In every Orthodox church there are several images of the Mother of God, where the Ever-Virgin appears before us in various guises: either as a joyful Virgin who heard the Good News, or as a tender Mother with the Divine Son, or as the majestic Queen of Heaven.
Most of these images were painted according to ancient Byzantine canons, many even go back to the icons painted by the Evangelical Luke himself. However, the icon “Joy of All Who Sorrow” has a less reputable origin. Compared to canonical images, this is a remake, which does not prevent it from being glorified and showing true miracles to the world.
The history of the acquisition of the icon
The icon “Joy of All Who Sorrow” (Sorrowful Icon) received its name from a line in one of the church stichera dedicated to the Mother of God. Despite such an impressive name and theological plot, it miraculously escaped destruction.
Images of this iconographic type appeared in Rus' in the 17th century. It was a very difficult and controversial time in the history of the Russian Orthodox Church. As a result of the reform of Patriarch Nikon, a schism formed in the church, which led to the emergence of the Old Believers.
Shrines that did not correspond to new church trends were mercilessly destroyed. Icons that do not fit into the official canon did not escape this fate. Patriarch Nikon personally ordered the destruction of the images of the so-called Fryazhian letter.
Fryazhsky writing is an iconographic style that came to Rus' from the West. It is characterized by increased attention to background images and their excessive detail. According to the official church, this distracts attention from the main faces.
The first of the icons “Joy of All Who Sorrow” became famous, the image painted by Ivan Bezmin in 1683. This is far from the first icon of this type: the Mother of God was painted this way even before Bezmin, but without being surrounded by secondary figures.
Ivan Bezmin was neither a monk nor a theologian: he was an artist and did not comply with any requirements imposed by the church on the very process of painting icons. And his teacher was the Italian painter Daniil Vuchters, who was invited to Russia and worked at the Armory Chamber.
Therefore, the icon of Bezmin was clearly painted under the influence of the Western art school of that time. And even the plot of the image was borrowed from there: in fact, it is a version of the popular Catholic plot “Madonna in Glory” at that time in the Orthodox reading.
The icon was painted in 1683, and already in 1687 the Great Moscow Council was held, which banned images of this type. They simply stopped being considered shrines and began to be destroyed everywhere.
Now the icon is in the church on Bolshaya Ordynka
The Bezmin icon was clearly painted to order, for a specific temple. This is indicated by the images of the saints venerated in the Transfiguration Church on Ordynka.
The icon would have perished if not for the miracle that happened in 1688. A certain Euphemia Papina was dying from a serious illness (in church sources - from an “ulcer on her side”). But in a semi-delirious dream, she heard a voice commanding her to turn to the image of the Mother of God for healing. Moreover, the voice named the name of the icon, the temple where it resides, and the method of receiving healing.
In general, they found a priest from the church on Ordynka, he came to the sick woman’s house along with the named icon and served a prayer service. Euphemia is healed!
Perhaps this incident would not have received wide publicity and would not have affected the further fate of the image if not for a small detail. Euphemia Papina was the sister of Patriarch Joachim! Thanks to him, the news of the miraculous icon spread throughout Russia.
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She is in the capital city, but does not enter the Summer Garden and the “boulevard” - Nevsky Prospekt, where “noble gentlemen and ladies” walk. She is not allowed there - just as they did not allow blessed Xenia... Her place is on the working outskirts, and all her property was distributed to the naked, the sick and the poor, whom she found on the roads and under hedges (Luke 14:23).
All of them, forgotten and abandoned, beggars and homeless people who do not know how to live, and other losers who are not allowed “on the boulevard,” are called, called by the Church, convinced to come and fill the house of the Son of God, to come to the wedding and the Great Supper.
She invites everyone to taste the bread and wine of Wisdom (Prov. 9:1-6) - and gives away the water of life freely (Rev. 22:17). Her outfit is simple - the same way royal and noble wives and widows dressed when they visited the sick and wounded in shelters and hospitals.
The Church is a poor stranger in the world -
Like a rock, like an arrow - from aleph to tav,
along brick roads, along paths between grasses,
among his wanderings he weaves a scarlet thread,
dares to feed the Lord's creatures from the palm of his hand -
what about wings, hooves and many eyes,
that they sing, cry, and cry out, shouting,
homeless, homeless, gray and young,
impregnable, like a bush on fire...
...A lightning strike into a mug with pennies brought as a donation by widows and the poor to the temple - like a shining appearance of the Living God in the poverty of this world with its luxurious gardens and boulevards, stones and buildings (Mark 13:1). After all, the Risen Christ, bearing the wounds of the death of the Cross on His body, is also compared in Byzantine hymnographic texts to lightning.
The ancients believed that pearls were mysteriously born from a lightning strike into the open shells of a shell lying at the very depths of the waters of the sea, the waters of the abyss, and this image was given by St. Ephraim the Syrian, when he spoke about the mysterious Nativity of the Son of God. Born of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary, He came in order to then descend into hell by way of the cross and illuminate its dark, hopeless depths with divine lightning. He illuminated all its corners, looking for a person - every person, without the sarcasm of Diogenes, but with the greatest compassion for people - lost failures before the Living God.
It doesn’t matter to God that people have become losers and, having missed, (and sin is “miss” in Greek, “amartia”) did not hit the target. He became a perfect Man, He hit the target instead of them - so that no one else would miss. The new humanity is gathered around Him - symbolized by His twelve apostles, symbolizing the twelve tribes of Israel.
...The icon of the Mother of God, hanging on a cord, fell from the wall down to the people from a thunderclap, and twelve coins remained forever imprinted on it. On the head of the Mother of God there is a white cloth. His Church is the pearl for which the Son of God gave everything (Matt. 13:45; Philip. 2:7)
And He found His Church, and she loved Him, and wanders, a beggar, after Him, the Poor Wanderer - wherever He goes (Rev. 14:8).
And a penny with the image of the Holy Great Martyr George the Victorious, the one and only one! - Blessed Xenia, a homeless wanderer of Peter's City, took in alms, a symbol of the victory of Christ and the freedom of His Bride - the Church.
There is no longer any division between those who are allowed into the Summer Garden and those who are driven away - for here in everything and everywhere Christ is God, destroying all barriers.
She, His Church, looks at the lady and the beggar woman, at the homeless man and the manager, who come to Him in their great hopeless poverty. And she, the Church, gives away Christ - for she has nothing, only Christ Himself, the Son of God.
Having freed the streams of water, tearing castles from the rivers, He gathers a round dance, the Furious Khoreg!
But who will dare to follow Him, Through the light and blue - Drink from the stream on the way And lift up the head?
He will give the deer a watering place, tearing down castles from the rivers - the Merry Wanderer, the Living God, the Murdered Man.
But look! - in the middle of the day He Calls for a round dance! The moon will not scorch Him, And the sun will not burn Him.
Only Seraphim, with a flap of his wings, that was light, blue and red, in confusion remembers how He lived and how He died.
But now it is not possible to interrupt His merry path! ...Only He can give Himself, and nothing more.
His hand will part the rye, pierced with nails, And even though the heart will tremble, But - take the bread from his hands!
Having freed the streams of water, tearing castles from the rivers, He convenes a round dance, the Furious Khoreg.
Olga Jarman
Petersburg image
The news of the miraculous icon also reached the royal family, so at the beginning of the 18th century the image was taken from Moscow by Princess Natalya, the sister of Peter the Great.
Here we enter the shaky ground of speculation: either Natalya took the prototype, but the list remained in Moscow, or vice versa. One thing is clear: both images became revered and miraculous.
The icon was in the princess’s home church (Church of the Resurrection of Christ), which later became a parish church. And even later, after perestroika, this church was consecrated in honor of the Sorrowful Icon.
The icon almost immediately received a luxurious chasuble, decorated with the princess’s jewelry and religious relics. She changed her “robes” at least twice more, and one was richer than the other. The making of the 1858 frame took almost seven kilograms of gold and hundreds of precious stones.
It is known that the St. Petersburg Sorrowful Icon was revered by all members of the royal family, which also attracted the attention of representatives of lower classes. They prayed to her before battles, and during the smallpox epidemic, “Joy of All Who Sorrow” became the epicenter of prayers for the entire population of Northern Palmyra.
Catherine the Great also greatly revered this image. She was an enlightened autocrat, so she vaccinated both herself and the heir to the throne against smallpox. But before that, Catherine held a prayer service at the Sorrowful Icon!
Sorrowful icon with coins
After some time, towards the end of the 18th century, the Sorrowful Icon of an authentic version appeared in St. Petersburg, significantly different from the Moscow one. She later became known as the icon of “Joy to All Who Sorrow with Pennies.” At the end of the last century, this name was formalized.
It is not known for certain how this image got into the chapel of the Tikhvin Mother of God. There are many versions of its appearance, from the miraculous (it floated down the river in perfect condition) to the completely earthly (donated by one of the philanthropic entrepreneurs).
The icon received such a strange name thanks to a miracle that appeared to it in 1888. Once a terrifying thunderstorm broke out over St. Petersburg, lightning struck the Tikhvin Chapel, and a fire started.
After the liquidation of the fire, it turned out that many of the chapel’s valuables were lost without a trace, but the Sorrowful Icon miraculously survived almost in its original form. But it received a characteristic feature that distinguishes it from other similar images - a peculiar frame of pennies.
A donation mug broke next to the icon. Small coins spilled out of it and miraculously stuck to the icon. Eleven of them are still standing, the twelfth fell off over time.
Soon after this incident, the icon with pennies received its own temple. Many lists have been made from it, as well as from the Moscow image.
Icon “Joy to all who mourn with pennies”
Days of veneration of the image
Figure 4. In the Transfiguration Cathedral
The Orthodox Church celebrates the feast of this image on November 6 according to the new style. Some lists of icons located in different cities of Russia have their own days of veneration. Thus, the church set a separate date for the icon “Joy of All Who Sorrow (with pennies),” which is located in St. Petersburg. The holiday of this image is August 5th.
Where is the icon
Before the revolution, the fate of the miraculous icons of the “Joy of All Who Sorrow” can be traced quite clearly. One was in Moscow, in the Transfiguration Church on Ordynka, the other two were in personal Sorrow churches in St. Petersburg.
Everything further is vague. The most tragic time for these shrines came in the 30s of the last century. All churches where the mentioned icons were kept were desecrated and closed. The Moscow icon went to the Tretyakov Gallery, the St. Petersburg icon (the one of Princess Natalia) was lost, and the icon with pennies was miraculously saved by parishioners.
The Transfiguration Church on Ordynka resumed work after the Great Patriotic War, in 1949. It is believed that the icon from the Tretyakov Gallery was returned there and remains there to this day. However, skeptics claim that the historical prototype has been lost, and in the church on Ordynka there is a later copy.
And the icon with pennies now resides in the Trinity Church in St. Petersburg. It is better known to parishioners as “Kulich and Easter” (its architecture is so original, you can’t confuse it with anything else).
Church of the Holy Trinity "Kulich and Easter"
Incredibly, in pre-revolutionary times, many copies were removed from this non-canonical icon, which later became revered, and some of them became miraculous. Most, unfortunately, have been lost, but new copies of the Sorrowful Image are gradually beginning to work wonders.
There are miraculous copies of the Sorrowful Icon in many churches at Moscow hospitals, in Tambov, Yaroslavl, Tver, Vologda, and other Russian cities. And even in the USA!
Iconography
All icons of the Mother of God “Joy of All Who Sorrow” are united by one feature: the full-length figure of the Mother of God and the environment in the form of saints, angels and praying people. However, there is no single principle of writing: each icon looks special.
For example, the icon painted by Ivan Bezmin depicts the Mother of God in the image of the Queen of Heaven: in rich robes and a crown, surrounded by radiance. In her arms sits little Christ, also richly dressed. This is understandable: after all, Bezmin was a court painter.
The central figures are surrounded by secondary images, and above them there is an image of the so-called “New Testament Trinity,” which was strictly prohibited under Nikon. Thus, it turns out that the Savior is present in the image twice.
In the icon with pennies, the Mother of God is closer to the people, for she is depicted in much more modest attire, her head covered with a simple white scarf. Her hands are empty, and the image of Jesus is placed above the mother's head.
The further fate of the icon
At the beginning of the twentieth century, a stone chapel was built around the wooden chapel, so that the old chapel was inside the new one. In 1911, the local blessed Matryonushka the Barefoot was buried near the chapel.
During the years of Soviet power, the church was demolished, and the chapel became a parish church. Then it was given to the renovationists. Then it was closed, demolished, and the miraculous icon was transferred to the Church of the Holy Trinity, which is popularly called “Kulich and Easter” for its external similarity with these attributes of the Easter meal. The image remains here to this day.
During the difficult years of the blockade, Leningraders came to this icon and received gracious help from it.
In the 90s, the chapel without the dome was returned to the church. It was restored, and now it is a functioning church in the courtyard of the Zelenetsky Monastery.
The meaning of the icon in Orthodoxy
This is not an icon of sorrow, as many mistakenly believe, but an image of true joy from finding God. We suffer, but by sincerely repenting of our own sins, we receive deliverance from sorrows.
The meaning of the icon of the Mother of God “Joy of All Who Sorrow” is that the road to God is open to everyone. The Mother of God has compassion for each of us and asks her Divine Son for forgiveness for our sins. The Lord is merciful and forgives us sinners, despite the fact that with every unseemly act we multiply his suffering.
Prayer to the Blessed Virgin
“Blessed Queen, My Hope, Mother of God, Intercessor of the orphaned and the strange, Patroness! To the grieving Joy, to the offended Representative! Behold my misfortune, behold my sorrow: help me the weak servant of God (name). Resolve my offense according to your will. I hope for your help. I ask only you, Mother of God, for help! Amen".
Priests advise turning to the image of “Joy to All Who Sorrow” as often as possible; the prayer can be said in your own words, the main thing is the sincerity and true faith of the parishioner.
How does the icon “Joy of All Who Sorrow” help? What to pray to the image for?
This image of the Mother of God is capable of bringing comfort to any person who turns to it.
Usually the icon of “Joy of All Who Sorrow” is prayed for:
- Healing and maintaining health. Hundreds of cases of miraculous healings from serious illnesses, including oncology and paralysis, have been recorded. All of them are inexplicable from a scientific point of view.
- Resolving material problems. After prayer, parishioners receive high-paying jobs, debt forgiveness, and financial assistance from unexpected sources.
- A message of consolation and guidance in a difficult life situation. Sincere prayer brings relief in the most difficult life situations, including after the death of loved ones, family breakdown, job loss, and so on.
Not so long ago, other miracles began to be attributed to the pennies icon. She began to heal from alcoholism and drug addiction no worse than the “recognized specialist in this area”, the “Inexhaustible Chalice”!
Miracles associated with the icon
Behind each of the famous images there are many miraculous cases associated mainly with the healing of serious illnesses and assistance in resolving the most difficult life situations.
For example, the Sorrowful Icon with pennies almost immediately began to perform miracles of healing. After praying to this image, a paralyzed peasant, chained to his bed for many years, rose to his feet.
But the best known case is that of the little St. Petersburger Kolya Grachev. The boy and his sister, children of wealthy parents, suddenly became orphans. Kolya had a hard time with the death of his father and mother, and epileptic attacks began to overtake him more and more often.
The unfortunate boy was getting worse, the grieving sister was already preparing for the funeral, but the icon of the Mother of God showed another miracle. The Mother of God appeared to the dying Kolya in a dream and said that if he visited the chapel where the coins fell, he would be healed. This is what happened when the sister brought the boy to the Mother of God with pennies.
The case of Kolya Grachev gained the widest public resonance. They even wrote about him in the press far beyond Russia. And the house where the Grachevs lived was bought by the church.
Appearance of the Mother of God to Nikolai Grachev
A similar case was recorded a little later, when parishioner Vera Belonogina was healed of consumption. The doctors had already given up on the unfortunate woman, but she heard a voice commanding her to pray to the icon. Vera went to the chapel, prayed, and when she returned home, she was surprised to notice that the illness had gone away!
Texts of prayers to the icon of the Mother of God “Joy of All Who Sorrow”
The miraculous icon is like a window opening towards the Mother of God. The Mother of God hears our prayers, intercedes for us before God, he helps and shows miracles. Therefore, you need to pray not to the icon, but to the Mother of God.
First prayer
Oh, Most Holy Lady and Mother of God, Most High Cherub and Most Honest Seraphim, God's Chosen Maiden, Reclamation of the lost and Joy to all who mourn! Give consolation to us, who are in perdition and sorrow; Have you no other refuge and help than the imams? You alone are our Intercessor of joy, and as the Mother of God and the Mother of Mercy, standing at the Throne of the Most Holy Trinity, you can help us, for no one who comes to You leaves in shame. Hear us now, on the day of destruction and sorrow, before Your icon, falling down and praying to You with tears: take away from us the sorrows and troubles that are upon us in this temporary life, and make us not deprived. Your all-powerful intercession and eternal endless joy in the Kingdom of the Son and God ours. Amen.
Second prayer
Oh, Most Holy and Most Blessed Virgin, Lady Theotokos! Look with Your merciful eye on us, standing before Your holy icon and praying to You with tenderness; raise us up from the depths of sin, enlighten our minds, darkened by passions, and heal the ulcers of our souls and bodies. There are no imams of other help, no imams of other hope, except for You, the Lady. You weigh all our weaknesses and sins, we resort to You and cry out: do not leave us with Your Heavenly help, but appear to us ever and with Your ineffable mercy and bounty, save and have mercy on us who are perishing . Grant us correction of our sinful life and deliver us from sorrows, troubles and illnesses, from sudden death, hell and eternal torment. You, Queen and Lady, are the quick Helper and Intercessor of all who flow to You and the strong refuge of repentant sinners. Grant us, O Most Blessed and All-Immaculate Virgin, the Christian end of our life to be peaceful and shameless, and grant us, through Your intercession, to dwell in the Abodes of Heaven, where the unceasing voice of the vain with joy he glorifies the Most Holy Trinity, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages . Amen.
Prayer three
Oh, Most Blessed Lady, Protector of the Christian race, refuge and salvation of those who resort to You! We know, truly we know, how much we have sinned and been angry, O Most Merciful Lady, the Son of God was born in the flesh of You. But to the imams there are many images of those who angered His mercy: tax collectors, harlots and other sinners, to whom forgiveness of sins will be given for the sake of repentance and confession. Thou art, therefore, imagining the images of those who have been pardoned by the hand of my sinful soul, and looking upon the great mercy of God, which I have received, I am bold, and I, a sinner, will run with repentance to Thy blessing. diyu. Oh, All-Merciful Lady! Give me a helping hand and ask Your Son and God with your motherly and most holy prayers for forgiveness of my grave sin. I believe and confess that He Whom You gave birth to, Your Son is truly Christ, the Son of the living God, Judge of the living and the dead, rewarding everyone according to his deeds; I believe again and confess that You are the true Mother of God, the source of mercy, the consolation of those who mourn, the recovery of the lost, a strong and unceasing intercessor to God, who loves the Christian race dearly. ́nsky, and the wrangler of repentance; Truly, there is no other help and protection for us except You, Most Gracious Lady, and no one else, trusting in You, was ashamed when, and by You begging God, no one was quickly abandoned. For this sake, I pray to Your innumerable goodness: open the doors of Your mercy to me who have gone astray and fallen into the darkness of the depths, do not disdain my filth, do not despise sinful prayer mine, do not leave me, the accursed one, for an evil enemy is looking to kidnap me into destruction, but beg for me Your merciful Son and God, born of You, may He forgive my great sins and deliver me from my destruction, as yes and I, with all who have received forgiveness, will sing and glorify the immeasurable mercy of God The living and Your unashamed intercession for me in this life and in the endless eternity . Amen.
You should not think that the Mother of God helps only those who repeat the words of the canonical prayers. You can pray in your own words, but sincerely hoping for help and salvation - the Intercessor will definitely quench your sorrows and open the way to joy!
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19.10.21
Troparion, kontakion, magnification
Troparion, tone 2
For all those who grieve, the joy and the offended are the intercessor, and the hungry for the nourisher, the strange consolation, the overwhelmed refuge, the visiting of the sick, the weak protection and intercessor, the rod of old age, You are the Mother of the Most High God, the Most Pure One: we strive, we pray, to be saved by Thy servant.
Kontakion, tone 6
There are no other imams of help, no other imams of hope, except for You, the Lady. Help us, we rely on You and boast in You, for we are Your servants, let us not be ashamed.
Greatness
We magnify You, Most Holy Virgin, God-chosen Youth, and honor Your holy image, through which you bring healing to all who come with faith.
