Rare publications about the Tikhvin Icon of the Mother of God available on the Presidential Library’s portal

Entire Orthodox world celebrates the Day of the Tikhvin Icon of the Mother of God on July 9. The Presidential Library’s portal features rare editions that tell about the icon itself and the legends that accompany its appearance on the deserted bank of the Tikhvinka River.

“With the development and strengthening of Christianity in Rus’, the pious veneration of divine images became an urgent spiritual need for our ancestors, as a result of which the glorification of new miraculous icons by them took on a larger and larger scale in quantitative terms. The appearance at such a time of the miraculous icon of the Mother of God on the Tikhvinka River (under circumstances that spoke a lot to a religious feeling) was accepted by the Russian people for the special grace of God, as a result of which a special high veneration was immediately established for this shrine...", - says Leonid Grigoriev in the publication Tikhvin and Its Shrine (1888).

According to Grigoriev, the following is said about the significant appearance of the image of the Tikhvin Icon of the Mother of God in folk tradition: “... in 1383, fishermen who were fishing in Lake Nevo (Ladoga) saw in the sky a quietly sweeping icon of the Mother of God, surrounded by extraordinary light. <…> Following this, the same icon was visible on the Oyat River, 102 miles from Tikhvin. After staying here for some time, the miraculous phenomenon disappeared into no one knows where, and a few days later it appeared again in the village of Vymochenitsy, located 100 miles from Tikhvin".

Local residents conceived to erect a temple of God on this place, and construction began, but one morning, according to Leonid Grigoriev in the book Tikhvin and Its Shrine, “... with dismay they saw that not only the icon, but the entire construction they had begun, as well as the forest prepared for it and even wood chips from the felling, who knows where they disappeared. <...> ... And soon, on the opposite bank of Tikhvinka, they saw a place illuminated by a bright light. They hurried there immediately. So what?! All the building left from the evening until the last chips was moved to a new place, and above the eastern wall there was a shining Icon of the Mother of God”.

Inspired by the manifestation of God's providence, "...people immediately began to build a church in a new, above-indicated place, and the event was sent to the Archbishop of Novgorod Alexei, who hastened to report such an extraordinary phenomenon to Moscow for a report to the Grand Prince Dmitry Ivanovich Donskoy".

From which side could the miraculous shrine be transferred to the remote northern region? The historian Yakov Berednikov, in his work Historical and statistical description of the first-class Tikhvin large monastery of the Mother of God, consisting of the Novgorod diocese in the city of Tikhvin (1859) writes that it moved from Constantinople, while referring to the authors of ancient manuscripts:

“... many of the wealthy Novgorod merchants, being on business in Constantinograd during the glorious miracles that took place in Tikhvin from the icon of the Mother of God, talked about them with the local Patriarch, who, having entered into all the details of its phenomenon and miracles, for his part, conveyed to them the news of how the icon of the Mother of God, hiding from Constantinograd, under the Divine's gaze, and before sometimes went to sea, but returned again to the city, pouring out miracles on the faithful, giving victories to enemies, quenching illnesses and sorrows, and how at last it departed irrevocably, of course for pride, brotherly hatred and untruths of the people”.

The icon, revealed to people in the XIV century, gave rise to a pilgrimage to Tikhvin for Orthodox of different classes, including monarchs. “The Tikhvin monastery from the day of its dispensation until the last time was the subject of special attention of the Royal Persons in Russia”, - notes Leonid Grigoriev in the publication Tikhvin and Its Shrine. - ... It was visited by both the Sovereigns and many members of the Imperial House, and each visit was marked by various valuable contributions and gifts for the benefit of the monastery"... In 1526 Tikhvin was visited by Vasily III to pray for the gift of an heir, who became the future Tsar John Vasilyevich Grozny. He also visited Tikhvin in 1547, feeling "...the desire...to build a male communal monastery, the construction of which, by order of the Tsar, was started at the same time".

The Emperor Peter the Great also visited the Tikhvin Monastery, in 1717 he set out "on research for the construction of the Tikhvin water system". Thirty years later, the monastery was hosted by Empress Elizabeth Petrovna with her heir Peter Feodorovich and his wife Ekaterina Alekseevna. Later, Paul I visited here it the august family and other emperors and grand princes.

The Tikhvin Icon of the Mother of God left Russia in the 40s of the XX century: during the Great Patriotic War, it was taken to Riga, and then to the USA, where it remained for the next 60 years. Only in 2004 the icon was returned to its historical place in the Tikhvin Assumption Monastery of the Theotokos.