The Tikhvin Icon of the Mother of God - the Patroness of Russia

The Tikhvin Icon of the Mother of God, which memory is venerated on July 9, is considered one of the most important icons for Russia, the patroness of our state and the protector from the invasion of enemies. The Presidential Library’s portal features rare publications that tell about the icon itself and its miraculous power.

"The saving caretaker of the world" - this is how Orthodox Christians address it in prayer. It is no coincidence that in Russia there are about 70 Orthodox churches, cathedrals and monasteries, which are named after the icon of the Tikhvin Mother of God.

According to legend, the holy apostle Luke the Evangelist painted the icon during the earthly life of the Mother of God. For several centuries this man-made image has been in Jerusalem, and then the icon was moved to Constantinople. During the Ottoman conquest, the icon disappeared and after a while "was transferred to Russia". Residents of Ladoga Region testified how the icon "moved luminously through the air". From Lake Ladoga, it moved through nearby settlements until it reached the banks of the Tikhvinka River. So the Mother of God itself chose the place where first a wooden, then a stone church was placed, and then a monastery was erected. Since then, the image of the Mother of God began to be called Tikhvin, and the places where it was revealed have become significant for Orthodox Christians for many centuries.   

The Presidential Library contains a photo chronicle of the procession “The Way of the Mother of God”, which was implemented in 2018. This procession is evidence of a living faith in the miraculous properties of the Tikhvin Icon of the Mother of God, which more than once influenced not only the fate of an individual, but also the country as a whole.  

The Tikhvin Icon of the Mother of God protected our country during the Great Patriotic War. It kept the Russian land before, in the 17th century, when the Swedish troops tried to destroy the Tikhvin monastery. The monastery survived due to the fact that the image of the Tikhvin Mother of God came to the aid of the besieged ones. Peace with the Swedes was concluded in front of the icon of the Mother of God of Tikhvin, which became a symbol of the protection of the Russian army.

The history of the Tikhvin Icon of the Mother of God is the history of its disappearances and acquisitions. Many oral legends and traditions were associated with the Tikhvin Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos. In 1658, the icon painter Rodion Sergeev collected the legends and combined them into the "Book of the Tikhvin Mother of God", where he glorified the Tikhvin icon as an all-Russian shrine. After some time, the work of Rodion Sergeev was revised by the poet and theologian Simeon Polotsky. He provided the collection with new texts, giving an idea of ​​the icon of Mother of God of Tikhvin as a common Christian shrine. In the future, this collection was also rewritten, supplemented and “overgrown” with new texts and images. Today, there are 12 lists of the "Book of the Tikhvin Mother of God", containing 939 miniatures.

These lists and their connection with iconographic images are the subject of Nina Panina’s dissertation “The Pictorial Series in the Narrative Space of the Cycle of Legends about the Tikhvin Icon” (2011), the abstract of which is available on the Presidential Library’s portal. “The original structure of the “Book” is a collection of a number of Tales dedicated to the icon of the Mother of God of Tikhvin. Let’s name it “The Tale of the Icon Image”, the Legend of the icon of Hodegetria of Tikhvin, the appearance of the icon on Tikhvin and the establishment of the monastery, the Legend of the protection of the Tikhvin Monastery from the “svei” (the collective name for the population of ancient Sweden. – editor’s note), miracles from the icon, the plot about its renewal by Gerasim, abbot of the Tikhvin Monastery…” – the author writes and concludes: “The pictorial range of the Book provides all these, at first glance, heterogeneous plots with an external conceptual unity, forming a common plot space of the Book”.  

On July 9, at the divine service, the Tikhvin Icon of the Mother of God is asked to “enlighten the world with rays of mercy”, to glorify Christ and Russia - a country that exists “as a divine gift sent down from above”, to save people by the faith of those who honor the image of the Most Holy Theotokos, “defender of the orphans", "the joy of the mourners" and "the patroness of the offended”.

For many years, the Presidential Library has been successfully cooperating with the Tikhvin diocese. The institution is a co-organizer of the Tikhvin Festival “Under the Protection of the Mother of God “Tikhvinskaya””. The Presidential Library digitized and donated to the Tikhvin diocese electronic copies of old manuscripts and church services stored in the collections of the Library of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Among other implemented joint projects are conferences, exhibitions, video lectures. A remote electronic reading room is open in the building of the Tikhvin Spiritual and Educational Center, where everyone has access to the unique digital collection of the Presidential Library, through which one has an opportunity to learn about the publications dedicated to the Russian Orthodox Church. The collection Orthodox Russia. Monasteries and Icons, posted on the Presidential Library’s portal, features materials that spotlight the history of individual Orthodox monasteries located on the territory of our country, and especially revered icons.