laws of canonical iconography, the images of the Ever-Virgin differ from each other even within the same version.
Today we will look at perhaps the most proud and regal image of the Mother of God of all that exists - the “Sovereign” icon. She was found at a very difficult time and in some way took upon herself the burden of earthly reign, when the Russian monarchy fell and the entire vast country was washed in blood. However, first things first.
History of the discovery of the shrine
The story of the discovery of the icon of the Mother of God “Sovereign” is closely connected with the name and fate of the Moscow region peasant woman Evdokia Andrianova.
One day Evdokia had a wonderful dream, which later turned out to be fateful. The Mother of God appeared to her and ordered her to go to Kolomenskoye and find the icon, which is now black, but needs to be made red and displayed for prayers.
The peasant woman thought for a long time about her dream and did not dare to set off until the Mother of God came to her one more time, already sitting on the snow-white Throne. The Ever-Virgin showed Evdokia the temple where the image was located, which was to be found.
The peasant woman prayed and went to Kolomenskoye. Seeing the Church of the Ascension of the Lord, she was delighted: it was precisely this that she saw in her dream. She turned to the rector of the temple, Father Nicholas, with a request to find the “black” shrine.
The abbot took Evdokia's words very seriously and ordered a search of the temple. The icon was not found anywhere until someone had the idea to look into the basement. There the image of the Mother of God, blackened by time, dirt and cobwebs, was found.
This event occurred on March 15 (March 2, old style). On this day, as a result of the February Revolution, Russian Tsar Nicholas II abdicated the throne. But the main shocks were yet to come...
The icon was carefully cleaned from the dust of centuries and they saw the stern and mournful face of the Mother of God and Christ sitting on the knees of the Blessed Mother. An akathist was served for the icon, and the news of its miraculous discovery spread far beyond the borders of Kolomenskoye.
They tried to restore the icon, but they did it somewhat ineptly: the lower part of the image turned out to be hopelessly damaged. The masters fearfully expected punishment for such sacrilege, but there was no retribution - the Mother of God is all-merciful. They began to transport the icon around the cities, where it performed miracles of healing.
And the peasant woman Evdokia went to the houses of parishioners and collected money to order a precious frame worthy of the shrine. However, the Mother of God stopped the collection of funds: she again appeared to Evdokia with a prophecy. She ordered the money to be returned to the parishioners and not to make the chasuble, because soon the church property would still be plundered, but over time the image would still find a worthy frame.
In the end, the image ended up in Moscow, in a convent, the abbess of which was Grand Duchess Elizaveta Feodorovna, one of the most devout and at the same time enlightened women in Russia. And she, in turn, secretly sent the icon of the Mother of God to the abdicated Nicholas II.
Elizaveta Feodorovna always gravitated toward religion and charity. After the death of her husband, Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich, at the hands of a terrorist, she retired from the world to the Marfo-Mariinsky Convent, which she organized. Now Elizaveta Fedorovna has been canonized.
After the October Revolution, the princess, along with other members of the royal family, was forcibly taken to Yekaterinburg, and then to Alapaevsk.
A terrible fate awaited them: people were thrown into the mine alive. The mine was blown up, filled with logs and covered with earth. Witnesses of this atrocity claimed that for several days moans and words of prayers were heard from underground. And when the mine was opened, an icon of the Mother of God, stabbed with bayonets, was discovered along with the bodies.
The further movements of the icon are unknown, but in the end it ended up in the State Historical Museum, where it remained in storage throughout the decades of godlessness instilled by the Soviet regime.
The meaning of the miraculous image of the Blessed Virgin Mary
In the Moscow region, in the village of Kolomenskoye, the image of the Mother of God appeared to the Russian Orthodox people in 1917. This event coincided with the abdication of the throne of Nicholas II. One peasant woman, Evdokia, who lived near this village, began to have dreams about a white church, and heard demands from a secret voice to find the icon and make it red. Being a true Christian, the peasant woman told everything to the rector of the Ascension Church.
After a long search, an image of the Most Pure One was found in one of the basements of the church, among old boards. When it was cleared of many years of soot dust, everyone saw the image of the Mother of God as the Queen of Heaven: in red attire, sitting majestically on the royal throne, with a crown on her head and a golden halo, and in her hands an orb and a scepter. On Her lap She held the Son of God Jesus.
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The news of the appearance of a new image of the Mother of God on the day of the abdication of the Sovereign was regarded by Orthodox interpreters as a sign that the Queen of Heaven took control of Russia into Her hands and became its Intercessor. And according to another version, the appearance of the image of the Most Pure One testified to future trials for the Orthodox Church and the entire country, as punishment for numerous sins.
On the day the image was found, in Kolomenskoye, a healing spring came out of the ground. Since then, many copies of the icon have been written, and many believers have arrived in the village, and many miraculous healings of ailments of body and soul have been revealed before Her face.
Where is the original image?
In the 90s of the last century, faith in God in Russia gradually began to revive. Temples were rebuilt, the number of parishioners increased, seemingly lost shrines rose from oblivion.
In 1990, a significant event occurred: the image of the Mother of God Sovereign was returned to Kolomenskoye. Now he resides in the Church of the Icon of Our Lady of Kazan, near the right choir. The authenticity of the image was established by an independent expert.
The Ascension Church in Kolomenskoye, where the miraculous image was found, has been restored and consecrated, so it is possible that the icon will return to its original place. According to legend, this will be the beginning of the exaltation of the revived Russia.
After the unification of the Russian Orthodox Church and the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, which signified the unity of the Orthodox in Russia and abroad, the Sovereign Mother of God made a grandiose world tour. She was greeted with great delight and reverence by Orthodox Christians in all the countries of the world where she visited.
Miracles performed through prayers to the Mother of God
Many miracles and healings occur through prayers to the Mother of God. One of the copies of the Sovereign icon became famous for its streaming of myrrh. The icon was painted in 1991 and consecrated on Easter 1993 in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. And a year later, drops of peace were discovered on the image of the Virgin Mary. During this time, the icon was brought to many churches many times. In August 1997, after prayers at the myrrh-streaming image, a resident of Brest received healing from facial skin cancer and blindness.
Nina Pavlova talked about the return of the Sovereign icon to Kolomenskoye. When the icon was taken out, Nina could not recognize the icon. Instead of a bright image of the Mother of God, she saw a “black board”. But since the narrator knew every crack and roughness on the icon, in this darkened image Nina was able to recognize the miraculous “Sovereign”. And then a true miracle happened:
“When they brought the icon of the Sovereign Mother of God to the temple and began to serve a prayer service in front of it, the blackness suddenly disappeared from it and the icon shone with bright, pristine colors.”
In the Nikolo-Perervinsky monastery in Moscow there is one of the copies of the Sovereign icon. It is distinguished by the fact that the Virgin Mary is depicted on an azure background. Her gaze is so piercing, looking into the very heart of the person praying, that it is impossible to fall to the icon without special awe and reverence. One of the miraculous events that happened in the spring of 1991 is connected with the icon. The rector of the St. Nicholas Church, Archpriest Vladimir Chuvikin, was informed that the icon of the Sovereign Mother of God was streaming myrrh abundantly. The fragrance and flow of myrrh from the image brought to the temple lasted for half a month. This wonderful event was observed by numerous parishioners and visitors.
Famous icon lists
Nowadays, lists of the famous icon are available in almost every Orthodox church. Even the restoration of the grandiose Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow began with the construction of a chapel consecrated in honor of the Sovereign Mother of God.
There are temples dedicated to this image in many countries of the world, but most of them, of course, are in Russia. At the moment their number exceeds eight dozen.
In the capital there are several revered lists of the Sovereign Mother of God. The images that are most revered as miraculous are those in the Church of St. John the Warrior and the Nikolo-Perervinsky Monastery (now part of the Patriarchal Metochion).
The list came to the Perervinsky monastery from the hands of nun Agnia. She brought an icon flowing with myrrh and handed it over to the clergy. The image streamed myrrh for more than a month, for which there is documentary evidence. What’s interesting: Evdokia, who contributed to the acquisition of the image, was also from Pererv!
Miracles and veneration
Having been revealed to Orthodox people, the icon immediately began to show various miracles. Evdokia, who discovered the shrine, decided to raise funds for a chasuble for the relic. Soon the Mother of God appeared to her again and ordered her to return the money to the people. She warned that all church property would soon be plundered, and the robe would come to her on its own.
In 1917, craftsmen restored the image in the Alekseevsky nunnery and, through negligence, damaged its lower part. People began to fear retribution, but Evdokia managed to calm them down. It was revealed to the woman that the Most Pure Virgin Mary was not at all angry with the masters.
The sovereign icon quickly gained fame as a miracle worker. A large number of its copies were distributed throughout Russia. With the participation of Patriarch Tikhon, a special akathist was compiled, which combined fragments of texts glorifying other icons of the Mother of God. It was called “Akathist of Akathists for the Queen of Queens.”
Iconography
According to research, the Sovereign Blessed Virgin Mary was painted around the end of the 18th century. It is assumed that she was rescued from the war in 1812, and then placed in the basement of the Ascension Cathedral. If not for Evdokia’s vision, the icon would most likely never have been remembered.
The image of the Sovereign Mother of God is written in the Panahrant iconographic type, that is, it depicts the Mother of God in the image of the Queen of Heaven. Perhaps this is the most regal of all the versions of the Virgin Mary: it can be read both from the expression of the Virgin Mary’s face and from her attire.
The image of the Sovereign Mother of God is written in the Panahrant iconographic type, that is, it depicts the Mother of God in the image of the Queen of Heaven. Perhaps this is the most regal of all the versions of the Virgin Mary: it can be read both from the expression of the Virgin Mary’s face and from her attire.
In the right hand of the Mother of God there is a scepter, in the left there is an orb, but without the traditional cross, characteristic of the symbols of power of Russian autocrats. Some theologians see this as a harbinger of many decades of atheism.
On his mother's lap, in the center, sits the baby Jesus. The fingers of his right hand are folded in a traditional blessing, but his other hand points to the left: where, according to Christian beliefs, sinners will stand during the Last Judgment.
It is believed that the Savior’s gesture foreshadows the onset of an era of godlessness and trampling of shrines. However, he does not renounce sinners: everyone who repents can follow the path of Salvation.
The icon is painted in dark, disturbing and mournful colors on a wooden board. The arched top, where there is an image of Hosts blessing the Mother and Child, indicates that this is an image intended for the temple altar.
The Perervinsky list differs significantly from the prototype. It is painted in a lighter and more hopeful palette. The face of the Most Holy Theotokos is benevolent and peaceful, and there is a traditional cross on the orb.
Description and meaning in Orthodoxy
The “Sovereign” icon depicts the Mother of God seated on a throne in scarlet royal purple with a baby on her lap. On the head of the Blessed Virgin is a crown surrounded by a halo. In her hands the Mother of God holds the royal regalia - a scepter and an orb. The Queen of Heaven in the most holy image resembles the Queen of Earth. The fact that the shrine was found on the day the emperor abdicated the throne symbolizes the transfer of royal power to the Queen of Heaven. The image of the Mother of God appeared to reassure the believers, to tell them that Russia will be saved.
And so it happened. Later, the emperor and his family were shot, religion was banned at the state level, and almost all the priests were killed. Russian clergy blamed the common people and their sinful lives for what happened. After the revolution, the people themselves received the opportunity to live normally, work and not sin.
As the Mother of God, who took control of the state, warned, Russia survived, was saved, that is, did not cease to exist as a state.
The Orthodox clergy calls on the people to repent, to be ashamed of their happy life during the years of the USSR, to ask forgiveness for their sins that led to the massacre of the Tsar, and to gain mercy from the Immaculate Virgin.
How does the Sovereign Icon of the Mother of God help?
The All-Sovereign Icon is a symbol of the unity of all Russian lands. Despite decades of persecution, accompanied by the desecration of shrines and the loss of faith in God, the All-Merciful One does not abandon our people and remains its faithful protector. Nowadays it is a symbol of our statehood and the desire for spirituality.
They pray to the icon for the most secret things. Most often she is asked about:
- healing from physical and mental illnesses;
- restoring health after injuries, operations and severe addictions;
- ending wars and restoring peace;
- gaining material well-being and a good job;
- protection from enemies and envious people;
- marriage and finding happiness in marriage;
- birth, health and well-being of children.
It is believed that the Mother of God grieves when she sees our sins, because they multiply the suffering of her Son. However, she, like a true mother, patiently waits for us to take the righteous path and repent of what we have done.
How to pray in front of an icon
The main thing in prayer is seriousness, concentration and, of course, sincerity. You should try to pray alone or with people sharing the prayer service. You can ask the Mother of God for everything, but we should not forget that the wishes of sincere believers and virtuous people are best fulfilled.
To pray to the Sovereign Mother of God, you don’t have to go to church: you can purchase an image for your home altar or a personal protector in a medallion or bracelet.
When praying, you need to remember that an icon is like a window opening into the spiritual world, so you need to turn not to the image, but to the Queen of Heaven itself.
Prayer text
In honor of the icon of the All-Powerful Mother of God, a most beautiful akathist was composed, in the work of which Patriarch Tikhon himself took part. Kontakia, troparia, magnification, and, of course, prayers are dedicated to her.
Prayer for peace and prosperity
Oh, Sovereign Lady, Most Holy Theotokos, holding in Her arms the hand of the Heavenly King who contains the entire universe! We thank You for Your ineffable mercy, for You have deigned to show us, sinners, this holy and miraculous icon of Yours in these days. We thank Thee, the Intercessor, for You have looked down from Your holy heights upon the children of the Orthodox, and, like the bright sun, you have cheered those who are exhausted from sadness, combing our eyes with the sweet sight of the sovereign. Your image. Oh, Most Blessed Mother of God, Sovereign Helper, Strong Intercessor, thanking You, with fear and trembling, like a slave of insanity, we fall, with tenderness, with contrition of heart, with tears we pray Ty: root truth, peace and joy in the hearts of all of us Holy Spirit: bring silence, prosperity, serenity, unfeigned love for each other to our country! With Your omnipotent power, support us, the weak, the cowardly, the infirm, the sad, strengthen us, and restore us! Let us always protect, praise, magnify and glorify You under Your power, the Sovereign Intercessor of the Christian race forever and ever. Amen.
Prayer for health and strengthening of faith
Oh, peace to the Intercessor, Mother of All Sings, falling with fear, faith and love before Your honorable icon, the Sovereign, we fervently pray to You: do not turn Your face away from those who come running to You, I beg you, Merciful Mother of Light, Thy Son and our God, Sweetest Lord Jesus Christ, may he preserve our country in peace, may he establish our state in prosperity, may he deliver us from internecine warfare and strengthen our Holy Orthodox Church, may he unshakably preserve it from unbelief, la and heresies. There is no other help, no other hope, except You, Most Pure Virgin: You are the Almighty Christian Intercessor before God, softening His righteous anger. Deliver all who pray to You with faith from the falls of sin, from the slander of evil people, from hunger, sorrow and illness. Grant us the spirit of contrition, humility of heart, purity of thoughts, correction of sinful lives and forgiveness of our sins, so that we all, gratefully chanting Your greatness, may be made worthy of the Heavenly King festivities and there, with all the saints, let us glorify the Most Honest and Magnificent Name in the Trinity of the glorified God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.
You should not think that the Mother of God only hears prayers pronounced in canonical words. The Lord knows the thoughts and aspirations of each of us, so the main thing is sincere faith in God, and you can call on him and the Mother of God in ordinary words!
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25.10.21
What do they ask for before the image?
In Russia they venerate the most holy image of the Mother of God, pray to it, and ask for help in difficult situations. A huge number of churches have been built in honor of the “Sovereign” icon. The holy elders wrote several prayers that are read just before this image. Christians sincerely believe that “Derzhavnaya” helps in difficult times for the people, saves them from disasters, illnesses and troubles.
It is necessary to pray before the most holy image when a person cannot get a job, everything is not going well for him, there is nothing but trouble all around. The Mother of God will never leave repentant sinners in trouble, she will cover them with her cover. If a person wants to receive God's mercy, he needs to live according to God's laws and pray to the Almighty with all his heart.
The Immaculate Virgin can be asked to stand guard over the Russian land, save the people from disasters, and help in difficult situations. Believers turn to the Mother of God to help establish peace on earth and stop civil strife. It is within the power of the Mother of God to preserve the church, to save it from heresy. Christians ask the Immaculate Virgin to save them from the fall of sin, the slander of evil people, and mental and physical ailments.
