Wooden Icon of the Mother of God The Sign of Seraphim-Ponetaevskaya
Not far from the Sarov Desert was the Seraphim-Ponetaevsk convent. It received its name from the name of St. Seraphim of Sarov.
One of the sisters of the Ponetaevsky Monastery, Klavdia Voiloshnikova, painted the image of the “Sign” of the Mother of God for her monastery in 1879. Soon this icon became famous for its wondrous miracles and became the main shrine of the monastery. The first glorification of the image took place under the following circumstances.
On May 14, 1885, at 9 o’clock in the evening, several nuns who were in one of the cells of the abbot’s building, where the icon was located, were suddenly amazed by the change that had taken place in the image. They noticed that the face of the Most Holy Theotokos on the icon became especially enlightened, and Her gaze alternately rested on the sisters, who looked with trepidation and reverence at the miraculous phenomenon. These changes occurred within a quarter of an hour, and at 12 o’clock at night they repeated again. The next day, the icon was transferred with honor to the monastery church, and soon a huge number of believers began to worship the holy image. Many who suffered through their prayers to the Most Holy Theotokos and Her miraculous icon received healing from their ailments.
On the icon, the Mother of God is depicted with raised hands. In the bosom of the Most Pure Virgin is the Eternal Child, surrounded by radiance.
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.
