People's lives are full of troubles and their manifestation is often ailments that develop into illness. Together with medicine, people sincerely seek healing near icons. One of these miraculous faces is the Tolga Icon of the Mother of God.
The Mother of God knew what earthly needs were, she knew what human life was like. She could not leave those in need without protection, so Her image was always embodied as a savior.
Date of celebration: August 21
History of appearance
The date of the appearance of the icon is indicated in church chronicles: August 8, 1314. Rostov Bishop Prokhor, accompanied by monks, decided to visit the churches and monasteries of the diocese entrusted to him. In the 14th century, Rostov the Great was the capital of the Rostov principality, the largest church center. Currently, it is a city of regional significance in the Yaroslavl region.
The inspection began in the Belozersky region. Descending along the Sheksna River, the bishop and his entourage reached the Volga. There were 7 kilometers left to the final stop (Yaroslavl). The travelers settled down for the night on the right bank of the Volga, opposite the mouth of the Tolga stream.
In the dead of night, the saint woke up and saw a glow on the opposite bank, burning with an even flame without smoke. Prokhor took his staff and approached the river. He saw that the banks of the Volga were connected by a bridge. Captivated by a premonition of a miracle, the bishop crossed to the other side. A radiance appeared before his eyes, in the center of which was the icon of the Mother of God.
Not feeling the heat, the saint came close to the icon, knelt down and began to pray fervently. Before dawn he returned to his place of spending the night and fell into a deep sleep.
In the morning Prokhor forgot what happened at night. The bishop and the monks got into the boat and sailed on. On the way, he discovered the missing staff and remembered what happened at night. The saint ordered the monks to return and land on the shore of Tolga to find the rod. The monks soon returned with the message that the staff had been found, and next to it lay an icon of the Mother of God. The priest went ashore to the Tolga and recognized the icon that he had seen at night. By his order, the monks cleared a place for the foundation of the temple.
Residents of Yaroslavl, having learned about the miracle, arrived at Tolga and took part in the construction of the temple. The church was built on the same day. In the evening, the bishop consecrated it in honor of the Entry of the Most Holy Theotokos into the temple and transferred the icon there and set the day of celebration (August 8/21). Subsequently, a monastery was established next to the temple.
Where is the Tolga Icon of the Mother of God located?
In 1926, the monastery was attacked by the authorities. Then the godless administration of the state decided to desecrate the monastery by also placing a colony there for juvenile delinquents. In order to save this divine image, it was sent to the Yaroslavl Art Museum.
Over time, the period of the atheists passed and the monastery was restored. In 2003, the miraculous Tolga icon was returned to its native monastery.
There is a legend according to which there was another similar image. Written back in the 13th century. Scientists are divided into two camps regarding the origin of this face. The first are inclined to believe that it belongs to a Yaroslavl artist, and the second - that it has clear contours of the Georgian school of icon painting. Today the Holy Image is in the State Tretyakov Gallery.
In addition to the main icon, there are also lists that are also revered. They are located in:
- VysokoPetrovsky Monastery, Moscow
- Nezhinsky Holy Vvedensky Convent, Nizhyn
The best article for you, go to: Icon of the Lord Pantocrator, meaning and what it helps with
Description and meaning in Orthodoxy
The peculiarity of the face of the Mother of God in the icon is the sadness and pain that can be read in her gaze. Baby Jesus stands on his mother's lap, affectionately hugging his neck and pressing his cheek to hers. The Mother of God herself is depicted sitting on a throne in precious clothes. The archangels Michael and Gabriel are depicted in the background. Sad peace descends on everyone who prays in front of the icon.
Two lists were made from the original source. On the second icon “Tolgskaya” the Mother of God is depicted from the waist up, with Jesus sitting on her lap. Mother and Child sadly look from the icon at the believers, filling their hearts with sorrow. The third copy is very similar to the second list.
The Tolga Icon of the Mother of God is a divine gift preserved for hundreds of centuries. The miraculous properties of the image appeared immediately after being brought into the church: everyone involved in the construction was cured of illness.
How does the Tolga Icon of the Mother of God help?
The famous Tolga Icon of the Mother of God, which helps the sick, has healing powers. Her bright face helps the disadvantaged, relieves believers from alcohol addiction, drug addiction, smoking, and promotes healing. For seven centuries now, the Holy Virgin, with her pure heart and faith, has been preserving human souls from godlessness and disease. The icon of the Tolga Mother of God protects during famine, supports couples who want to have a child, and also favors and promotes marriage.
There are even cases in history when a dead child came to life, and people were saved from hunger in the 18th century, when there was a severe drought - these miracles are attributed to the Tolga icon.
Prayer text
Oh, Most Holy Lady, Virgin Mother of God, superior to the Cherubim and Seraphim and most holy of all saints! You, the All-Blessed One, at Tolga, You deigned to reveal Your multi-healing icon to the blessed Saint Tryphon in a fiery way, and with it You performed many and ineffable miracles, and now You are doing them, according to T to your indescribable mercy towards us. We bow down and pray to You before Your most pure image, O Blessed Family of our Intercessor: in this earthly journey, much sorrow and much rebellion, do not deprive us of Your intercession and the protection of the sovereign. Save and protect us, Lady, from the kindled arrows of the crafty enemy of our salvation. Strengthen our weak will to do the commandments of Christ, soften our hardened hearts with love for God and our neighbors, grant us heartfelt contrition and true repentance, yes, cleansed from sinful querns, we can bring to the Creator the fruits of good deeds pleasing to Him and be rewarded with a peaceful Christian death and answer right at His terrible and impartial Judgment. Hey, All-Merciful Lady! In the hour of menace, mortals, especially show us Your powerful intercession, then speed up to help us, helpless, and with Your mighty hand snatch us from the power of the fierce ruler of the world, for truly Thy prayer can accomplish much before the Lord, and nothing is possible for Thy intercession except if it pleases . Moreover, looking at Your holy image with tenderness and before it, as if You were living with us, worshiping, with good hope, we pray for ourselves, and each other, and our entire life to You according to God. and we magnify You with our Savior born of You, To the Lord Jesus Christ, to Him, with His Eternal Father and the Most Holy Spirit, is due all glory, honor and worship, now and ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
Meaning and interpretation of the Tolga icon
The Large Tolga Icon, also called the Throne Icon, is a special type of Tenderness, which is distinguished by expressiveness. She is very emotional, which is usually not typical for sacred images.
In the revealed image, dark tones prevail, which are skillfully combined with the background color. The eyes of the Most Pure Virgin are highlighted in a special way, in which one can see deep sorrow.
The main idea of the icon painter is to show the boundless love between God and man, His creation. That is why Christ Emmanuel presses himself so closely to the face of the Mother and hugs her with his hand.
Miracles of the Tolga Icon of the Blessed Virgin Mary
The rector of the new monastery was Abbot Herman . On September 16, 1392, during Matins, myrrh flowed from the right hand of the Most Holy Theotokos on the icon, from which the fragrance spread throughout the entire church. When, after Matins, they began to serve a prayer service on the occasion of this miracle, the myrrh flowed out of the Baby’s left leg. Both myrrhs healed many sick people. Soon there was a fire in the monastery and the temple where the icon was kept burned down. They didn’t have time to take her out. Everyone mourned that she died. But after the fire she was found in a wonderful glow in the monastery grove. There was once a crop failure, and the monastery fed all the pilgrims and the poor who flocked under the shelter of the Mother of God for free. When, with increasing hunger, the people began to flock even more, the abbot, fearing that the brethren themselves would be left without bread, refused to feed the people. After this, despite the abundance of the meal, the monastery brethren began to feel an inexplicable hunger. The abbot ordered to double the amount of food at the refectory, but the brethren still remained hungry. Then the abbot understood God’s punishment and ordered the people to be fed as before, and the brethren became full at their usual meal. In 1766, there was a drought for more than two months in Yaroslavl and its environs. All plants and crops have dried up, the earth is cracked. They lifted the miraculous icon from Tolga and carried it to Yaroslavl. When a prayer service was served in the city Assumption Church, the sky suddenly became covered with clouds, and it began to rain, which continued for three days. In the fall they reaped a bountiful harvest.
Prayer service before the Tolga Icon of the Mother of God in the Yaroslavl Assumption Cathedral. Stamp of the icon “Our Lady of Tolga with Stamps”. Yaroslavl, 1655
Holy Vvedensky Tolga Convent Official website
The Tolga Icon of the Mother of God is “the irreplaceable patroness of Yaroslavl, the same precious shrine for it as the Iverskaya icon for Moscow, the Bogolyubskaya icon for Vladimir, and the Feodorovskaya icon for Kostroma. Since ancient times, amid the gloomy darkness of national disasters, a blessed light shone on Tolga and since then, for a number of centuries, it has been tirelessly shining over the Russian country.
For centuries, the holy Tolga icon showed the power of grace for all who came to it with faith. During this time, many heavy thoughts of the people were told to her, many sorrows were laid at her feet, many tears were shed while kissing the Holy Face, many ailments were resolved by the grace-filled power of ardent faith.
Terrible natural disasters - famine, pestilence, great fires visited Yaroslavl more than once, sometimes with such force that they forced the unfortunate residents to imagine the end of the world. But even in these days of “the people’s distress,” whenever the Tolga Image of the Queen of Heaven appeared over the heads of the confused crowd, powerless in the face of the elements, like a vigilant saving guard, like God’s help from heaven, the people’s grief subsided, and often the elements themselves subdued the rage: the heavens provided water and the plague stopped.
The same thing was observed in the private life of each of the Yaroslavl residents. Every important family event, grief and joy, attracted him to pour out his feelings before the Tolga image of the Mother of God. And never at all times, the people's pious path from Yaroslavl to Tolga was overgrown with grass; in some cases and at some times of the year it turned into a wide smooth road, trodden by thousands of pilgrim feet”[1].
And at the present time, the flow of everyone flowing with faith and love to the Mother of God to the Tolga monastery does not stop, just as the mercy of the Most Pure Queen of Heaven, abundantly poured out on the human race, does not become scarce:
1995, Yaroslavl
A fourteen-year-old boy received healing from a spinal disease. Prayers at the Tolga icon and anointing with oil from a lamp saved him from a secondary fracture and a hump diagnosed in the hospital. The miracle was so obvious that the doctors, not finding a fracture in the picture, were perplexed. The teenager’s grandmother wrote an article in the local newspaper to notify Yaroslavl residents about the miracles occurring from the icon.
1995, Volgograd
A boy named Igor from Volgograd got rid of his leg disease. Arriving at the Tolga Monastery, he could only move with the help of crutches. After the mother’s prayers at the Tolga icon, the child received healing.
2001, Moscow
A resident of the capital, V. Chunarev, after a visit to his mother Tolga and her fervent prayers at the monastery shrines, was healed of heart disease. O. Chunareva brought medical evidence to the monastery and talked about her son’s recovery.
2005, St. Petersburg
After applying the Robe of the Lord to a particle and to the icons brought from Tolga, the woman’s injured hand stopped hurting and her fingers regained mobility. According to Maria Budajistskaya
2006, Ivanovo
A day after the girl visited Tolga and drank the holy monastery water, a wart disappeared from her palm, which had to be removed with a laser. According to Maria Zorina
2007, St. Petersburg
By venerating the Tolga Icon of the Mother of God, an elderly woman suffering from severe pain caused by inflammation of the trigeminal nerve was healed.
2008, Kaluga region, Peremyshl district, p. Akhlebino
After being applied to the Tolga Icon of the Mother of God, the woman was healed from drunkenness. According to Fotinia Dronova
2008, Tambov
Prayers at the Tolga Icon of the Mother of God, daily reading of the akathist and anointing sick places with church oil helped the spouses Mikhail and Tatyana to heal. (Mikhail suffered from headaches after suffering a mini-stroke, Tatyana had a ruptured ligament in her knee joint). After a miraculous recovery from their illnesses, the couple got married, which they reported to the monastery.
2011, Ryazan
After three days of prayers at the icon, attendance at water prayer services, anointing with oil from the icon of St. Ignatius and the Tolga Icon of the Mother of God, the woman got rid of swelling on her right leg. In gratitude for the healing, she brought her gold ring as a gift to the icon. According to Larisa Alekseeva
Big Miracle for little Alyosha
2014, Moscow region.
“I’ll tell you about a miracle that happened to me in Tolga. I dressed frivolously then, not for the weather, and the day was cold and rainy. Having examined the monastery, I, like a great lover, walked for a long time near the Volga and was thoroughly frozen. In the evening, my throat became congested and my temperature began to rise. The room was also cool for me when I was sick. I was depressed, I thought, well, tomorrow I’ll go to the service sick, and I was also preparing for Communion.. And in the morning, upon arrival, I bought spikenard ointment, consecrated from the Tolga Icon of the Mother of God. I prayed, anointed my sore throat with a cross... And in the morning I got up... completely healthy! And after Communion I actually flew! It was a wonderful trip...everything planned came true...Thank God for everything!” R. B. Ekaterina
2015, Moscow
My husband and I were at the Monastery on 07/25/15 and after praying in front of the Tolga Icon of the Mother of God, I became pregnant after 17 years of unsuccessful treatment for infertility, and the obstetric date is set from 07/27/15, my husband and I are still under the impression that this is if not a miracle? R. B. Natalia
2015, Naro-Fominsk
In May 2015, my wife, child and I were in your monastery (six-day river cruise). When I saw your monastery, I was overcome with an incomprehensible emotion. I have never seen such grandeur and beauty. At the end of the excursion, I approached the Tolga Icon of the Mother of God three times and asked to heal my knee, which had been hurting me for more than 7 years, and nothing helped me. It is surprising that there are many relics of Saints in the Monastery, but for some reason my gaze was fixed only on the Icon of the Mother of God, and an unknown force returned me to it. When we left the monastery, it was pouring rain, I took the child in my arms and did not immediately realize that a real miracle had happened, my knee stopped hurting. More than six months have passed, and I am still under the impression of a complete miracle. My knee doesn't hurt. Every day I turn with gratitude to the Tolga Icon of the Mother of God and want to thank the abbess of the Monastery and all her novices for the warm welcome. R. B. Evgeniy
2015, Tikhvin, Leningrad region.
In August 2015, my family and I were privately in the city of Yaroslavl and had no plans at all to visit the Tolga monastery. By a miraculous coincidence, the road led to the monastery, after veneration of the Tolga Icon of the Mother of God the next morning, the pain in the shoulder joint, which had been hurting for almost 2 months, practically disappeared! After that, I myself felt such spiritual grace, an invincible desire to come and work for the good of the monastery, which I did in September. And now, after almost 3 months, I am still impressed by the monastery. R. B. Vyacheslav
2016, Moscow region
Peace be with you, sisters of the Tolga monastery. I want to share with you the story of my healing. True, this was a long time ago in 2008. I visited the monastery on a tour. She prayed to the icon of the Mother of God and asked for help. Since adolescence I suffered from seborrheic eczema of the scalp. The scalp was covered with a weeping crust. I suffered from severe itching and my hair was falling out. Three months after visiting your monastery, my head cleared completely. I didn’t even immediately understand that this happened after prayers at the Tolga icon of the Mother of God, because the doctors could not help me for many years. A year later I was again in Tolga to thank the Mother of God for the miraculous healing. God bless you all! R. B. Olga
2016, Moscow
I came to the monastery for one day, together with the confessor and parishioners of our church. A person very close to me was in the hospital in serious condition, which could not be stabilized. The next day, after praying in front of the Tolga Icon, a loved one called me (and before that he could not speak, he was in a very serious condition), said that his condition had stabilized and he felt better. He is still in the hospital, but the crisis has passed and his life is no longer in danger. I hope, through the prayers of the Mother of God, that he and I will soon have a wedding. R. B. Elena
[1] Dm. Orlov “Yaroslavl first-class Tolgsky monastery. 1314–1914 (Historical and statistical essay)", Yaroslavl, Typo-Lithography by N. Kh. Nikolaeva, 1913.
end of 2021
A man was driving a car to Tver through Yaroslavl. Not a church member. I decided to stop by the Tolga Monastery and look at the “Tolgskaya” icon of the Mother of God. I saw people praying and also decided to venerate the miraculous image. Suddenly a lamp hanging near the icon overturned on him and doused him with oil. After visiting the monastery, the man went further, taking fellow travelers. Before reaching Tver, they got into a terrible car accident. Everyone died except this man. The car cannot be restored. The man, as soon as he could, came to the monastery to thank the Mother of God, together with his wife and friends, and told his story to the sisters.
Miracle healings
The most famous miracle of healing happened to the first crowned Tsar of All Rus', Ivan the Terrible. Being bedridden with severe joint pain, he asked to be taken to the shrine. John prayed in front of her for several days, until he finally left the monastery on his own feet.
Since then, the holy face has never ceased to amaze Orthodox Christians with its healing power. So, in 1995, prayers to the Mother of God helped a 14-year-old boy get rid of a hump and the serious consequences of a spinal fracture. At the same time, another boy forever threw away the crutches, without which he could not walk.
In the 21st century, miracles of healing continued. After the mother’s long prayers for her son, he was cured of a heart disease over which modern medicine was powerless. A few years later, another miracle happened - the girl’s warts, which were planned to be removed surgically, disappeared on their own. Two years later, a parishioner who had been addicted for a long time was cured of alcoholism.
The official date for the celebration of the Mother of God image is August 21
Location[edit]
The icon is located in the Holy Vvedensky Monastery in the city of Nizhyn.
The monastery is located east of the territory of the Old Town, in the former suburb of Avdeevka (which was inhabited since the 17th century and bears the name of its first inhabitant). The historical territory of the monastery is a city block, stretching from west to east and limited from the north by street. Avdeevskaya, from the west - an unnamed lane and square, from the east - lane. Shkolny, from the south - st. Ivan Bogun.
Address:
16605, Ukraine, Chernihiv region, Nizhyn, st. Avdeevskaya, 44a
Telephone:
(04631) 2–41–76
