Russian Orthodox Icons: Our Lady of Kazan

Esteemed Readers, we continue our travel around the Orthodox world. This year it is dedicated to our Icons. The story of the Saint Images is very interesting as it always mixes a miracle with difficulties of life, while its contemplation is considered to be an open door leading to the Lord. I invite my followers & visitors from other Orthodox countries to join this travel & to discuss about differences in the Saint Images’ depiction.

Before we move to the story of our most famous & most venerated Icon, I would like to pay your dearest attention to the fact that the icon-painting is a specific genre of art. Dark colours & serious expressions call for a deeper meditation, for a more profound spiritual dialogue & experience.

The first Image we are going to speak about is, certainly, Our Lady of Kazan. This Icon is considered to be a prototype of the Byzantine Icons. It was brought to Moscow in 1516 for our tsar Valisij III(1479-1533) & was kept there until the beginning of the 20th century. It was named after Kazan due to a miracle happened in 1579. A fire took place in the town & a little girl dreamt with the Image of the Virgin Mary similar to the one depicted on the Icon that begged her to go & to search the Icon among ashes. The icon was found, while this day is remembered even today: it is July 8 (21) 1579.

In 1904 this very Icon was stolen & nobody knows exactly what happened afterwards: if it was burnt or just disappeared.

You can discover a great number of Our Ladies of Kazan in our Orthodox churches. All of them keep the spirit & origin of their historical prototype. All of them are full of the Saint Spirit & send a strong Christian message.

A curious fact: On the 7th of April 2011 Our Lady of Kazan was delivered to the International Space Station where it is kept until now. It travels around the world together with the spacemen.

Our Lady of Kazan is celebrated on the 21st of Juy & on the 4th of November.

Maria KethuProfumo

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