One of the most revered among Orthodox and Roman Catholics is the Czestochowa Icon of the Mother of God. Both the Orthodox and Catholic worlds pray before her. Her image is honored on March 6 by Christians in Eastern Europe, while Catholics commemorate her on August 26. In addition, the image of the Virgin Mary has many other names that are no less famous. These include the names Mother of God of Czestochowa, “Jasnogorskaya”, “Black Madonna” - since the icon has darkened with age. The Czestochowa Icon of the Mother of God in Poland is called the Czestochowa Matka Boska, but in short prayer songs it is called “Invincible Victory.”
The icon of the Mother of God of Czestochowa has truly ancient roots. History attributes this icon to the works of the prophet Luke, of which there are 70 in total. For a long time, the image of the Mother of God remained in the Byzantine Empire, then it was transported to Galician Rus', from where, after Poland conquered Western Ukraine, the icon of the Invincible Victory passed to the Poles. Today it is located in the Sanctuary of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Jasnogorsk, in a Catholic monastery in the city of Czestochowa.
History of the icon
The Czestochowa icon is called the image of the glory of Russian weapons. As legend says, the Czestochowa image of the Blessed Virgin Mary is one of the 70 icons created by the Evangelist Luke. Three hundred years later, Queen Helena, now an Equal-to-the-Apostles saint, received this icon as a gift from Jerusalem Christians during a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. For five hundred years the image was kept in Constantinople. There is a version according to which the image came to the Slavs from Byzantium thanks to the efforts of Equal-to-the-Apostles Cyril and Methodius.
The Czestochowa icon is called the image of the glory of Russian weapons
In the 13th century, the image ended up in Red Rus'. At that time, these lands were in the possession of Prince Lev Danilovich, who founded the city of Lviv. He was a cousin of the holy prince Alexander Nevsky. The shrine was placed in the church of Belz Castle. Later it came to the territory of Lesser Poland, to Częstochowa. Almost all Polish rulers revered this image of the Mother of God.
In 1813, when the Russian army defeated the French, during the battle they captured the Czestochowa fortress. The Russians were given a copy of the icon stored there as a gift. It, along with the keys of the captured fortress, was placed in the Kazan Cathedral in St. Petersburg. Tsar Alexander I accepted the shrine as a great gift, and the icon was dressed in a rich gilded robe.
However, there is a large amount of evidence proving that the image stored in Poland is not in fact genuine. In 1915, the Holy Synod, after scientific and historical research, recognized as the original the icon that was brought by Kutuzov from Poland in 1813.
Polish Queen
She is the queen of people's souls. The flow of believers to Her never dries up. She is the patroness and intercessor of Poland. In the 17th century, the Swedish king Charles X Gustav, having captured almost all of Poland, was defeated at the Częstochowa Monastery on Jasna Góra. The help of the Queen of Heaven raised the morale of the Poles and they were able to defeat the Swedes and drive them out of the country in 1656. King Jan Casimir, upon returning to Lviv, published a manifesto according to which he entrusted Poland to the patronage of the Mother of God, calling Her Częstochowa image the “Polish Queen”. We find the heroic defense of the Częstochowa Monastery and how the Swedes besieging the monastery saw this defense in Henryk Sienkiewicz’s work “The Flood”. The steadfastness and faith of the defenders of the monastery demoralized the enemy. One can write endlessly about the miraculous icon of the Mother of God of Czestochowa. It is impossible to list all the miracles; you will also find an infinite number of people all over the world who can tell about their personal miracle, revealed to them through prayers to the Czestochowa Icon. And it’s not for nothing that she is called the Queen of Poland. She truly is, living in the hearts of millions of Poles and Christians around the world.
An excerpt from Henryk Sienkiewicz’s work “The Flood”: “The next afternoon, the roar of the cannons again drowned out all other voices. The Shans were immediately enveloped in smoke, the earth shook; Heavy cannonballs, and bombs, and grenades, and torches framed from pipes that poured streams of molten lead, and torches without frames, and ropes, and tow, were still flying onto the roof of the church. Never before had the roar been so incessant, never before had such a barrage of fire and iron fallen upon the monastery; but among the Swedish cannons there was not that culverin that alone could crush the wall and make gaps for an attack. And the defenders were already accustomed to the fire, each of them knew so well what he had to do, that the defense went on as usual even without a command. They responded to fire with fire, to a cannonball with a cannonball, but they aimed better because they were calm. In the evening, Miller went out to see, in the last rays of the setting sun, what this assault had achieved, and his gaze was riveted by the tower, calmly depicted in the blue sky. - This monastery will stand until the end of time! - he exclaimed in amazement. - Amen! - Zbrozek answered calmly.”
Meaning and Description
The main meaning of the image is the unity of the king and the people. The icon was always painted depicting a Crown of twelve stars in the vestment of the sun. This can be correlated with the words of the Apostle John in the book of Revelation (13: 1-2). Fathers such as Saint Hippolytus and Andrew of Caesarea give the following interpretation to the words of the evangelist: a woman clothed with the sun is the Church of Christ. Only the Orthodox Church is a real church. Other denominations, such as Catholicism, Protestantism, Copts, etc., although they call themselves churches, are in fact heretical organizations and devoid of God's grace.
As the fathers further explain, the torment of a wife is the suffering suffered on the confessional path, among hardships and in prayer before God. So the church begs the Lord and is rewarded with a crown.
The main meaning of the image is the unity of the Tsar and the people
As the famous monk Philotheus wrote, the iconography of the Mother of God of a woman clothed with the sun is an allegory of the Mother of God-Church, who is pursued by a dragon. She fled into the desert, and there the Muscovite kingdom—the “Third Rome”—rose, rising above the world as a replacement for the Roman Empire and Byzantium. The interpretations of the holy fathers say that the desert is the kingdom of Moscow. In the future it will become the only place for the salvation of all Orthodoxy.
After the betrayal of God’s anointed one, the holy Tsar Nicholas II Alexandrovich, the grace of God remained on the “Sovereign” icon of the Queen of Heaven. In 1991, during the phenomenon of the river. B. Valentina of St. Seraphim of Sarov, she was told that the grace of salvation of Holy Rus' was transferred to the Czestochowa image.
What does an icon help with?
First of all, in front of the Częstochowa Icon, you need to pray and ask God and the Mother of God:
- salvation of Rus';
- restoration of autocracy, accession to the throne of the Russian Orthodox Tsar.
There is plenty of evidence from our time that Russia will rise again and be ruled by a sovereign. There are such prophecies in the books of the Old Testament. By the grace of God, only the Russian people can return the God-blessed monarchy with their prayer before this miraculous image. It was appointed for kings from the time Helen found the Life-Giving Cross of the Savior.
In recent years, the icon has repeatedly appeared to people in various parts of the country. This suggests that the time has come for unceasing prayer to the Queen of Heaven. Through Her death was overcome. And through a prayerful appeal to Her, the people can overcome conciliar death, because as long as the people live without a king, the country is dead.
An inexhaustible stream
The monastery at Jasna Góra, in terms of its significance for Poland, can probably be compared with the Trinity-Sergius Lavra - the greatest Orthodox church in Russia. So great is the flow of believers seeking a miracle from Our Lady of Czestha, and so great is the number of those who receive this miracle. Therefore, pilgrimage trips, and sometimes walking trips across the whole of Poland to Jasna Góra, are a revered tradition in Poland. “Matko Bosko Częstochowsko!” - can be heard throughout Poland, regardless of gender and age. The name of Our Lady of Czestochowa is on everyone’s lips. In 1991, thousands of Catholics and Orthodox Christians from the USSR came here to see John Paul II. This became one of the symbols of the fall of the Iron Curtain. The Czestochowa icon attracts not only Catholics and Orthodox Christians, but also representatives of other faiths. This does not surprise the Pauline monks at all. This has been happening for a long time. People receive what they ask from the Mother of God, and the path to her is always open to everyone. There are cases when a convinced atheist, drug addict, thief and libertine took the path of faith after seeing the icon. It is known that one such person once came with friends for a completely different reason - just to take a walk and have fun. Someone suggested “just go have a look.” They arrived just in time for the traditional ceremony of opening the icon for viewing by believers. And the moment the young man saw the image of the Mother of God, he could not hold back his tears. He cried. After the ceremony, he was afraid, but still went to confession, and when he came out, he called his mother and asked for forgiveness for all the grief that he caused her with his behavior (before that, the woman even wanted to leave home because of her son’s antisocial behavior!) This guy is a normal person now. Stealing was replaced by work, drugs disappeared on their own.
Miracles and healings
There are many testimonies about the help of the Mother of God to people who prayed before Her image. The Queen of Heaven healed people even from such serious illnesses as:
- cancer;
- infertility;
- alcohol and drug addiction.
They ask the holy image for healing from cancer.
At the beginning of the new millennium, one pilgrim photographed the Czestochowa icon, from which people prayed for the restoration of the royal throne. But when the film was developed, instead of a photograph of the icon, the photograph showed the image of the Queen of Heaven, dressed in a helmet and chain mail, and in the Most Pure One’s hand was an eight-pointed Russian cross. At the same time, the version of the Częstochowa image was preserved. And a scar remained on the face of the Mother of God, just like on the Czestochowa icon.
The new icon, which miraculously appeared, began to be called “Czestochowa in Armor” or “Charred Voivode”.
Interesting information
One of the many lists is kept in Khmelevo, Brest region. The icon was painted three hundred years ago. According to legend, it was kept by a certain landowner in the chapel. One day a disaster happened - the chapel burned down, but the image of the Most Pure One remained unharmed. Then the landowner received a revelation. With the help of an amazing image, he identified a place and erected the Transfiguration Church on it, in which the icon is now kept.
Wanderings of the Relic
It is still unknown how exactly the icon of the Mother of God of Czestochowa ended up on the lands of Kievan Rus. According to one version, it was brought by the preachers Cyril and Methodius as a gift to the Slavs who had converted to Christianity. Other scientists claim that the icon was delivered by Prince Lev, the strategist and commander who founded the city of Lviv. Be that as it may, the relic ended up in northeastern Galicia (these places were also called Red Rus), and was placed in the house church at the Belz Castle, where both Orthodox Christians and Catholics bowed before it. And soon people saw that the prayer to the Mother of God, performed at this image, has truly miraculous properties.
But the prosperity did not last long. In 1340, Lviv was captured by the army of the Polish ruler Casimir III. A lot of Orthodox shrines were taken from the city - a crucifix with a piece of the Holy Cross, a precious throne, chasubles, crowns and headdresses made of gold and gems, and also images of the Mother of God, later called the Zhirovitsky, Ostrobramsky, Kholmsky and Czestochowa icons.
The disasters did not end there. Orthodox Christians began to be brutally oppressed - they were forced to sign the union, using methods developed by the Papal Inquisition. After the death of Casimir III, his heir Ludwig of Hungary gave Galicia to Prince Władysław Opolczyk. It was believed that the ruler, who belonged to the Piast family (his mother was a purebred Rusyn), would be able to alleviate the situation of the believers. Unfortunately, this did not happen. The situation was aggravated by frequent raids by Tatars trying to conquer Red Rus.
However, the Catholic icon still continued to protect Christian lands. This was confirmed by an incident that occurred in Belz. Then the stronghold was besieged by invaders, and in order to preserve the castle from them, the shrine was taken by Prince Vladislav to the fortress wall. When one of the enemy arrows pierced the image, a miracle happened - blood flowed from the wound of the Heavenly Queen, and an impenetrable darkness fell on the Tatar warriors. When the fog cleared, dozens of dead bodies were found under the fortifications - in the dark of their minds, the soldiers were killing each other. Frightened by this sign, the Tatars retreated.
It was these events that prompted Vladislav Opolchik to take the relic from Ukraine. Initially, the icon was supposed to be placed in a rich and glorious church, but the Mother of God decided otherwise. When, during his travels, Wladyslaw decided to spend the night in the small town of Czestochowa in southwestern Poland, he left the image in a small church named after the Assumption of the Virgin Mary. But in the morning, when it was time to move on, they could not even remove the holy face from the wall. The ruler and monks understood this and left the shrine in the place chosen by the Heavenly Queen.
This image is also revered in Ukraine. Its copies are kept in the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, in Kharkov, as well as in many Volyn churches. You can also buy an amber icon - you just need to contact the manager of our online store. A magnificent shrine, shining with the soft warmth of solar gems, will illuminate your earthly path, protect you from grief, misfortune and despondency, give joy and heavenly grace!
Lists of holy images
There are several versions of the image. These include the following icons:
- "Dubovichskaya";
- "Novodvorskaya";
- "Milius";
- "Peschanskaya".
Dubovichskaya
Novodvorskaya
Peschanskaya
In the eighteenth century St. Joasaph of Belgorod was told in a dream about his careless attitude towards the image of the Most Pure One. In one of the churches included in his diocese, in the vestibule, among a pile of garbage, he saw the icon of the Queen of Heaven in an unusual light. Approaching the image, the saint heard the voice of the Most Holy Theotokos, saying that this image of Her was destined to be a source of grace. This is how the discovery of the Peschanskaya Icon - the Częstochowa copy - took place.
When war broke out in 1914, one of the colonels of the tsarist army prayed fervently for his homeland. In response to his prayers, he was rewarded with the appearance of Saint Joasaph. The saint said that only the Mother of God can save Rus' and ordered Her icons - Vladimir and Peschanskaya - to be taken to the front. As long as the images are there, Russia will not be abandoned. As soon as the Peschanskaya Icon left Headquarters, a bloody revolution began.
In our days, a miraculous transformation of the Częstochowa image has taken place. In 2004, he appeared changed: the Queen of Heaven put on chain mail and a helmet. Variations of a new image began to appear, called “Invincible Victory”, “Russian Victory” and others. The fact that this is Częstochowa is indicated by the wound on the face of the Most Pure One left by a Tatar arrow, as well as the iconographic type.
At the end of the summer of 2004, Abbot Seraphim was honored in a dream with the appearance of the Queen of Heaven “Czestochowa in chain mail.” She ordered Her icon to be painted and distributed among people.
In 2002, cross flights with the Czestochowa icon took place over Moscow and St. Petersburg.
There are many testimonies about the help of the Mother of God to people
Miracles
There are a great many such miracles. People write them down in a special book dedicated to the deeds of the miraculous icon. The book, which has been updated for 6 centuries, contains thousands of testimonies. The entry in it is made under the kiss of the cross and is a testimony before God and people. Here are just a few examples of miracles: One young couple was unsuccessfully treated for infertility in various medical institutions in Poland. But they were unable to conceive a child. The doctors said there was no hope. Seeing their suffering, their grandmother advised them to go to the Czestochowa Icon. Imagine the surprise of the doctors when the woman came for examination, being several weeks pregnant. Zuzya was born on January 4, 2012, and her great-grandmother wrote about this story in a book. “Our Lady often supports families and has earned the title of Queen of Families,” says Pauline monk Father Melcheor Krulik. For many years now he has been responsible for maintaining the above-mentioned book of miracles. 2010 On March 7, Evelina Tseslyar’s entry appeared in the book. American doctors gave the woman a maximum of two weeks to live after her body, consumed by the disease, stopped accepting food and even water. She was in a state of critical exhaustion, but neither her boyfriend Barek Machnik nor her friends left her and continued to pray, although hope was fading. “I’m an ordinary person and a girl far from exalted, but there, in America, when the priest came to essentially my last confession, I suddenly heard a voice that said: “Now don’t be afraid, child, everything will work out!” For some reason I decided that this was the voice of the Mother of God of Yasnogóra and She was calling me to her,” the monk retells the girl’s story. The girl was urgently sent to Poland. In front of the icon of the Mother of God, complete healing occurred. There are relevant survey materials confirming this. And a year later, on May 5, 2011, Evelina arrived with her husband and their child under her heart, just to witness this incident. One of the most famous cases is already 35 years old. Yanina Lyakh, then a 29-year-old mother of two children, had been unable to move without the help of crutches for 5 years. She was assigned the 1st group of disability with the right to guardianship over her. More than 60 pages of medical report confirmed the deplorable condition of Mrs. Yanina. After many years of examination, she was given a terrible diagnosis - multiple sclerosis, which threatened the woman with blindness and complete paralysis. The husband got drunk and left home. The woman despaired; in a prayer to the Mother of God of Czestochowa, she asked for death for herself, so as not to torment the children, so that the Mother of God would take care of them. In a dream, the Virgin Mary told her to come to Yasnaya Guru on January 28, 1979. Yanina went, as usual, with crutches, moving her legs with difficulty. Approaching the Czestochowa Icon, she suddenly felt that she was standing. I tried to take a step and it worked... Mrs. Yanina’s crutches remained in the monastery among other evidence of healings left at different times. Three different doctors examined Mrs. Jadwiga. Their surprise knew no bounds. Five times after that she went on a walking pilgrimage from Warsaw to Jasna Góra. She was here this year too - on January 28... Melcheor Krulik emphasizes: an interesting fact is that it is not the Yasnaya Gura itself as a place of prayer that works miracles, but the icon. After all, a lot of evidence was brought by people from all over the world. People turned with faith to the Mother of God of Czestochowa and things happened to them that could only be explained by a miracle.
Prayer before the Czestochowa Icon of the Mother of God
O All-Merciful Lady, Queen Theotokos, chosen from all generations and blessed by all generations, heavenly and earthly! Look mercifully at these people standing before Thy holy icon, fervently praying to You, and through Thy intercession and intercession with Thy Son and our God, may no one depart from the place of this hope of theirs, empty and disgraced in their hope; but let everyone receive from You everything according to the good will of his heart, according to his need and desire, for the salvation of the soul and the health of the body.
Pray, Merciful Lady, to the most heavenly God, that he may always keep his holy church, strengthen our Orthodox bishops with his highest blessing, protect with peace and the saints of his church whole, healthy, honest, long-lasting, and grant the right of those who rule the word of his truth, from all visible and invisible He will mercifully deliver the enemies of all Orthodox Christians and will relentlessly and unfailingly preserve them in Orthodoxy and the firm faith until the end of centuries.
Look with mercy, O All-Sung, and with the charity of Your merciful intercession on our entire All-Russian kingdom, our reigning cities, this city and this holy temple, and pour out Your rich mercy on her, for You are the all-powerful Helper and Intercessor of us all. Bow down to the prayers of all Your servants who flow here to this holy icon of Yours, hear the sighs and voices with which Your servants pray in this holy temple.
If both a non-believer and a foreigner, walking and passing here, pray, hear, O beloved Lady, and do this kindness and mercifully, even to help him and to salvation. Guide your hardened and scattered hearts in our countries on the path of truth. Convert those who have fallen away from the pious faith and bring them back into rank with Thy saints, the Orthodox Catholic Church. In the families of all people and in our brethren, protect and maintain peace, establish brotherhood and humility in the young, support old age, instruct adolescence, gain courage, stand up for the orphans and widows, the oppressed and in their sorrows, comfort and protect, raise babies, heal the sick, captives free us, protecting us from all evil with Your goodness and comforting with Your merciful visit and all those who do us good.
Grant, O Good One, the fruitfulness of the earth, the goodness of the air, and all the gifts that are in good time and useful for our benefit, through your omnipotent intercession before the All-Holy Life-Giving Trinity, together with Her holy chosen saints Cyril and Methodius. The fathers and mothers who have departed before, our brothers and sisters, and all who from ancient years have fallen upon Thy holy icon, may this rest in the villages of the saints, in a brighter place, in a greener place, in a place of peace, where there is no sorrow and sighing.
When our departure from this life and resettlement to eternal life is ripe, appear to us, O Most Blessed Virgin, and grant the Christian end of our lives painless, shameless, peaceful and partaker of the Holy Mysteries, so that in the future we will all be worthy, together with all the saints, endless blessed life in the kingdom of Your beloved Son, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, to Him belongs all glory, honor and worship forever and ever. Amen.
Despite receiving a decision to return the icon to the Kazan Cathedral, the leadership was in no hurry to deal with this issue. Orthodox people of recent times should especially pray in front of this image for the salvation of Rus'. All further events depend on the repentance of people.
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