People try to explain everything with science. There are practically no phenomena that scientists cannot interpret. Everything seems explainable and logical. But not always. In the Orthodox world, and in general the Christian world, there are enough miracles that defy rational explanation: a dumb man spoke, a sedentary man rose to his feet, a blind man received his sight, a weak man became stronger in both soul and body.
Icons occupy a special place in Orthodoxy. The most revered are the images of the Virgin Mary. They can be seen in any church or temple. People pray and believe that the Mother of God will help. One of the most unique images of the Orthodox Church is the Akhtyrka Icon of the Mother of God.
Finding of the Akhtyrka Icon
The story of Holy Father Basil speaks about the appearance of the icon to the earthly world. A miracle happened in 1739 in the city of Akhtyrka. At that time, priest Vasily lived here and served in the local church. They say that the priest bought a scythe to get rid of tall grass on his property. When Father Vasily picked it up, he was illuminated by a bright light that came from the thickets. The priest came closer and saw among the grass the image of the Mother of God, which shone brighter than the sun. Then Father Vasily fell prostrate before the holy icon and prayed until night fell.
Akhtyrskaya Icon of the Mother of God
Then he picked up the holy image and took it into the house. There Vasily allocated the best place for the icon. The Holy Father did not show the image of the Mother of God to anyone for a long time, hid her face from everyone, and often prayed to her, but in complete solitude.
What do they ask for before the image?
People turn to the Akhtyrskaya shrine with requests for the protection and help of the Mother of God in good deeds. Prayers before the image help:
- gain health and peace of mind;
- get rid of fever and other diseases, including help with injuries and oncology;
- find a good husband;
- protect children from diseases, troubles and troubles;
- in everyday problems - when looking for a job, resolving conflicts.
The Mother of God is asked for help not only in front of the revered lists, but also in front of the home consecrated Akhtyrka icon.
Icon of the Akhtyrskaya Mother of God. Story
This couldn't last long. Vasily later said that the Mother of God herself came to him in a dream. The Queen of Heaven ordered the priest to wash the icon in the clean water of the local river and rid it of dust and dirt. As soon as Vasily woke up, he immediately decided to fulfill the will of the Mother of God. Before, he had never touched the icon with his hands, but now without delay he went to the river and brought clean water. The Holy Father took a long time and carefully washed away all the dirt that had accumulated on the holy image. Vasily decided to return the remaining water to the river, but just before leaving the house he heard the voice of the Mother of God again. She said that this water was now filled with the holy spirit and was able to heal human diseases. At that time, Vasily’s daughter was sick with fever. Not daring to wait any longer, the priest, filled with confidence, gave the girl water to drink, and she immediately recovered. This is how the first miracle from the Akhtyrka Icon was revealed to the world.
Soon the whole family of the holy father, and then the whole city, learned about the holy image. More than 3 years have passed since its acquisition. Vasily invited an icon painter to restore the icon, damaged by time. John (that was the name of the master) knew about the miraculous properties of the icon and before starting work he washed the holy face with water. After this, the artist gave it to his son, and he immediately got rid of his fever.
When John began to work and wanted to touch the holy face with his brush, the voice of the Mother of God was heard again. She said that the icon cannot be changed, it must be returned to its place. The artist spent the whole night in prayer in front of the icon, and in the morning he conveyed the words of the Mother of God to Father Vasily.
The priest realized that this icon did not belong to him, but to the whole world. From that day on, the icon of the Mother of God was transferred to the local church, where Vasily served God for many years. In 1768, a new cathedral appeared in Akhtyrka, in which this holy relic was kept until 1905. It was decided that the icon needed restoration, and it was sent to the capital of the Russian Empire - St. Petersburg. On the way, the holy face was stolen.
In the middle of the century, the relic was transferred to the Committee of the Orthodox Church in the United States. The icon is kept there today.
The iconography of the Akhtyrka icon became the basis for other icons
Honored Lists
A number of copies have been made of the Akhtyrsk Icon, which is revered as a healer of many diseases, distributed mainly in the south of Russia, in the Kharkov diocese. The revered list of the 18th-19th centuries is located in Moscow, in the main chapel of the Church of the Resurrection of the Word on Arbat (Apostle Philip) of the Jerusalem Metochion. The Akhtyrskaya icon, called “Samara”, is the main shrine of the Samara Desert-Nicholas Monastery.
Since the beginning of the 2000s, the Omsk diocese has established veneration of the local list - the Achair Icon of the Mother of God.
One of the lists of the icon is kept in the Church of the Resurrection of Christ in the village of Alekseevskoye, Chistopol diocese in Tatarstan.
According to the “Chronicle of the Resurrection Church of the Village of Alekseevskoye,” the icon was miraculously found in 1816 and placed in the church in the main iconostasis as a local icon of the Mother of God. Here is how it is described in the Chronicle: “There is also an icon here, especially revered by the local parishioners and even revered as miraculous.
This is a small icon (7 vershoks in height and 5 in width) of the Akhtyrskaya Mother of God; it is inserted into the iconostasis of the main chapel, next to the royal doors on the left side, i.e. it replaces the usual local icon of the Mother of God. This icon has long been in a silver chasuble under gold. It is unknown when it was written, but many people know how it was found and how it was placed in the church” [5].
Iconography of the Akhtyrka Icon
The iconography of this icon is considered uncharacteristic of the traditions of the Orthodox Church. The hands of the Virgin Mary are most often crossed on her chest, her head is tilted towards the crucifix, which is depicted in the background, her hair is loose, her face is marked with suffering. This style is more typical of the Italian school of icon painting.
Later, other versions of the image of the Mother of God began to appear. Thus, an icon painter can depict different positions of hands. There are icons in which the hands are crossed or one of them supports the head of the Mother of God, while the second is turned to the Savior. Sometimes artists added the faces of other saints or depicted a double-headed eagle at the bottom - a symbol of Russia.
It is interesting that the iconography of the Akhtyrka icon became the basis for other icons of different schools of icon painting.
The meaning of the image in Orthodoxy
In the icon, the Mother of God looks with sorrow and great humility at the torment of Christ. Even before the birth of Jesus, the Blessed Virgin knew what fate was in store for the Savior. The Mother of God, like millions of mothers, outlived her Son and humbly waited to meet Him in the Kingdom of Heaven.
Orthodox Christians deeply revere the Mother of God; there are icons with the face of the Virgin Mary in every home. Christians are grateful to the Akhtyrskaya shrine for the miracles of healing and help, the mercy shown through prayers in front of the image.
Miraculous phenomena and deeds
From the moment it appeared, the holy relic worked great miracles. Let's look at the most famous cases.
Miracle of Human Healing
- Healing of the daughter of Holy Father Basil;
- Healing the artist's son from fever;
- People from the city who suffered from serious illnesses began to come to Vasily. All of them, after drinking the consecrated water, received the desired health;
- Baroness von Weidel learned from the Mother of God in a dream about her imminent death. The mistress ordered that wealth be distributed in exchange for helping her daughters get married. The woman followed the instructions and actually died 5 days later. Having learned about the grief, the empress took the orphans to the court, where they were raised and married to counts.
The icon was so famous that already in 1774 it was included in a special book of miracles that occurred on the territory of the Russian Empire. A total of 324 cases were witnessed.
The Akhtyrsk icon heals and gives peace
The miracle of the renewal of the icon and its manifestation
This is a special phenomenon that anyone can see. The only thing needed is sincere prayer. Many cases were witnessed when parishioners, instead of an icon, saw only a dark tree, on which, during sincere prayer, the image of the Queen of Heaven appeared with a smile on her face.
Another miracle was witnessed in 1998. Then, under the influence of time, it was so dark that it was almost impossible to distinguish the face.
Miracles
The icon was recognized as miraculous, since there was a lot of evidence of helping the Orthodox through prayers in front of the image. It is believed that one should turn to the Mother of God of Akhtyrskaya in case of illness; the icon helps in other good deeds.
Healings
The Mother of God herself indicated how the icon would help people. Famous miracles revealed by the Akhtyrsky image:
- The daughter of the priest who found the icon while mowing was completely cured of her fever;
- with blessed water after washing the image, the son of the icon painter John was saved from illness;
- Over the course of many years, many parishioners of the Church of the Intercession, whose names are lost, recovered after prayers.
They started a special book in which they recorded the miracles that took place. Their number exceeded 300. The case of Baroness von Weidel was passed down from mouth to mouth. The Mother of God warned the woman in a dream about her imminent death. The Baroness distributed the property, asking the Mother of God to help her daughters get married. After this, the woman died. The girls were raised at court, and both were successfully married.
Updates
Soon after the discovery of the icon, the Mother of God opposed restoration and renewal of colors on the image. The old image is barely visible and many people only see a dark spot. To those whose prayers are heard, the Mother of God reveals her face. People clearly see a beautiful face with a smile on its lips.
The Orthodox saw the miracle of renewal on the first list of the Akhtyrka Icon. In 1998, the image suddenly brightened, the face of the Virgin Mary became clear and defined. The Virgin Mary showed mercy, She hears prayers, and pointed this out to the Orthodox.
Prayer to the Akhtyrka Icon
O Most Blessed and Most Merciful Lady of the World! Behold, we are sinners looking at Thy holy image and seeing Thee in sorrow and compassion to Christ the Savior crucified for us, who stands before us, earnestly praying to Thee known about us to Thy Son: do not forsake us in the day of trial and tribulation, but in temptation and adversity we protect us with Your all-honorable protection from enemies, visible and invisible, and give us the strength to fulfill the all-perfect and good will of the Creator and the Master of the world.
See, our merciful Intercessor, how many sins we are subject to: not only do we sin by will, but we also involuntarily fall into many different sins.
For this reason, we resort to You, the sovereign organizer of Christian salvation, and cry out with emotion: enlighten our minds with the knowledge of Divine truth, warm our hearts with the warmth of Christian love and saving desires, and confirm our will in the unfeigned fulfillment of the Lord’s commandments.
To her, Most Merciful Lady, come from the heights of heaven to the sighs and prayers of us sinners: heal the illnesses of the sick, pacify the hearts of the embittered, give patience to the suffering, instill the fear of God in those who offend, strengthen those persecuted for the truth, protect orphans and widows, give comfort to those who cry, ask forgiveness for the repentant , calm the demonic storm of passions in sinful souls and in the hearts of those who honor Thee, root meekness and love of Christ and establish this with the spirit of mercy and compassion; But direct the heretics and apostates who have fallen away from the faith to the knowledge of the truth, and block the mouths of the wicked who blaspheme the Holy Church and blaspheme the Orthodox Faith.
To our fathers and brothers and sisters who have departed from this life, O Mother of God, ask for forgiveness of sins and the beginning of eternal bliss.
When the hour of our death approaches, then, O Lady, accept our soul and rest in this host of the righteous, where the faces of the Angel and saints silently glorify the power and mercy of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit and Your motherly intercession and intercession for us, now and ever, and unto ages of ages. Amen.
Troparion, tone 4
Most blessed Virgin, Pure Mother of God, standing at the Cross of Your Son and our God, you endured great sorrow and received grace from Him to console those in sorrow.
At the same time, we reverently look at Your most pure image and see You depicted on it before the Cross of our Savior, and cry out to You with emotion:
Zealous, kind and merciful Intercessor! Hasten to deliver us from all sorrow, need and illness and save our souls, so that we glorify Thee with thanksgiving forever.
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Temples
In honor of the Akhtyrka icon they were consecrated
- convent in the village of Gusevka, Volgograd region
- temple in the village of Akhtyrka, Sergiev Posad district, Moscow region
- temple in Kursk [6]
- Cathedral of the city of Orel
- Church in St. Petersburg under State Control
- temple in Stary Oskol
- temple in the village of Chernetov, Bryansk region
- chapel at the Republican hospital in Petrozavodsk in the Moscow region
- chapel in the village of Alekseevskoye in the Republic of Tatarstan
Literature
- The history of the appearance of the Akhtyrka miraculous icon of the Mother of God and the cathedral Church of the Intercession, where it is now located
, St. Petersburg, 1903. - Villager, E., Our Lady
, 410–414. - Kiselev, A., prot., Miracle-working icons of the Mother of God in Russian history.
N.Y. , 1976, 135–138. - Ebbinghaus, A., Die altrussischen Marienikonen-Legenden
, Berlin, 1990, 15, 87. - Bentchev, I., Handbuch der Muttergottesironen Russlands
, Bonn, 1992, 25–26. - Resurrection
(newspaper of the Akhtyrsky church in the village of Akhtyrki, Sergiev Posad district), No. 4, 1996. - Collection of historical and cultural monuments of Russia: Smolensk region
, Moscow, 2001, 197–198.
Modern cave life
What is inside
To reach the cave you need to go down a narrow path and steps.
On the right there will be a stunning view of the Akhshtyrsky Canyon and the stormy Mzymta River.
But at this height you will not hear the sound of its waters. There is an amazing silence around, sometimes interrupted by the singing of birds.
The total length of the underground cave is 160 meters. First there is a long corridor.
It ends with two large halls 8 meters wide and ten meters high. Next there is a small narrow passage that ends in a dead end.
The cave is very dark and damp. There is minimal lighting, but it’s a bit gloomy. And after the rains, it was very dirty underfoot: it was not always possible to see the bridges in the twilight and walk around the small puddles.
And the drops falling on my head from the ceiling caused a not very pleasant sensation. I would like to hope that these were just raindrops!
