Philermos Icon of the Mother of God: where is the Most Holy Theotokos located?

Among all the Images of the Mother of God, the Philermo Icon of the Mother of God stands out for its fantastic, eventful history. According to the existing legend, it was written by the Apostle Luke during the earthly life of the Mother of God. For a long time, the unique icon was listed among the most revered shrines of the Knights of Malta.

Later, for more than 100 years, this holy Image was kept in Russia, in the royal house of the Romanovs. Now the Philermo Icon of the Mother of God is located in a small town in Montenegro: Cetinje. Let's find out more about the icon who has traveled all over the world.

The beginning of the long journey of the icon of the Mother of God

The icon traces its history back to the beginning of the 1st millennium, when it was painted by the Apostle Luke and received a blessing from the Mother of God herself. A little later, Luke himself took the Image to distant Egypt, then it ended up in Jerusalem.

After this, the Empress of Byzantium Eudokia, known for her charitable activities, ordered the icon to be transported to Constantinople, to the Blachernae Orthodox Church located near the imperial palace.

This happened at the perfect time. After all, it was the intercession of the icon of the Mother of God, as legends say, that saved the church from desecration and destruction during the Persian attack on the city. According to some sources, this event became the reason for the composition of the first akathist - a song of praise that believers had to listen to while standing. Sitting during the akathist is strictly prohibited.

Catalog of icons on the website PravIcon.com

Description of the Philermos icon
Source: Disc “Orthodox Church Calendar 2011” from the publishing house of the Moscow Patriarchate [2011]
The transfer from Malta to Gatchina of a part of the tree of the Life-giving Cross of the Lord, the Philermos Icon of the Mother of God and the gum of the hand of St. John the Baptist took place in 1799. These shrines were kept on the island of Malta by the knights of the Catholic Order of St. John of Jerusalem. In 1798, when the French captured the island, the Knights of Malta turned to Russia for protection and patronage. On October 12, 1799, they presented these ancient shrines to Emperor Paul I, who was in Gatchina at that time. In the autumn of 1799, the relics were transported to St. Petersburg and placed in the Winter Palace in the church in honor of the Image of the Savior Not Made by Hands. The holiday of this event was established in 1800. According to ancient legend, the Philermo Icon of the Mother of God was painted by the Holy Evangelist Luke. From Jerusalem it was brought to Constantinople, where it was in the Blachernae temple. In the 13th century, it was taken from there by the crusaders and since then has been kept by the knights of the Johannite Order.

Philermos Icon - description
Source: Website “Miracle-Working Icons of the Most Holy Theotokos”, author - Valery Melnikov [2011]
According to legend, the Philermos Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos was painted by the Evangelist Luke. In the 5th century, the Greek Empress Eudoxia transferred this image from Jerusalem to Constantinople. After the fall of Constantinople in the 13th century, the icon went to the Knights of the Order of St. John, who transported it to the island of Rhodes and then to Malta. In 1798, Malta was occupied by Napoleon's army. Leaving the island, the Johannites took away Christian shrines, including the right hand of St. John the Baptist, part of the Life-giving Cross of the Lord and the miraculous image of the Philermos Icon of the Mother of God. Saving the sacred relics, the Johannites handed them over to the Russian Emperor Paul I, who by that time was already the Master of the Order of Malta. On October 12, 1799, in Gatchina, the shrines were solemnly handed over to the Russian side. During the Russian revolutionary turmoil, the shrines were transported to Denmark, where the Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna lived at that time. Some time after the death of the Empress of Malta[...]

Description of the Filermskaya icon from the book by E. Poselyanin
Source: Book “E.
Villager. Our Lady. Description of Her earthly life and miraculous icons" [1914] The icon of the Mother of God, called Philermos, was painted, according to legend, by the Evangelist Luke. This apostle took this image to Egypt to the Nazirites. From here he was already transferred to Jerusalem. In the 5th century, the Greek Empress Eudokia, the wife of Theodosius the Younger, transported this icon to Constantinople, where the image of the Mother of God was honorably installed in the Blachernae Church. From here in the 13th century. The icon of the Mother of God was taken by the crusaders who captured Constantinople, and then went to the knights of the Order of John, who brought it with them to the island of Rhodes. In the 17th century, the Turks took possession of this island, and the knights moved to Malta and brought the Philermos icon here. When the French took possession of Malta at the end of the 17th century, the knights surrendered under the patronage of the Russian Tsar Paul I. This emperor was elected by them as “Grand Master,” i.e., the highest commander and protector of the order. In gratitude for the intercession of the Russian emperor, the knights brought him the Philermos image as a gift along with part of the Life-giving Cross of the Lord[...]

From the Crusading Knights

In 1204, the Philermos icon was taken by the crusaders to another country - Palestine, where it was kept among the valuables of the knights-monks of the Order of St. John. The Hospitallers stayed in Cyprus for 18 years, after which they managed to recapture the island of Rhodes from the Muslims. And, taking their relics, they settled there.

At the peak of Mount Filerimos, on the site of a destroyed ancient church, they built a temple in the name of the Mother of God. Mount Rhodes, by the way, bears the name of a monk who once lived here. And the temple built by the knights still stands. There is a monastery nearby, and, as far as I know, services are still held there. And in the yard, getting under the feet of tourists, peacocks walk.

The church now houses a copy of the Philermos icon. And one more interesting detail. The church building itself is divided into 2 parts: in one, Services are held for Orthodox believers, and in the other, for adherents of the Catholic faith.

But let's return to the knights... They lived on the island of Rhodes for more than 200 years. And now a turbulent time has come. Suleiman the Magnificent attacked their lands. After 6 months of fierce resistance, members of the order were forced to retreat.

A few years later, Emperor Charles 5 offered the monks of the order the island of Malta as a new place of residence. Of course, the proposal was accepted, and the Knights of the Order of Malta, together with the Philermos icon they revered and other ancient relics, settled in a new place.

A cathedral in the name of John the Baptist was immediately built in the capital of the picturesque island. It is still active. This is a huge, amazingly beautiful temple.

Its truly unique feature is its... gender. The floor of the nave, oratory and even the chapel here is covered with marble slabs, under which many members of the Order of Malta are buried. Each such plate depicts either the coat of arms of a knight, or tells in Latin about his exploits, about his life.

Walking on this floor in sharp heels, such as stilettos, is not permitted. Regular slippers can be bought at the entrance (and quite inexpensively). That's me, by the way. Maybe someday I’ll have the chance to visit there too (don’t forget your slippers!)

A chapel richly decorated with silver was built especially for the icon of the Mother of God, where the Philermos icon was solemnly placed

One of the most significant church shrines of St. Petersburg in the 19th – early 20th centuries. was the Philermo Icon of the Mother of God, now located in Montenegro. In the Orthodox church calendar published in Russia, October 12/25 is still o (in 1799). And in one of the recent foreign Russian-language publications it was reported about the Philermo image that “the original of the icon is in St. Petersburg”[1]. However, during the years of the civil war, which became a real tragedy in the history of Russia, many of the greatest cultural values and shrines were lost forever for our country. A number of them were destroyed during fierce battles, burned down in fires, etc., but many, during the period of bloody unrest and split of the state, irrevocably left its borders. This is what happened with one of the priceless sacred relics of the entire Christian world, which, by the will of fate, ended up in Russia - the Philermo Icon of the Mother of God.

This image has a centuries-old history. According to legend, the icon was painted by the Evangelist Luke at the beginning of the first millennium and consecrated with the blessing of the Mother of God. Soon, the Evangelist Luke himself transported this image to Egypt, from there it was transported to Jerusalem, and around 430, Empress Eudokia, wife of Theodosius II (408–450), ordered the icon to be delivered to Constantinople, where the image of the Mother of God was placed in the Blachernae Church. In 626, through the prayers of the residents, who offered their petitions before the Philermo image, the city was saved from the Persian invasion. For this occasion, a hymn of thanksgiving to the Mother of God was composed, which the worshipers had to listen to while standing; This song ritual was called an akathist[2].

In 1204, during the IV Crusade, the icon was captured by the crusaders and again transferred to Palestine. There it was administered by the monastic-knightly order of the Johannites, or Hospitallers. Driven out of Palestine and Syria by the Saracens in 1291, the Johannites lived in Cyprus for 18 years, and in 1309 they moved to the island of Rhodes, which was recaptured from the Muslims after two years of battles. For the Philermos icon, the knights built a temple of the Mother of God in the 14th century on the territory of the ancient settlement of Ialisa on Mount Philermios (named after the monk Filerimos), near the city of Rhodes. This temple, built on the foundations of an ancient Byzantine basilica, is well preserved, as is the nearby monastery. In the Church of the Mother of God on Mount Philermios there is currently a copy of the Philermos icon and services are held, and the temple is divided by a lattice into two halves: Orthodox and Catholic[3].

In 1522, the troops of the Turkish Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent captured Rhodes after a six-month siege, and members of the order a few years later (in 1530) found refuge on the island transferred to them by Emperor Charles V. Malta, where the Philermo Icon of the Mother of God, as well as other ancient shrines, arrived with them. In 1573, construction of a cathedral in the name of St. began in the capital of the island. John the Baptist and, after its consecration, the revered icon of the Mother of God was placed in the Philermo chapel, decorated with silver gates.

At the end of the 18th century, Malta was captured by French troops under the command of Napoleon, and the Knights of Malta decided to come under the protection of Russia. In 1798, they elected Emperor Paul I as head of the order, and on November 29 of the same year, the emperor solemnly assumed the crown of Grand Master. The right hand of St. John the Baptist was brought to St. Petersburg in the same year, and the Philermo Icon of the Mother of God and part of the tree of the Life-giving Cross of the Lord were delivered to the Russian capital in 1799.

In September 1799, the imperial court arrived in Gatchina, where Paul I had his favorite country residence. By this time, the emperor's daughter, Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna, was engaged to the Crown Prince of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Friedrich Louis. The wedding took place in Gatchina on October 12; On the same day, at the direction of Paul I, the solemn transfer of the shrines brought from Malta took place. They were placed in the Gatchina court temple. The emperor brought his gift to the church, ordering the construction of golden arks decorated with diamonds and precious stones for the right hand of St. John the Baptist and for part of the Cross of the Lord, and for the Philermos icon - a new golden robe. In memory of this event, by imperial command, an annual holiday was established, included in the church calendar on October 12 (old style)[4].

Gatchina did not remain the location of the shrines transferred from Malta for long. In the autumn of 1799, with the departure of the imperial court, the Philermos icon and other shrines were transported to St. Petersburg. In 1800, the celebration of October 12 was already taking place in the Winter Palace of the capital. Then, for more than 50 years, the shrines were constantly located in the Cathedral of the Winter Palace, and the holiday of their transfer to Gatchina was only indicated in calendars and calendars, but was not particularly celebrated.

During the reign of Emperor Nicholas I, the tradition of transferring the Filermos icon to Gatchina was revived. In memory of Paul I, the founder of the city, Nicholas I ordered the construction of a cathedral church here in the name of St. Apostle Paul. The cathedral was founded on October 30, 1846, and was built according to the design of architecture professor R.I. Kuzmin and was consecrated on July 12, 1852[5]

In the autumn of the same year, Nicholas I visited the temple. A delegation from the parishioners expressed gratitude to the emperor and asked that the Philermo Icon of the Mother of God and other Maltese shrines be placed in the new temple for permanent residence. The Emperor listened to the request, but agreed only to the temporary annual bringing of relics to the cathedral for the worship of believers. Since that time, the celebration of the holiday on October 12 was restored, which began to be celebrated annually in the Gatchina court church and St. Paul's Cathedral of the city. In 1852, Nicholas I also ordered a copy of the Filermos icon to be painted and placed in a gilded silver frame on the lectern of the Gatchina Cathedral. And soon, at the royal gates of the middle iconostasis, a copy of the icon made by the artist Bovin was placed on a lectern.

On the eve of the holiday, October 11, the Philermo Icon of the Mother of God and other shrines were delivered from St. Petersburg to Gatchina. An all-night vigil was solemnly celebrated in the palace church, and the worshipers venerated the shrines carried into the middle of the temple. The next day, after an early liturgy in the palace church, with a procession of the cross the shrines were transferred to the cathedral, where they remained for ten days for general worship and prayers. On the day of the celebration of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God, October 22, after a procession through the city, the shrines were taken back to St. Petersburg. For more than 60 years, this holiday was the main one for the residents of Gatchina, and for the rest of the year, the Maltese shrines were in the Cathedral of the Winter Palace, in a special icon case on the right side of the royal gates. In 1915, the senior judge and chairman of the Court of Justice of the island of Malta, Pullicino, addressed Emperor Nicholas II with a request to provide the Malta Museum with photographs of the icon of Our Lady of Philermos. This request was soon fulfilled[6].

Soon after the October Revolution, at the end of 1917 - beginning of 1918, the Winter Palace Cathedral was closed and destroyed, but the Maltese shrines were saved. Among other items of decoration from the liquidated court churches, they ended up in the sacristy of the Archangel Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin, which belonged to the court department. With the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Tikhon, the protopresbyter of the former court clergy, Alexander Dernov, on January 6, 1919, transported the relics in two cases from Moscow to Gatchina, where they were placed in the Cathedral of St. ap. Pavel[7].

The Soviet authorities showed interest in the Filermos icon only in the early 1920s. On December 29, 1923, the Main Directorate of Scientific and Scientific-Art Institutions of the People's Commissariat of Education tried in a message to its Petrograd branch (which contained a number of erroneous judgments on the history of the icon) to find out the fate of the relic: “The People's Commissariat of Foreign Affairs inquired about the whereabouts of the relic taken out from the island in 1799 by Paul I Rhodes icon of Our Lady of Philermos due to the petition of the Italian government to return the icon to Rhodes [at that time a colony of Italy]. The icon was in the Gay Palace [?], and now it is allegedly transferred to the Gatchina Palace. The Department for Museum Affairs asks to urgently answer where this icon is located at this time, and to provide a conclusion as to whether the museum value of the icon is so great as to defend before the People’s Commissariat for Foreign Affairs its leaving in Russia.”[8].

This request was made due to the fact that in 1923 the Italian government, through its ambassador in Moscow, appealed to the Soviet authorities with a request to return the shrines of the Order of Malta. The People's Commissariat of Education, in turn, sent a request to the curator of the palace-museum of Trotsk (Gatchina) V.K. Makarov, in which he asked to find out the fate of these relics. Soon V.K. Makarov turned for clarification to the rector of the Pavlovsk Cathedral, Archpriest Andrei Shotovsky[9].

However, there was nothing left to defend. Neither Petrograd nor Gatchina have kept icons for a long time. Her fate was discussed in the response to a corresponding request dated January 14, 1924 from Archpriest Ioann Shotovsky: “1919, January 6th, by the protopresbyter of the Winter Palace, Fr. A. Dernov brought shrines to the Gatchina St. Paul Cathedral: part of the Tree of the Life-Giving Cross of the Lord, the right hand of St. I. Forerunners and the icon of the Philermos Mother of God. All these shrines were brought in the same form in which they were always brought to the cathedral on October 12, that is, on the icon of God. The mothers' chasuble and caskets for the relics and the cross were in ancient precious attire. After the service performed by the Petrograd Metropolitan, these shrines were left for some time in the cathedral for worship by the believing inhabitants of the mountains. Gatchina. So they remained here until October, when the “whites” came and took possession of Gatchina. On one Sunday, precisely October 13, the rector of the cathedral organized a religious procession around the city, accompanied by these shrines. When the procession of the cross was completed and the people went home, the rector, Archpriest John of the Epiphany, appeared at the cathedral, accompanied by Count Ignatiev and some other military man and, putting the relics in the cases in which they were brought to the cathedral, took them with him and took them away to Estonia, without asking permission from either the clergy or the parishioners. Neither the clergy nor the Parish Council know about the further fate of these shrines, where they are and what happened to them.”[10]

Even earlier, these events were outlined in a letter from Gatchina Archpriest Alexy Blagoveshchensky to His Holiness Patriarch Tikhon and Protopresbyter Alexander Dernov dated October 6/19, 1920[11]. As for the copy made under Nicholas I from the Philermo Icon of the Mother of God, it, according to the testimony of Archpriest Andrei Shotovsky, “is currently [in January 1924] preserved in the Pavlovsk Cathedral, although the silver chasuble from it was removed and handed over at the request of the local executive committee to the Trotsky financial department"[12].

It is possible to explain and, to a certain extent, justify the behavior of the rector of St. Paul's Cathedral. Indeed, by the fall of 1919, many clergy had already been repressed; there were frequent cases of opening the relics of saints, destroying icons, etc. And during the period of a real threat to Petrograd from the troops of General Yudenich, when the city began to be cleared of dubious elements, anti-church actions were also planned. Thus, in a statement by a delegation of authoritative priests and laity sent on September 15 by the Hieromartyr Metropolitan Veniamin (Kazan) to the Chairman of the Petrograd Council G.E. Zinoviev was told that the church was agitated by “persistent rumors about the wholesale arrest (or expulsion) of the Petrograd clergy due to their counter-revolutionary nature or as hostages...”[13]. Perhaps this was the reason that Archpriest John of the Epiphany (in monasticism Isidore, the future Bishop of Tallinn) not only left Gatchina himself (one may recall that the writer Kuprin also left the city with the retreating troops of Yudenich), but also took with him the most valuable relics. So Russia lost these most important Christian shrines.

In the mid-1920s. The Soviet government transferred to Italy a certain icon of the Most Holy Theotokos, called Philermo, but this was only a list. In April 1925, People's Commissar of Education A.V. Lunacharsky sent a telegram to Leningrad: “The delay in the transfer of the Filermos icon from Gatchina is causing trouble with the Italians; I categorically propose to send the icon to Moscow. Report the execution urgently." Carrying out this instruction, the administrative council of the Trotsky district executive committee seized a copy of the Philermos icon and handed it over to V.K. Makarov for sending to Moscow. A photograph was taken of the icon and left in the cathedral. Thus, in 1925, the Italian ambassador in Moscow was given only a copy of the Philermo Icon of the Mother of God, made in the mid-19th century, and it was this that was placed in the Roman residence of the Order of Malta (later this icon was transported to Assisi and placed in the Church of Santa Maria degli Angeli )[14].

As already mentioned, in October 1919, the former Maltese shrines were taken from Gatchina to Estonia, then they were taken to Copenhagen, where they were handed over to the Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna, the wife of Emperor Alexander III. On October 13, 1928, Maria Fedorovna died. In the same year, her daughters, Grand Duchesses Ksenia and Olga, handed over the Philermo Icon (and two other shrines) to the Synod of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, located in the Yugoslav city of Sremski Karlovci, and soon this revered image was delivered to Germany and placed in the Orthodox Cathedral Berlin.

In the summer of 1932, the First Hierarch of the Russian Church Abroad, Metropolitan Anthony (Khrapovitsky), transferred the Gatchina shrines for safekeeping to the King of Yugoslavia, Alexander I Karageorgievich. On July 20, Bishop Anthony in a letter to the former personal secretary of General P.N. Wrangel N.M. Kotlyarevsky [15]. Soon the king placed the shrines in the palace church in Belgrade, and in 1934 he moved them to the completed church of the country palace on the island of Dedinji.

In the report of Bishop Anthony to the Synod of Bishops dated December 10, 1932, it was emphasized: “By accepting the named Shrines, and by transferring them for the safekeeping of His Majesty King Alexander, I invariably recognized them as the property of the Russian Emperors. Therefore, my successors, as Chairman of the Synod of Bishops, must recognize the Head of the Russian Royal House as the owner of the Shrines, and if the Shrines are transferred to any of my successors by the King of Yugoslavia, then that Right Reverend will have the duty to turn to the Head of the Russian Dynasty for instructions on how to deal with them "[16]. Unfortunately, this condition of temporary transfer was subsequently forgotten.

On April 6, 1941, Nazi Germany attacked Yugoslavia without declaring war, and German bombers raided Belgrade. Two days later, on April 8, King Peter III Karadjordjevic, leaving Belgrade with the Serbian Patriarch Gabriel (Dozic) due to military danger, took the shrines with him. Soon they arrived on the territory of Montenegro - to the monastery of St. Vasily Ostrozhsky (Ostrog), hewn into the rock at an altitude of 840 meters above sea level.

A few days later, the fugitives separated, the Patriarch remained in the monastery, and the king, together with members of the Serbian government, flew to Jerusalem on April 14, transferring the Gatchina shrines to the High Hierarch for safekeeping. Immediately after German troops arrived at the monastery, on April 25, the Patriarch was arrested and then taken out of Montenegro. The rector of the monastery, Archimandrite Leonty (Mitrovich), was also under arrest for some time. The shrines, along with other treasures of the royal dynasty, were hidden in the underground of the abbot’s cell, where they were kept for about 10 years. During the war, the Synod of Bishops of the Russian Church Abroad tried to find and regain the shrines, in connection with which Metropolitan Anastassy even met in mid-June 1941 with the commander of the German troops in Serbia, General von Schroeder. The general assured the metropolitan “that all measures will be taken to find and return the shrines from the Winter Palace,” but he could not find them[17].

On December 31, 1944, Montenegro was liberated from occupation by the People's Liberation Army of Yugoslavia, but the relics remained hidden in the monastery for about seven years. In 1951, the Gatchina shrines were removed from the Ostrog Monastery during the confiscation of church valuables by the communist authorities of Yugoslavia and were soon transferred to the museum of Podgorica (at that time Titograd), and in the 1960s. transported to the Historical Museum of Cetinje - the ancient capital of Montenegro.

Only on July 7, 1993, on the day of the Nativity of John the Baptist, the right hand of John the Baptist and part of the Life-giving Cross of the Lord were transferred to the Cetinje Monastery of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, where they are currently kept. In May 1994, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, His Holiness Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Alexy II, who visited Yugoslavia, blessed the people of Montenegro with the right hand of St. John the Baptist. On June 8, 2006, the Metropolitan of Montenegro for the first time took the right hand of John the Baptist outside the country - to Moscow. Over the course of 40 days, the shrine visited 16 cities in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus, where more than two million believers worshiped it, and then was returned to the Cetinje Monastery.

The Philermo Icon of the Mother of God, as being of great artistic value, is still located in the People's Museum of Cetinje. The leadership of the Montenegrin Metropolis has repeatedly petitioned to transfer the icon to the jurisdiction of the Serbian Orthodox Church; representatives of the Order of Malta are also trying to get the miraculous image, while promising significant material compensation[18].

Thus, the Gatchina shrines were lost to the Russian Orthodox Church. However, in some churches in Russia copies of the Philermos icon have been preserved. In the St. Paul's Cathedral of Gatchina there is a copy of the icon and a picturesque depiction of the right hand of St. John the Baptist was made by Archpriest Alexy Blagoveshchensky, who served as rector of the church until his arrest and execution in February 1938. In the first half of the 1950s. A donated silver cross-reliquary with a particle of the relics of St. appeared in the St. Paul Cathedral. John the Baptist, and in the 1990s. A particle of the Tree of the Life-Giving Cross of the Lord was also donated to the temple. Established in 1799, the holiday with a special service in memory of the transfer of Maltese shrines to Gatchina is still celebrated annually on October 12/25 with special solemnity in the Pavlovsk Cathedral. In 1999, exactly 200 years after the transfer of great Christian shrines from the island of Malta to Russia, the ancient tradition of a solemn religious procession was resumed in Gatchina[19].

A large number of pilgrims and tourists from Russia are currently visiting the Philermo Icon of the Mother of God and other former Gatchina shrines located in Montenegro. The memory of their stay in our country continues to be preserved. Probably, the question should be raised, if not about the return of the Philermo image to Russia, then at least about its temporary bringing to our country and other Orthodox lands where this icon is revered, for the veneration of believers.

[1] Filerimos // VIP Rhodes. Rhodes, 2011. B/s.

[2] Archimandrite Augustine (Nikitin). Philermos Icon of the Mother of God. St. Petersburg, 2003. P. 1.

[3] Filerimos; Knights of Rhodes // VIP Rhodes. B/s.

[4] Archimandrite Augustine (Nikitin). Decree. op. pp. 2-5; Ryzhenko I. Church of the Gatchina Palace // Old Gatchina. St. Petersburg, 1996. P. 154; Gafifulin PP About the icon of Our Lady of Philermos // Emperor Paul the First and the Order of St. John of Jerusalem in Russia. St. Petersburg, 1995. P. 113.

[5] Gatchina shrines / Ed.-comp. G.M. Elfimova. Gatchina, 2006. pp. 34-36.

[6] Laurels, monasteries and temples in Holy Rus'. St. Petersburg diocese. St. Petersburg, 1908. P. 120; Archimandrite Augustine (Nikitin). Decree. op. pp. 6-8; Gafifulin PP Decree. op. pp. 113-115.

[7] Essays on the history of the St. Petersburg diocese. St. Petersburg, 1994. P. 63.

[8] Shkarovsky M.V. Has the icon really perished? // Leningrad worker. 1991. No. 7. February 15. P. 13. The cited document is stored in the Central State Archives of St. Petersburg (f. 2555).

[9] Gafifulin PP Decree. op. P. 114.

[10] Shkarovsky M.V. Decree. op. P. 13. The cited document is stored in the Central State Archives of St. Petersburg (f. 2555).

[11] Essays on the history of the St. Petersburg diocese. P. 63.

[12] Gafifulin PP Decree. op. P. 115.

[13] Central State Archive of St. Petersburg, f. 1000, op. 79, d. 24, l. 16.

[14] Archimandrite Augustine (Nikitin). Decree. op. pp. 10-11; Gafifulin PP Decree. op. P. 115.

[15] Letters of His Beatitude Metropolitan Anthony (Khrapovitsky). Jordanville, 1988. P. 198.

[16] State Archive of the Russian Federation, f. 6343, op. 1, d. 128, l. 1.

[17] Synodal archive of the Russian Orthodox Church abroad in New York, d. Protocols of the Synod of Bishops November 28, 1940 – September 18, 1946.

[18] Archimandrite Augustine (Nikitin). Decree. op. pp. 12-13.

[19] Gatchina shrines. pp. 32-33.

Philermos Icon and Russia

Grand arrival

At the end of the 18th century, Napoleon and his troops captured the island, and the Knights of Malta decided to come under the reliable protection of Russia. To do this, they chose our Emperor Paul 1 as Grand Master - head of the Order.

September 1799 in Russia was marked by two celebrations at once. One was significant for the royal family, while the other was of great value and significance for the entire country. If we talk about this in more detail, the first was the marriage of the daughter of Paul 1 and the Prince of Mecklenburg. Secondly, priceless relics previously kept by the Knights of Malta were transported to Russia. These were: the hand of John the Baptist that baptized Jesus Christ, a piece of the Calvary cross and the Philermos icon of the Most Holy Theotokos painted by Saint Luke.

Immediately the shrines were brought to the court church of Gatchina. In those years, in this city there was a country house of Paul 1, which he loved very much and often visited. For the sacred right hand of John and the fragment of the Calvary Cross, sacred throughout the Orthodox world, golden reliquaries were specially made in the form of two caskets, richly decorated with various precious stones. The Philermos icon began to be framed by a new gold frame.

In addition, by his highest command, Paul 1 in honor of this celebration established a new church holiday, which was included in the corresponding church book and was celebrated on October 12 according to the old style.

That same fall, the relics, sacred to all believers, along with the Tsar and his retinue moved to the St. Petersburg Winter Palace.

The ancient Image of the Virgin Mary became very revered both in St. Petersburg and throughout Russia. Those who turned to her with prayer received healing, help and consolation.

When the new Emperor Nicholas 1 came to power in Russia, he, in memory of his father, ordered the construction of a cathedral dedicated to the Apostle Paul in the town of Gatchina. After some time, the residents of Gatchina turned to the emperor with a request: they asked to return the shrines that had once been removed from the city to the new cathedral. After listening to them, Nikolai agreed to bring the shrines to Gatchina every year, for several days, to give the opportunity not only to St. Petersburg residents, but to everyone who wanted to venerate them.

Since then, a new tradition has appeared in Gatchina - on October 11, the Philermos icon, the baptizing right hand of Jesus and a fragment of the cross on which Jesus Christ was crucified, were brought from St. Petersburg to Gatchina, to St. Paul’s Cathedral for veneration. They were placed in the middle of the temple, and everyone could pray and venerate the shrines.

An All-Night Vigil and liturgy were held in the temple, and after the procession the relics remained in the temple for 10 days. On the day of veneration of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God - October 22 - the relics, again, after the solemn religious procession, which was attended by almost all the residents of this city, were taken to the Winter Palace.

For 60 years this tradition remained unshakable for the residents of Gatchina. Also, by decree of Nicholas 1, the artist Bovin painted a copy of the Philermo Image of the Virgin Mary. The list in a gilded frame was solemnly placed in a place of honor in the Gatchina Cathedral - on the analogue at the royal gates.

Kidnapping story

Early 20th century. Troubled times began in Russia: revolution, civil war. Not to mention the loss of life, many valuable shrines were lost, lost or taken out of the country.

So the long journey of the Philermos icon is not yet over. During the revolutionary events in our country, the Winter Palace was looted. Many of the valuables that were stored there disappeared to no one knows where. But Maltese values have been preserved. Somehow miraculously they were found in the cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin. From there they were taken to Gatchina, where they were placed in St. Paul's Cathedral.

Several years passed relatively calmly. And so in 1923, our country received a request from the Italian authorities to return the shrines of the Order of Malta to them. An investigation began and everyone who could be somehow related to this story was interviewed.

It turned out that there was nothing to talk about at all. Quite disappointing details surfaced: neither in St. Petersburg, nor even in Gatchina, there was an icon for several years.

And this is what turned out to be. When three shrines were delivered to Gatchina from the Winter Palace: the Philermo icon in a gilded robe and two ancient caskets with the right hand of St. John and a piece of the Cross of the Lord, as expected, a Divine service was held. The relics remained in the cathedral for some time, and parishioners turned to them with prayers.

At this time, the power in the city changed: the “whites” began to rule in Gatchina. October came, the 13th, and, according to a long-standing tradition, under the leadership of the Gatchina clergyman, in the presence of a large number of people, a religious procession was held.

After that, people in military uniform came to the temple, put the shrines in proper cases and took them away somewhere, naturally, without asking anyone’s permission and without really explaining anything to anyone. As for the copy from the Philermos icon, made under Nicholas 1, he himself remained in the temple, but his golden robe was lost.

After long negotiations, it was this list, passed off as the original Philermo icon, that was handed over to the Italian authorities.

Icon of the Virgin Mary of Philerim

The icon of the Mother of God of Philerim is a unique relic, which still remains the subject of study by historians and theologians. Even its origin is still controversial.

Some historians claim that the icon was in the Byzantine monastery even before the arrival of the Knights Hospitaller. Others insist that it was written by the Apostle Luke himself during the life of the Mother of God, and on the boards that made up the very table on which the Last Supper took place. According to this version, in the 5th century the icon ends up in Constantinople and is transported there from Jerusalem by Eudokia, the wife of Emperor Theodosius II. In 1204, as a result of the storming of the city by Crusader troops, it fell into the hands of the Order of St. John.

There is a third version, according to which the icon was saved and brought to Rhodes by the monk Filerim, who fled from Constantinople during the capture of Byzantium by the Crusaders. To store the icon, he built a tiny chapel on the mountain, hence the name Filerimos.

After Rhodes was captured by the Ottoman Turks in 1522, the icon left the island along with the Johannite Order. After long wanderings around Europe in 1530, she ends up on the island of Malta, donated to the order by Emperor Charles V, who keeps her in his churches for almost three centuries. Last years in the Cathedral of San Giovanni.

After the capture and plunder of the island of Malta by Napoleon's troops, Grand Master Ferdinand von Gompesch zu Bolheim manages to take with him three relics - the right hand of St. John the Baptist, part of the Life-giving Cross of the Lord and the miraculous Philermo image of the Mother of God to Austria. Where the Austrian Emperor Francis II takes all these relics from him and sends them as a gift to the Emperor of the Russian Empire, Paul I, since he deigned to assume the title of Grand Master of the Order.

First, the Icon of the Mother of God of Filerimskaya was placed in the Gatchina palace church, where it received a new golden chasuble, decorated with diamonds, rubies and sapphires. The previous decorations were completely torn down by the French.

Then the icon was transported to St. Petersburg to the Church of the Savior Not Made by Hands in the Winter Palace.

And since 1852, annually, by order of Emperor Nicholas I, it was transported from the Winter Palace to Gatchina to the Palace Church. From there a crowded religious procession took place.

The religious procession went to the specially built St. Paul Cathedral, where the Shrine was exposed to the worship of the Orthodox people for 10 days.

Under Emperor Nicholas I, artist Vasily Nikiforovich Bovin painted a copy of the icon, and in 1915, at the request of the Malta Museum, photographs of the icon of the Mother of God of Filerim were taken.

After the Revolution of 1917, the original icon was secretly taken to Denmark and given to Maria Feodorovna, mother of the last Russian Emperor Nicholas II. After the death of Maria Feodorovna, the icon ends up in the Russian Orthodox Church in Berlin, and then is officially transferred to the Karageorgievich dynasty in Yugoslavia. Further, the fate of the icon is not known for certain; some historians claim that traces of it were lost after the fascist takeover of Yugoslavia in 1941. Others say that the original icon was taken away and hidden from the Nazis in the Ostrog monastery in Montenegro, where it was discovered only in 1951.

At the moment, the icon is supposedly kept in a separate Blue Chapel on the territory of the Folk Museum of the city of Cetinje. But the government and museum management respond to requests to take the icon out for examination for authenticity with a categorical refusal, citing the fact that the icon is in poor condition, and the museum has created ideal conditions for it.

Today no one can reliably answer whether this is exactly the original, miraculous icon of the Mother of God of Philerim.

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The Wanderings of the Ancient Image

As it turned out later, all 3 shrines were transported to Tallinn, and from there to Copenhagen, where for some time they stayed with the wife of Alexander 3, Maria Feodorovna. After the death of the empress, the relics were transferred to the Synod of the Orthodox Church abroad (at that time it was located in Yugoslavia).

When Nazi Germany attacked Yugoslavia, King Peter 3, having collected priceless shrines, took refuge from the Nazis in Montenegro. From there he moved to Jerusalem. But the valuables: the Philermos icon, the right hand of John who baptized Jesus and a fragment of the Life-giving Cross - were hidden in one of the cells of the monastery of St. Basil of Ostrog or, as the monastery was called and is called differently, Ostrog.

The shrines were there for more than ten years. And only in 1951 they were discovered by the Yugoslav authorities, confiscating valuable church property. Of course, these shrines were immediately confiscated and soon became exhibits of a museum in Podgorica.

A few years later they were transported to the ancient capital of Montenegro - Cetinje. It’s simply amazing what life’s ups and downs the icon had to witness, how many countries she visited over the many years of her existence.

Philermo Icon of the Mother of God - the lost “Gatchina shrine”

This publication by Doctor of Historical Sciences M.V. tells about the fate of the Philermo Icon of the Mother of God, painted according to legend by the Evangelist Luke and consecrated with the blessing of the Most Holy Theotokos Herself. Shkarovsky. This image was on Russian soil for more than a hundred years and belonged to the Russian Royal House during this period, but was later irretrievably lost by our compatriots.

One of the most significant church shrines of St. Petersburg in the 19th - early 20th centuries. was the Philermo Icon of the Mother of God, now located in Montenegro. In the Orthodox church calendar published in Russia, October 12/25 is still o (in 1799). And in one of the recent foreign Russian-language publications it was reported about the Philermo image that “the original of the icon is in St. Petersburg”[1]. However, during the years of the civil war, which became a real tragedy in the history of Russia, many of the greatest cultural values and shrines were lost forever for our country. A number of them were destroyed during fierce battles, burned down in fires, etc., but many, during the period of bloody unrest and split of the state, irrevocably left its borders. This happened with one of the priceless sacred relics of the entire Christian world, which, by the will of fate, ended up in Russia - the Philermo Icon of the Mother of God.

This image has a centuries-old history. According to legend, the icon was painted by the Evangelist Luke at the beginning of the first millennium and consecrated with the blessing of the Mother of God. Soon, the Evangelist Luke himself transported this image to Egypt, from there it was transported to Jerusalem, and around 430, Empress Eudokia, wife of Theodosius II (408-450), ordered the icon to be delivered to Constantinople, where the image of the Mother of God was placed in the Blachernae Church. In 626, through the prayers of the residents, who offered their petitions before the Philermo image, the city was saved from the Persian invasion. For this occasion, a hymn of thanksgiving to the Mother of God was composed, which the worshipers had to listen to while standing; This song ritual was called an akathist[2].

[1] Filerimos // VIP Rhodes. Rhodes, 2011. B/s.

[2] Archimandrite Augustine (Nikitin). Philermos Icon of the Mother of God. St. Petersburg, 2003. P. 1.

[3] Filerimos; Knights of Rhodes // VIP Rhodes. B/s.

[5] Gatchina shrines / Ed.-comp. G.M. Elfimova. Gatchina, 2006. pp. 34-36.

[6] Laurels, monasteries and temples in Holy Rus'. St. Petersburg diocese. St. Petersburg, 1908. P. 120; Archimandrite Augustine (Nikitin). Decree. op. pp. 6-8; Gafifulin PP Decree. op. pp. 113-115.

[7] Essays on the history of the St. Petersburg diocese. St. Petersburg, 1994. P. 63.

[8] Shkarovsky M.V. Has the icon really perished? // Leningrad worker. 1991. No. 7. February 15. P. 13. The cited document is stored in the Central State Archives of St. Petersburg (f. 2555).

[9] Gafifulin PP Decree. op. P. 114.

[10] Shkarovsky M.V. Decree. op. P. 13. The cited document is stored in the Central State Archives of St. Petersburg (f. 2555).

[11] Essays on the history of the St. Petersburg diocese. P. 63.

[12] Gafifulin PP Decree. op. P. 115.

[13] Central State Archive of St. Petersburg, f. 1000, op. 79, d. 24, l. 16.

[14] Archimandrite Augustine (Nikitin). Decree. op. pp. 10-11; Gafifulin PP Decree. op. P. 115.

[15] Letters of His Beatitude Metropolitan Anthony (Khrapovitsky). Jordanville, 1988. P. 198.

[16] State Archive of the Russian Federation, f. 6343, op. 1, d. 128, l. 1.

[17] Synodal archive of the Russian Orthodox Church abroad in New York, d. Protocols of the Synod of Bishops November 28, 1940 - September 18, 1946.

[18] Archimandrite Augustine (Nikitin). Decree. op. pp. 12-13.

[19] Gatchina shrines. pp. 32-33.

https://www.bogoslov.ru/text/3741485.html

Where and how can you see the holy icon

Now the miraculous Icon is located in the Montenegrin city of Cetinje. The Philermo Icon of the Mother of God adorns the People's Museum.

A separate room has been set aside especially for her, the walls of which are painted in a rich blue color.

Address of the National Museum of Montenegro in Cetinje: Novice Cerovića, Cetinje. Coordinates: 42.38923, 18.92292.

Below is a list of all museums in the city of Cetinje and a price list with the cost of entry to each of them. Yes Yes. Today you will have to pay to see the miraculous Philermos Icon of the Mother of God. You won't be able to enter without a ticket. The price for visiting the People's Art Museum in 2022 was 4E for an adult and 2E for a child.

If you plan to visit several city attractions in Cetinje, it will be more profitable to buy a subscription costing 12E (for children - 6E). In this case, entry to all Cetinje museums will be free.

Museum opening hours: daily, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Don't come on Wednesday, it's a day off. But despite the fact that I arrived in Cetinje on Friday, I was not able to see the Filermos icon. It turned out that the museum was undergoing renovation work, which would take about 2 months. So sorry... Such a long way. But, apparently, there is a chance to end up in this place again.

That list, which sometime after the revolution in Russia was passed off as the original and given to Italy, was in Rome for almost half a century. Now it adorns the Basilica of the Most Holy Mary of the Angels in one of the many cities in Italy.

But the most famous now is the image of the icon on the large Maltese cross. This is what the medallion of de la Valette, who was the Grand Master of the Order in the 16th century, looks like. It is currently kept in the collection of the Armory Chamber in Moscow.

In Russia, in 2006, a book was published that tells about the Philermos icon and other shrines that have been revered since ancient times. Also in some cathedrals and churches, there are lists of the miraculous icon.

In particular, in the Gatchina Cathedral, a list of the original that was once located there is kept. Believers pray before him for restoration of health for themselves and their loved ones, for prosperity and peace in their home. And the Mother of God helps. She helps everyone who turns to her for help.

My trip to the mountainous Montenegrin city of Cetinje took place on February 7, 2022.

The map below shows other attractions of Montenegro that I was able to visit.

Share in the comments below what other interesting facts about the icons of the Mother of God you know, which of them seem the most wonderful and unusual.

Story

The Philermos icon dates back to the 46th year of the Nativity of Christ; the face was painted by Saint Luke, who brought the icon to the temple. Since then, the image was in Jerusalem, but later the situation changed and the icon was taken from the Holy Land.

Philermos Icon of the Mother of God

This happened in 430, when the wife of the Byzantine emperor Eudokia, making a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, took the image from Jerusalem. Evdokia brought the face to Constantinople, where it was kept in the Blachernae temple.

In 1204, Constantinople was captured and plundered by the crusaders, thus the icon passed into the hands of Catholics, who kept the image for many years, protecting it from the Turks. To save the image from the crusaders, it was returned to the Holy Land. In Jerusalem, the icon was met by the Knights of St. John, who were in the city of Acre.

88 years later, Acre was attacked by the Turks, the capture of the city and plunder forced the knights to flee to Crete, an island in the Aegean Sea. All this time, the guardians protected the image and hid it, they transported it with them. As a result of a long wandering, the knights settled on the island of Rhodes.

The island of Rhodes became a haven for the Philermos icon for two centuries. But in 1522, the Turks decided to return the island to themselves and staged a siege that lasted six months. Six months later, the knights raised a white flag; they resisted for a long time, but were unable to defend the island. Fearing that the Turks might destroy the image, the keepers made peace on their own terms. They promised to give Rhodes and other islands to the Turks in exchange for allowing them to remove all the valuables and icons. In order to load the shrines onto the ship, the knights had 12 days.

The knights had the following shrines at their disposal:

Philermos icon.
Hand of Saint John the Baptist.
Sacred vessels from the Church of St. John.
A cross made from part of the wood of the Holy Cross.

Another condition for concluding peace was that the churches that were built by the knights on the island should not be destroyed or desecrated.

The guardians transported the shrines for about seven years, during which time they visited many cities in Italy, but stopped in Malta.

In 1530, with the light hand of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, the Ionite Order received several islands for eternal use. Among these lands was the island of Malta. The knights settled in the new land and decided to build a temple. It functions to this day; the distinctive feature of the temple is that it is divided into two halves by a lattice.

One half of the temple is intended for Catholics, and the other for Orthodox. The service takes place in both halves. A cast of the icon was also created within the walls of the temple, which remains on the island to this day.

But Napoleon's attack on Italy led to the fact that the icon again went to another country, which this time became the Russian Empire.