The history of the Bread or Baked Icon of the Mother of God, what is asked for and prayers for

The history of the appearance and acquisition of the Bread Icon

The Icon of the Mother of God “Bread” has been known since the 16th century. In 1538, an unusual wanderer wandered into the Solovetsky monastery. Simple, shabby clothes and an emaciated appearance could not hide the pilgrim’s education.

The secret of origin was revealed only to the confessor and abbot. He turned out to be the wealthy Moscow boyar Fyodor Kolychev, who later became the Metropolitan of the Moscow Patriarchate. Upon reaching the age of 30, tired of court intrigues, Fyodor decided to leave worldly life, retiring to the monastery.

After serving as a novice for some time, Fedor took monastic vows with the name Philip. The monastery bakery was designated as the place of obedience for the monk. Baker's work was very hard. It was necessary to make a huge amount of prosphora and bread every day not only for the monastery brethren, but also for pilgrims.

But Philip did not grumble, patiently bearing obedience. Prayers helped him endure all the difficulties. Philip especially earnestly prayed to the Queen of Heaven. And the Mother of God thanked the monk, sending him her image.

Not wanting to part with the holy image, Philip always kept the icon with him, placing it near the stove. Before handing it over to the brethren, the monk displayed all the baked goods in front of the Mother of God image, asking for Her blessing. The monks, coming for bread, seemed to receive it from the hands of the Foremother. For this, the holy image began to be called Khlebny (“Bread”) or Baked.

Years later, Philip became the monastery abbot, serving in this field for 18 years. After which he was appointed Moscow Metropolitan by Tsar Ivan the Terrible.

The “Bread” Mother of God was greatly revered by the inhabitants of the Solovetsky Monastery, and her miraculous power became known in many parts of Rus'. The miraculous image was in the Transfiguration Cathedral for a long time, but after the closure of the monastery it was lost.

Over the years of the icon’s existence, several copies were made from it, one of which was sent to the Leushinsky convent. It was given to the sisters of the monastery by an unknown pilgrim in 1880. The abbess of the monastery ordered that the sacred icon be placed in the bakery and the Never-Sleep Akathist read in front of it daily.

With the advent of Soviet power in 1931, the monastery was closed. During the creation of the Rybinsk reservoir (1941-1946), the Leushinsky monastery was under water, and the holy image was irretrievably lost.

The next appearance of the Bread Icon occurred in 1941, during the siege of Leningrad. A miraculous image unexpectedly appeared to a simple woman, Natalya Vasilievna Fedorova. While going to collect child benefits, the woman came under fire. Rising from the ground after the shelling, she saw three icons, one of which had the inscription “Bread”.

For many years, the holy image was kept by the woman’s family. Before her death, Natalya Vasilievna’s daughter, Nina Mikhailovna, donated the Mother of God image to the Church of the Icon of the Mother of God “Seeking the Lost.”

Bread of life

Bread Icon of the Mother of God

There is hardly a century in the history of Russia that is peaceful and prosperous in everything. The Lord, “who enlightens and sanctifies every person who comes into the world,” does not accidentally allow sorrow, disorder and difficult times. But, wishing everyone salvation, God sends strength, miraculous help, and reliable intercessors, the first of whom is His Most Pure Mother.

Death behind you

During the blockade winter of 1941, Leningrad survived. Thousands of families starved and froze. Few people thought about themselves anymore... But what about the children? All conceivable and unimaginable efforts were aimed at saving them. Natalya Vasilievna Fedorova had two children. When the modest supplies of black bread mixed with sawdust and soil ran out, she was forced to feed her children newspapers. In desperation, my mother went in search of some kind of help. Her daughter, Nina Mikhailovna Fedorova, later said:

“Mom fell, and when she got up, there were three icons under her”

“Mom went to get at least some child support, and at that time the shelling began... A sailor running past shouted: “Get down, everyone!” - and pushed my mother. Mom fell, and when she got up, there were three icons under her. When my mother walked, there was nothing there, but when she stood up, suddenly there were icons. She was embarrassed and thought: “Oh my God, what is this?!” What do i do?" I realized that the find was not accidental - it was a phenomenon. And then she decided to go to one pious old woman and ask her. She came and said: “What should I do, what should I do? Here are three icons I found.” She answered: “You thought death was just around the corner, but it was behind you,” and advised her to keep the icons and keep them carefully.”

Siege Leningrad

These were icons of the Most Holy Theotokos, the holy evangelist John the Theologian and St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. On the image of the Queen of Heaven there was an inscription: “Holy Bread. Mother of God." The hope of salvation now did not leave the mother’s heart.

Miracles were not long in coming: the very next day, an unfamiliar man in a soldier’s uniform gave Natalya Vasilyevna a bag of oats, which, without exaggeration, saved the family from a painful death of starvation. And a week later, food supplies to the besieged city began along the “Road of Life”.

The special intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos and the saints of God was felt not only by the mother and children, but also by everyone who visited their home: they all survived the terrible days of the blockade. The image of the Most Holy Theotokos, so wonderfully called “Bread”, until very recently was carefully kept in the house of Nina Mikhailovna Fedorova.

City of Kitezh

The Russian Orthodox Church has always shared its difficult fate with Russia. Thousands of new martyrs, devastated churches and monasteries - this is the result of the very recent past... Many monasteries - large and small, rich and poor - were never able to recover after seven decades of building communism. The Leushinsky St. John the Baptist Monastery has a special history. The monastery was founded in 1875 near the Sheksna River between the cities of Cherepovets and Rybinsk. The monastery flourished thanks to the wise leadership of Abbess Taisia ​​(Solopova) and the prayerful patronage of Father John of Kronstadt. The monastery was even called one of the three largest “women’s laurels” in Russia (along with Diveevo and Shamordino). On the eve of 1917, about 700 nuns lived in the monastery.

Leushinsky Monastery. Photo: S.M. Prokudin-Gorsky

Mother Taisiya, who was honored with the appearance of the Mother of God, saw the good and providential help of the Queen of Heaven in all the affairs of the monastery.

At the end of the 1880s, one pilgrim brought from the Solovetsky Monastery to the Leushinsky Monastery a copy of the miraculous icon of the Mother of God, called “Bread”. The sisters solemnly greeted the holy icon and, walking with it in a procession of the cross, placed it in the bakery. Through the intercession of the Queen of Heaven, the monastery, which had known different times, was never left without bread.

The Leushinsky monastery had a unique custom - reading the Never-Sleeping Akathist before the icons of the Mother of God

Later, with the blessing of Abbess Taisia, a special cell was built for the “Bread” icon, where they began to collect lists of other revealed icons of the Mother of God. Before the images of the Most Holy Theotokos, the sisters read the Never Sleeping Akathist. Thus, Mother Taisia ​​established a unique custom - “The Rite of Reading the Never Sleeping Akathist.” Not a single monastery knew such a tradition either in Russia or even on Mount Athos.

For almost 40 years, in the Leushinsky Monastery, songs of praise to the Queen of Heaven silently ascended to Heaven, and the Archangel greeting was proclaimed: “Rejoice, O Blessed One.”

In 1931 the monastery was closed

And after some time, Mother Taisia’s prophetic dream came true:

“I have the following dream. I’m walking somewhere and come to a rye field; the rye is so tall, thick and good that it is rare, but I have to go through this entire field, precisely with rye, since there is no road, but I have to go.” A certain voice from heaven revealed to her that she must “squeeze out all this field.”

After the rye field, Mother Taisiya saw “a huge expanse of water, with no end in sight; but for some reason I knew that this was bulk water, and not original water, that there was a meadow, a hayfield... And I went; Meanwhile, it turned out to be quite deep, the farther, the deeper, and I began to be afraid of drowning, since I don’t know how to swim, and the water covered me up to my neck...”

From 1941 to 1946, slow flooding of the Sheksna River basin began. The Rybinsk Reservoir, which arose on this site, became the largest artificial sea in the world. The monastery, like the ancient legendary city of Kitezh, went under water.

The “bread” icon, like many other shrines of the monastery, was irretrievably lost.

Descendant of a noble family

Fyodor Kolychev leaves his parents' home

Around 1538, an amazing wanderer arrived at the Solovetsky Monastery, dressed in simple, shabby clothes, tired and exhausted. Despite his wretched appearance, his behavior betrayed a man of deeply educated and far from peasant origin. Apparently, only two people in the monastery knew the secret: the monk who became the wanderer’s confessor, and the abbot.

The ascetic was Fyodor Kolychev, who came from an old family of Moscow boyars, famous for their wealth and influence. “The Zakharyins (Romanovs), Sheremetevs, and Kolychovs descended from a common ancestor. For centuries they built, together with Kalita’s descendants, the Moscow state and, having made room for the appanage princes who had moved to Moscow service since the time of Ivan III, continued to serve their sovereigns...” There was no doubt that Fyodor, born in 1507, had a brilliant future ahead of him.

Unfortunately, little is known about the childhood and youth of the future saint. The life emphasizes the young man’s alienation from the games and customs of his peers, his love of reading, and the lives of “wonderful men.” Father, Stepan Ivanovich, was at court (he was a close boyar under Grand Duke Vasily Ivanovich) and sat in the Boyar Duma. Stepan Ivanovich, “an enlightened man and full of military spirit,” paid special attention to preparing his son for the sovereign’s service: possession of weapons, horse riding and other various military skills. His mother, Varvara (monastically Barsanuphia), cared for her son to grow up as a true Christian.

Fyodor received the best education for that time: “he learned to read and write from church books, acquired and retained until the end of his life a love of spiritually beneficial reading,” he was supposed to know foreign languages, master most types of edged weapons, study the art of war, and the basics of fortification. This is despite the fact that not every boyar of that time even knew how to read and write. Having matured, he expectedly followed in his father’s footsteps: he served at court, according to some sources he was even the “uncle” of the future Tsar Ivan the Terrible. “Life” speaks about it this way: Fyodor “with other noble young men enters into the royal service...”

Rest for the soul, work for the body

Solovetsky Monastery

In 1537, when Fyodor turned 30, the boyars, dissatisfied with the rule of Elena Glinskaya, united around the youngest son of Ivan III and Sophia Paleologus, Andrei Staritsky. The riot did not work out, Andrei surrendered and was placed in prison, where he died a few months later. Some of his supporters were imprisoned and some were killed. Fyodor Kolychev had many of his relatives executed. These circumstances accelerated Fyodor’s choice, and he, apparently already tired of court intrigue and hypocrisy, decides to dramatically change his life.

“...it happened to him, by a special Providence of God who had looked upon him, to enter the church during the celebration of the Divine Liturgy. Here he heard the words of the Gospel: “No one can serve two masters” (Matthew 6:24). Struck by these words, he reflected to himself that these words also applied to him, and decided to leave worldly life.”

Without saying goodbye to his family, without money or supplies, Fyodor sets off on foot to the North in simple clothes. The goal of his difficult journey was Solovki, where he hoped for rest for the soul and work for the body. In a village on the shores of Lake Onega, he stayed with a local settler, where he spent “quite a few days” as a shepherd. Thus, the Life notes, the future shepherd of the “verbal sheep” had to first feed the dumb sheep. Having reached the coveted Solovetsky Monastery, Fyodor passed the test for a year and a half as a novice, “cutting firewood and digging earth in the fence (vegetable garden) and carrying stones, and then carrying pus (manure) on his shoulder,” “many times we humiliate and beat from unreasonable."

Philip did not want to part with the miraculously sent down icon and placed it in the same place where he worked - in the bakery

Afterwards he took monastic vows with the apostolic name Philip. He carried out his obedience first in the kitchen, then in the bakery: in order to make prosphora and bake bread for the fraternal meal, it was necessary to chop wood every day, carry water, light the stove... Hard work did not bother the monk, in the recent past a noble boyar. Despite all the hardships, he never abandoned prayer, especially to the Mother of God, whose protection he always felt. The Most Holy Lady consoled him with the appearance of Her miraculous image. Philip did not want to part with the miraculously sent down icon and placed it in the same place where he worked - in the bakery, next to the oven, and placed all the freshly baked bread and prosphora with prayer in front of the image - for blessing. Soon the monastery began to call the icon “Bread” or “Baked”.

Monk Philip later became abbot of the Solovetsky Monastery. He labored in this field for about 20 years, working tirelessly for the glory of God, developing and beautifying the monastery. Under him, a harbor was developed and roads were laid, stone temples were founded instead of wooden ones, a network of canals was created between the numerous lakes on the island, on which mills were installed; Mechanical improvements were introduced into the monastery's crafts, and an orchard was created on the stones. Before Philip’s abbess, the Solovetsky Monastery was almost always hungry, and under him, according to the chronicler, “shti with butter arrived, and various buttery ingredients, pancakes and pies, and pancakes, and fish crumbs, and jelly, and scrambled eggs... they became the monastery to carry cucumbers and saffron milk caps...” At the same time, Abbot Philip developed a strict charter that did not encourage money-grubbing. The prayer life of the monastery was an example for other monasteries in the White Sea region.

“How will you stand before His judgment?”

In 1566, Abbot Philip became Metropolitan of Moscow and All Rus'. The king hoped that he would find in him a well-disposed adviser. Philip did not agree to accept high rank for a long time. “I can’t,” he said with tears, “take on a task that exceeds my strength. Let me go for the Lord's sake; Why entrust a small boat with a great burden?”, but in the end he was forced to submit to the will of the king. The saint “gave his word to the archbishops and bishops that he, by the king’s word and with their blessing, agrees to become the metropolis, that he will not interfere with the cause and the royal household, and that after his appointment he will not leave the metropolis because of the cause and the royal household.” .

Shortly before leaving Solovki, in the desert, which is now called “Philippova,” the saint had a vision in his fortification: the wounded Christ stood in a crown of thorns, as if before exiting to Golgotha. When the vision passed, water appeared where the Savior’s feet stood. Hegumen Philip built a spring in that place.

In Moscow it became clear that the Savior was now calling the Metropolitan of Moscow to the Way of the Cross.

Saint Philip, Metropolitan of Moscow

The oprichnina initially did not have such a terrifying scale and character that it later reached. For some time, relations between the head of the Church and the head of state were quite good. The Metropolitan, sending alms from Moscow to the Solovetsky Monastery, asked the brethren to pray for the sovereign and his family. The message ended with words that spoke a lot about the spiritual makeup of the saint: “And I bless you and beat you a lot with my forehead... For God’s sake, live lovingly.”

But gradually the oprichnina terror, led by the Terrible Tsar, became more and more merciless and senseless.

Metropolitan Philip several times tried to reason with the Tsar: “begin to pray that the Tsar would cease from such an objectionable undertaking to God and all Orthodox Christianity. And I will remember to him the word of the Gospel: “If the kingdom is divided into all, it will be desolate.” And there were many words with many tears...” Seeing that the admonitions had no effect, the Metropolitan denounced the army of the guardsmen in public.

The details of the first open confrontation are known not only from the Life of the saint, but also from the stories of foreign mercenaries in Russian service: the tsar, together with the oprichniki, dressed in black robes and monastic caps, as befitted their “oprichnina charter,” came to worship in the Assumption Cathedral Kremlin. After the Liturgy, the king approached Philip for a blessing. The Metropolitan at first pretended not to notice the Tsar. A little later the saint said: “In this form, in this strange robe, I do not recognize the Orthodox Tsar; I don’t recognize the affairs of the kingdom either... O Sovereign! Here we make sacrifices to God, and behind the altar innocent Christian blood flows. Since the sun has been shining in the sky, it has not been seen or heard of pious kings disturbing their own power so terribly! In the most unfaithful, pagan kingdoms there is law and truth, there is mercy for people - but in Russia there is none! The property and lives of citizens are not protected. There are robberies everywhere, murders everywhere - and they are committed in the name of the king! You are high on the throne; but there is the Most High, our Judge and yours. How will you appear before His judgment? Stained with the blood of innocents, deafened by the cry of their agony? For the very stones under your feet cry out for vengeance!.. Sovereign! I speak as a shepherd of souls. I fear the Lord alone!” (Karamzin N.M. History of the Russian State).

Of course, the Metropolitan knew what such words threatened him with. The royal answer was not long in coming. Seething with anger, Ivan the Terrible “hit the ground with his staff and said: “I was too merciful to you, Metropolitan, to your accomplices in my country, but I will make you complain.”

“...the gift of God is not obtained by deception”

Metropolitan Philip denounces Ivan the Terrible. Artist: Yakov Turlygin

Ivan the Terrible did not immediately decide to raise his hand against the popularly revered metropolitan, but reprisals were already a matter of time.

By decree of Ivan Vasilyevich, in November 1568, the trial of Metropolitan Philip took place in the Assumption Cathedral of the Kremlin. Right in the church during the service, his bishop's robes were torn off and replaced with a torn cassock. The First Hierarch of the Church, on the basis of slanderous testimony, was found guilty of a “vicious life” (the slanderers were found in the Solovetsky monastery, which owed so much to its former abbot) and was sentenced to exile in the Tver Otroch Monastery (initially the tsar advocated execution by burning). The saint said: “Children! I did everything I could. If it were not for love for you, I would not have remained in the pulpit for one day... Trust in God, be patient.”

In December 1569, the tsar and his retinue went to punish Novgorod and Pskov for imaginary treason, and sent his faithful servant, Malyuta Skuratov, to the saint.

Entering the cell of Saint Philip, Malyuta Skuratov fell with feigned reverence at the feet of the saint and said: “Holy Lord, give your blessing to the king to go to Veliky Novgorod.” But the saint answered Malyuta: “Do what you want, but the gift of God is not obtained by deception.” Then the heartless villain strangled the righteous man with a pillow” (Demetrius of Rostov, Saint. Lives of the Saints. January 9).

Saint Philip ended his earthly journey on December 23, 1569.

20 years later, in 1590, at the fervent requests of the brethren of the saint’s native monastery, his relics were transferred from the Tver Otroch Monastery to the Solovetsky Monastery, where they were laid to rest under the “Bread” Icon of the Mother of God.

In 1652, by the will of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, under the loud sobs of the Solovetsky brethren, Patriarch Nikon with great honors transported the relics of St. Philip to the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin. There, even today, you can venerate the relics of the saint, who remained at the Moscow Metropolitan See for only two years, but left an indelible mark in the memory of not only his contemporaries, but all future generations.

“The Russian saints did not serve the Great Power of Moscow, but the light of Christ that shone in the kingdom - and while this light shone.”

“He was almost alone in his protest among the hierarchs of his day, and alone against the backdrop of entire centuries. But his voice saved the silence of many; his feat is enough to reveal for us a new feature in the face of Orthodoxy. The church that canonized the saint took upon itself his feat, so rare - perhaps even the only one until the terrible events of our days. The feat of Metropolitan Philip gives real meaning to the service of his co-pastors at the Moscow See of the Dormition of the Theotokos: St. Alexis and St. Hermogenes. One saint gave his entire life’s work to strengthen the Moscow state, another - his very life, defending it from external enemies. Saint Philip gave his life in the fight against this very state in the person of the king, showing that it too must submit to the highest principle of life. In the light of Filippov’s feat, we understand that the Russian saints did not serve the Moscow great power, but the light of Christ that shone in the kingdom - and only as long as this light shone” (Fedotov G.P. Saint Philip, Metropolitan of Moscow. Paris , 1928).

After the martyrdom of Saint Philip, the image of the “Bread” Mother of God became one of the most revered in the Solovetsky monastery.

After the monastery was closed, the icon was lost.

Answered Prayers

Nina Mikhailovna Fedorova with the “Bread” Icon of the Virgin Mary

The summer of 2002 turned out to be dry. The water in the Rybinsk reservoir dropped below the normal level by more than three meters. For the first time in many decades, the place where the Leushinsky Monastery was located almost completely appeared from under the water. On October 10, Bishop (then Vologda and Veliky Ustyug) Maximilian (Lazarenko) served a prayer service on the site of the former monastery.

Currently, in St. Petersburg there is the St. John the Theological Compound of the Leushinsky Monastery, founded in 1894 with the blessing of Righteous John of Kronstadt.

The parishioners of the metochion spent a long time looking for the image of the “Bread” Mother of God. Nina Mikhailovna Fedorova, having learned the story of the Never Sleeping Akathist, agreed to give the icon for three days. For three days without a break, the akathist was read before the image, and the consecration of the loaves also took place.

The miraculous “Bread” image was transferred to the temple of the icon of the Mother of God “Seeking the Lost” - and began to be renewed

In September 2008, Nina Mikhailovna, having received the dying communion, went to the Lord. And the miraculous image, according to her will, was transferred to the temple of the icon of the Mother of God “Seeking the Lost.” Once in the church, the image began to be updated.

In the Assumption Cathedral of St. Petersburg, erected as a sign of eternal memory to the victims of the blockade, there is also a copy of the icon of the Mother of God “Bread”, made in our days.

***

In today’s difficult times, strings of parishioners, as before, reach out to the lists of the miraculous icon of the Mother of God “Bread,” offering prayer requests for help in material and spiritual needs. After all, the “Bread” icon began to be called not only because of its miraculous appearance in a bakery or its help in obtaining “daily bread,” but also in memory of the fact that it was the Most Holy Theotokos who became the Fertile Land that grew the Bread that came down from Heaven. Every time, preparing for Holy Communion, we read: “The Divine Bread of Life is truly baked in Thy womb, O Mother of God.”

Someone once said, “Life is easier than it seems: you just have to accept the impossible, do without the necessary, and endure the unbearable.” The life of a Christian is even easier: the Most Holy Theotokos left us only one commandment. But it contains the whole meaning of true Christian life. At the Wedding Feast in Cana of Galilee, the Most Pure One said to the servants, and with them to all of us: “Whatever He tells you, do it.”

The Lord, through the intercession of the Most Pure One, will not leave a single request prayerfully addressed to Her unheard. But when the Lord asks: “Were not ten cleansed? where is nine? how did they not return to give glory to God?..” - would not have been among those nine.

Description and meaning of the image of the Mother of God

The Solovetsky Monastery remained without a miraculous image for a long time. The monastery acquired one of the copies of the Bread Icon not so long ago.

The baked icon was bought by one of the benefactors and transferred to the Solovetsky Metochion before the Feast of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary. Another of the lists was written by a teacher at the Theological Seminary in St. Petersburg, Valentina Zhdanova.

On the icon the Blessed Virgin Mary is depicted from the waist up:

• on the head of the Mother of God there is a blue cap (plate);
• a red omophorion is thrown over the blue tunic;
• on the shoulders and forehead of the Mother of God three stars shine, symbolizing Ever-Virginity;
• the head is tilted towards the Divine Youth seated on the hand of the Mother of God;
• with the other hand She points to Christ, directing believers to Jesus;
• with his right hand the Savior blesses the Mother;
• With his left hand the Youth holds a rolled scroll.

On both sides of the Mother of God there are images of the Apostle John the Theologian and St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. This icon is located in the St. Petersburg Assumption Church, erected in honor of the victims of the siege of Leningrad.

The miraculous image of the Mother of God is a reminder to all people of their daily bread. But in the gospel sense, “bread” is interpreted much more broadly than ordinary food.

According to the Gospel, spiritual communication with the Lord is understood as our daily bread, without which the human soul is dead. By letting God into themselves, Orthodox Christians saturate their soul with bread, preparing it for eternal life.

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The Icon of the Mother of God “Bread” appeared to Saint Philip of Moscow while he was asceticizing in the Solovetsky monastery.

In the world, the boyar Feodor Kolychev, at the age of 30, he left public service and, in simple clothes, secretly retired to the Far North. Without revealing his name, he worked at general obediences as a simple monk. Soon the reverent novice was assigned to the bakery - making prosphora and bread for the fraternal meal. It was not easy for the noble boyar in this very difficult obedience, however, despite all the hardships, he did not give up prayer. The Mother of God, to Whom the monk Philip always resorted with special zeal, consoled the novice by revealing to him Her miraculous image. This happened in the 1540s. Philip placed the new icon of the Mother of God at the place of his obedience - near the baking oven, and from then on he had the habit of placing all the newly baked prosphora and breads in front of it, as if offering it to the Mother of God Herself. The brethren, coming for prosphora and bread, took them from the image, as if from the hands of the Most Pure One. The icon also began to be called “Baked” or “Bread”. After the martyrdom of St. Philip in 1569 (January 22 n.st.), the image of the “Bread” Mother of God became one of the most revered in the Solovetsky monastery and became famous in many parts of Holy Rus'.

The beginning of the Never Sleeping Akathist in the Leushinsky Monastery

The beginning of the “rite of the Never-Sleeping Akathist” was the offering in the late 1880s. one pious pilgrim to the Leushinsky Monastery from the Solovetsky Monastery of the copy of the miraculous icon of the Mother of God, called “Bread”. This holy icon was solemnly greeted by the sisters two miles from the monastery, carried into the holy gates in a procession and placed in the bakery. With the blessing of the Mother Superior, the sisters, when receiving bread, had to make three bows to the Mother of bread, accepting the bread as if from Her hands, and read the Akathist before her every evening. After this, despite the poverty, the monastery was never left without bread. Abbess Taisia ​​had the idea to arrange a special cell for the Bread Icon, in which she gave her blessing to collect lists of other revealed icons of the Mother of God and read the Never-Sleeping Akathist before them. Obviously, Mother Taisiya knew about the existence in Diveevo of a chapel blessed by Father Seraphim, in which all the icons of the Mother of God were collected and where the Reverend commanded to read the Never-Sleeping Psalter. In imitation of the Diveyevo chapel, St. Taisiya blessed in 1905 erect a similar one in Leushino. The materials for construction were the remains of the newly built winter Trinity Cathedral with the chapel of St. Seraphim of Sarov. The revered icon of Our Lady of Bread and other copies of Her icons were transferred to the new chapel, erected next to the Cathedral of Praise. The chapel was consecrated on July 10, 1906 by Fr. John of Kronstadt. Having himself ardently revered the Most Pure Mother of God, Dear Father, having exalted the praise of the Mother of God in the Chapel, exclaimed in spiritual delight: “If I lived here in the monastery, I would not have left this chapel - how desirable it is to glorify the Lady.” Almost forty years until its closure in 1931. in Leushino, the Archangel greeting to the Mother of God was silently proclaimed: “Rejoice, O Blessed One.” “According to the reverent desire of the abbess, the holy Name of the Mother of God, the Vigilant Intercessor and Patroness of this desert monastery did not cease to be glorified for a minute.” Unfortunately, the revered Leushinsky list of Our Lady of Bread was lost during Soviet times. After the flooding of the great monastery, its whereabouts are unknown. Nowadays, there is a metochion of the Leushinsky Monastery in St. Petersburg. The parishioners of the Leushinsky Metochion Church spent a long time looking for the image of the “Bread” Mother of God. Few copies have been made of this extremely rare image. A small black and white image in Poselyanin’s famous book “Miracle-Working Icons of the Mother of God” gave only a general idea of ​​his iconography - close to “Quick to Hear”. Finally, a year and a half after the resumption of the tradition of the Never Sleeping Akathist on Saturdays at the Leushinsky courtyard, the “Bread” icon appeared in the church. It turned out that a list of a rare image on gold is kept in one of the St. Petersburg apartments as a family shrine. The chairman of the board of the Radetel Foundation, Nina Yakovlevna Chalenko, informed us about this, inviting us to give communion to the custodian of the icon. Nina Mikhailovna Fedorova is a native Petersburger. She was born in 1935 and lived all her life in St. Petersburg. She did not leave him even during the terrible years of the siege. Nina Mikhailovna still cannot calmly talk about that time: tears immediately well up. During the blockade, she and her three-year-old brother Anatoly were left alone with their mother Natalya Vasilyevna. In the autumn and winter of 1941 it was especially difficult. “There was no water, no food,” recalls Nina Mikhailovna. 125 grams of bread - “it was so black, with earth and sawdust” - could not support life. There came a time when I had to eat nothing but newspapers for three days. “We ate the newspaper for three days and said: Mom, we don’t want any more, eat it yourself.” At this terrible moment, the Mother of God showed Her unexpected intercession. Here is Nina Mikhailovna Fedorova’s story about the appearance of the “Bread” icon: “Mom went to get at least some child support, and at that time the shelling began. This happened on Malaya Morskaya Street near the Institute of Aircraft Instrumentation, on the corner. A terrible whistling began - when shells fly close, they whistle. Potholes appeared on the ground. A sailor running past shouted: “Get down, everyone!” - and pushed my mother. Mom fell, and when she got up, there were three icons under her. When my mother walked, there was nothing there, but when she stood up, suddenly there were icons. She was embarrassed and thought: “Oh my God, what is this?!” What do i do?" I realized that the find was not accidental - it was a phenomenon. And then she decided to go to one pious old woman and ask her. She came and said: “What should I do, what should I do? Here are three icons I found.” She answered: “You thought death was just around the corner, but it was behind you,” and advised her to keep the icons and keep them carefully.” Having read the name on one icon - “The Most Holy Theotokos of Bread” - Natalya Vasilyevna felt hope and returned home. The next day, an unfamiliar soldier gave her a kilogram of oats. Our Lady of Bread sent bread. “This was the first help from the icon,” says Nina. “Mom put the oats on the stove and we pecked one grain at a time, and that’s how we were saved.” Since then, these three icons have been in our home: the Mother of God of Bread, John the Theologian and St. Nicholas - bronze. Mom prayed in front of these icons and never left them.” Having learned the story of the Never Sleeping Akathist, Nina Mikhailovna agreed to give the image for three days, so that the Akathist of the Mother of God would be sung before it, as in the previous Leushino. Nina Mikhailovna’s friend, Nina Yakovlevna, brought the shrine to the temple of the Leushinsky courtyard. On March 5, 2003, for the first time since the closure of the Leushinsky Monastery, the reading of the Never Sleeping Akathist was performed in front of the Bread Icon of the Mother of God. For three days, akathists were continuously read, and the consecration of bread and crackers was performed. The Mother of God showed a sign to a person these days. A servant of God named Lyudmila came to the temple, who said that three days ago she dreamed of the Mother of God and ordered her to bake pies, handing over an invoice containing 150 pies. The servant of God, waking up, was perplexed as to why and for whom these pies needed to be baked. In the evening, she heard on the radio a story about Our Lady of Bread and the bringing of Her icon to the church of the Leushinsky metochion. She decided that it was the Mother of God that she should prepare the pies for. Imagine her surprise when she, seeing the icon of the Mother of God of Bread, recognized in it the Mother of God who had appeared to her in this image. The 70 pies brought were sacred and blessed to all pilgrims. The next day, Lyudmila brought another 80 pies, thus fulfilling the obedience given to her in a dream. Someone remembered that the Monk Seraphim of Sarov gave his blessing to read “Rejoice to the Virgin Mary” exactly 150 times on the canal in Diveevo. Probably the number of pies of the Mother of God of Bread was not accidental. In our days, a copy of the icon of the Mother of God “Bread” was written for the Assumption Church of St. Petersburg, built in memory of the victims of the siege on the site of mass graves of citizens who died and perished during these terrible years. This is what people call “siege”. Icon painter Valentina Zhdanova, a teacher at the St. Petersburg Theological Seminary, painted the image on silver. The Apostle John the Theologian and Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker stand before the Mother of God. With the blessing of the builder and rector of the Assumption Church, Archpriest Victor, this image was painted in memory of those icons that a woman found during the harsh winter of the siege and which saved the lives of her children.” The event turned out to be terrible when the scaffolding of the Assumption Church fell due to the pressure of a hurricane wind, under which Father Victor died, buried near the walls of the temple he built. It contains the icon of the Mother of God “Bread”, painted with the blessing of the priest. Parishioners of the Assumption Church ask for prayers for the repose of Archpriest Victor, through whose diligence and by the grace of God the ancient Solovetsky icon returned to the people of St. Petersburg. In the Solovetsky monastery itself, to this day there was not even a single copy of the miraculous icon. And then information came to the Solovetsky Compound in Moscow that a copy of the Bread Icon had been seen in an antique store on Arbat. Very soon a benefactor was found and the icon was bought. This happened on the eve of the feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, which is the patronal feast of the Solovetsky Metochion in Moscow. It is noteworthy that on the site of the appearance of the icon in the Solovetsky monastery, back in the years of St. Philip in 1859, a temple was also built in honor of the Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Currently, this copy of the miraculous icon is located at the Solovetsky Metochion in Moscow and is open for worship every day. All these blessed events have become a new phenomenon and glorification of the image with which the Mother of God, in our time of practical materialism of universal market values, reminds us of our Daily Bread and gives us the Bread of Eternal Life - our Sweetest Lord Jesus Christ.

Source: The Legend of the Bread Icon of the Mother of God. - Comp. Priest Gennady Belovolov. Leushinsky courtyard. - St. Petersburg. - 2003. - 28 p.; Materials from the website of the Petrozavodsk and Karelian diocese.

Series of messages “The Most Holy Theotokos”:
Part 1 - Akathist, troparion, prayer to the Most Holy Theotokos in front of her icon called “Softening Evil Hearts” or “Seven Shots” Part 2 - Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos “Softening Evil Hearts” (Myrrh-Streaming, Sofrino) ... Part 9 — Tikhvin Icon of the Mother of God. Tales of the miraculous icons of the Mother of God. (Part 3) Part 10 - Tikhvin Icon of the Blessed Virgin Mary - a shrine to the Nativity of the Mother of God convent. Part 11 - Tikhvin Bread (Baked) Icon of the Blessed Virgin Mary Part 12 - Iveron Icon of the Mother of God Part 13 - Icon of the Feodorovskaya Mother of God. ... Part 15 - THE QUEEN OF HEAVEN. GOD'S CHOSEN MOTHER. Icon "Cathedral of the Mother of God". Part 16 - The Mother of God is strong to help a person in any trouble. Video. Archpriest Andrey Part 17 - Mother of God. She became the Mother of God and all people.

Veneration in Orthodoxy

The day of celebration and veneration of the Bread Icon is set for September 21 according to the new style (September 8 according to the Julian calendar). On this day, many Orthodox churches hold a festive service dedicated to honoring the miraculous image. When celebrating the liturgy, historical episodes during which the intercession of the Mother of God was manifested are recalled.

After the service, the priest distributes a piece of consecrated bread to the believers. Many people take it with them, putting it at home for safekeeping as a shrine, since bread consecrated in the name of the Most Pure Virgin Mary brings both material and spiritual prosperity.

“Bread” icon of the Mother of God: what do they pray for and what does it help with?

During the days of crisis, strings of parishioners reached out to the lists of the “Bread” icon. They prayed to the Mother of God and asked Her to help them get through difficult times, calm anxiety, cope with material difficulties, find or keep a job, and gain faith in the future.

Today, the priest gives everyone who approaches the “Bread” icon in the “Seeking the Lost” church a piece of consecrated bread. Most people take it home and keep it as a shrine - that’s why bread has long been considered a symbol of prosperity and prosperity in Rus', and if it is also consecrated in the name of the Mother of God, then it carries Her grace and blessing. Such bread will definitely bring a person not only material, but also spiritual well-being.

This wonderful icon shows us Christ as the bread of life. A person, having met him, satisfies his main hunger - spiritual.

Through prayers at the miraculous icon of the Mother of God “Bread”, many people received miraculous help. If a person sincerely believes and does not forget to turn to the icon with prayers in the morning and evening, then the Most Pure One will definitely hear his request and help him. Don't forget that the Lord never sends us trials beyond what we can bear. And he always helps us in any need.

The date of celebration of the “Bread” Icon of the Mother of God is September 21.

What is asked for in front of the Bread Icon of the Holy Mother of God

The Mother of God “Bread” icon is considered miraculous. Many people resort to prayers in front of the sacred image, asking for help:

• solve financial problems;
• maintain or find a decent job;
• avoid hunger and poverty;
• gain confidence in the future.

But human existence is not limited to feeding the body. It is also necessary to nourish the soul in order to achieve spiritual unity with the Lord. Therefore, they turn to the Bread Image with a request to send down spiritual help, strengthening them in faith.

Prayer can be performed both at home and in church. Even if this image is not in the house, you can pray in front of any icon of the Most Pure Mother or in front of the Iconostasis. The main thing is to sincerely believe that the Mother of God will hear the request and provide help.

Prayer text

First prayer

Oh, All-Singing Mother, Who feeds us with the Bread of Life!

Receive this prayerful song from us, the inexorable servants of God, offered to You, and standing before Your Image, marveling at the greatness of Your miracles, which have shown from ancient years, and to this day flows of mercy flowing, in our daily bread, O Blessed One, appearing to all as a Helper, show us also Your wonderful intercession. Having resorted to Your holy icon “Bread”, do not disdain us sinners, but like the Merciful Mother, send us good food and food for good times, feed the hungry soul, and satiate our hearts with heavenly sweetness, and pray for all those who call on You.

Bless every house and Thy people, establish every good life, and maintain food sufficiency in our houses; Let us not cry in vain to the Lord: “Give us this day our daily bread.”

Oh, Most Generous Mercy of the Mother of God the Word Who gave birth!

Since You have poured out so many multitudes of Thy mercy on us, sinners, and given mercy to us especially in our sorrows, and when difficult times come upon us, and in our poverty and misery we will remain, so that we may receive from You grace-filled consolation and help, so that we may not perish. Our life, like the servants of God, is in the poverty of existence, but all contentment from You is acceptable to all, for Your servants always save from all kinds of cruel ones. O. Our God-loving Mother, who organizes and guides our earthly life to salvation, attend to our prayer and petition; may our prayer not be in vain, but we, lamenting over our sins, in our poverty, create and help, Lady, so that in this life, lovingly feeding and the tearful bread of true repentance for sins, we will one day be satisfied with the Bread of the Animal, the blessed and holiest Fruit of Your womb forever and ever. Entrusting ourselves to Your protection and saving providence for us, may Your praise not fail, from our lips, below is faith and love for You, always understanding that you do what is pleasing to You and save us, and our eyes trust in You, Lady Theotokos, and let us continually sing songs Ti: Rejoice, Blessed One, Rejoice, Delighted One; Rejoice, Most Blessed One; Rejoice, Glorified One forever; and ask Thy beloved Son, our Savior, for mercy for us sinners, from Him all things are acceptable, Who saves our souls through His Bread. Amen.

Second prayer

Queen of Heaven Most Holy Theotokos, Immaculate Virgin Mary, Mother of the Lord God and our Savior Jesus Christ.

We tearfully pray to You, Zealous Intercessor, do not leave us, unworthy servants of God, with Your mercy and protection, For you have chosen the Russian land as Your inheritance. Heavenly Mother We ask that you do not forsake us, out of the love of Your Mother, and show us the immaterial bread, as She revealed the Son of God into this world for the sake of the Salvation of all men, do not forsake us, as in famines and pestilences She did not leave without protection the people faithful to the Triune God, God the Father, God the Son, and to God the Holy Spirit, the Life-Giving.

And deliver the entire people from the invasion of dark forces, as in besieged cities and villages she delivered and saved through prayers.

She showed much mercy before Your Most Pure Image. Tearfully we pray, hear us, as during the siege of the Solovetsky monastery and during the famine she did not leave those who labored and the people, through the prayer of St. Philip, without Her Mother’s intercession and mercy, as in the besieged city of Sevastopol she showed the bread of heaven, as in the besieged city of Petrov she showed a lot of mercy and help to Her Mother’s Co. to all who come running in their prayers before Thy Most Pure Image of Bread during the years of the reign of godless authorities. Do not allow the adversaries to destroy in these days the people faithful to the Most Holy Consubstantial and Indivisible Trinity and beg Your Son and our God Jesus Christ to have mercy on all the Orthodox who stand before Your Most Pure Image. Out of Your Motherly love, do not forsake us sinners. You did not forsake St. Philip, who also found Your Holy image as a saint. We pray, hear us servants of Your Son and the Lord God and our Savior Jesus Christ and cover with Your protection Your earthly inheritance and all the people of the Orthodox Faith. Flowing to your most honorable image “Bread” In these days, even those in power do not care about this people from whom they were elected to rule. Hear us and do not leave us without an emperor, the anointed one of God who has chosen to rule in the Russian land.

Rare and unusual icons

The Icon of the Mother of God “Bread” appeared to Saint Philip of Moscow while he was asceticizing in the Solovetsky monastery. In the world, the boyar Feodor Kolychev, at the age of 30, he left public service and, in simple clothes, secretly retired to the Far North. Without revealing his name, he worked at general obediences as a simple monk. Soon the reverent novice was assigned to the bakery - making prosphora and bread for the fraternal meal. It was not easy for the noble boyar in this very difficult obedience, however, despite all the hardships, he did not give up prayer. The Mother of God, to Whom the monk Philip always resorted with special zeal, consoled the novice by revealing to him Her miraculous image. This happened in the 1540s. Philip placed the new icon of the Mother of God at the place of his obedience - near the baking oven, and from then on he had the habit of placing all the newly baked prosphora and breads in front of it, as if offering it to the Mother of God Herself. The brethren, coming for prosphora and bread, took them from the image, as if from the hands of the Most Pure One. The icon also began to be called “Baked” or “Bread”. After the martyrdom of St. Philip in 1569 (January 22, n.st.), the image of the “Bread” Mother of God became one of the most revered in the Solovetsky monastery and became famous in many parts of Holy Russia. The beginning of the “rite of the Never Sleeping Akathist” was the offering in the late 1880s. one pious pilgrim to the Leushinsky Monastery from the Solovetsky Monastery of the copy of the miraculous icon of the Mother of God, called “Bread”. This holy icon was solemnly greeted by the sisters two miles from the monastery, carried in a religious procession into the holy gates and placed in the bakery. With the blessing of the Mother Superior, the sisters, when receiving bread, had to make three bows to the Mother of bread, accepting the bread as if from Her hands, and read the Akathist before her every evening. After this, despite the poverty, the monastery was never left without bread. Abbess Taisia ​​had the idea to arrange a special cell for the Bread Icon, in which she gave her blessing to collect lists of other revealed icons of the Mother of God and read the Never-Sleeping Akathist before them. Obviously, Mother Taisiya knew about the existence in Diveevo of a chapel blessed by Father Seraphim, in which all the icons of the Mother of God were collected and where the Reverend commanded to read the Never-Sleeping Psalter. In imitation of the Diveyevo chapel, St. Taisiya blessed in 1905 erect a similar one in Leushino. The materials for construction were the remains of the newly built winter Trinity Cathedral with the chapel of St. Seraphim of Sarov. The revered icon of Our Lady of Bread and other copies of Her icons were transferred to the new chapel, erected next to the Cathedral of Praise. Nina Mikhailovna Fedorova with the “Bread” Mother of God 1) The chapel was consecrated on July 10, 1906 by Fr. John of Kronstadt. Having himself ardently revered the Most Pure Mother of God, Dear Father, having exalted the praise of the Mother of God in the Chapel, exclaimed in spiritual delight: “If I lived here in the monastery, I would not have left this chapel - how desirable it is to glorify the Lady.” Almost forty years until its closure in 1931. in Leushino, the Archangel greeting to the Mother of God was silently proclaimed: “Rejoice, O Blessed One.” “According to the reverent desire of the abbess, the holy Name of the Mother of God, the Vigilant Intercessor and Patroness of this desert monastery did not cease to be glorified for a minute.” Unfortunately, the revered Leushinsky list of Our Lady of Bread was lost during Soviet times. After the flooding of the great monastery, its whereabouts are unknown. Nowadays, there is a metochion of the Leushinsky Monastery in St. Petersburg. The parishioners of the Leushinsky Metochion Church spent a long time looking for the image of the “Bread” Mother of God. Few copies have been made of this extremely rare image. A small black and white image in Poselyanin’s famous book “Miracle-Working Icons of the Mother of God” gave only a general idea of ​​his iconography - close to “Quick to Hear”. Finally, a year and a half after the resumption of the tradition of the Never Sleeping Akathist on Saturdays at the Leushinsky courtyard, the “Bread” icon appeared in the church. It turned out that a list of a rare image on gold is kept in one of the St. Petersburg apartments as a family shrine. The chairman of the board of the Radetel Foundation, Nina Yakovlevna Chalenko, informed us about this, inviting the custodian of the icon, Nina Mikhailovna Fedorova, a native St. Petersburger, to receive communion. She was born in 1935 and lived all her life in St. Petersburg. She did not leave him even during the terrible years of the siege. Nina Mikhailovna still cannot calmly talk about that time: tears immediately well up. During the blockade, she and her three-year-old brother Anatoly were left alone with their mother Natalya Vasilyevna. In the autumn and winter of 1941 it was especially difficult. “There was no water, no food,” recalls Nina Mikhailovna. 125 grams of bread - “it was so black, with earth and sawdust” - could not support life. There came a time when I had to eat nothing but newspapers for three days. “We ate the newspaper for three days and said: Mom, we don’t want any more, eat it yourself.” At this terrible moment, the Mother of God showed Her unexpected intercession. Here is Nina Mikhailovna Fedorova’s story about the appearance of the “Bread” icon: “Mom went to get at least some child support, and at that time the shelling began. This happened on Malaya Morskaya Street near the Institute of Aircraft Instrumentation, on the corner. A terrible whistling began - when shells fly close, they whistle. Potholes appeared on the ground. A sailor running past shouted: “Get down, everyone!” - and pushed my mother. Mom fell, and when she got up, there were three icons under her. When my mother walked, there was nothing there, but when she stood up, suddenly there were icons. She was embarrassed and thought: “Oh my God, what is this?!” What do i do?" I realized that the find was not accidental - it was a phenomenon. And then she decided to go to one pious old woman and ask her. She came and said: “What should I do, what should I do? Here are three icons I found.” She answered: “You thought death was just around the corner, but it was behind you,” and advised her to keep the icons and keep them carefully.”

Having read the name on one icon - “The Most Holy Theotokos of Bread” - Natalya Vasilyevna felt hope and returned home. The next day, an unfamiliar soldier gave her a kilogram of oats. Our Lady of Bread sent bread. “This was the first help from the icon,” says Nina. “Mom put the oats on the stove and we pecked one grain at a time, and that’s how we were saved.” Since then, these three icons have been in our home: the Mother of God of Bread, John the Theologian and St. Nicholas - bronze. Mom prayed in front of these icons and never left them.”

Having learned the story of the Never Sleeping Akathist, Nina Mikhailovna agreed to give the image for three days, so that the Akathist of the Mother of God would be sung before it, as in the previous Leushino. Nina Mikhailovna’s friend, Nina Yakovlevna, brought the shrine to the temple of the Leushinsky courtyard.

On March 5, 2003, for the first time since the closure of the Leushinsky Monastery, the reading of the Never Sleeping Akathist was performed in front of the Bread Icon of the Mother of God. For three days, akathists were continuously read, and the consecration of bread and crackers was performed. The Mother of God showed a sign to a person these days. A servant of God named Lyudmila came to the temple, who said that three days ago she dreamed of the Mother of God and ordered her to bake pies, handing over an invoice containing 150 pies. The servant of God, waking up, was perplexed as to why and for whom these pies needed to be baked. In the evening, she heard on the radio a story about Our Lady of Bread and the bringing of Her icon to the church of the Leushinsky metochion. She decided that it was the Mother of God that she should prepare the pies for. Imagine her surprise when she, seeing the icon of the Mother of God of Bread, recognized in it the Mother of God who had appeared to her in this image. The 70 pies brought were sacred and blessed to all pilgrims. The next day, Lyudmila brought another 80 pies, thus fulfilling the obedience given to her in a dream. Someone remembered that the Monk Seraphim of Sarov gave his blessing to read “Rejoice to the Virgin Mary” exactly 150 times on the canal in Diveevo. Probably the number of pies of the Mother of God of Bread was not accidental.

In our days, a copy of the icon of the Mother of God “Bread” was written for the Assumption Church of St. Petersburg, built in memory of the victims of the siege on the site of mass graves of citizens who died and perished during these terrible years. This is what people call “siege”. Icon painter Valentina Zhdanova, a teacher at the St. Petersburg Theological Seminary, painted the image on silver. The Apostle John the Theologian and Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker stand before the Mother of God. With the blessing of the builder and rector of the Assumption Church, Archpriest Victor, this image was painted in memory of those icons that a woman found during the harsh winter of the siege and which saved the lives of her children.” The event turned out to be terrible when the scaffolding of the Assumption Church fell due to the pressure of a hurricane wind, under which Father Victor died, buried near the walls of the temple he built. It contains the icon of the Mother of God “Bread”, painted with the blessing of the priest. Parishioners of the Assumption Church ask for prayers for the repose of Archpriest Victor, through whose diligence and by the grace of God the ancient Solovetsky icon returned to the people of St. Petersburg. In the Solovetsky monastery itself, to this day there was not even a single copy of the miraculous icon. And then information came to the Solovetsky Compound in Moscow that a copy of the Bread Icon had been seen in an antique store on Arbat. Very soon a benefactor was found and the icon was bought. This happened on the eve of the feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, which is the patronal feast of the Solovetsky Metochion in Moscow. It is noteworthy that on the site of the appearance of the icon in the Solovetsky monastery, back in the years of St. Philip in 1859, a temple was also built in honor of the Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Currently, this copy of the miraculous icon is located at the Solovetsky Metochion in Moscow and is open for worship every day. All these blessed events have become a new phenomenon and glorification of the image with which the Mother of God, in our time of practical materialism of universal market values, reminds us of our Daily Bread and gives us the Bread of Eternal Life - our Sweetest Lord Jesus Christ.

List of used literature: - The Legend of the Bread Icon of the Mother of God. - Comp. Priest Gennady Belovolov. Leushinsky courtyard. - St. Petersburg. - 2003. - 28 p.