This icon is also called “Simeon’s Prophecy.” One of the most beautiful icons of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It evokes tremulous feelings and sympathy for the Most Pure One at the sight of Her torment. According to legend, this icon helps with slander and attacks from evil people. The Mother of God suffered Herself, so she can help those who endure sorrow and cry out to Her.
Description of the icon
In the icon, the Mother of God is depicted without a baby. She stands with her head bowed, Her hands are folded on Her chest, into which seven swords are stuck. Three of them are on the right, three on the left, and the seventh is on the bottom. They all pierce Her heart.
Gospel event
The name “Simeon’s Prophecy” comes from the Gospel event, Candlemas. Evangelist Luke described this in detail. When Baby Jesus was forty days old, Mary and Joseph went to the Jerusalem Temple to perform a church rite of cleansing. To do this, it was necessary to sacrifice a lamb to God; poor people took pigeons with them.
The Mother of God and Joseph sacrificed two pigeon chicks . Although the Most Holy Theotokos and Jesus did not require a cleansing sacrifice, because He was born without sin, they still fulfilled the law.
in the temple by Elder Simeon , who was already three hundred years old. It was revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die until he saw the living Christ. The elder recognized the Infant God in spirit, approached, took Him in his arms and spoke a prophecy. He predicted terrible suffering to the Mother of God, similar to how a weapon passes through the soul. This prophecy formed the basis for painting the icon.
History of origin and acquisition
The image of the Mother of God “Softening Hearts,” like all images created in ancient times, is one of the most significant in Orthodoxy today. The purpose of the icon is to establish relationships between loved ones, to get rid of vices and negative character traits that interfere with creating harmony in life.
The second name of the icon is “Simeon’s prophecy.” This refers to the prophetic words spoken by the holy elder Simeon the God-Receiver to the Most Pure Mother Mary. Moreover, the prophecy became the symbolic basis for the creation of not only the “Softening of Hearts” icon, but also several other Orthodox images.
It is not known exactly where the icon comes from. According to one version, the face was created in the southwestern part of Rus', but it is impossible to name the exact place and date, since no written references have been preserved. There is another version of the origin: perhaps the icon “Softening Evil Hearts” was created by Catholic icon painters who supposedly lived somewhere in medieval Europe. As a result of inter-church relations, Catholics passed on the image to the clergy of the ancient Russian state. This is how the Catholic icon became Orthodox.
There is a legend about how a miraculous icon helped a peasant. The old man was a beggar, but could not work or take care of himself, because his body was constrained by severe and unrelenting pain. One night the peasant was sleeping, but suddenly in his sleep he heard an unusual voice. It was as if he was coming from all the walls of the house at the same time. The voice told the old man that in the bell tower of the old Church of St. John the Theologian there was hidden an icon of the Mother of God, which he needed to pray to in order to be healed of a painful illness.
The peasant came to the temple, there were a large number of relics and icons, but he could not find the image of the Mother of God “Softening Hearts” among them. It turned out that the icon was hidden right inside the wall of the bell tower. The old man took it out, put it in the iconostasis, and prayed. The pain that had tormented him for many years immediately subsided.
There is another amazing story that is connected with the face of the Mother of God “Softening Evil Hearts.” It happened relatively recently, many people witnessed it. In the spring of 1998, a parishioner of an Orthodox church, Margarita Vorobyova, purchased an ordinary-looking icon “Softening Evil Hearts” in a church store. I brought it home, but after a while I discovered that a fragrant liquid, myrrh, was flowing down the surface of the image. This phenomenon was repeated several times.
In the summer of 2000, the owner noticed that bloody wounds, similar to small sores, appeared on the hands and neck of the Holy Virgin. And one large bleeding ulcer appeared on my shoulder. Soon the whole country learned about the terrible death of the sailors in the sunken submarine cruiser Kursk. The days of mourning passed, and on November 21, the day of the Archangel Michael, large streams of blood and myrrh began to flow from the ulcers. Much time has passed since the sinking of the Kursk submarine, but the fragrance of the icon with abundant myrrh streaming and bleeding continues.
Such a wonderful icon required proper storage. An ark decorated with jewels was made for her. In the Moscow region, in the village of Bachurino, a church was built. The Bachurin Mother of God “Softening Hearts” has already visited many countries of the world: Germany, USA, Czech Republic, Australia, CIS.
Meeting of two icons on Italian soil
In 2011, the myrrh-streaming “Semistrelnaya” arrived in Italy. According to the Vorobyovs accompanying the shrine, no one specifically plans the routes for the Mother of God; She herself arranges Her travels, sending donors and favorable circumstances.
Temperamental Italians greeted the icon at the airport “on the verge of riots”: such is the love of this people for the Mother of God. Moreover, the well-known “Don Madonna” was supposed to meet her sister icon in Venice.
When the case with “Semistrelnaya” was opened, everyone was surprised to find that an unusual amount of the world stood out. The Mother of God thus sent a special blessing to the Italian land. All the airport employees came running to get at least a drop of the wonderful world.
Basilica of Saint Ambrose, Italy
Crowds of people constantly accompanied “Semistrelnaya” along the streets of the city. In the Church of St. Ambrose of Milan, where the shrine “spent the night” during their stay in Italy, both Milanese and visitors prayed around the clock. The Mother of God visited in Her image all the cities where there were Orthodox churches.
Italian Catholics, who have long been interested in Orthodoxy, did not remain aloof from the obvious miracle. “Semistrelnaya” was invited to bless a conference dedicated to the Royal Passion-Bearers (the executed family of the last Russian Tsar).
Then the Mother of God visited Venice, where a prayer service was served in the Chapel of Peace in front of two icons, the Don Madonna and the Moscow Seven Shore. Even Catholic monks came under the anointing with myrrh.
The Orthodox Church does not consider miracles the main and only proof of the existence of God. The appearance of myrrh-streaming on icons can occur either by the will of God or by the temptation of the devil.
Important! A Christian believer does not doubt the holiness of the Mother of God even if miracles do not occur from the icon. To pray to the Mother of God, it is enough to have any home icon, preferably an Orthodox canonical letter.
Description and meaning of the image in Orthodoxy
The Virgin Mary is depicted with seven daggers stabbed into her chest: three on the right, three on the left, and one more below. The number of daggers is not random: in the Bible the number 7 denotes overcrowding, an excess of something. If we talk specifically about the icon, here the seven daggers reflect the overflow of the Holy Virgin’s soul with pain and sadness experienced during her life’s journey. In rare cases, a baby is depicted on the knees of the suffering Mother of God.
Worship of the image is performed on the week of All Saints. This is the next Sunday after Trinity.
Those who wish to ease mental and physical torment turn to the icon with prayer. Before the Mother of God they pray for enemies; prayer helps to soften feelings, calm the soul, get rid of anger, intolerance, and vindictiveness. Negative emotions are replaced by mercy and forgiveness in the soul.
The icon received its second name – “Simeon’s prophecy” – from the event described in the Gospel – the Presentation, described by the Apostle Luke. 40 days after the birth of Jesus, Joseph and Mary went to the temple in Jerusalem to undergo the required rite of purification with sacrifice. Rich people sacrificed a lamb; the poor, to whom Jesus’ parents belonged, went to the temple with a dove.
Joseph and Mary sacrificed two young birds. Although Jesus, being the son of God, was born without original sin, his parents still did as the Jerusalem law ordered. In the temple, the family met the 300-year-old elder Simeon. The Holy Spirit, having previously descended to him, said that he could not die until he met the promised Savior.
The elder immediately realized that the Son of God was in front of him, took him in his arms, and addressed his mother Mary with a prophecy. He told her that she would experience terrible mental anguish for her son, as if a weapon would dig into her chest. This prophecy became the inspiration for the creation of the icon “Softening Evil Hearts.”
Similar to the image “Softening Hearts” is another image of the Mother of God – “Seven Arrows”. The only difference is that the second icon has a different arrangement of daggers: three on the right, four on the left.
Each dagger represents the seven main sins committed by humanity, deeply wounding the Holy Mother:
- anger;
- envy;
- gluttony;
- betrayal;
- blues;
- greed;
- pride.
The icon helps to get rid of these vices if you turn to it with sincere prayer. They also turn to the image of the Mother of God “Softening Hearts” in order to:
- distance yourself from evil people and slanderers;
- pacify enemies;
- protect from witchcraft;
- cure an illness;
- get rid of lameness;
- stop being persecuted and outcast.
Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos “Softening Evil Hearts”: what they pray for
Prayer in front of this icon can bestow peace of mind and peace. Before this image, they pray for reconciliation of the warring parties, for liberation from anger and irritability. They also turn to the icon in times of persecution and oppression.
“Just don’t think that She (the Most Holy Theotokos) will deliver you from all sorrows, that everything will be safe and calm. No, but She will give you the strength to endure, she will teach you to bear life’s trials with humility, will help you in the fight against temptations, and will protect you from the misfortunes of the enemy. Moreover, She will not leave us in eternal life, but will intercede for us before Her Son” (Archimandrite Tikhon (Agrikov), in the schema of Panteleimon, 1918-2000).
Where to hang it in the house
There are no strict principles for placing icons in a home. It is best to place the image “Softening Evil Hearts” in a home iconostasis. Many people hang a face over the passage from the hallway to the living room so that the Mother of God greets those entering the house.
If there is no iconostasis, then the icon is placed in any convenient place in the eastern part of the room. It is advisable for the face to look at the door, so the Mother of God will protect the home from guests who come with bad intentions. Photographs, paintings, and decorative elements should not be placed next to the icon. You cannot place the image in the same corner as the TV.
Iconography of the image
The icon belongs to the same iconographic type as the “Seven Shot” icon. A picturesque feature of these images are the seven swords (arrows) pierced into the heart of the Mother of God. The number seven in church tradition is a symbol of completeness. In this case, this is completeness, a high degree of heartache and grief of the Mother of God.
The image “Softening Evil Hearts” is distinguished by the arrangement of the swords: one sword is directed with the hilt down in the center, three are directed to the right side and three are directed to the left. There were no clear rules for writing this image. The hands of the Mother of God can be crossed on her chest or folded in a prayer gesture. The head can be written tilted to one side or the other.
There are full-length images of the Blessed Virgin Mary standing on a cloud, and half-length ones.
How to pray correctly
“Softening evil hearts” is one of the most effective prayers addressed to the Mother of God. In order for your request to be heard and to come true sooner, you need to:
- go to an Orthodox church;
- light a candle in front of the face of Christ;
- touch first your lips, then your forehead to the Crucifix;
- light a candle in front of the “Softening Hearts” icon, say one of the prayers listed below, or pray in your own words.
If it is not possible to visit the temple, then you can pray at home. But to do this, you need to buy a church candle, light it in front of the icon, and ask the Mother of God for help.
Miraculous lists of the icon “Softening Evil Hearts”
In 1998, the icon of the Mother of God “Softening Evil Hearts” was cast in the Vorobyov family in Moscow. This image was bought in an ordinary church shop. In 2000, the icon began to bleed. Currently, myrrh is constantly expiring. Blood appears only before some tragic events (as was the case with the death of the Kursk submarine). Surprisingly, the examination confirmed that the blood on the icon is human and belongs to the first group. The icon has visited many countries around the world.
Cases of miraculous help from the Mother of God received after veneration of this shrine have been recorded. Now this image is kept in a chapel built in 2006 in the village of Bachurino (Moscow region).
Texts of prayers
Below are the existing versions of the “Softening Evil Hearts” prayers.
First
Oh, who will not please You, Virgin of Grace, who will not sing of Your mercy to the human race. We pray to you, we ask you, do not leave us perishing in evil, dissolve our hearts with love and send your arrow to our enemies, may our hearts be wounded by peace against those who persecute us. If the world hates us - You extend Your love to us, if the world persecutes us - You accept us, give us the grace-filled strength of patience - to endure the trials that happen in this world without grumbling. Oh, Lady! Soften the hearts of evil people who rise up against us, so that their hearts do not perish in evil - but pray, O Blessed One, Thy Son and our God, may he pacify their hearts with peace, but let the devil - the father of evil - be put to shame! We, singing Thy mercy towards us, the evil, the indecent, will sing to Thee, O Most Wonderful Lady Virgin of Grace, hear us at this hour, those who have contrite hearts, protect us with peace and love for each other and for our enemies, eradicate from us all malice and enmity, let us sing to You and Your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ: Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
Second
O Long-suffering Mother of God, Higher than all the daughters of the earth, in Your purity and in the multitude of sufferings You have endured on earth, accept our much-painful sighs and keep us under the shelter of Your mercy. For you know of no other refuge and warm intercession, but since you have the boldness to be born of You, help and save us with Your prayers, so that we may without stumbling reach the Kingdom of Heaven, where with all the saints we will sing praises in the Trinity to the One God, now and ever and forever and ever. Amen.
EXTRACTS FROM THE BOOK OF ALLATRA, WHERE THE “SEVEN” IS PRESENT.
As I already said, everything in the world is interconnected. The world is multidimensional and has different parallels. A person in the invisible world is an informationally complex spatially oriented subject who is simultaneously stably located in six dimensions. It is still difficult for modern people to understand, but I hope that with the development of qualitatively new physics and biophysics, science will get to this fact. A person is simultaneously stably located in six dimensions, which constantly influence each other. But a person has a chance during his lifetime to achieve the merging of the Personality with the Soul, to gain spiritual maturity and enter the seventh dimension (Nirvana, paradise), that is, to achieve his spiritual liberation, and, if desired, to cognize even higher dimensions. (pp. 189-190, read more online)
It is important to note that the power of the Animal Mind is limited to only six dimensions, which constitute the “material world” of the Universe. Roughly speaking, the material world occupies only 5% of the Universe. Starting from the seventh dimension and up to the seventy-second, there is a world of energies and information, which, among other things, forms the material world of the Universe, and also improves energy structures, thanks to the movement and power of Allat. But outside the Universe there is a world qualitatively different from itself - the spiritual world, the world of God, where, in fact, a person can go as a new Spiritual Being. At the same time, it is enough for him to reach the seventh dimension, breaking out of material captivity, in order to then, at will, move into the spiritual world. (pp. 209-210)
In other words, if a person develops spiritually, his aspirations and desires are connected with the world of God, that is, the Spiritual principle dominates in him, then ultimately he can, during his lifetime, go beyond the limitations of the material world (six dimensions) and enter the seventh dimension. At the same time, its energy structure in the seventh dimension becomes more complicated. (page 212)
Rigden: Absolutely right. Often, in the sacred rites of various religions, some seven-fold external action takes place as a symbol of achieving the seventh dimension during life, a special spiritual procession (the spiritual development of a person during life) along the path to God. For example, as you correctly noted, in Islam this means walking around the Kaaba seven times and a number of other sacred rites associated with the number seven. This is due to the Muslim beliefs that the throne of Allah is in paradise at the top of the seventh heaven, where the “Lotus of the extreme limit” (Sidrat al-muntaha). There is such an esoteric movement of Islam - Sufism, which had a great influence on the religious dogma, philosophy, literature, ethics, and poetry of Muslims of the East. By the way, the famous scientist and poet Omar Khayyam also wrote in the style of Sufi rubai. So, in Sufism, spiritual knowledge, the path to God, are seven spiritual steps on the path of self-improvement (tariqa; from the Arabic “tariqa” (the word is given in Russian transcription) - “road”; “path to truth”). They are referred to as maqam (translated from Arabic as “location”, “position”, “station”) - a spiritual, stable state that a Sufi achieves at each stage; "parking" of the tariqa. The path to God is described as a symbolic crossing of the so-called “Seven Valleys” (pp. 594-595). You can continue reading in the text.
It is no coincidence that the “Burning Bush” is associated with the symbolism of the immaculate conception of the Mother of God from the Holy Spirit. This is just a symbol of what I told you about. The Mother of God is the Guide of God's power for every person walking the spiritual path; it is the power of God's Love, with the help of which the human Soul is freed from earthly reincarnations. Jesus, as a Spiritual Being from another world, renewed the true Knowledge lost over the centuries and gave people spiritual tools for spiritual salvation. So, in other words, he left the keys. By working on himself with the help of these tools, a person acquired, figuratively speaking, the key to the sign. And to the Mother of God, as the Conductor of the power of God, as a spiritually liberated Being, located between the worlds for the sake of the spiritual liberation of human souls, He gave strength and the signs themselves. And only by combining zeal, work on oneself as a spiritual seeker and the power of the Mother of God (Allata), did the merging of the Personality with the Soul take place, that is, a person achieved the liberation of his Soul, the seventh dimension or, as they say in Christianity, “paradise”, “the kingdom of the Father and the Son " And it depended only on the person’s choice whether the sign would be active, whether the person would be worthy of receiving this divine power that would lead him to God. The key is given to be used. And in order to use the key, you need to make an effort. This is the path of a spiritual person - the path of unburnt spiritual dispassion, which only together with the creative power of God leads to liberation. (pp. 655-656)
Now an excerpt about two-dimensionality:
Rigden: For a person (in his perception), the functions of the second (two-dimensional) dimension are nothing more than a kind of storage and transmission of information, where signs and symbols play an important role. Although the functions of the second dimension are much broader. Let me give you a simple example. Any recording involves storing information. What is writing, be it pictographic, ideographic, hieroglyphic or alphabetic? This is the same symbolic system of recording human thoughts, which allows, with the help of symbols, to capture them in time and transmit them over distances. In other words, this is a recording in a two-dimensional dimension, which involves storing information in certain symbols and signs. For example, a recipe for making a pie, or a manual for building a nuclear power plant, or a diagram for making a nuclear bomb, and so on. If you managed to read the recipe and did nothing to do anything, then nothing will happen. But if you know how to read, that is, you understand the designation of the symbols, and then, following the instructions, apply the appropriate force and perform the action, then you will invariably get the result that is recorded in this recipe or manual. So is the sign of a two-dimensional dimension: add energy to it, acting from a three-dimensional dimension, and it begins to work. As a result, in the third dimension, after applying energy, performing actions, according to the given information of the second dimension, we, according to our example, receive either a pie, or light in the house, or a result that will destroy our house. (pp. 222-223)
Sins that destroy a person's soul
It is curious that in the tradition of the early Christian Church of the East, the so-called “eightfold” scheme for calculating sins was adopted. It became “septenary”, accepted in our church, only in the 6th century. It was introduced by Pope Gregory I, who went down in history under the name Gregory the Great. In some modern schemes, the order of sins leading to the destruction of the soul changes, but pride is always recognized as the most serious of them. It is she who pushes people to a variety of unseemly acts, and sometimes even to crimes. Following pride are listed stinginess, envy, anger, lust, gluttony (gluttony) and despondency. It is not by chance that it is included in this black list. Dejection is always generated by a person’s lack of faith in the omnipotence of God and His help.
SECOND SECRET.
You have seen hell, where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wants to establish veneration of My Immaculate Heart in the world. If what I tell you is fulfilled, many souls will be saved and a time of peace will come. The war will end soon. But if people do not stop insulting God, a worse war will begin under Pope Pius XI. When you see the night illuminated by an unusual light, know that this is a great sign from God that God is ready to punish the world for its atrocities through war, famine, and persecution of the Church and the Holy Father. To prevent this, I came to ask for the consecration of Russia to my Immaculate Heart and for communion in reparation for sins on the first Saturday of the month. If my requests are heard, Russia will convert and a time of peace will come. If not, then she will spread her mistakes throughout the world, causing wars and persecution of the Church. The good will be tormented, the Holy Father will suffer a lot, some nations will be destroyed. In the end my Immaculate Heart will triumph. The Holy Father will dedicate Russia to me, and she will be converted and some time of peace will be given to the world.
Here you can already feel the hand of the Vatican, “The Holy Father will dedicate Russia to me,” - the Vatican’s addition is too obvious, can one person dedicate an entire country to the Mother of God? Here the answer is obvious, no matter who he is, he alone cannot do anything. Who then can do this? Of course, the people, the people themselves who live in these territories, have all the power in them, and not in the Holy Fathers. And if we remember the 90s, what happened, a spiritual upsurge in society began to occur, old Temples began to be restored, new ones were opened, people began to visit these Temples (some for show, of course), there were also those who, without visiting the Temples, simply They believed in God, and this is wonderful. Faith awoke in people and the Mother of God found her home.
By the way, in my opinion, the last sentence was completely added by the Vatican. “The Holy Father will consecrate Russia to me, and she will be converted and some time of peace will be given to the world.” And the prophecy ends with the words “In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph.”
AGAIN ABOUT THE FATIMA PROPHECY OF THE VIRGIN MARY.
For fans of prophecies, what follows is more interesting. The motif of the heart of the Mother of God, the Virgin Mary, Mary (as it is convenient for anyone to call Her) is present in the Fatima prophecy, and it is connected with Russia, the text has already been cited before, I will repeat.
Until 1927, Lucia did not talk about the heart. The children saw a heart with thorns on Lucia's hand, which Lucia interpreted as the immaculate heart of Mary, struck by sadness over human sinfulness. The following dialogue is related to this circumstance:
Lucia asked to go to heaven, to which the answer was: “I will come soon and take Francisco and Jacinta.” But you will have to stay here for a long time. The Lord wants you to make me known and loved, and to establish throughout the world the worship of my immaculate heart. To all those who accept him, I promise salvation, and their souls will be pleasing to the Lord, like flowers before his throne. - Dear lady, am I going to stay here alone? - No, my child, I will never leave you. If this thought makes you sad, remember that my immaculate heart will always be your refuge and the path that will lead you to the Lord.
