The Icon of the Mother of God of Nicaea became famous in 304. During Amir’s siege of the city of Nicaea, located in Asia Minor, a certain Constantine, seeing the icon of the Mother of God, grabbed a stone, threw it at the icon and then began to trample underfoot. At night, the Mother of God appeared to the blasphemer in a dream and said: “ You have made a great reproach to Me. Know that you did this to your own destruction. " The punishment followed immediately. During the battle, he was suddenly hit in the head by a stone and fell lifeless.
This event was told to the fathers of the First Ecumenical Council (325), who established the chant to be sung before this icon of the Mother of God: “ Thy womb be the Holy Meal »:

Thy belly became a holy meal, having the heavenly Bread, Christ our God, from which no one who eats poison dies, as everyone says, the Mother of God, the Nourisher.

Troparion to the Most Holy Theotokos in front of Her icon called “Nicene”
voice 4
Thy belly became a holy meal, possessing the Heavenly Bread, Christ, from the Unworthiness of everyone who eats poison does not die, as everyone says, Mother of God, Nourisher.

Kontakion
voice 6
The intercession of Christians is not shameful, the intercession to the Creator is immutable, do not despise the voices of sinful prayers, but advance, as the Good One, to the aid of us who faithfully call Thee: hasten to prayer and strive to supplicate, intercessor ever, the Mother of God, who honor Thee.

Greatness

We magnify You, Most Holy Virgin, God-chosen Youth, and honor Your holy image, through which you bring healing to all who come with faith.

Icon of the Mother of God of Antioch

Antioch Icon (celebration March 23, May 28), time and place of appearance unknown. In the “Painting of the Holy Icons of the Mother of God” it is marked: “Antiochian Summer 580”; the same date also appears on some engravings. Known only from late engravings and menaion icons, in particular from “ Menaeus annual with miraculous icons of the Mother of God » 2nd floor XIX century (TG), where the Mother of God is depicted with the Child on her left hand (Axiocratus), whom she supports, bending towards him. The baby is facing those present, blessing with his right hand, his left hand without a scroll. N.P. Kondakov believed that ancient A. and. similar in iconographic type to the Mother of God Hodegetria, according to Nikephoros Callistus, also taken from Antioch. The researcher suggested that under the name A. i. another icon could be venerated, for example. Saidnaya, in which the Mother of God was depicted with a reclining baby on her left arm. Lists from ancient A. and. Kondakov was inclined to consider several. Byzantine images of the Mother of God with a reclining child. time: mosaic of the katholikon of Hosios Loukas in Phokis, 30s. XI century; relief of an artos panagia from the monastery of St. Panteleimon on Mount Athos, XIV century. (?); 2 reliefs in the Cathedral of San Marco in Venice, XIII and XIV centuries; mosaic con. XIII century in c. Santa Maria in Araceli in Rome. He believed that later translations of the revered icon reproduced its Greco-Italian language. copies.

Icon of the Mother of God of Galich (Chukhloma)

The icon appeared in 1350 to the Monk Abraham of Galich, Chukhloma, who came to the North for spiritual exploits with the blessing of St. Sergius of Radonezh. On the deserted shore of Lake Galich, near a large mountain covered with dense forest, he turned to the Mother of God in prayer, asking for a blessing for his feat.

After prayer, the monk sat down to rest and suddenly saw a bright light on a nearby mountain and heard a voice: “ Abraham, go up the mountain where the icon of My Mother stands " The monk climbed the mountain, went out to the place where the light was shining, and actually discovered on a tree an icon of the Mother of God with the Eternal Child. Having accepted the holy image, the ascetic built a chapel on this place, into which he transferred the icon.

After some time, the Galich prince Dimitri Feodorovich, having learned about what had happened, turned to the elder with a request to bring the icon. The Monk Abraham sailed across Lake Galich on a boat and, accompanied by the clergy and a multitude of people, transferred the miraculous image to the cathedral church of the city of Galich. On this day, numerous sick people were healed from the icon.

When the Monk Abraham told the prince in detail about the appearance of the icon, he donated money for the construction of the monastery. Soon a church was built, around which a monastery arose, called the Galich Gorodets Intercession Hermitage.

Subsequently, the Monk Abraham founded several more monasteries. The last one founded was Chukhloma, not far from the city of Chukhloma. Based on the name of this monastery, the ascetic began to be called Chukhloma, and the miraculous Galich icon acquired another name - Chukhloma.
Founded on the site indicated by the Mother of God, the Avraamiev Gorodetsky Intercession Monastery was closed after the revolution in 1929, and the brethren of the monastery suffered a martyr’s death. The miraculous Galich icon disappeared without a trace. In 1991, after the transfer of the monastery complex to the Kostroma diocese, the revival of the monastery began. A list (copy) of the ancient image of the Galich Chukhloma Icon of the Blessed Virgin Mary is especially revered in the monastery.

Seeing the ancient icon of the Mother of God “Thy belly was a holy meal” is a rare success for a collector and researcher. Not every museum can boast that its collection contains this rare subject. It is reliably known that a similar image, created by an unknown author of the 18th century, is kept in the Church-Archaeological Cabinet of the Moscow Theological Academy.

I was lucky enough to come across such an icon in the private collection of one of the residents of our city. This is an icon of the first half of the 19th century. painted on a wooden board with tempera paints using ancient technology.

The iconography (basic types and rules for depicting a specific person, event or plot) of the “Thy belly was a holy meal” icon is quite complex. This iconographic type developed gradually, enriched with more and more new symbolic details.

At the heart of this complex and multi-valued image is the Mother of God “Great Panagia” or “Oranta”, presented full-length, frontally, with her hands raised in prayer. On her chest is a gold medallion with a half-figure of Christ - the Savior Emmanuel, who also extended his arms in a blessing gesture. The Mother of God “of the Sign,” especially revered in Rus', with her hands raised in prayer and the Infant God “revealed in her bosom,” has a great resemblance to this icon. This symbolic image of the infant Christ makes the “Sign” similar to the Annunciation.

The icon called “Thy belly was a holy meal” differs from the “Sign” in that the Infant God (Savior Emmanuel) is placed in a cup standing on the throne - a symbol of the Eucharist (holy communion). The throne is located in the temple, we guess about this by the presence of architectural details: domes and columns.

Let's try to translate the icon symbols into modern Russian. This will help us understand the deeper meaning of the image. On top of the plate (maforia) the head of the Mother of God is covered with a crown. This means that before us is the “Queen of Heaven.” The hands of the Virgin Mary are raised in prayer: she prays to her divine son for the human race. This gesture is a sign of the eternal prayer of the Blessed Virgin, bringing hope and protection to the world.

Savior Emmanuel miraculously appeared in the bosom of the Mother of God. This is the moment of the Annunciation, when the Blessed Virgin learns from the Archangel Gabriel the good news that the God-Man is in her womb. The Eucharistic cup on the throne (altar) symbolizes Holy Communion - the blood and flesh of Jesus Christ, his holy sacrifice in the name of liberating man from the abomination of original sin. And finally, a symbolic image of the temple - the “earthly church” - the unity of all Orthodox believers.

The first such icon was the famous Byzantine “Our Lady of Nicaea” (named after the Asian city of Nicaea, where she became famous).

It received a new name in 325 by the decision of the First Ecumenical Council, when the church fathers decided to sing before this icon: “Your belly will be a holy meal.”

The Russian icon, called “Thy belly was a holy meal,” differs from its Byzantine prototype in the presence of architectural details and the image of the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove flying from heaven. On the icon from the Church-Archaeological Office of the Moscow Theological Academy it is placed in the upper left corner, on ours it is on the rim of the Mother of God’s halo.

The miraculously preserved icon from the private collection of a Khabarovsk resident amazes with its bright colors: a combination of cherry and crimson. golden and green colors. This color scheme makes it similar to the traditions of Pomeranian Old Believers icon painters. It is enough to compare the Old Believer icon of the 19th century stored in the State Historical Museum. “Saved the Good Silence” with the one described in order to discover the correspondence of the color relationships, the manner of writing the face, the shape close to a square, the color of the edge (the color outline along the edge of the board and the middle).

In the 19th century, when New Believer churches were filled with “life-like”, carnal images close to secular art, Old Believers icon painters preserved ancient piety in the icon, following the ancient traditions of tempera icon painting.

Old Believer masters attached great importance to the use of gold in icons. After all, gold is a symbol of Favorian, divine light. Icon painters gild the background with gold leaf and richly decorate the decoration of the clothes with dissolved gold (dissolved in alum), making it with light, brittle lines.

All this closely connects our icon with the work of the monks of the Vygovskaya Hermitage - the spiritual center of the Old Believers in the 18th - 19th centuries. Vygovskaya Hermitage is a settlement of Old Believers-Pomeranians, located on the Vyg River, northeast of Lake Onega, in dense impenetrable forests surrounded by swamps.

The Vygov community, which included male and female monasteries, as well as peasant villages around, was founded by Old Believers monks from northern monasteries.

In 1702, Emperor Peter I was informed about the existence of a schismatic monastery, but the tsar commanded: “Let them live,” and ordered the Old Believers-hermits to be assigned to the Povenets iron factories.

Here, far from worldly temptations and from the influence of “enlightened” Europe, the traditions of Russian spirituality continued to develop, and the continuity of art was preserved from pre-Nikon times.

The Vygov monks considered themselves followers of the monks of the Solovetsky Monastery, known for their open opposition to Nikon’s reform. For eight years, from 1668 to 1676, the Solovetsky Monastery withstood the siege of the tsarist troops.

It was the monks from Solovki who organized the main workshops in the desert: copper foundry, icon-making, book-making, bookbinding, etc.

The desert was famous for its collecting; Old Believers from all over the country brought ancient images, books and vestments here. The monastic mentors collected a rich library, which represented the entire written heritage of Ancient Rus', including unique monuments of hagiographic literature.

No less significant was the icon collection, which made it possible, based on the traditions of various icon painting schools of Ancient Rus', to develop their own Pomeranian style, which we see in the decoration of handwritten books, and in icons, and in the painting of dishes, and in copper-cast works. But they will be discussed in the next article, dedicated to the work of the Old Believers.

Galina EGOSHINA, art critic,
chief specialist of the Rosokhrankultura Department for the Far Eastern Federal District

What do people pray for to the Nicene Icon?: they pray for the admonition of those who have gone astray and apostatized from the faith.

Icon of the Mother of God "Nicaea"

Prayer to the Icon of the Mother of God "Nicaea"

O Most Holy Lady Lady Theotokos! Thou art the highest of all Angels and Archangels and of all the most honest creatures: Thou art the Helper of the offended, the hopeless hope, the poor intercessor, the sad consolation, the hungry nurse, the naked robe, the healing of the sick, the salvation of sinners, the help and intercession of all Christians. O All-Merciful Lady, Virgin Mary and Lady! By Your mercy, save and have mercy on our Orthodox country, Your Right Reverend metropolitans, archbishops and bishops, and the entire priestly and monastic rank, military leaders, city governors and Christ-loving army, and well-wishers, and all Orthodox Christians, protect Your honorable robe: and pray, Lady, from You without To the seed of the incarnate Christ our God, may He gird us with His power from above against our invisible and visible enemies. O All-Merciful Lady Lady Theotokos! Raise us from the depths of sin, and deliver us from famine, destruction, from cowardice and flood, from fire and sword, from the presence of foreigners and internecine warfare, and from sudden death, and from attacks of the enemy, and from corrupting winds, and from deadly plagues , and from all evil. Grant, O Lady, peace and health to Thy servant, all Orthodox Christians, and enlighten their minds and the eyes of their hearts to salvation: and make us, Thy sinful servants, worthy of the Kingdom of Thy Son, Christ our God, for His power is blessed and glorified, with His beginningless Father, and his Most Holy and Good and Life-giving Spirit, now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen.

Before the icon of the Most Holy Theotokos “Nicene” they pray for the admonition of those who have gone astray and those who have apostatized from the faith.

Prayer to the Most Holy Theotokos before Her Nicene Icon

O Most Holy Lady Lady Theotokos! Thou art the highest of all Angels and Archangels and all honest creatures, the helper of the offended, the hopeless hope, the poor intercessor, the sad consolation, the hungry nurse, the naked robe, the healing of the sick, the salvation of sinners, the help and intercession of all Christians. O All-Merciful Lady, Virgin Mary and Lady! By Your mercy, save and have mercy on our country, Your Eminence metropolitans, archbishops and bishops, and the entire priestly and monastic rank, military leaders, city governors and Christ-loving army, and well-wishers, and all Orthodox Christians, protect Your honest robe, and pray, Lady, from You without seed may the incarnate Christ our God gird us with His power from above against our invisible and visible enemies. O All-Merciful Lady Lady Theotokos! Raise us from the depths of sin, and deliver us from famine, destruction, from cowardice and flood, from fire and sword, from the presence of foreigners and internecine warfare, and from sudden death, and from attacks of the enemy, and from corrupting winds, and from deadly plagues , and from all evil. Grant, O Lady, peace and health to Thy servant, all Orthodox Christians, and enlighten their minds and the eyes of their hearts to salvation, and make us, Thy sinful servants, worthy of the Kingdom of Thy Son, Christ our God, for His Power is blessed and glorified, with the Beginning His Father and with His Most Holy and Good and Life-giving Spirit, now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen.

Troparion, tone 4
Thy belly became a holy meal, possessing the Heavenly Bread, Christ, from the Unworthiness of everyone who eats poison does not die, as everyone says, Mother of God, Nourisher.

Kontakion, tone 6
The intercession of Christians is shameless, the intercession to the Creator is immutable, do not despise the voices of sinful prayers, but advance, as the Good One, to the aid of us who faithfully call upon Thee: hasten to prayer and strive to supplicate, ever interceding, the Mother of God, who honor Thee.

Greatness
We magnify You, Most Holy Virgin, and honor Your holy image, through which you heal our illnesses and raise our souls to God.