OUR MOTHER OF KAZAN (RUSSIA) - 08th July

 This miraculous icon, also known as the Theotokos of Kazan, was originated in Constantinople in the 13th century before it was taken to Russia. When the Turks took Kazan in 1438, 

    the icon had been hidden. Ivan the Terrible liberated Kazan in 1552 and the town was destroyed by fire in 1579. The location of the icon was revealed during a dream by the Blessed 

    Virgin Mary to a ten-year-old girl named Matrona who told the Bishop of her dream but he did not believe her. Matrona and her mother went to the place indicated by the Blessed 

    Virgin and dug in the ruins what had been a house until the uncovered the icon. It appeared untouched by the flames, with the colors as vivid and brilliant as if it were new on 

    July 8th in 1579. The Bishop took the icon to the Church of Saint Nicholas, and immediately there was a miracle of a blind man’s sight being restored to him. 

    Many of the copies are known to be miracle working. There is a Russian feast of Mary under this title as a commemoration of its founding on July 8th. 

    There are many replicas of this picture of which the best known was in the Church of Our Mother of Kazan at Moscow. In 1993 a copy of the icon was given to Pope John Paul II, 

    who kept it in his personal study before it was given to representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church in 2004.




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