On July 21 and November 4 according to the New Calendar, the Church honors the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God. The icon of the Most Holy Mother of God, later known as the Kazan Icon, was discovered on July 8, 1579 (Old Style) by Matrona, a nine-year-old girl and the daughter of a Streltsy soldier, in the ashes of her family’s home after a fire in Kazan, a city recently conquered by Russian troops. The Mother of God appeared to the girl in a dream and told her how and where she would find the icon. The girl told her mother. Her parents paid no attention to her words, and so the Most Holy Mother of God appeared to the girl again. But all appeals to the church and secular authorities came to nothing. The girl’s mother tried to dig in the indicated place but could not find the icon. It was only when Matrona herself took up the shovel that the icon was found. Thus, by Divine Providence, the holy icon was discovered by an innocent girl, rather than by an adult defiled by sin.

After its discovery, the icon shone as though it had just been painted. It was solemnly taken to the nearest church, where, by Divine Providence, the future Patriarch of All Russia, Hieromartyr Hermogenes, was serving and received the holy icon. At that time he was a priest named Yermolay. It is with the words of the future Hieromartyr Hermogenes, who later composed the troparion for this feast, that we glorify the Mother of God on the day her venerable icon was discovered. As Patriarch of All Russia, he became an example of steadfast faith just a short time later, during the Time of Troubles, preserving the Russian Church and the state from conquest by the Polish-Lithuanian invaders. In 1610, they openly invaded the borders of the Russian state and, with the help of treacherous boyars, captured Moscow, the capital.

The Russian militia, led by Kuzma Minin and Prince Dmitry Pozharsky, set out to liberate Moscow and the entire Russian state, taking with them a copy of the Kazan Icon, already glorified by many healings. On the eve of the decisive assault, Minin, Pozharsky, and the other militiamen offered their fervent prayers to the Lord and His Most Pure Mother before this very icon. Their prayers were heard, and the enemy was defeated and driven from the borders of the Russian state. Since then, November 21 (Old Style) has been celebrated as the autumn feast of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God. In 2004, a civil holiday, National Unity Day, was also established and combined with the church feast, commemorating the victory over the enemy, won only through the united efforts of all classes of the Russian people, brought together by their love for their homeland and the Church.

By order of Tsar Ivan the Terrible, a church was built and a women’s monastery founded at the site where the icon was discovered. The wonderworking icon was kept there.

The Kazan Icon of the Mother of God became one of the most beloved icons in Rus’. It is perhaps the most widespread icon, found in the home of almost every Christian in Russia, despite the many other wonderworking icons of the Mother of God that we know. People turn especially to the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God for help when enemies attack. It is believed that during the Patriotic War of 1812, on the eve of the Battle of Borodino, M. I. Kutuzov prayed before the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God.   

The icon itself is of Greek style. According to one of the most likely accounts, it was hidden by a Christian during the period of Muslim rule in Kazan; that is, it was painted no later than the middle of the 16th century. The image is very simple, without distracting details. It depicts the Mother of God from the shoulders up, with the Child Jesus in her arms, though her hands are not visible. The Mother of God traditionally wears a crimson maphorion, symbolizing her motherhood of God and her human nature, which was able to contain the God who cannot be contained. A woman of the earth, though a Virgin, became the Mother of her own Creator. Beneath the crimson maphorion, a blue garment is visible, symbolizing her purity, virginity, and chastity. The heavenly color of the Virgin Mary’s garment symbolizes these very qualities. The three stars on the maphorion also symbolize her Ever-Virginity: she was a Virgin before the Savior’s birth, during the birth, and remains so after the birth of Christ. The Divine Child, Jesus Christ, sits in her arms, facing the viewer and blessing him with his hand formed in the two-fingered sign of the cross.

Several accurate copies were made from this wonderworking icon soon after its discovery, already in the late 16th century. One of them was carried by the militia that liberated Moscow from the Polish-Lithuanian invaders and came to be known as the “Moscow” copy. It was kept in the Kazan Church on Red Square in Moscow, built specifically for it. The wonderworking Kazan Icon itself never left the boundaries of Kazan. It was stolen in 1904 and has not been found to this day, despite the capture of the thieves. The icon itself disappeared. Many theories circulated that it might have been sold, hidden, or destroyed. It is quite possible that, having emerged from the ashes, the wonderworking icon disappeared in the flames of a furnace after the thief cut it into pieces.

The copy of the icon carried by the militia and later kept in the Kazan Cathedral on Red Square also disappeared, but in 1918. In the autumn of 2023, the Russian Orthodox Church announced that this copy had been found and would once again be kept in the Kazan Cathedral on Red Square.       

Sermon for the Feast of the Appearance of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God (read) →

Translated from the original article in Russian.