15. february 2017
Iverskaja icon of the Mother of God is located in Iver monastery on the Holy Mount Athos since 999. According to the tradition, in the 9th century, in times of the cruel destruction of the holy icons, there lived near the city of Nicea a fair widow with her son. In the chapel she had built in their house a miraculous icon of the Mother of God was located. One of the soldiers, whose task was to destroy the holy icons, hit a spear in the face of the Mother of God. Blood began to flow immediately from the icon. Astonished soldier in repentance fell down before the icon, left heresy and entered a monastery. The widow was afraid that the icon may be destructed or profaned, thus she decided to submit it onto the sea. To her great surprise and joy, the icon did not sink. Instead, it remained on the water, in the upright position, and moved westward. Son of the Widow fled to Greece and became a monk in a monastery on the Holy Mount Athos, where he spent the rest of his days. The miraculous icon of the Mother of God standing in the water reached the shore of Mount Athos. Once, during prayer to the Virgin Mary, monks from Athos saw the pillar of fire in the sea towards the heavens. When they arrived at the shore, they saw the icon of the Mother of God. However, they failed to pick her up from the water. Only an equitable monk Gavrij succeeded to pick up the holy icon, on the command of Virgin Mary who appeared to him in a dream. Icon took at an honoured place in the temple, but the next day it appeared above the entrance door of the monastery. This was repeated several times. Until again Virgin Mary appeared to Gavril in a dream, explaining that she came to be the protector of the monastery, not a protected one. Thus monks with grateful joy built a temple above the entrance door and placed the miraculous icon within the temple. The icon is therefore also known as the Portaitissa or Vratarnica.
History of Iver monastery remembers many cases of the miraculous help of God the Mother: saving homes from barbarians, miraculous wheat, wine and oil supplies replenishment, healing. In the 1648, on the October 13th, the perfect copy of Iverskaya miraculous icon of the Mother of God of Mount Athos solemnly transferred to Moscow, what is now a memorable day in Russia.