The miraculous icon of the Most Holy Mother of God, called the Hodegetria of Smolensk, has been known in Rus' since ancient times. "Hodegetria", translated from Greek language, means “Guide”. There are several versions of the origin of this name, but the fact that the Most Holy Theotokos is a guide to eternal salvation for all Orthodox Christians is an undeniable truth.

According to Church tradition, the Smolensk Icon of the Mother of God, called “Hodegetria,” was painted by the holy evangelist Luke during his earthly life Holy Mother of God at the request of the ruler of Antioch, Theophilus, for whom he wrote an essay on the earthly life of Christ, known as the Gospel of Luke. When Theophilos died, the image was returned to Jerusalem, and in the 5th century, the blessed Empress Eudokia, wife of Arkady, transferred Hodegetria to Constantinople to the emperor’s sister Queen Pulcheria, who placed the holy icon in the Blachernae Church.

The image came to Rus' in 1046. The Greek Emperor Constantine IX Monomakh (1042-1054), marrying his daughter Anna to Prince Vsevolod Yaroslavich, son of Yaroslav the Wise, blessed her on her journey with this icon. After the death of Prince Vsevolod, the icon passed to his son Vladimir Monomakh, who transferred it at the beginning of the 12th century to Smolensk Cathedral Church in honor of the Dormition of the Blessed Virgin Mary. From that time on, the icon received the name Hodegetria of Smolensk.

Assumption Cathedral (Smolensk)

History of the Smolensk Icon of the Mother of God

In 1238 The army of Khan Batu approached Smolensk. In that army there was a giant warrior who, according to legend, alone was worth almost an entire army. All Smolensk residents came out to pray in front of the image of the Smolensk Hodegetria Guide. The Tatars had already come almost close to the city, no more than 30 kilometers away by today’s standards, when a certain sexton in the Pechersky Monastery outside the city saw in a vision the Mother of God, who ordered him to bring a warrior named Mercury to Her. Entering the Pechersk Church, Mercury saw with his own eyes the Mother of God sitting on a golden throne with the Child in her arms and surrounded by angels. The Mother of God said that Mercury must save Her own destiny from desecration, which once again indicated Her special protection over the Smolensk land. She also told him about his imminent martyrdom, and that She Herself would not leave him, but would be with him to the end.

Following the command of the Mother of God, selfless Orthodox warrior Mercury raised all the townspeople, preparing them for the siege, and at night he penetrated Batu’s camp and killed many enemies, including them the strongest warrior. Then, in an unequal battle with the invaders, he laid down his head on the battlefield. His remains were buried in the Smolensk Cathedral. Soon Mercury was canonized as a locally revered saint (November 24), the Smolensk Icon of the Mother of God was also declared locally revered, and the legend “The Tale of Mercury of Smolensk,” which dates back approximately to the 15th – 16th centuries, was written about his feat. Moreover, the legend says that after the burial, Mercury appeared to the same sexton and ordered the shield and spear that belonged to him during his life to be hung at his resting place.

Sandals of the Holy Martyr Mercury - one of the shrines of the Smolensk Cathedral

In 1395 The Principality of Smolensk came under the protectorate of Lithuania. In 1398, in order to avoid bloodshed in Moscow and soften the bitter relations between the Polish-Lithuanian rulers and Moscow, the daughter of the Lithuanian prince Vytautas Sophia was married to the son of Dmitry Donskoy, Grand Duke of Moscow Vasily Dimitrievich (1398-1425). The Smolensk Hodegetria became her dowry and was now transferred to Moscow and installed in the Annunciation Cathedral of the Kremlin on the right side of the altar.

Annunciation Cathedral (Moscow Kremlin)

In 1456, at the request of the residents of Smolensk, led by Bishop Misail, the icon was solemnly returned to Smolensk with a religious procession. On June 28, according to the old style, at the Monastery of St. Savva the Consecrated on the Maiden Field in Moscow, with a large crowd of people, the icon was solemnly escorted to the bend of the Moscow River, from where the path to Smolensk began. A prayer service was served. Half a century later, in 1514, Smolensk was returned to Rus' (the assault on the city by Russian troops began on July 29, the day after the celebration of the Smolensk Icon).

In 1524, in memory of this event Grand Duke Vasily III founded the Monastery of the Mother of God of Smolensk, which we know better as Novodevichy Convent. The monastery was consecrated and began operating in 1525. From this period, the all-Russian glorification of the icon began, officially established by the Church.

Novodevichy Mother of God-Smolensky Monastery on the Maiden Field in Moscow

However, Muscovites were not left without a shrine - two copies of the miraculous icon remained in Moscow. One was erected in the Annunciation Cathedral, and the other - “measure in moderation” - in 1524 in the Novodevichy Convent, founded in memory of the return of Smolensk to Russia. In 1602, an exact copy was written from the miraculous icon (in 1666, together with the ancient icon new list taken to Moscow for renovation), which was placed in the tower of the Smolensk fortress wall, above the Dnieper Gate, under a specially constructed tent. Later, in 1727, a wooden church was built there, and in 1802 - a stone one.

The Smolensk miraculous image again showed its intercession during Patriotic War 1812. On August 5, 1812, when Russian troops abandoned Smolensk, the icon was taken to Moscow, and on the eve of the Battle of Borodino this image was carried around the camp to strengthen and encourage the soldiers for a great feat.

Prayer service before the Battle of Borodino

On August 26, the day of the battle in Borodino, three images of the Mother of God - the ancient image of the Smolensk Hodegetria, together with the Iveron and Vladimir icons of the Mother of God, were carried around the capital in a procession of the cross, and then sent to the sick and wounded soldiers in the Lefortovo Palace, so that they could venerate the shrines and thank before them the Mother of God for intercession and ask for recovery. Before leaving Moscow, the icon was transported to Yaroslavl.

After the victory over the enemy, on November 5, 1812, by order of Kutuzov, the Hodegetria icon, along with the illustrious list, was returned to Smolensk to its native Assumption Cathedral.

In 1929, the Assumption Cathedral was closed, but was not subject to desecration and destruction, like many other temples and churches during that period. Intelligence, which can be considered reliable, about the Smolensk Icon of the Mother of God– prototype of other, subsequent lists ends in 1941, after the capture of Smolensk by German troops. Then, at the beginning of August 1941, the German command headquarters received a message that the list of icons attributed to historical information brushed by the Evangelist Luke, is in the same place, in good condition, the icon is considered miraculous and its location is a place of worship and pilgrimage. Nothing more is known about that icon.

Now in the place of the missing icon there is a list from the middle of the 16th century, which is not inferior to its predecessor in the number of miracles and in popular veneration, but Hodegetria of the apostolic letter is still awaited in Smolensk, they still believe that the time will come and she will reveal herself from some a hiding place, where it was miraculously preserved all these years, as it once was.

Icon of the Mother of God Hodegetria of Smolensk Gateway, copy from the famous Smolensk Icon. Once it hung above the gates of the Smolensk Kremlin; now it is kept in the cathedral on the site of the Smolensk icon lost in 1941.

Lists with icons

There are many revered copies of the miraculous Smolensk Hodegetria. Many copies of that original but lost icon became miraculous (more than 30 in total) - Igretskaya Pesochinskaya, Yugskaya, Sergievskaya in the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, Kostroma, Kirillo-Belozerskaya, Svyatogorsk, Solovetskaya, etc.. All these images in different time and demonstrated their miraculous properties to varying degrees.

Iconography

There is little information left about the iconographic features of the image, since the icon, as is known, was lost in 1941, and therefore no one studied it. It was only known that the icon board was very heavy, the ground was made of chalk with glue, as was done in ancient times, and covered with canvas.

The Mother of God holds the Child in her left hand, the Lord’s right hand is raised in a blessing gesture, and in His left hand is the “scroll of teaching.” On back side a view of Jerusalem, the Crucifixion and the inscription in Greek were written - “The King is crucified”. In 1666, the icon was renewed, and later images of the Most Pure Mother and John the Evangelist appeared at the Crucifixion.

The iconographic image of the Smolensk Icon is very similar to the Iveron Icon of the Mother of God, but differs in the severity of the arrangement of the figures and the expression of the faces of the Mother of God and the Infant.

Meaning of the icon

The Holy Icon of the Mother of God Hodegetria is one of the main shrines of the Russian Church (along with Vladimir and Kazan).

Co Smolensk icon The Mother of God is bound amazing historical material, which, through the paths of her wanderings across Western Russian lands, marks all the most important events in the history of Russia up to the last century. It can be said that not a single event where the intercession of the One depicted on it was required was accomplished without Her intervention. Hodegetria the Guide pointed out and defended our west from the aggressive interests of neighboring states that sought to establish their influence in the Russian state both military and political means. But even the retreats, which were accompanied by the transfer of the miraculous shrine from its main inheritance - the Assumption Cathedral in Smolensk, were only a strategic necessity, and in no way an agreement with the presence and rule of foreigners and the prevailing Latin faith on our land. The cathedral prayers of Smolensk and Muscovites before her brought their wonderful fruits - sooner or later the enemy was expelled, and the Smolensk Hodegetria returned home to Smolensk.

Believers have received and are receiving abundant gracious help from her. The Mother of God, through Her holy image, intercedes and strengthens us, guiding us to salvation, and we cry out to Her: “You are the All-Blessed Hodegetria to the faithful people, You are the Praise of Smolensk and all the Russian lands are affirmation! Rejoice, Hodegetria, salvation for Christians!”

Celebration

The celebration of the Smolensk Icon of the Mother of God takes place three times a year - July 28/August 10, established in 1525, when the miraculous image was transferred from the Annunciation Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin to the Mother of God of Smolensk (Novodevichy) Monastery, founded by Vasily III in gratitude to the Mother of God for the return of Smolensk to Rus' during the Russo-Lithuanian War. The festival was established in memory of the arrival of the Smolensk Icon of the Mother of God to Rus' in 1046.

The celebration takes place for the second time November 5/18 in honor of Russia's victory in the Patriotic War of 1812.

November 24/December 7 We celebrate the Smolensk Icon of the Mother of God, remembering the victory of the inhabitants of Smolensk over the troops of the Golden Horde through the common prayer of the people before Her icon - the Smolensk Hodegetria.

The Smolensk Mother of God helps everyone who turns to her with prayers for healing from incurable diseases, in search of family peace and in other difficult and insoluble situations, as the first intercessor for us before God.

Troparion, tone 4
Let us now diligently approach the Mother of God, sinners and humility, and let us fall down in repentance calling from the depths of our souls: Lady, help us, having had mercy on us, struggling, we are perishing from many sins, do not turn away your slaves, for you are the only hope of the imams.

Kontakion, tone 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 good help to us who faithfully call Thee: hasten to prayer and strive to entreat, interceding ever since, the Mother of God, who honor Thee.

In Kontakion, tone 6
Not imams other assistance, the imams have no other hope than You, the Lady: Help us, we hope in You and boast in You: If we were Your servants, let us not be ashamed.

Prayer
O Most Wonderful and Above All Creatures Queen Theotokos, Mother of the Heavenly King Christ our God, Most Pure Hodegetria Mary! Hear us sinners and unworthy at this hour, praying and falling before Your Most Pure Image with tears and tenderly saying: lead us out of the ditch of passions, Most Blessed Lady, deliver us from all sorrow and sorrow, protect us from all misfortune and evil slander, and from the unrighteous and cruel slander of the enemy. You may, O Our Blessed Mother, save Your people from all evil and provide and save You with every good deed; Do You need other Representatives in troubles and circumstances, and warm Intercessors for us sinners, not imams? Pray, O Most Holy Lady, Thy Son Christ our God, that He will make us worthy of the Kingdom of Heaven; For this reason, we always glorify Thee, as the Author of our salvation, and extol the holy and magnificent name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, glorified and worshiped God in the Trinity, forever and ever. Amen.

Second prayer
To whom shall I cry, Lady? To whom shall I resort in my sorrow, if not to You, Lady Lady Theotokos, Queen of Heaven? Who will accept my cry and my sighing, if not You, O Most Immaculate One, the Hope of Christians and the Refuge for sinners? Incline, O Most Pure Lady, Thy ear to my prayer, Mother of my God, do not despise me, requiring Thy help, hear my groaning and inspire the cry of my heart, O Lady Theotokos Queen. And give me spiritual joy, strengthen me, who is impatient, sad and careless towards Your praise. Enlighten and teach me how You should pray, and do not leave me, the Mother of my God, for my grumbling and impatience, but be my protection and intercession in my life and lead me to the quiet haven of blessed peace, and count me to your face Thy chosen flock and there deign me to sing and glorify Thee forever. Amen.

Documentary film “Seekers. TRACE OF HODIGITRIA" (2014)

The Assumption Cathedral is one of the most impressive buildings in Smolensk. It was here that the famous icon of the Smolensk Mother of God - the ancient Hodegetria - was kept from the day the temple was built. She, according to legend, saved the city more than once and was considered miraculous, disappeared during the Second World War. There are quite a few versions regarding the fate of Hodegetria. Many researchers are inclined to believe that the legendary image still exists, which means it makes sense to look for it!

Theotokos Hodegetria her daughter when she became his wife Prince of Kyiv Vsevolod Yaroslavich. Most descriptions of the Smolensk icon call the princess Anna, but here there was a confusion of historical realities: Prince Vsevolod was married to the daughter of Constantine Monomakh, but her name, according to most researchers, was Aria or Anastasia. Anna was the name of another Byzantine princess - the wife of Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Vladimir, she was the daughter of the Byzantine Emperor Constantine, but not Monomakh, but Porphyrogenitus.

Church tradition says that the first icon of the Mother of God, which later received the name Hodegetria, or Guide, was painted by the holy Apostle and Evangelist Luke. Although none of the icons painted by the apostle have reached our time, those lists that date back to early Christian times allow us to say that even then there was a strong faith in intercession Holy Virgin. “Let us never be silent, O Mother of God, to speak Your strength unworthy. If You weren’t there to pray, who would save us from such troubles? Who would have kept them free until now? We will not retreat, O Lady, from You, for Your servants always save you from all sorts of fierce ones” (hereinafter, quotes are given from the service of Hodegetria of Smolensk, July 28). According to this faith, gracious help was given from copies of ancient icons of the Mother of God, and, glorified by many miracles, they were equally revered in the Church with the original icons painted by the Apostle. The words of the Mother of God according to polyeleos: “Your most pure icon, Virgin Mary, the spiritual medicine of the whole world, we resort to it, worshiping You, we honor and kiss you, the healing grace that draws from it...” cannot be attributed to a specific image - this prayer appeal to any icon of the Virgin Mary.

Here it is appropriate to recall the words of N.P. Kondakov that the pious custom of antiquity made it possible to consider the list as the original if the original was far away or was lost.

Our article will discuss how, on the basis of the ancient iconographic type of Hodegetria, a whole tree of various icons of the Mother of God grew, which left their mark on the history of the Church.

In the canon of the Most Holy Theotokos Hodegetria of Smolensk, written in the middle of the 9th century. monk Ignatius, a minister of Sophia of Constantinople, later Metropolitan of Nicaea, there is almost no mention of those grace-filled types of help that served as the basis for calling Her Hodegetria proper, i.e., the Guide. Here are a few examples:

“Rejoice, Mother of God Hodegetria, who always instructs the faithful to follow every path of salvation... Rejoice, O Odegetria, the ship that sails in need, delivering the faithful...” (troparia of the 7th song of the canon).

In the literature one can find such an interpretation of the name of the icon of Hodegetria - the Guide: it was assigned to it allegedly due to the fact that this shrine accompanied Princess Anna on a difficult journey from Constantinople to Chernigov. But since the name of the icon is found centuries before the Baptism of Rus', it is more correct to assume that the emperor chose for his daughter, from a considerable number of Constantinople shrines, exactly the one that would be a Guide to salvation for both her and her future offspring. Not only the Guide, but that constant Guardian in everything, about whom the Venerable Roman the Sweet Singer speaks with inspiration in the Akathist. The epithets of the Mother of God included in the Akathist are not only successful theologically meaningful poetic images inspired by Old Testament prophecies. Often they had a very specific origin, connected with the miraculous intercession of the Mother of God.

One of the earliest attested miracles of Hodegetria’s intercession for Smolensk occurred during the invasion of the Tatars in 1238. The Tale of Mercury of Smolensk at the beginning of the 16th century, used as a synaxarical reading on July 28, is entitled “Memory of the great miracle that occurred from the icon of our Intercessor of the Most Pure Mother of God of Smolensk.” . A list from the 17th century, kept in the State Historical Museum, tells that during prayer in the Smolensk Pechersk Monastery, the Mother of God appeared to Mercury. The Virgin Mary sat on a throne with the Child sitting before Her womb.

“The wise man entered the holy church and saw the Most Pure Mother of God, sitting on a golden throne, having Christ in the depths, surrounded by angelic howls.” The Mother of God prophetically informs St. Mercury, that his body will be laid in the Assumption Cathedral of Smolensk: “And come to your city, and there you will die, and your body will be laid in My Church.” The final episode of the Tale tells how the Smolensk Archbishop sees the Mother of God coming out of the Assumption Cathedral, accompanied by two archangels: “He sees clearly in great lordship, like at the dawn of the sun, the Most Pure Mother of God leaving the church with the Archangels of the Lord Michael and Gabriel.” Note that the vision surprisingly echoes one of the ancient images of the Mother of God - the Cypriot Pangia Angeloktissa.

In Constantinople, the focus of shrines associated with the Most Pure Virgin Mary was the Blachernae Church, which in its size and number of clergy was second only to St. Sophia Cathedral. All the revered icons of the Mother of God were here, obviously including the earliest ones that were painted by the Apostle Luke. Here was also the Robe of the Mother of God, about which Saint Photius, in connection with the attack on the city by the Russians in 860, wrote: “When we were inspired by the hopes of the Mother of the Word and our God, we resorted to Her cover as to an indestructible wall, then this most pure Robe flowed around the walls ... fenced the city, clothed it."

Of the miraculous icons of the Mother of God located in the Blachernae Church, the emperor could choose any one as a blessing for his daughter - probably one of the revered copies of the ancient Hodegetria was chosen. In addition to the Hodegetria, in the Blachernae Church there were icons of Tenderness, Oranta, and the Sign; like Hodegetria, lists from the ancients miraculous shrines also came to Rus'. All these icons had the name “Blachernae” - not as a special iconographic type, but according to the place where they were located.

But in Rus', the name Blachernae was only assigned to one - Hodegetria, donated to Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich in 1654; Her celebration takes place on July 7/20.

Another revered copy of the Hodegetria of Blachernae, which came to Rus' six centuries after the Hodegetria of Smolensk, is apparently currently the oldest (VII century!) icon of the Most Holy Theotokos on Russian soil. This relief icon, made of wax mastic, is kept in the State Tretyakov Gallery. But a molded icon made of wax-mastic is a very rare technique; only a few such icons are known, while there are many miraculous copies of the Blachernae Hodegetria. “An inexhaustible sea of ​​mercy and generosity,” as it is said about this icon in the stichera on the poem, is not an exaggeration (Il. 1).

Our first icon, the Smolensk Hodegetria, was a very accurate copy of the Hodegetria of Blachernae. N.P. Kondakov writes in this regard: “The striking similarity of the most ancient carved images of the Hodegetria (X1V-XV centuries) precisely with the type of our Smolensk icon forces us to see in it an exact list from the Byzantine Hodegetria, which replaced in the 13th century, after the Latin conquest, the most ancient icon, which, perhaps, then perished. The Smolensk Icon of the Mother of God represents the second type of chest-length icon of Hodegetria and undoubtedly provides a copy made in antiquity from a Greek original.”

The existence of Hodegetria of Smolensk and many of its copies in Rus' is the subject of a separate, detailed study. Let us pay attention to those ancient monuments that are rare copies of the Blachernae Hodegetria or are genetically related to this original shrine. Let us present several of the most famous icons of the Mother of God Hodegetria, with the caveat that all these images go back to the most ancient iconographic type of Hodegetria, but have some peculiarities.

The encaustic icon of the second half of the 6th century is associated with the iconographic type of Hodegetria. from the Khanenko collection (Kiev Museum of Western and Eastern Art); this is one of the few icons of pre-iconoclastic times that have reached us.

Another ancient icon of the Mother of God (from the first half of the 7th century), which can be attributed to the Hodegetria type, is a mosaic one, located in Cyprus in the apse of the church of Pangia Angeloktissa (“The most honorable cherub and the most glorious without comparison seraphim”). The Mother of God with the Child Christ (Ill. 5) is presented full-length between the archangels Michael and Gabriel. The archangels are in flowing robes, they are depicted walking widely and energetically. The Mother of God herself is also in motion, which is emphasized by the diverging cloak.

Of the Russian icons of the Mother of God Hodegetria that have survived to our time, the Pskov icon of the late 13th century, located in the Tretyakov Gallery, should be noted. Hodegetria icons of this type are given the name Periveleptus (“Glorious”, “Beautiful”) in literature.

It is interesting to compare with the Pskov icon the Cypriot icon of Hodegetria (13th century), close in time, from the Church of St. Luke in Nicosia. Researchers see in it traces of the influence of Western painting of the Renaissance.

The icon of Our Lady Hodegetria, located in the Tretyakov Gallery, dating back to 1397, belonged to the Monk Kirill of Belozersky and was in his cell in the Moscow Old Simonov Monastery. Having founded a new monastery, the Monk Kirill placed this, revered as miraculous, icon in the local row of the Assumption Cathedral of the Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery. After the monastery was closed, the frame was removed from the icon, and it was all covered with radiating cracks and traces of nails from the “expropriated” frame. During the restoration (restorer E.A. Pogrebnyak), more than four hundred nail holes were repaired. This is also Our Lady Peribleptos.

Two remarkable icons of Hodegetria from the mid-15th century are in the Andrei Rublev Museum of Ancient Russian Culture and Art. The icon of Hodegetria from Macedonia, reminiscent of more ancient examples, has a number of features dating back to the post-Byzantine period (smoothed brushwork, “writing with light,” creating the impression of a chiseled roundness of shape).

Another icon is from the Assumption Cathedral in the city of Dmitrov. Its uniqueness lies in the features of the depiction of robes that are not found in Russian icon painting of the 15th-16th centuries: these are the wide sleeves of the tunic of the Infant God, the unusual drapery of His himation with a loop-shaped fold at the knees; The maforium of the Mother of God is lowered on the forehead.

Of course, not only in “light and color”, not only in writing technique, those presented in our brief overview Guide icons. Behind each image are the prayers of many generations of Orthodox Christians, prayers heard, those prayers about which the stichera on Psalm 50 says that the Mother of God makes them useful.

In the iconography of the Mother of God Hodegetria, which over the centuries has preserved the features of that Prototype, which was captured by the holy Apostle Luke, one can see that lively response to the gracious help of the Blessed Virgin, which very accurately reflects the hymnography of the feast of Hodegetria: “Let us never be silent, O Mother of God, Thy powers verb, unworthy. If You weren’t there to pray, who would save us from such troubles? Who would have kept them free until now? We will not retreat from You, Lady..."

Archpriest Nikolai Pogrebnyak

Source of material: magazine “Moscow Diocesan Gazette”, No. 7-8, 2013.

Mother of God Hodegetria

Hodegetria. Tikhvin Icon of the Mother of God, XV - XVI centuries, Tikhvin Monastery

Hodegetria, which means “Guide” in Greek, represents the most common type of image of the Virgin Mary in the Christian world. Many of the famous and revered Orthodox icons, including Kazan, Iverskaya, Smolenskaya, Tikhvinskaya, Strastnaya, Sporuchnitsa sinners and Troeruchitsa, belong to this group. The first hodegetria, it is believed, was the ancient Blachernae icon, painted, according to legend, by the Evangelist Luke and which has survived to this day in many copies.

The dogmatic meaning of hodegetria—the coming of the great judge and king to earth—determines the compositional design of the icon. The Child Christ, sitting in the arms of the Mother of God, is depicted in the image of the Pantocrator, dressed in royal robes of purple and gold and, often, a crown. In his left hand, Jesus holds a scroll as a symbol of the Teaching, and with his right hand he blesses the viewer. At the same time, in contrast to the generally similar and also widespread type of image “Elius” (Tenderness), the Mother of God does not cling to Jesus, but points at him with her hand, presenting the royal Child to the world.

Any icon painting type and, in particular, hodegetria is not a set of unconditional rules that must be followed, but a direction of thought and a goal that the icon painter strives to achieve. Therefore, each image of the Guide is unique, although quite recognizable in its dogmatic content and artistic solution.

In addition to the belt icons, which are the most common, there are tall “full-length” hodegetria, which, for the most part, date back to the late Byzantine period. There is also a shortened chest version of the image, known primarily from the icon of the Mother of God of Kazan. The Virgin Mary and the Child Christ can look at the viewer or at each other, as if having a conversation. The scroll in the hands of Jesus may be absent; in addition, additional elements may be included in the composition of the hodegetria: images of angels, a scepter and an orb (“Look in Humility”) or, for example, a hand (“Three-handed”).

The history of this icon painting type is closely intertwined with the history of Christian culture as a whole. The most ancient hodegetrias, Tikhvin and Blachernae, were written, according to legend, by the Evangelist Luke, becoming models for many icon painters in subsequent times. The Blachernae icon became famous for many miracles, including the healing of two blind travelers in Antioch, which is believed to have determined its name “Hodegetria,” which later spread to other icons. For many years, the image was kept in the Blachernae Cathedral of Constantinople (according to other sources - in the Odigon monastery) and was more than once exhibited on the fortress walls, protecting the capital of the Eastern Empire from enemy attacks.

In Rus', hodegetria became one of the most common types of images of the Virgin Mary. Many of the famous and revered icons of the Mother of God today were created precisely in the iconography of the hodegetria. Among them is the miraculous Kazan Icon, found in the ashes of Kazan in 1579, and the Smolensk Icon, attributed to the hand of the famous master Dionysius.

The Smolensk Icon of the Mother of God belongs to the Hodegetria iconographic type. The name can be translated from Greek as “Guide”.

This is one of the most common images in Byzantine and Russian art.

Smolensk Icon of the Mother of God: compositional features

The composition of the Hodegetria iconography is as follows: the Mother of God and the Infant Christ are depicted almost frontally, their faces facing the praying person do not touch. The head of the Mother of God may be slightly inclined towards the Son, the hand raised in a prayer gesture at chest level. The Divine Infant sits in the arms of the Mother; He blesses with his right hand, holds a scroll with his left, and less often, a book. The Mother of God is most often represented in a half-length image, but there are also full-length and shoulder-length versions, for example, the Kazan Icon. The Baby can be located either to the right or to the left of the Virgin Mary; more often He is depicted sitting on the left hand of the Blessed Virgin.

Mosaic icon. 1st half of the 13th century National Gallery, Palermo, Italy

The idea of ​​the image of Hodegetria

The defining theological idea of ​​this image is the coming into the world of the Son of God, the incarnation of God for the sake of the salvation of mankind. The Fragile Baby is the Heavenly King and the Coming Judge. Gesture right hand The Mother of God can be interpreted not only as a prayer, expressing Her personal prayer to God. With this gesture, the Mother of God seems to point believers to the One to whom their thoughts and prayers should be directed.

N.P. Kondakov, who studied the iconography of the Mother of God, believed that the image of Hodegetria is one of the most ancient. It developed in Palestine or Egypt before the 6th century. Starting from the 6th century, it spread widely throughout the Orthodox East and Byzantium.

Mosaic icon. Byzantium. XIII century Monastery of St. Catherine, Sinai, Egypt

According to Church Tradition, the first such icon of the Virgin and Child was painted by the Apostle and Evangelist Luke. In the middle of the 5th century, this image, along with other shrines, was brought from the Holy Land to Constantinople by Empress Eudokia, wife of Emperor Theodosius the Younger. Some sources report that the icon was placed in the church of the Odigon convent, but Holy Week the icon was transferred from the monastery to the imperial palace. Near the monastery there was a spring that healed the blind. The nuns took care of those who came to the source. The area was called “place of guides” or “place of leaders”, and the monastery began to be called Odigon - “Guide”, “Guide”. Based on the name of the monastery, the main shrine - the icon of the Mother of God - began to be called Hodegetria. Initially given as a topographical name, it was also endowed with a deep meaning: the Mother of God is a guide to believers, instructing them in the true, even if protecting them from the enemy. The icon was one of the most revered shrines of Constantinople and was considered the palladium of the city. During enemy attacks, the image was raised to the city walls.

Empress Evdokia. Marble icon with inlay. From the church of Lipsa Monastery. X century Archaeological Museum, Istanbul

Researchers believe that it was with the icon of the Odigon monastery that a procession of the cross took place throughout Constantinople on Tuesdays. During this prayer procession, a miracle regularly occurred, which was described by the Russian pilgrim Stefan Novgorod, who visited the capital of Byzantium in 1348 or 1349. The heavy, large icon was carried across the square by only one person. “That icon is taken out every Tuesday. This is an amazing sight: then all the people come together, and they come from other cities. This icon is very large, skillfully bound, and the singers walking in front of it sing beautifully, and all the people cry with tears: “Lord, have mercy!” ... A wondrous sight: seven or eight people will place the icon on the shoulders of one person, and he, by the will of God, walks as if unburdened by anything,” reports Stefan. Numerous miracles and healings took place in front of the icon.

Our Lady Hodegetria. Byzantium. 1st quarter of the 15th century

According to one version of the legend, the icon written by the Apostle Luke and brought from the Holy Land ended up in the Blachernae Church, where it was also healing spring and where other shrines were kept: the chasuble and part of the belt of the Virgin Mary. Perhaps one of the copies made from the original icon by the apostle was placed in the Blachernae church. It is known that several copies were made from the original image, which became famous for miracles. In any case, in the Blachernae Church there was a particularly revered icon of the Mother of God Hodegetria.

Blachernae icon. Wax mastic. XIII – XIV centuries Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin

Numerous copies of the miraculous image of the Mother of God Hodegetria were sent to all parts of the empire and beyond. From Byzantium, the iconographic type of Hodegetria came to Rus', where, based on the place of creation, stay or miraculous discovery, similar icons received names: Toropetskaya, Smolenskaya, Tikhvinskaya, Iverskaya, Sedmiezernaya, Kazanskaya.

Our Lady Hodegetria. Pskov. The end of the XIII - the beginning of the XIV century. Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow

History of the Smolensk Icon of the Mother of God “Hodegetria”

The icon of Our Lady Hodegetria, called “Smolensk”, arrived in Rus' in the middle of the 11th century. In 1046, the Byzantine Emperor Constantine IX Monomakh blessed his daughter Anna with this icon for her marriage to Prince Vsevolod, the son of Yaroslav the Wise. After the death of Vsevolod, his son, Vladimir Monomakh, moved the icon to Smolensk, where the Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary was founded, in which the shrine was subsequently placed.

According to legend, when the hordes of Khan Batu approached Smolensk in 1239, the city was saved from ruin through the intercession of the Mother of God. A warrior named Mercury, praying in front of the icon, received instructions from the Mother of God to fight the enemy standing near the walls. The Mongols saw that Mercury was helped in battle by lightning-fast men and a radiant Wife. Seized with horror, throwing down their weapons, the enemies fled, driven by an unknown force. Mercury suffered a martyr's death in battle and was canonized by the Church.

Our Lady Hodegetria. Byzantium. Mid-15th century Private collection.

At the end of the 14th or beginning of the 15th century, the icon of the Mother of God Hodegetria was brought from Smolensk, captured by the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, to Moscow, where, as a particularly revered shrine, it was placed in the Annunciation Cathedral, on the right side of the royal gates. There are three versions of the circumstances under which the icon ended up in Moscow. One of possible options transferring icons is associated with dynastic marriage. Perhaps the Grand Duke of Lithuania Vytautas gave this icon to his daughter Sophia, the wife of the Grand Duke of Moscow Vasily Dmitrievich, when she was in Smolensk in 1398 to meet with her father and received from him many icons in Greek writing. According to another version, the last of the Smolensk princes, Yuri Svyatoslavovich, expelled in 1404 by Vitovt, arrived in Moscow and brought with him the icon of Hodegetria along with other icons. The third version, set out in the Russian Vremennik, says that a certain Yurga, Pan Svilkoldovich, when he left Svidrigail, the Lithuanian prince, for the Grand Duke of Moscow Vasily Vasilyevich, plundered Smolensk on the way, took the icon of Hodegetria along with other things and brought it as a gift to the Moscow to the Grand Duke.

In 1456, Bishop Misail of Smolensk arrived in Moscow, accompanied by the governor of the city and noble citizens. The people of Smolensk asked the Moscow Grand Duke Vasily Vasilyevich the Dark to return the icon to Smolensk. The prince, seeing in this step a guarantee of the future reunification of Smolensk with Moscow, decided to return the shrine. An accurate, “measure in measure” list was made of the icon, which remained in Moscow, in the Annunciation Cathedral. In a religious procession, the icon was taken out of the Kremlin, walked to the Maiden Field, which is at the entrance to the Old Smolensk Road, and after the prayer service, the icon was released to Smolensk. On the list icon, the scroll in the Child’s hand is depicted in a vertical position. Researchers suggest that this feature was also on the sample - the Smolensk icon of the Mother of God Hodegetria, sent from Constantinople.

List of the Smolensk Icon of Hodegetria. Moscow. 1456 Recorded in the 19th century. Armory Chamber, Moscow Kremlin museums

In 1514, the troops of the Grand Duke of Moscow Vasily III Ivanovich Smolensk is recaptured from Lithuania. In memory of this event, in 1523, the prince founded the Novodevichy Convent not far from the place where Muscovites said goodbye to the icon. On July 28, 1525, the copy of the icon that was kept in the Annunciation Cathedral was solemnly transferred from the Kremlin to the monastery church, consecrated in the name of the Smolensk Icon of Hodegetria. In 1927, this icon, thanks to its rich gold frame from the time of Boris Godunov and the pearl robe, was transferred to the Armory Chamber.

In 1602, in Smolensk, an exact copy was written from the miraculous icon, which was placed in the tower of the Smolensk fortress wall, above the Dnieper Gate, under a specially constructed tent. Later, in 1727, a church was built there. In 1666, the ancient Smolensk icon was in Moscow for the second time: it was brought here by Archbishop Barsanuphius of Smolensk to renew the painting, which had darkened over time.

In 1812, during the French invasion, the icon was taken from Smolensk by Bishop Irenei (Falkovsky) and taken to Moscow, where residents could pray before it in the Assumption Cathedral. On the day of the Battle of Borodino, August 26, Muscovites walked around in a religious procession with Smolensk, Iveron and Vladimir icons White City, China Town and the Kremlin walls. Before the occupation of Moscow by the French, the Smolensk icon was sent to Yaroslavl, where it remained until the very end of World War II, and then returned to Smolensk. The icon, which was located in the Assumption Cathedral of Smolensk until 1941, was revered as the original one, brought from Constantinople. IN During the Great Patriotic War, the ancient icon disappeared without a trace.

The Virgin Mother is the boundary between created and uncreated nature, and Her, as the container of the incontainable, will be known by those who know God, and after God, those who sing of God will sing Her. She is the foundation of those before Her, and the eternal Intercessor.

St. Gregory Palamas

The Novodevichy Convent is one of the most beautiful monasteries in Moscow. It is beautiful in any weather, at any time of the year. From childhood and throughout my life I remember the unusually lush thickets of the monastery lilac (for some reason now almost all of it has been cut down). It’s hard to get used to this beauty, and every time you enter under the dark arches gate church, you involuntarily freeze and admire.

Inside the monastery walls, in a small wooden house there lived a real ascetic in the world - Pyotr Dmitrievich Baranovsky, the great architect-restorer of the twentieth century, who saved almost a thousand churches and ended his life here, in the main Moscow monastery of the Most Pure One - that is why the street from which the road to the monastery begins is called Prechistenka. Peace to your ashes, servant of God Peter!...

From the window of his room littered with books, folders with measurements and drawings, Baranovsky, while he could still see - in his old age he was completely blind - admired one of the most majestic churches in Moscow - the 16th century Cathedral in the name of Our Lady Hodegetria "called Smolenskaya", which kept a miraculous list with one of the greatest shrines of Rus' - Our Lady of Smolensk.

As long as there is faith in Rus', the Most Pure One preserves this destiny. The northern borders of our country were protected by the image of the Sign of Novgorod, the eastern borders by the Kazan Icon, and the western borders by the Smolensk Icon.

The prototype of the Smolensk Mother of God is very ancient and, according to legend, was written by the Apostle Luke himself for the Antioch ruler Theophilus. After the death of Theophilus, this image of Hodegetria the Guide returned to Jerusalem; in the 5th century, the blessed queen Pulcheria transferred it to Second Rome, to the Blachernae temple. From there the future Smolensk icon came to Rus'. Under what exact circumstances is not known for certain, but it happened no later than the middle of the 11th century. According to legend, the icon became a parental blessing for the daughter of the Byzantine Emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus, who was married to the Chernigov prince Vsevolod Yaroslavich.

After the death of Prince Vsevolod, Hodegetria found a new guardian in the person of his son, the Grand Duke of Kyiv Vladimir II Monomakh, a commander and writer (his “Teachings” are still studied in the course ancient Russian literature) and temple builder. In 1095, he transferred the miraculous from Chernigov (his first inheritance) to Smolensk, and in 1101 he founded the cathedral church of the Dormition of the Blessed Virgin Mary here. Ten years later, Hodegetria was installed in this cathedral and from that time began to be called Smolensk - after the name of the city, the guardian of which this miraculous one remained for almost nine centuries.

Smolensk Icon of the Mother of God, called "Hodegetria",
in the Holy Dormition Cathedral of Smolensk - prototype
(photo by S. M. Prokudin-Gorsky, 1912)

In the 13th century, the hordes of Batu fell upon Rus', rapidly moving westward. Crying and praying, the Smolensk people fell to the intercession of their Guardian. And a miracle happened: the Most Pure One, through the image of Hodegetria of Smolensk, granted the city miraculous salvation. The Tatars were already standing several miles from Smolensk when a pious warrior named Mercury heard a voice coming from the holy icon: “I am sending you to protect My house. The ruler of the Horde secretly wants to attack My city this night with his army, but I prayed to My Son and My God for My house, so that he would not give it up to the work of the enemy. I myself will be with you, helping my servant.” Obeying the Most Pure One, Mercury raised up the townspeople, and he himself rushed into the enemy camp, where he died in an unequal battle. He was buried in the cathedral church of Smolensk and soon canonized. In memory of Mercury, on the day of his death, a special thanksgiving service was performed before the miraculous image of Hodegetria.

When in 1395 the Principality of Smolensk lost its independence, becoming dependent on Lithuania. But just three years later, the daughter of the Lithuanian prince Vitovt was married to the Moscow prince Vasily Dmitrievich (son of the holy noble prince Dimitri Donskoy), and Hodegetria became her dowry. In 1398, the newly found shrine was installed in the Annunciation Cathedral of the Kremlin on the right side of the royal gates. Muscovites reverently worshiped it for half a century, until in 1456 representatives of the Smolensk people arrived in the reigning city and demanded that the shrine be returned to them. Grand Duke Vasily the Dark (1415-1462), after consulting with bishops and boyars, ordered to “release” the miraculous to Smolensk, leaving her exact list in Moscow. On July 28, in the presence of almost all Muscovites, the icon was solemnly carried through the Devichye Pole to the ford at the steep bend of the Moscow River, beyond which the road to Smolensk began. Here a prayer service was served to the Guide, after which the prototype of the miraculous woman went to Smolensk, and the mourners took the list from Smolensk to the Annunciation Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin.

In 1514, Smolensk was returned to the Russian state (the assault on the city by Russian troops began on July 29 - the day after the celebration of the Smolensk Icon); in 1524, in memory of this event, Grand Duke Vasily III founded the Novodevichy Convent on the very spot where Muscovites saw off the miraculous work in 1456.

In 1609, Smolensk was besieged by the Polish army, and after twenty months of siege, in 1611, the city fell to a superior enemy. The miraculous Smolensk icon was again sent to Moscow, and when the Poles captured the white stone one, it was sent to Yaroslavl, where it remained until the expulsion of the Poles and the return of Smolensk to the Russian state in 1654, during the reign of Alexei Mikhailovich. September 26, 1655 miraculous icon Hodegetria returned to Smolensk.

The intercession of the Most Pure One for Her beloved destiny was again revealed a century and a half later, during the Patriotic War of 1812. Again Her miraculous image was taken out, first to Moscow - on August 26, on the day of the Battle of Borodino, Smolensk, Iversk and Vladimir icon a religious procession was carried around Moscow, and on August 31, Iverskaya and Smolenskaya visited the wounded in the battle who were lying in the Lefortovo hospital. And when the Russian troops abandoned the Mother See, the Smolensk Icon was transported to Yaroslavl. However, through the intercession of the Most Pure One, this stay of Her miraculous image on the Volga banks turned out to be short-lived: already on December 24, 1812, Hodegetria returned to the Assumption Cathedral in Smolensk.

The Moscow Novodevichy Convent also had to endure a lot. They sent here unwanted queens and princesses - Evdokia Lopukhina, Sophia; Napoleonic “twelve tongues” robbed and plundered it and even tried, before fleeing from Moscow, to blow up the monastery (it was saved by brave nuns who extinguished the already lit wicks). In 1922, Novodevichy was completely closed, dispersing its nuns. For opposing the predatory “seizure of church valuables”, Abbess Vera was sent to the camp; and in 1938, the last confessor of the monastery, Archpriest Sergius Lebedev, died a martyr’s death at the Butovo training ground, where the ashes of tens of thousands of those executed rest. Back in 1925, there were 2,811 tombstones in the cemetery inside the monastery walls; now there are no more than a hundred of them left (including the graves of the historian Sergei Solovyov and his son Vladimir, the great Russian philosopher). The “Museum of the Emancipation of Women” was set up in the desecrated monastery, and in 1934 its buildings were transferred to the State Historical Museum.

Divine services in the Novodevichy Monastery resumed in 1945, when the refectory Assumption Church was re-consecrated here, and since then prayer has been heard here again before one of the lists of the Hodegetria. The revival of the monastery itself began in 1994, when the nuns returned to Novodevichy, led by Abbess Seraphima (Chernaya), the granddaughter of the martyr Saint Seraphim (Chichagov), who died in 1999; Her successor was Abbess Serafima (Isaeva).

...The last reliable news about the miraculous first image dates back to 1941. Closed in 1929, the Assumption Cathedral of Smolensk was not destroyed: its shrines and utensils remained intact until the start of the Great Patriotic War. On August 1, 1941, the German troops that entered the city notified their High Command that “a very ancient icon, attributed by legend to the Evangelist Luke, later rewritten, ... is in its original place and is not damaged. She... was recognized as miraculous and was a place of pilgrimage for believers.” But when two years later Smolensk was liberated Soviet troops, the icon was no longer there. One can only hope that sooner or later her fate will begin to become clearer - just as it is happening with another miraculous woman who disappeared in that war, Tikhvin.

Until its disappearance, the prototype of Smolenskaya was never subjected to detailed scientific study. According to old descriptions, the board on which the icon was written was unusually heavy, primed with chalk and glue and covered with canvas; The Most Pure One is depicted at half height, waist-deep, supporting the Child with her left hand. The Savior blesses those praying with His right hand, and holds a scroll with His hand. Outerwear The Virgin Marys are dark brown, the lower ones are dark blue; The Baby's clothes are dark green and gold. On the reverse side of the prototype was written the Crucifixion with the Greek inscription “The King is Crucified” and a view of Jerusalem. When painting was renewed in Moscow in 1666, figures of the Mother of God and John the Evangelist, which were not there before, were added to this Crucifixion. Features of the Smolensk Icon are the frontal position of the Child; a very slight turn of the Mother of God towards His Child; Her head is slightly bowed; characteristic hand position.

The celebration of the Smolensk Icon takes place on July 28 according to the Christian calendar. Once upon a time, on this day, a procession of the cross from the Kremlin, along Prechistenka and Devichye Pole to the Novodevichy Convent took place in the Mother See. By the beginning of the twentieth century, there were more than three dozen miraculous and especially revered lists of Smolensk, churches dedicated to this image stood in many cities, towns and monasteries of the Russian land, in Moscow alone there were four Smolensk churches, in St. Petersburg - five. And today, throughout all Smolensk churches in Russia, the troparion to the Most Holy Theotokos sounds before Her icon, called “Hodegetria”:

Troparion, tone 4

Let us now diligently approach the Mother of God, sinners and humility, and let us fall down in repentance calling from the depths of our souls: Lady, help us, having had mercy on us, struggling, we are perishing from many sins, do not turn away your slaves, for you are the only hope of the imams.

Kontakion, tone 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 good help to us who faithfully call Thee: hasten to prayer and strive to entreat, interceding ever since, the Mother of God, who honor Thee.

Kontakion, tone 6

There are no other imams of help, no other imams of hope, except You, the Lady: Help us, we hope in You and we boast in You: We are Your servants, let us not be ashamed.

Prayer before the Smolensk Icon of the Blessed Virgin Mary, called "Hodegetria"

To whom shall I cry, Lady? To whom shall I resort in my sorrow, if not to You, Lady Lady Theotokos, Queen of Heaven? Who will accept my cry and my sighing, if not You, O Most Immaculate One, the hope of Christians and refuge for sinners?

Incline, O most pure Lady, Thy ear to my prayer. Mother of my God, do not look down on me, requiring Your help, hear my groaning and inspire the cry of my heart, O Lady Theotokos Queen. And give me spiritual joy, strengthen me, who is impatient, sad and careless towards Your praise. Enlighten and teach me how it is fitting for You to pray, and do not depart from me, the Mother of my God, for my grumbling and impatience: but be my protection and intercession in my life and lead me to the quiet haven of blessed peace, and count me to your face Thy chosen flock and there deign me to sing and glorify Thee forever. Amen.

Holy Dormition Cathedral Smolensk

Cathedral of Smolensk Saints

Akathist to the Icon of the Mother of God “Hodegetria” (Guide Book) Smolensk