Icon of the Mother of God of Iveron with Twelve Apostles
Saints in the fields: Archangels Michael and Gabriel, Twelve Apostles, John the Baptist, Basil the Great, John Chrysostom
The Iveron Icon of the Mother of God, the image of which is located on Athos, became famous for many miracles. The rumor about the miraculous image spread throughout Russia through pilgrims. His Holiness Patriarch Nikon (then still Novospassky Archimandrite) turned to the Archimandrite of the Iveron Athos Monastery Pachomius (who arrived in Moscow for alms for the Athos monasteries) with a request to send a copy of the miraculous Iveron Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos. The Athonite monk Iamblichus wrote a copy of the Iveron image, and a year later the icon, accompanied by Athonite monks, arrived in Moscow. On October 13, 1648, she was solemnly welcomed by the residents of the capital. The great shrine of the Russian Orthodox Church, the Moscow Iveron Icon, has been glorified by the Lord with many miracles.
The Iveron Icon (which is now kept on Mount Athos) in the 9th century was in the possession of a pious widow who lived near the city of Nicaea. Under Emperor Theophilus (829–842), iconoclasts who were destroying holy icons came to the house of this Christian woman, and one warrior struck the image of the Mother of God with a spear. Blood immediately flowed from the affected area. The widow, fearing the destruction of the shrine, promised the imperial soldiers money and asked them not to touch the icon until the morning. When they left, the woman, together with her son (later an Athonite monk), lowered it into the sea to preserve the holy icon. The icon, standing on the water, sailed to Athos. The Athonite monks, having seen a pillar of fire rising to the sky for several days in the sea, came to the shore and found a holy image standing on the water. After a prayer service for the donation of the shrine that had appeared to the monastery, the pious monk of the Iveron Monastery, Saint Gabriel the Gruzin (July 25), at the command of the Mother of God, who appeared to him in a dream, walked on the water, received the holy icon and placed it in the temple. However, the next day the icon was found not in the temple, but above the gates of the monastery. This was repeated several times until the Most Holy Virgin revealed Her will to Saint Gabriel in a dream, saying that she did not want to be kept by the monks, but wanted to be their Guardian. After this, the image was placed above the monastery gate, where it remains to this day. Therefore, the holy icon is called Portaitissa.
The icon is made by printing on a wooden board. Paints are mineral, do not fade with time. The thickness of the board is 2 cm. The board is covered with primer by hand. The image is covered with wax. Each icon has a metal mount on the back side so that you can hang the icon on the wall.
You can buy the icon in three sizes:
- 13 х 10 centimeters (5,1 x 3,9 inches)
- 19 х 15 centimeters (7,5 x 5,9 inches)
- 26 х 20 centimeters (10,2 x 7,9 inches)
Our icons are made by Orthodox craftsmen. You can read more about the technology here.
We hope it will be a good gift for you and your loved ones.
