The miraculous image of the Savior is considered the most valuable and one-of-a-kind icon. This icon is worshiped by Christians all over the world, because the miraculous image is capable of completely changing the life of everyone who sincerely asks for it.
History of the icon
According to legend, the icon appeared with the help of a real miracle revealed. King Abgar of Edessa fell ill with leprosy and wrote a letter to Jesus, asking him to heal him. terrible disease. Jesus answered the message, but the letter did not heal the king.
The dying monarch sent his servant to Jesus. The man who arrived conveyed his request to the Savior. Jesus listened to the servant, went to a vessel of water, washed his face and wiped his face with a towel, on which His face was miraculously imprinted. The servant took the shrine, took it to Avgar, and he was completely healed just by touching the towel.
Avgar's icon painters copied the face that remained on the canvas, and closed the relic itself in a scroll. Traces of the shrine are lost in Constantinople, where the scroll was transported for safety during the raids.
Description of the icon
The icon “Savior Not Made by Hands” does not depict events; the Savior does not act as an unattainable God. Only His face, only his gaze directed at everyone who approaches the icon.
This image carries main idea and the idea of the Christian faith, reminding everyone that it is through the person of Jesus that a person can come to the truth and enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Prayer before this image is like a private conversation with the Savior.
What do they pray to the icon for?
Every Orthodox Christian who prays before the icon of the “Savior Not Made by Hands” has the most honest conversation with the Savior about his life and eternal life. It is customary to pray to this image in the most difficult life situations when despair, despondency or anger prevent you from living like a Christian.
A prayer to the Savior before this image can help:
- in healing a serious illness;
- in getting rid of sorrows and sorrows;
- in a complete change in life path.
Prayers to the miraculous image of the Savior
“Lord my God, by your mercy my life has been given to me. Lord, will you leave me in my trouble? Cover me, Jesus, and guide me beyond the lines of my misfortune, protect me from new shocks and show me the way to peace and quiet. Forgive me my sins, Lord, and allow me to humbly enter Your Kingdom. Amen".
“Heavenly Savior, Creator and Protector, Shelter and Cover, do not leave me. Heal, Lord, my mental and physical wounds, protect me from pain and troubles, and forgive me my sins, voluntary and involuntary. Amen".
“Lord, by Your mercy I will be cleansed, and I will find Your grace. My God, do not leave me in sorrow and misfortune, bestow your radiance on me and allow me to receive Your blessing. Amen".
This short prayer can give strength and help you make the right decision.
What does the icon look like?
This image of Jesus is the only one where the Savior is depicted in a portrait manner. In this icon, the Lord does not lead, does not point, does not instruct and does not enlighten. He is simply present, remaining alone with everyone who comes to Him.
The Savior is depicted with a direct gaze directed into the eyes of everyone who appears before Him. His hair and beard are depicted as wet, conveying the story of his appearance miraculous icon.
The day of remembrance and veneration of the icon “Savior Not Made by Hands” is August 29, according to the new style. At this time, prayers to the Savior can change fate and direct life in a different direction. We wish you peace in your soul and faith in God. Be happy and don't forget to press the buttons and
26.05.2017 06:01
Saint Melania is revered by women all over Orthodox world. The icon of this saint can protect girls from harm...
THE SAVIOR NOT MADE BY HANDS Church tradition tells the following about the appearance of the Image of the Savior not made by hands: during the time of the Savior, King Abgar ruled in the Syrian city of Edessa. He got infected with a terrible incurable disease- leprosy. The king hoped for the help of the Lord. He wanted to pray in front of his image. For this, Abgar sent his artist Ananias to Jerusalem with a letter to Christ. Then the all-seeing Lord Himself called Ananias and ordered him to bring a jug of water and cloth. Having washed himself, the Savior wiped himself with this cloth - and the Miraculous Image of the Savior was imprinted on it. Having venerated the shrine, Abgar immediately received complete healing. He installed the Holy Image in a niche at the city gate, but soon hid the image from the wicked. When the Persians besieged Edessa in 545, the Most Holy Theotokos appeared in a dream to the then bishop of the city and commanded to open the Image Not Made by Hands. Walking around the walls of the city with Him, its inhabitants turned away their enemies. In 944, the Byzantine emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus (912-959) solemnly transferred [...]
Icon of the Savior Not Made by Hands - description
The Savior Not Made by Hands The Savior Not Made by Hands has always been one of the most beloved images in Rus'. This is what was usually written on the banners of Russian troops. There are two types of images of the Image Not Made by Hands: the Savior on the ubrus and the Savior on the skull. On icons such as “The Savior on the Ubrus” the face of Christ is depicted on a cloth (towel), the upper ends of which are tied with knots. There is a border along the bottom edge. The face of Jesus Christ is the face of a middle-aged man with delicate and spiritual features, with a beard divided in two, with long hair curly at the ends and parted in the middle. The appearance of the icon “Savior on the Chest” is explained by the following legend. As already mentioned, the king of Edessa, Abgar, converted to Christianity. The miraculous image was glued to a “non-rotting board” and placed above the city gates. Later, one of the kings of Edessa returned to paganism, and the image was walled up in a niche of the city wall, and after four centuries this place was completely forgotten. In 545, during the siege of the city by the Persians, the Bishop of Edessa was given a revelation [...]
Savior Not Made by Hands - description of the icon
The miraculous Image of Jesus Christ, the Savior on the ubrus, Mandylion is one of the main types of images of Christ, representing His face on the ubrus (plate) or chrepiya (tile). Christ is depicted at the age of the Last Supper. Tradition relates the historical Edessa prototype of icons of this type to the legendary plate on which the face of Christ miraculously appeared when He wiped his face with it. The image is usually the main one. One of the options is Skull or Ceramide - an image of similar iconography, but against the background of brickwork. In Western iconography there is a known type<Плат Вероники>, where Christ is depicted on a cloth, but wearing a crown of thorns. In Rus' there was special kind Miraculous Image -<Спас Мокрая брада>- an image in which Christ's beard converges into one thin tip.
More than 1000 years ago, in 988, Rus', having received Baptism, saw the face of Christ for the first time. By this time, in Byzantium - its spiritual mentor - there had already been an extensive iconography of Orthodox art for several centuries, dating back to the first centuries of Christianity. Rus' inherited this iconography, accepting it as an inexhaustible source of ideas and images. Images of the Savior Not Made by Hands appear in Ancient Rus' from the 12th century, first in the paintings of churches (Savior-Mirozh Cathedral (1156) and the Savior on Nereditsa (1199)), later as independent images.
Over time, Russian masters contributed to the development of icon painting. In their works of the 13th – 15th centuries, the image of Christ loses the harsh spirituality of the Byzantine prototypes, and features of kindness, merciful participation and goodwill towards man appear in it. An example of this is the oldest Russian icon of the Yaroslavl masters of the Savior Not Made by Hands of the 13th century from the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin, which is currently kept in the State Tretyakov Gallery. The face of Jesus Christ on the icons of Russian masters is devoid of severity and tension. It contains a benevolent call to a person, spiritual demands and support at the same time.
The icon of Jesus Christ the Savior Not Made by Hands by icon painter Yuri Kuznetsov supports the traditions of ancient Russian masters. An encouraging trust emanates from the icon, a spiritual power akin to man, allowing him to feel his involvement in divine perfection. I would like to include the words of N.S. Leskova: “A typical Russian image of the Lord: the look is direct and simple... there is an expression in the face, but no passions” (Leskov N.S. At the edge of the world. Works in 3 volumes. M., 1973. P. 221).
The image of Christ immediately took a central place in the art of Ancient Rus'. In Rus', the image of Christ was initially synonymous with Salvation, Grace and Truth, the highest source of help and consolation for man in his earthly suffering. The system of values of ancient Russian culture, uniting its religious meaning, image of the world, human ideal, ideas about goodness and beauty are inextricably linked with the image of the Savior Jesus Christ. The image of Christ illuminated the whole life path a person of Ancient Rus' from birth to his last breath. In the image of Christ he saw main meaning and justification of one’s life, embodying one’s Creed in images that are high and clear, like the words of a prayer.
The image of the Savior Not Made by Hands was associated with hopes for help and protection from enemies. It was placed above the gates of cities and fortresses, on military signs. The miraculous image of Christ served as protection for the Russian troops. Thus, the troops of Dmitry Donskoy fought on the Kulikovo field under the princely banner with the image of the Holy Face. Ivan the Terrible had the same banner when he took the city of Kazan in 1552.
Before His Image Not Made by Hands, people turn to the Savior Jesus Christ with prayers for healing from deadly diseases and for giving greater vitality.
The meaning of the Miraculous Image
In the early Christian (pre-iconoclastic) period, the symbolic image of Jesus Christ was widespread. As you know, the Gospels do not contain any information about the appearance of Christ. In the painting of catacombs and tombs, reliefs of sarcophagi, mosaics of temples, Christ appears in Old Testament forms and images: the Good Shepherd, Orpheus or the Youth Emmanuel (Is. 7:14). Great importance for the formation of the “historical” image of Christ, His Image Not Made by Hands is used. Perhaps the Icon Not Made by Hands, known since the 4th century, with its transfer to Constantinople in 994, became “an immutable model for icon painting,” as N.P. believed. Kondakov (Kondakov N.P. Iconography of the Lord God and Our Savior Jesus Christ, St. Petersburg, 1905. P. 14).
The silence of the evangelists about the appearance of Jesus Christ can be explained by their concern for the spiritual rebirth of humanity, the direction of their gaze from earthly life to heavenly life, from material to spiritual. Thus, keeping silent about the historical features of the Savior’s face, they draw our attention to knowledge of the Savior’s personality. “In depicting the Savior, we do not depict either His divine nature or His human nature, and His personality, in which both of these natures are incomprehensibly combined,” says Leonid Uspensky, an outstanding Russian icon painter and theologian (Uspensky L.A. The meaning and language of icons // Journal of the Moscow Patriarchate. 1955. No. 6. P. 63).
The Gospel story also did not include the story of the Image of Christ Not Made by Hands; this can be explained by the words of the holy Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian: “Jesus did many other things; but if we were to write about this in detail, then, I think, the world itself could not contain the books that would be written” (John 21:25).
During the period of iconoclasm, the Image of Christ not made by hands was cited as the most important evidence in favor of icon veneration (Seventh Ecumenical Council (787)).
According to Christian tradition, the miraculous image of the Savior Jesus Christ is one of the proofs of the truth of the incarnation in human form second person of the Trinity. The ability to capture the image of God, according to the teachings of the Orthodox Church, is associated with the Incarnation, that is, the birth of Jesus Christ, God the Son, or, as believers usually call Him, the Savior, the Savior. Before His birth, the appearance of icons was unreal - God the Father is invisible and incomprehensible, therefore, incomprehensible.
Thus, the first icon painter was God himself, His Son - “the image of His hypostasis” (Heb. 1.3). God has found human face, The Word became flesh for the salvation of man.
How the Image Not Made by Hands Was Revealed
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There are two widespread versions of the legend about the origin of the icon of the Savior Not Made by Hands. We will present the eastern version of the legend about the Image of Jesus Christ Not Made by Hands, based on the book of the spiritual writer and church historian Leonid Denisov, “The History of the True Image of the Savior Not Made by Hands on the Basis of the Testimony of Byzantine Writers” (M., 1894, pp. 3–37).
During the years of the earthly life of Jesus Christ, Abgar V the Black reigned in Osroene (the capital of this miniature kingdom was the city of Edessa). For seven years he suffered unbearably from “black leprosy,” the most severe and incurable form of this disease. The rumor about the appearance in Jerusalem of an extraordinary man performing miracles spread far beyond the borders of Palestine, and soon reached Abgar. The nobles of the King of Edessa, who visited Jerusalem, conveyed to Abgar their enthusiastic impression of amazing miracles Savior. Abgar believed in Jesus Christ as the Son of God and sent the painter Ananias to him with a letter in which he begged Christ to come and heal him from his illness.
Ananias walked for a long time and unsuccessfully in Jerusalem for the Savior. The masses of people surrounding the Lord prevented Ananias from fulfilling Abgar’s instructions. One day, tired of waiting, and, perhaps, despairing that he would be able to fulfill the instructions of his sovereign, Ananias stood on a ledge of a rock and, watching the Savior from afar, tried to copy him. But, despite all his efforts, he could not depict the face of Christ, because his expression was constantly changing by divine and incomprehensible power.
Finally, the Merciful Lord commanded the Apostle Thomas to bring Ananias to him. Before he had time to say anything, the Savior called him by name, asking for the letter Abgar had written to Him. Wanting to reward Abgar for his faith and love for Himself and fulfilling his ardent desire, the Savior ordered water to be brought and, having washed His holy face, wiped it with the rubbish given to him, that is, a four-pointed handkerchief. The water miraculously turned into colors, and the image of the divine face of the Savior was miraculously imprinted on the lining.
Having received the ubrus and the message, Ananias returned to Edessa. Abgar prostrated himself before the image and, venerating it with faith and love, received, according to the Savior’s word, instant relief from his illness, and after his baptism, as the Savior predicted, complete healing.
Avgar, revering the ubrus with a miraculous image of the face of the Savior, overthrew the statue of a pagan deity from the city gates, intending to place the miraculous image there to bless and protect the city. IN stone wall A deep niche was built above the gate, and the holy image was installed in it. Around the image there was a golden inscription: “Christ God! None of those who trust in You will perish.”
For about a hundred years, the Icon Not Made by Hands protected the inhabitants of Edessa, until one of Abgar’s descendants, having renounced Christ, wanted to remove it from the gates. But the Bishop of Edessa, mysteriously informed by God in a vision, came at night to the city gates, reached a niche along the stairs, placed a lit lamp in front of the image, covered it with ceramide (clay board) and leveled the edges of the niche with the wall, as he was told in the vision.
More than four centuries have passed...
The place where the Icon Not Made by Hands was located was no longer known to anyone. In 545, Justin the Great, under whose rule Edessa was then, fought with the Persian king, Chosroes I. Edessa constantly passed from hand to hand: from the Greeks to the Persians and back. Khosroes began to build a wooden wall near the city wall of Edessa, in order to then fill up the space between them and thus create an embankment above the city walls so that he could throw arrows from above at the defenders of the city. Khozroy carried out his plan; the inhabitants of Edessa decided to build an underground passage to the embankment in order to light a fire there and burn the logs holding the embankment. The fire was lit, but had no outlet where, having escaped into the air, it could have engulfed the logs.
Confused and despairing, the residents resorted to prayer to God; on the same night, the Bishop of Edessa, Eulalia, had a vision in which he was given an indication of the place where, invisible to everyone, the Image of Christ miraculously resided. Having dismantled the bricks and taken away the ceramide, Eulaliy found holy image Christ safe and sound. The lamp, lit 400 years ago, continued to burn. The bishop looked at the ceramide, and a new miracle amazed him: on it, miraculously, was depicted the same likeness of the Savior’s face as on the ubrus.
The inhabitants of Edessa, glorifying the Lord, brought miraculous icon into the tunnel, they sprinkled it with water, a few drops of this water fell on the fire, the flame immediately engulfed the wood and spread to the logs of the wall erected by Khosroes. The bishop brought the image to the city wall and performed litia (prayer outside the temple), holding the image in the direction of the Persian camp. Suddenly the Persian troops, overwhelmed panic fear, fled.
Despite the fact that Edessa was taken by the Persians in 610, and later by the Muslims, the Image Not Made by Hands remained with the Edessa Christians all the time. With the restoration of icon veneration in 787, the Image Not Made by Hands became the subject of special reverent veneration. The Byzantine emperors dreamed of acquiring this image, but they were not able to bring their dream to fruition until the second half of the 10th century.
Roman I Lecapen (919–944), full of fiery love for the Savior, wished at all costs to bring a miraculous image of His face to the capital of the monarchy. The emperor sent envoys outlining his demands to the emir, since Persia at that time was conquered by the Muslims. The Muslims of that time oppressed the enslaved countries in every possible way, but often allowed the indigenous population to peacefully practice their religion. The emir, out of attention to the petition of the Edessa Christians, who threatened outrage, refused the demands of the Byzantine emperor. Angered by the refusal, Romanus declared war on the caliphate, troops entered Arab territory and devastated the environs of Edessa. Fearing ruin, the Edessa Christians, on their own behalf, sent a message to the emperor asking him to stop the war. The emperor agreed to stop hostilities on the condition that the image of Christ be given to him.
With the permission of the Baghdat Caliph, the emir agreed to the conditions proposed by the emperor. Crowds of people surrounded and brought up the rear of the procession as the Icon Not Made by Hands was transferred from the city to the bank of the Euphrates, where galleys awaited the procession to cross the river. Christians began to grumble, refusing to give up the holy image unless there was a sign from God. And a sign was given to them. Suddenly the galley, onto which the Icon Not Made by Hands had already been brought, swam without any action and landed on the opposite shore.
The quiet Edessians returned to the city, and the procession with the icon moved further along the dry route. Throughout the journey to Constantinople, miracles of healing were performed continuously. In Constantinople, jubilant people flocked from everywhere to worship great shrine. The monks and saints accompanying the Icon Not Made by Hands traveled around the entire capital by sea with a magnificent ceremony and installed the holy image in the Pharos Church.
The Icon Not Made by Hands was preserved in Constantinople (Constantinople) for exactly 260 years. In 1204, the Crusaders turned their weapons against the Greeks and captured Constantinople. Along with a lot of gold, jewelry and sacred objects, they captured and transported the Icon Not Made by Hands to the ship. But, according to the inscrutable fate of the Lord, the Miraculous Image did not remain in their hands. As they sailed along the Sea of Marmara, suddenly arose terrible storm, and the ship quickly sank. Greatest Christian shrine disappeared. This, according to legend, ends the story of the true Image of the Savior Not Made by Hands.
In the West, the legend of the Savior Not Made by Hands became widespread as the legend of the Payment of Saint Veronica. According to one of them, Veronica was a student of the Savior, but she could not accompany him all the time, then she decided to order a portrait of the Savior from the painter. But on the way to the artist, she met the Savior, who miraculously imprinted his face on her plate. Veronica's cloth was endowed with the power of healing. With its help, the Roman Emperor Tiberius was cured. Later another option appears. When Christ was led to Calvary, Veronica wiped the sweat and blood stained face of Jesus with a cloth, and it was reflected on the material. This moment is included in the Catholic cycle of the Passion of the Lord. The face of Christ in a similar version is painted with a crown of thorns.
Which icons are the most famous?
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Church historian L. Denisov mentions one of the most ancient icons of the Savior Not Made by Hands (XIV century). The icon was brought to Moscow by Saint Metropolitan Alexy from Constantinople and since 1360 it has stood in the iconostasis of the cathedral church of the Spaso-Andronikov Monastery. In 1354, Metropolitan Alexy of Kiev was caught in a storm on his way to Constantinople. The saint made a vow to build a cathedral in Moscow in honor of that saint or holiday on the day of which he would safely reach the shore. The day fell on the celebration of the Savior Not Made by Hands, and the Metropolitan built a monastery in his honor. Visiting Constantinople again in 1356, Alexy brought with him the icon of the Savior Not Made by Hands.
Chronicles and monastery inventories for centuries noted the presence of a Constantinople icon in the monastery. In 1812, she was evacuated from Moscow and then returned safely. According to the Nezavisimaya Gazeta report dated June 15, 2000, “... in 1918, this icon disappeared from the Andronikov Monastery and was discovered in one of the Moscow repositories only in 1999. The painting of this icon was rewritten several times, but always according to the old drawing. Its small size and rare iconography place it among the few exact repetitions of the Constantinople relic.” Further fate We were unable to trace this icon.
The Icon of Christ the Savior Not Made by Hands, erected by an unknown person and unknown when in the city of Vyatka on the porch of the Ascension Cathedral, is widely known. The image became famous for the numerous healings that took place before it. The first miracle happened in 1645 (this is evidenced by a manuscript kept in the Moscow Novospassky Monastery) - the healing of one of the city’s residents occurred. Peter Palkin, having been blind for three years, after fervent prayer before the Icon Not Made by Hands, received his sight. The news of this spread widely, and many began to come to the image with prayers and requests for healing. This icon was transported to Moscow by the then reigning sovereign Alexei Mikhailovich. On January 14, 1647, the miraculous image was transferred to the Kremlin and placed in the Assumption Cathedral. The gates to the Kremlin through which the image was brought in, which had been called Frolovsky until that time, began to be called Spassky.
The icon was kept in the Assumption Cathedral of the Kremlin until the reconstruction of the Transfiguration Cathedral in the Novospassky Monastery was completed; on September 19, 1647, the icon was solemnly transferred to the monastery in a procession of the cross. The image miraculously gained great love and veneration among the residents of the capital, icons were resorted to in cases of fires and epidemics. In 1670, the image of the Savior was given to help Prince Yuri, who was going to the Don to pacify the rebellion of Stepan Razin. Until 1917, the icon was in the monastery. Currently, the whereabouts of the holy image are unknown.
In the Novospassky Monastery there is a preserved copy of the miraculous image. It is installed in the local row of the iconostasis of the Transfiguration Cathedral - where the miraculous icon itself was previously placed.
Another miraculous image of the Savior Not Made by Hands is located in the Transfiguration Cathedral in St. Petersburg. The icon was painted for Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich by the famous icon painter Simon Ushakov. It was handed over by the queen to her son, Peter I. He always took the icon with him on military campaigns, and he was with it at the foundation of St. Petersburg. This icon saved the life of the king more than once.
The emperor carried a list of this miraculous icon with him. Alexander III. During the crash of the royal train on the Kursk-Kharkov-Azov railway On October 17, 1888, he emerged from the destroyed carriage along with his entire family unharmed. The icon of the Savior Not Made by Hands was also preserved intact, even the glass in the icon case remained intact.
The meaning of the icon and miracles from it
The veneration of the image began in Rus' back in the 11th century. XII centuries and became widespread in the 14th century, when Moscow Metropolitan Alexy brought a copy of the Icon Not Made by Hands from Constantinople. Churches and temples began to be built in his honor in the state. The icon of the “Ardent Eye of Savior,” also going back in type to the original Image Not Made by Hands, was on the banners of Dmitry Donskoy, a student of Metropolitan Alexy, in the battle on the Kulikovo Field with Mamai. It was located above the entrance of new temples and churches, regardless of whether they were erected in honor of the Lord or other holy names and events, as their main protective protection.
The further history of the all-Russian glorification and transfer of the miraculous icon to Moscow begins in the 17th century. On July 12, 1645, in the city of Khlynov, now the city of Vyatka, a miracle of epiphany happened to a resident of the city, Peter Palkin, who gained the ability to see after praying in front of the icon of the Savior in the Church of the All-Merciful Savior. Before that he was blind for three years. After this event, recorded in church documents, miracles of healing began to occur more and more often, the fame of the icon expanded to the limits of the capital, where it was transferred in the 17th century: see the section “In which churches is the icon located.”
An embassy headed to Khlynov (Vyatka) for the miraculous image, the head of which was appointed abbot of the Moscow Epiphany Monastery Paphnutius.
On January 14, 1647, almost all the townspeople came out to the Yauza Gate of the capital to meet the Image of the Savior Not Made by Hands. As soon as those gathered saw the icon, everyone knelt down on the cold winter pavement, and from all Moscow bell towers a festive chime was heard for the beginning thanksgiving prayer. When the prayer service was over, the miraculous icon was brought into the Moscow Kremlin and placed in the Assumption Cathedral. They brought the icon through the Frolov Gate, which is now called Spassky, like the Spasskaya Tower that rises above it - now many, coming to the Kremlin’s Red Square, know the origin of the name of this place, sacred to every Russian person. At that time, the transfer of the image was followed by a royal decree that every male person who passes or drives through the Spassky Gate should take off his hat.
The Spaso-Preobrazhensky Cathedral of the Novospassky Monastery was then in the stage of reconstruction; after its completion, on September 19 of the same year, the image was solemnly transferred by procession to the place where the copy from it is now located.
The history of the image is replete with many testimonies of the Lord’s active participation in the destinies of Russia. In 1670, the icon was given to Prince Yuri to help suppress the rebellion of Stepan Razin on the Don. After the end of the Troubles, the saving image was placed in a gilded frame, richly decorated with diamonds, emeralds and pearls.
In mid-August 1834, a severe fire broke out in Moscow, which spread with incredible speed. At the request of the Muscovites, they took the icon out of the monastery and stood with it against the blazing place, and everyone saw how the fire could not cross the line along which they carried the miraculous image, as if tripping over an invisible wall. The wind soon died down and the fire died down. Then the image of the Savior Not Made by Hands began to be brought out for prayers at home, and when a cholera epidemic broke out in Moscow in 1848, many received healing from the icon.
In 1812, when Napoleon’s troops entered Moscow, the French, who were looting the deserted capital, tore the 17th-century robe from the wonderful image. In 1830, it was again encased in a silver frame with gilding, decorated precious stones. In the summer, the icon was in the Transfiguration Cathedral, and in the winter it was transferred to the Intercession Church. Also exact copies from the miraculous image were in both the St. Nicholas and Catherine's churches of the monastery.
The Savior Not Made by Hands, according to some historians of the Russian Orthodox Church, has become the main part of the Christian tradition along with the Crucifixion. It is included in the top row home iconostasis, it, together with the image of the Mother of God, was carried out as a wedding couple to bless the newlyweds for a happy and arranged life together. On the holiday of August 6/19 of the Transfiguration of the Lord, blessing the harvest, they celebrated the Apple Savior; on the first day of the Dormition Lent, on August 14/29, they celebrated the Honey Savior - it was believed that on this day bees no longer take bribes from flowers.
After the revolution of 1917, the icon was in the monastery for some time, but now the Image of the Savior Not Made by Hands has been lost, and a copy of that early icon has been preserved in the Novospassky Monastery. But we love and honor this image to this day, and, as it was said at the VI Ecumenical Council: “The Savior left us His holy image, so that we, looking at it, would constantly remember his incarnation, suffering, life-giving death and the redemption of the race.” human."
First Christian icon is the “Savior Not Made by Hands”, it is the basis of all Orthodox icon veneration.
Story
According to the Tradition set forth in the Chetya Menaion, Abgar V Uchama, sick with leprosy, sent his archivist Hannan (Ananias) to Christ with a letter in which he asked Christ to come to Edessa and heal him. Hannan was an artist, and Abgar instructed him, if the Savior could not come, to paint His image and bring it to him.
Hannan found Christ surrounded by a dense crowd; he stood on a stone from which he could see better and tried to portray the Savior. Seeing that Hannan wanted to make His portrait, Christ asked for water, washed himself, wiped His face with a cloth, and His image was imprinted on this cloth. The Savior handed this board to Hannan with the command to take it with a reply letter to the one who sent it. In this letter, Christ refused to go to Edessa himself, saying that he must fulfill what he was sent to do. Upon completion of His work, He promised to send one of His disciples to Abgar.
Having received the portrait, Avgar was healed of his main illness, but his face remained damaged.
After Pentecost, the holy Apostle Thaddeus went to Edessa. Preaching the Good News, he baptized the king and most population. Coming out of the baptismal font, Abgar discovered that he was completely healed and gave thanks to the Lord. By order of Avgar, the holy obrus (plate) was glued onto a board of rotting wood, decorated and placed above the city gates instead of the idol that had previously been there. And everyone had to worship the “miraculous” image of Christ, as the new heavenly patron of the city.
However, the grandson of Abgar, having ascended the throne, planned to return the people to the worship of idols and, for this purpose, destroy the Image Not Made by Hands. The Bishop of Edessa, warned in a vision about this plan, ordered to wall up the niche where the Image was located, placing a lit lamp in front of it.
Over time, this place was forgotten.
In 544, during the siege of Edessa by the troops of the Persian king Chozroes, the Bishop of Edessa, Eulalis, was given a revelation about the whereabouts of the Icon Not Made by Hands. Having disassembled in the indicated place brickwork, the residents saw not only a perfectly preserved image and a lamp that had not gone out for so many years, but also an imprint of the Most Holy Face on the ceramics - a clay board that covered the holy fresco.
After the religious procession with In a Miraculous Image The Persian army retreated along the city walls.
Linen cloth with the image of Christ for a long time was kept in Edessa as the most important treasure of the city. During the period of iconoclasm, John of Damascus referred to the Image Not Made by Hands, and in 787, the Seventh Ecumenical Council, citing it as the most important evidence in favor of icon veneration. In 944, the Byzantine emperors Constantine Porphyrogenitus and Roman I bought the Image Not Made by Hands from Edessa. Crowds of people surrounded and brought up the rear of the procession as the Image Miraculous was transferred from the city to the bank of the Euphrates, where galleys awaited the procession to cross the river. Christians began to grumble, refusing to give up the holy Image unless there was a sign from God. And a sign was given to them. Suddenly the galley, onto which the Image Not Made by Hands had already been brought, swam without any action and landed on the opposite shore.
The silent Edessians returned to the city, and the procession with the Icon moved further along the dry route. Throughout the journey to Constantinople, miracles of healing were performed continuously. The monks and saints accompanying the Image Not Made by Hands traveled around the entire capital by sea with a magnificent ceremony and installed the holy Image in the Pharos Church. In honor of this event, August 16 was established religious holiday Transfer from Edessa to Constantinople of the Image Not Made by Hands (Ubrus) of the Lord Jesus Christ.
For exactly 260 years the Image Not Made by Hands was preserved in Constantinople (Constantinople). In 1204, the Crusaders turned their weapons against the Greeks and captured Constantinople. Along with a lot of gold, jewelry and sacred objects, they captured and transported to the ship the Image Not Made by Hands. But, according to the inscrutable fate of the Lord, the Miraculous Image did not remain in their hands. As they sailed across the Sea of Marmara, a terrible storm suddenly arose and the ship quickly sank. The greatest Christian shrine has disappeared. This ends the story of the true Image of the Savior Not Made by Hands.
There is a legend that the Image Not Made by Hands was transferred around 1362 to Genoa, where it is kept in a monastery in honor of the Apostle Bartholomew.
Plat of Saint Veronica
In the West, the legend of the Savior Not Made by Hands became widespread as tales of the Plath of Saint Veronica. According to him, the pious Jewish Veronica, who accompanied Christ on His way of the cross to Golgotha, she gave Him a linen handkerchief so that Christ could wipe the blood and sweat from his face. The face of Jesus was imprinted on the handkerchief.
The relic called "Veronica's board" kept in the Cathedral of St. Peter's in Rome. Presumably, the name Veronica, when mentioning the Image Not Made by Hands, arose as a distortion of Lat. vera icon (true image). In Western iconography, a distinctive feature of the images of the “Plate of Veronica” is the crown of thorns on the head of the Savior.
Iconography
In the Orthodox icon painting tradition there are two main types of images of the Holy Face: "Spas on the ubrus", or "Ubrus" And "Spas on the Chrepii", or "Skull".
On icons of the “Spas on the Ubrus” type, the image of the Savior’s face is placed against the background of a cloth, the fabric of which is gathered into folds, and its upper ends are tied with knots. Around the head is a halo, a symbol of holiness. The color of the halo is usually golden. Unlike the haloes of saints, the halo of the Savior has an inscribed cross. This element is found only in the iconography of Jesus Christ. In Byzantine images it was decorated with precious stones. Later, the cross in halos began to be depicted as consisting of nine lines according to the number nine angelic ranks and enter three greek letters(I am Jehovah), and on the sides of the halo in the background place the abbreviated name of the Savior - IC and HS. Such icons in Byzantium were called “Holy Mandylion” (Άγιον Μανδύλιον from the Greek μανδύας - “ubrus, cloak”).
On icons such as “The Savior on the Chrepiya”, or “Chrepiye”, according to legend, the image of the Savior’s face after the miraculous acquisition of the ubrus was also imprinted on the ceramide tiles with which the Image Not Made by Hands was covered. Such icons in Byzantium were called “Saint Keramidion”. There is no image of the board on them, the background is smooth, and in some cases imitates the texture of tiles or masonry.
The most ancient images were made on a clean background, without any hint of material or tiles.
Ubrus with folds begins to spread on Russian icons from the 14th century.
Images of the Savior with a wedge-shaped beard (converging to one or two narrow ends) are also known in Byzantine sources, however, only on Russian soil they took shape into a separate iconographic type and received the name "Savior of Wet Brad".
Savior Not Made by Hands “Savior of Wet Brad”
In the Cathedral of the Assumption Mother of God in the Kremlin there is one of the revered and rare icons - "Spas the Ardent Eye". It was written in 1344 for the old Assumption Cathedral. It depicts the stern face of Christ looking piercingly and sternly at the enemies of Orthodoxy - Rus' during this period was under the yoke of the Tatar-Mongols.
Miraculous lists of the “Savior Not Made by Hands”
“The Savior Not Made by Hands” is an icon especially revered by Orthodox Christians in Rus'. It has always been present on Russian military flags since the time of the Mamaev Massacre.
A.G. Namerovsky. Sergius of Radonezh blesses Dmitry Donskoy for a feat of arms
The earliest surviving icon " Savior Not Made by Hands" - a Novgorod double-sided image of the 12th century - is located in the Tretyakov Gallery.
Savior Not Made by Hands. Third quarter of the 12th century. Novgorod
Glorification of the Cross (reverse side of the icon of the Savior Not Made by Hands) XII century. Novgorod
Through many of His icons the Lord manifested Himself, revealing wondrous miracles. So, for example, in the village of Spassky, near the city of Tomsk, in 1666, one Tomsk painter, to whom the village residents ordered an icon of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker for their chapel, set to work according to all rules. He called on the residents to fast and pray, and on the prepared board he painted the face of the saint of God so that he could work with paints the next day. But the next day, instead of Saint Nicholas, I saw on the board the outlines of the Miraculous Image of Christ the Savior! Twice he restored the features of St. Nicholas the Pleasant, and twice the face of the Savior was miraculously restored on the board. The same thing happened a third time. This is how the icon of the Miraculous Image was written on the board. The rumor about the sign that had taken place spread far beyond Spassky, and pilgrims began to flock here from everywhere. Quite a lot of time had passed; due to dampness and dust, the constantly open icon had become dilapidated and required restoration. Then, on March 13, 1788, the icon painter Daniil Petrov, with the blessing of Abbot Palladius, the abbot of the monastery in Tomsk, began to remove the former face of the Savior from the icon with a knife in order to paint a new one. I already took a full handful of paints from the board, but the holy face of the Savior remained unchanged. Fear fell on everyone who saw this miracle, and since then no one has dared to update the image. In 1930, like most churches, this temple was closed and the icon disappeared.
The miraculous image of Christ the Savior, erected by no one knows who and no one knows when, in the city of Vyatka on the porch (porch in front of the church) of the Ascension Cathedral, became famous for the countless healings that took place before it, mainly from eye diseases. Distinctive feature Vyatka Savior Not Made by Hands is an image of angels standing on the sides, whose figures are not fully described. The copy of the miraculous Vyatka icon of the Savior Not Made by Hands hung from inside over the Spassky Gate of the Moscow Kremlin. The icon itself was delivered from Khlynov (Vyatka) and left in the Moscow Novospassky Monastery in 1647. The exact list was sent to Khlynov, and the second one was installed above the gates of the Frolovskaya tower. In honor of the image of the Savior and the fresco of the Savior of Smolensk on the outside, the gate through which the icon was delivered and the tower itself were named Spassky.
Another miraculous image of the Savior Not Made by Hands located in the Spaso-Preobrazhensky Cathedral in St. Petersburg.
Icon “Savior Not Made by Hands” in the Transfiguration Cathedral in St. Petersburg. Was the favorite image of Emperor Peter I.
The icon was painted, presumably, in 1676 for Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich by the famous Moscow icon painter Simon Ushakov. It was handed over by the queen to her son, Peter I. He always took the icon with him on military campaigns. It was in front of this icon that the emperor prayed at the founding of St. Petersburg, as well as on the eve of the fateful Poltava battle for Russia. This icon saved the life of the king more than once. Emperor Alexander III carried a list of this miraculous icon with him. During the crash of the Tsar's train on the Kursk-Kharkov-Azov Railway on October 17, 1888, he emerged from the destroyed carriage along with his entire family unharmed. The icon of the Savior Not Made by Hands was also preserved intact, even the glass in the icon case remained intact.
In the collection of the State Museum of Art of Georgia there is an encaustic icon from the 7th century called "Anchiskhatsky Savior", representing Christ from the chest. Georgian folk tradition identifies this icon with the Image of the Savior Not Made by Hands from Edessa.
“Anchiskhatsky Savior” is one of the most revered Georgian shrines. In ancient times, the icon was located in the Anchi Monastery in Southwestern Georgia; in 1664 it was moved to the Tbilisi church in honor of the Nativity Holy Mother of God, VI century, which after the transfer of the icon received the name Anchiskhati (currently kept in the State Museum of Arts of Georgia).
The miraculous icon of the “All-Merciful Savior” in Tutaev
The miraculous icon of the “All-Merciful Savior” is located in the Tutaevsky Resurrection Cathedral. The ancient image was painted in the middle of the 15th century by the famous icon painter Dionysius Glushitsky. The icon is huge - about 3 meters.
Initially, the icon was located in the dome (it was the “sky”) of a wooden church in honor of the holy princes Boris and Gleb, which explains its big sizes(three meters high). When the stone church was built, the icon of the Savior was moved to the summer Church of the Resurrection.
In 1749, by decree of Saint Arseny (Matseevich), the image was taken to Rostov the Great. The icon remained in the Bishop's House for 44 years; only in 1793 were the residents of Borisoglebsk allowed to return it to the cathedral. With great joy they carried the shrine from Rostov in their arms and stopped in front of the settlement on the Kovat River to wash away the road dust. Where they placed the icon, a spring of pure spring water flowed, which exists to this day and is revered as holy and healing.
From that time on, miracles of healing from physical and spiritual illnesses began to occur at the holy image. In 1850, with funds from grateful parishioners and pilgrims, the icon was decorated with a silver-gilded crown and chasuble, confiscated by the Bolsheviks in 1923. The crown that is currently on the icon is its copy.
There is a long-standing tradition of crawling with prayer under the miraculous icon of the Savior on your knees. For this purpose, there is a special window in the icon case under the icon.
Every year, on July 2, on the cathedral holiday, the miraculous image is taken out of the temple on a special stretcher and performed procession with the icon of the Savior through the streets of the city with singing and prayers.
And then, if desired, believers climb into the hole under the icon - a healing hole, and crawl on their knees or on their haunches under the “All-Merciful Savior” with a prayer for healing.
According to Christian tradition, the miraculous Image of the Savior Jesus Christ is one of the proofs of the truth of the incarnation in human image of the second person of the Trinity. The ability to capture the image of God, according to the teachings of the Orthodox Church, is associated with the Incarnation, that is, the birth of Jesus Christ, God the Son, or, as believers usually call Him, the Savior, the Savior. Before His birth, the appearance of icons was unreal - God the Father is invisible and incomprehensible, therefore, incomprehensible. Thus, the first icon painter was God himself, His Son - “the image of His hypostasis” (Heb. 1.3). God acquired a human face, the Word became flesh for the salvation of man.
Documentary film “SPAS NOT MADE BY HANDS” (2007)
An image left to us by the Savior himself. The very first detailed intravital description appearance Jesus Christ, was left to us by the proconsul of Palestine, Publius Lentulus. In Rome, in one of the libraries, an undeniably truthful manuscript was found, with a large historical value. This is a letter that Publius Lentulus, who ruled Judea before Pontius Pilate, wrote to the ruler of Rome.
Troparion, tone 2
We worship Your most pure image, O Good One, asking for forgiveness of our sins, O Christ our God: for by the will of Thou didst deign to ascend in the flesh to the cross, that Thou mightest deliver what Thou hast created from the work of the enemy. We also cry out to You with gratitude: You have filled all with joy, our Savior, who came to save the world.
Kontakion, tone 2
Thy ineffable and Divine sight of man, the Indescribable Word of the Father, and the unwritten and God-written image is victorious leading to Thy false incarnation, we honor him with kisses.
Prayer to the Lord
Lord, Generous and Merciful, Long-suffering and Many-merciful, inspire our prayer and listen to the voice of our prayer, create a sign for good with us, guide us on Your path, to walk in Your truth, make our hearts glad, in fear of Your Holy Name. You are great and work miracles, You are the only God, and there is no one like You in God, Lord, strong in mercy and good in strength, to help and comfort and save all who trust in the Name Thy holy. Amen.
Another prayer to the Lord
Oh, Most Blessed Lord Jesus Christ, our God, You are more ancient than Your human nature, having washed off Your face with holy water and wiped it with a rubbish, so You miraculously depicted it on the same curb and You deigned to send it to the Prince of Edessa Abgar to heal him from an illness. Behold, now we, Thy sinful servants, possessed by our mental and physical ailments, seek Thy face, O Lord, and with David in the humility of our souls we call: do not turn away Thy face, O Lord, from us, and do not turn aside in anger from Thy servants, O helper to us. wake up, do not reject us and do not leave us. Oh, All-Merciful Lord, our Savior, portray Yourself in our souls, so that living in holiness and truth, we will be Your sons and heirs of Your Kingdom, and so we will not cease to glorify You, our Most Merciful God, together with Your Beginning Father and the Most Holy Spirit. forever and ever. Amen.
And the Euphrates, from 137 BC to 242 AD existed small state Osroen, which was the first to declare Christianity the official state religion. Here the icon of the Savior Not Made by Hands is mentioned for the first time.
Legend of the icon
According to numerous legends, the Ostroenian king Abgar V, whose residence was in the capital of the state of Edessa, fell ill with an incurable disease - black leprosy. In a dream, a revelation appeared to him that only the face of the Savior would help him. The court artist, sent to Christ, was unable to capture his image because of the divine radiance emanating from Jesus, who, meeting the royal pleas, himself washed his face with water and wiped it with a towel (scarf). A bright image remained imprinted on it, called “ubrus”, or Mandylion, or the icon of the Savior Not Made by Hands. That is, in the classic version, it represents the face of Christ, made on a canvas, along the edges of which there is an outline, and the upper ends are tied in knots.
After miraculous healing Avgar, there is no mention of this icon until 545, when Edessa was blockaded by Persian troops. How often does this happen in Hard time Providence comes to the rescue. In the nave above the city gates, not only the perfectly preserved icon of the Savior Not Made by Hands itself was discovered, but also its imprint on the ceramic wall of the vault, or Keramidion. The blockade of the city was lifted in the most miraculous way.
Features of the icon
This miraculous image in both its manifestations (made both on canvas and on ceramics) has a number of features and customs associated with it. Thus, it is recommended for beginning icon painters as their first independent work.
The Icon of the Savior Not Made by Hands is the only image in which the halo around the head of Jesus has the shape of a regular vicious circle with a cross inside. All these details, like the color of the Savior’s hair, the general background of the icon (on the most ancient icons the background always remained clean), carry their own meaning.
There are opinions that a portrait created without a brush and paints, which is, in essence, the icon of the “Savior Not Made by Hands,” is a photo of Christ, capturing his face.
In Orthodoxy, this icon has always, since the import of its copy from Constantinople in 1355, played a special role. Although the most ancient icons of this type appeared in Rus' back in the 11th century, only from the second half of the 14th century everything connected with the “Savior Not Made by Hands” was positioned at the level of state cult and introduced everywhere. Temples are built under it, it is depicted on the banners of Russian troops in the most decisive battles for the country - from Kulikovo to the battles of the First World War. The word “banner” is gradually being replaced by the word “banner” (from “sign”). Banners with the image of the “Savior Not Made by Hands” became an integral part of the victories of Russian weapons.
Icon “Savior Not Made by Hands” today
The arrival of this miraculous icon, the fame of which spread throughout Rus', from the Novospassky city of Vyatka to the Assumption Cathedral of the Kremlin, acquired national scale and significance. Thousands of Muscovites and visitors came out to meet the icon and fell to their knees at the sight of it. The Frolovsky gate, through which the icon was carried, began to be called Spassky. It was possible to pass through them only with a bare head, as a sign of the divinity of the face.
“The Savior Not Made by Hands” is an icon whose significance cannot be overestimated. It is perceived as one of the main symbols of Orthodoxy, according to semantic meaning it is equated with the cross and crucifixion.
IN last years, which is sometimes rightly called the Second Baptism of Rus', an unprecedented number of churches, monasteries and temples are being built. In Sochi, for the opening of the Olympics, the Temple of the Savior Not Made by Hands was erected in record time and consecrated on January 5, 2014.
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