21st May - OUR MOTHER OF VLADIMIR (RUSSIA)

 One of the most famous and most beautiful of all icons of the Mother of God is that of Our Mother of Vladimir. She is depicted cheek to cheek with the Divine Child whose arms 

    caress her and the image is noble in workmanship. It was painted in Constantinople in the twelfth century but is first heard of in Kiev where it was taken in 1155 to the city 

    of Vladimir. The horses pulling the cart taking the icon to Kiev stopped in Vladimir and refused to budge from that spot. The Assumption Cathedral was built there in honor 

    of the Blessed Virgin and to house her image. It became famous for wonders and was reverenced as Russia’s most sacred image so that it was in 1395 enshrined in the cathedral 

    of the Assumption in the Kremlin at Moscow during the time of Tamerlane’s invasion. Several times the Tartars were beaten back under its inspiration and it was carried to critical 

    places in time of distress. It was taken to the attlefront during World War I and the Communist Joseph Stalin had the icon taken up in an airplane and flown around Moscow during 

    the German invasion of World War II. A few days later, the German army retreated. All the tsars were crowned and patriarchs installed in the presence of this image, 

    up until the revolution. It has been reproduced many times in book illustrations. The icon is now displayed in the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow.




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