Among the numerous icons, one of the most essential in every home is the icon "Softening Evil Hearts". By praying in front of this image, you protect yourself from your own anger and irritability, which are not the best human qualities. In addition, in prayer in front of the icon, they ask for a family truce or that there should be no enmity between neighbors, as well as peace between entire states. In our culture, the image of the Mother of God, whose chest is pierced with arrows, is one of the most emotional and expressive in icon painting. It makes it possible to feel mercy and compassion.
The origin of the icon
The icon "Softening Evil Hearts" is completely shrouded in mystery, so its exact origin is still unknown. According to one assumption, she came from the South-Western part of Russia, and according to another, from the West, since this image is also revered in Catholicism. In addition to this name, the image also has another - "Simeon's prophecy". According to the story of the Evangelist Luke, the revered elder Simeon the God-Receiver was visited by the Holy Spirit, who predicted that he would not be able to leave this world until he saw the Messiah. When they brought Jesus to the temple on his fortieth birthday, Simeon hurried there too. Taking the Baby in his arms, he uttered the words that are now known to us as a prayer that sounds at every evening.It is in these words that he indicates that the soul of the Most Pure will pierce suffering and pain, the fullness of which is symbolized by the number seven.
the meaning of the image
This one shows one. She is pierced by seven swords, symbolizing the fullness of heart disease and sorrow experienced by the Blessed Virgin Mary on earth. These seven swords convey the prophecy of Simeon, since this number in the Holy Scriptures characterizes the completeness of something. There is also another icon that has a similar meaning - "Seven-shot". Many do not recognize the differences between these images, but they are there, albeit insignificant. So, in the icon described in the article, three swords pierce the Virgin Mary on the right, three on the left, and one from below. As for the icon "Seven-shot", it depicts the Mother of God, which is pierced by three swords on the left, and four on the right. In prayer practice, no distinction is made between these icons, since they have the same iconographic type.
The icon "Softening Evil Hearts" has a different interpretation regarding the seven swords, according to which they convey the fullness of the sorrow of the Mother of God, but not because of the torment of the Son crucified on the cross, but because of our sins. symbolizes the number of the main sinful passions of a person, reflected by pain in her chest. But She is ready to ask her Son for everyone who asks for her holy intercession.
Honored Lists Icons
The miraculous icon "Softening Evil Hearts" is located in the temple of the same name, which rises in the small village of Bachurino in the Moscow region. Until recently, this image was the private property of the Moscow Vorobyov family. In 1998, the Vorobyovs took their icon to the Intercession Convent, as they wanted to attach it to the relics of the Blessed Eldress. Immediately after that, the icon began to stream myrrh. Pilgrims began to visit this family from all over the world. They could not receive such a number of people at home, so the icon "Softening Evil Hearts" was given to the temple. A similar image is found in the one-shift church in the village of Kamenka. There is also a myrrh-streaming copy of this icon in Venice.
On March 19 (new style), the Church celebrates the appearance of the icon of the Most Holy Theotokos " Softening Evil Hearts". I first saw her in a private collection of the Rogozhsky Old Believer in the 1990s. Icon type - Hodegetria. She was "Ukrainian letters": the face of the Mother of God is round, with soft features, there was also a chubby face and a Divine Infant with a book in his hand. Their crimson robes were richly decorated with pearls and gold embroidery, and a medallion with the Cross hung on the breast of the Mother of God. But do we know everything about this icon? And why are there two different iconographies with the same name? These questions have tormented me for a long time, and, finally, the time has come to figure out what is the matter.
In the Old Believers and the New Believers (may the readers forgive me such conventional terms), two icons that are completely different in iconography are revered under the same name. In the Old Belief, the icon "Softening Evil Hearts" goes back to the ancient one, written, according to legend, by the Evangelist Luke. She later received the name "Czestochowa", which refers us to the history of Poland. By the way, the blood of a Russian person is a river of nationalities, and I, many sinful ones, are no exception. Flowed into my river, allegedly, and a trickle of Polish blood. Perhaps that is why the Mother of Boska of Czestochowa, as the Poles call the most revered icon of the Mother of God in their homeland, so attracts? And she is also called the "Black Madonna" because of her face blackened with time.
Surprisingly, the icon is revered by both Catholics and Orthodox. A brief history of the image is as follows. Saint Helena, Equal to the Apostles, received an ancient icon as a gift. She brought it to Constantinople and installed it in the chapel of the royal palace, where the holy face stood for five centuries. At the end of the 13th century, with great honors, the image was transferred to Russia by the cousin of Alexander Nevsky, Prince Przemyshl, Kholmsky, Galitsky and Volyn Lev Danilovich (which has not been documented). However, the shrine was already glorified for miracles. When the lands of the western part of Ukraine were ceded to Poland, Prince Vladislav Opolsky, during the siege of the Belz castle by the Tatars, turned to a wonderful image for help. He carried it to the castle wall, and, according to legend, a thick cloud descended on the Tatars. Frightened, the Tatars fled. Then Vladislav in a dream saw the image of the Mother of God, who asked him to transfer the icon to the vicinity of Czestochowa and place it on Yasnaya Gora. At the direction of the Virgin Mary, the prince took the icon there in 1382. Since then and to this day, the Czestochowa Icon of the Mother of God has been there.
Some believe that we owe the Vetkovites the popularity of this image among the Old Believers. As you know, the Old Believers fled in the 17th century. from government persecution in Poland and settled on Vetka - a city on the river. Sozh (now the Gomel region), in the lands belonging to the Khaletskys and other representatives of the Polish gentry. The icon is very fond of the Russian people. It was painted, for example, by the Yaroslavl icon painters of Romanov-Borisoglebsk. Tatyana Ignatova's article about the exhibition "" at the Russian Academy of Arts refers to the leading artist of that time, Maxim Fedorovich Arkhipovsky. In particular, his iconic sample of the Mother of God "Softening Evil Hearts" of the early 19th century is presented.
The icon "Softening Evil Hearts", revered in the New Believers' environment and called "Seven-shot", looks different. The icon depicts the Mother of God without the Child, with seven arrows in her hands, clasped to her chest. Swords are interpreted as a symbol of sorrow and heartache that the Mother of God experienced in earthly life. According to legend, the icon in the 18th century. found a lame peasant from the Kadnikovsky district of the Vologda province. In a dream, he saw the Mother of God, who ordered to find Her icon on the bell tower of the St. John the Theological Church, located on the banks of the river. Nausea. Overcoming the pain, the peasant climbed the bell tower, and when he stumbled and turned over the last step, he found the icon of the Mother of God with seven arrows.
Most often they talk about the Catholic roots of this iconography, dating back to the southwestern part of Russia, which is especially evident, for example, in the Vasilkovskaya icon. The legend about this icon says that once a certain blind man Vasily was thrown in the forest by his daughter. Lost, he lay down and fell asleep. In a subtle dream, the Mother of God appeared to him, commanding him to dig a hole between the leaves on which he was lying, in which Vasily would find water. The Mother of God commanded him to wash his eyes with this very water, and then he would receive his sight. So Basil did, and immediately received his sight. Then he saw in the bushes an icon with the image of the Most Pure One, exactly the same in which She appeared to him in a dream. The iconography of this icon differs from the seven-shot one: it depicts one sword thrust into the middle of the breast of the Mother of God. She has a crown on her head, and she will be draped over her head in the image of the Western European Madonnas.
But back to the Czestochowa icon. As we have already said, the image from Czestochowa is a type of Hodegetria. According to scientists, it is a copy of the icon of Constantinople, painted in the XII century. In 1430 the icon "received a wound" from the Taborite iconoclasts - followers of Jan Hus. Four years later, the icon was painted on an old board, depicting a wound from a sword on the cheek of the Mother of God. A monastery belonging to the Pauline order on Yasnaya Gora in 1621-1633. was fenced with powerful walls. It was thanks to this that the Swedes, who invaded Poland in 1655, were unable to take the Czestochowa Fortress, despite the fact that they had already taken Warsaw and Krakow. The unsuccessful siege of the fortress became a turning point in hostilities - the Swedes were defeated. On April 1, 1656, the Polish king Jan Kazimierz solemnly proclaimed the Mother of God of Czestochowa as the patroness and intercessor of Poland, the “Polish Queen”.
Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich Quiet negotiated with Jan Kazimierz and came out on his side against the Swedes. Most likely, it was in the 17th century that they learned about the icon and its miracles in Russia, i.e. before the split and the appearance of the Vetkovites in Poland. The researcher of Old Russian painting Irina Buseva-Davydova points out that lists from the Polish shrine began to appear in our country in the 1670s. So, in the extensive collection of legends about miraculous icons, compiled by the watchman of the Kremlin Assumption Cathedral Simeon Mokhovikov in 1715-1716, the legend about the Czestochowa image is included. The latter, in turn, was borrowed by him from the book of the Ukrainian writer and preacher Ioannikiy Golyatovsky "New Heaven with New Stars", published in Kiev in 1665. Busev-Davydov emphasizes that the engraving by Grigory Tepchegorsky, accompanying the text, was executed from an unknown Polish original depicting the Mother of God on the walls of the Czestochowa monastery. This is how the iconography of the Polish icon took root in Russian icon painting.
When asked why the Old Believers often call the icon not Czestochowa, but “Softening Evil Hearts,” the researcher answers by analyzing the family image of the Mother of God of the middle of the 18th century. The icon belonged to Varvara Ivanovna Chelishcheva, a cousin of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna. It has an inscription:
Where is the Creative Iron from blat; Virgo Moved in Drazhaisha Zlata. Yes, the people of Cruel Morals soften; And turns iron hearts to God.
In Russian it sounds like this:
Where iron is created from the swamp, the Virgin settled, who is more valuable than gold, in order to soften the cruel morals of people and turn iron hearts to God.
These lines are taken from Dmitry Rostovsky. The fact is that in 1687 in the town of Rudnya of the Mogilev diocese, where the smelting of swamp ore was going on, a miraculous icon of the Mother of God of Rudny was found, which was a copy of the Czestochowa icon. Dmitry Rostovsky responded to the acquisition of the icon with an "epigram", the words from which we have quoted above. In Little Russia and Western Russian lands, icons with the same iconography often had different names. This is how the name “Softening of Evil Hearts” became firmly established for Czestochowa.
With mild irony, Busev-Davydova notes that the topic of “softening evil hearts” has always been relevant for a common Russian. In the canon for the one-dead step there are piercing words:
We pray to Thee, the beginningless Father and the Son and the Holy Soul, with malice the soul of the evil world, embittered and to Thee, the Creator, who came, do not reject the bottom of hell, our Savior God.
This three-fold repetition of anger plunges into difficult thoughts. In the canon of the icon of the Most Holy Theotokos "Softening of Evil Hearts" there are many touching requests "to save from wicked people." Indeed, two qualities in people invariably frighten - anger and greed, but it is much more terrible to observe these passions in oneself. Sincerely praying the canon, we will not only call upon the Mother of God Herself as defenders against those plotting evil for us and the spirits of evil in heaven, we will simply become kinder ...
The icon of the Mother of God "Softening Evil Hearts" is also called "Simeon's Prophecy". It symbolically depicts the prophecy of Saint Simeon the God-receiver, uttered by him in the Jerusalem temple on the day of the Meeting of the Lord: And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, His Mother: behold, this is lying for the fall and for the uprising of many in Israel and for thee The weapon itself will penetrate the soul - may the thoughts of many hearts be revealed.
“Softening of Evil Hearts” is written with swords thrust into Her heart - three on the right and on the left, one below. The number "seven" in Holy Scripture usually means the completeness, redundancy of something, and in this case, the fullness and boundlessness of that grief, sorrow and "heart disease" that the Mother of God experienced during Her earthly life. Sometimes the Eternal Infant is also written on the lap of the Blessed Virgin.
The choice of the image of the sword on the icon is not accidental, since it is associated in human representation with the shedding of blood.
There is also another interpretation of the image of seven swords piercing the chest of the Most Holy Theotokos. The seven arrows on the icon are the fullness of the sorrow of the Mother of God. But She now suffers not because she sees the torment of the Son crucified on the cross, the soul of the Most Pure is pierced by the sharp arrows of our sins. These are the seven main sinful passions of man. Every offense, every action that is provoked by an evil feeling, an unkind thought, turns the very arrows in the chest of our very first Intercessor before God, or in other images - swords, causing pain to the loving heart of the Mother. And She, as we remember, is still ready to pray to the Son for each of us who resort to Her holy intercession.
The image "Softening of Evil Hearts" apparently originates from South-Western Russia, but, unfortunately, there is no historical information about it; it is not even known where and when the image appeared.
The celebration of this image takes place on All Saints' Week (on the 1st Sunday after Trinity).
Icon of the Mother of God "Seven-shot"
Very close to "Softening Evil Hearts" is another miraculous image - icon of the Mother of God "Seven-shot"... The only difference between them is that on "Seven-shot" swords are written differently - three on the right side of the Most Pure and four on the left, and her celebration is performed August 13, old style.
According to legend, "Seven Arrows" is more than 500 years old, but the peculiarities of the painting and the fact that it was painted on a canvas pasted on a board indicate a later origin - apparently, this list was made in the 18th century from the original that has not come down to us.
The miraculous icon of the Mother of God "Seven-shot" of North Russian origin. Before the revolution, she stayed in the St. John the Theological Church on the banks of the Toshnya River, not far from Vologda. The legend about this icon is similar to many similar stories about the miraculous images of the Theotokos revealed in visions.
A certain peasant of the Kadnikovsky district suffered from lameness for many years and was already desperate of the possibility of healing. Once, in a subtle dream, a Divine voice commanded him to find the image of the Most Holy Theotokos in the bell tower of the Theological Church, where old icons were kept, and with faith to pray before him for the healing of his illness. Arriving at the temple, the peasant was not immediately able to fulfill what was indicated to him in the vision. Only after the third request of the peasant, the clergy who did not believe his words allowed him to climb the bell tower. It turned out that the icon, covered with rubbish and dirt, like a simple board, served as a rung of the stairs, along which the bell ringers climbed. Horrified at this involuntary blasphemy, the priests washed the icon and served a prayer service in front of it, after which the peasant was completely healed.
In 1830, when most of European Russia, including the Vologda province, suffered a terrible cholera epidemic, the inhabitants of Vologda surrounded the "Seven-arrow" icon with a solemn procession of the cross around the city. Then the cholera retreated as suddenly as it had come.
After 1917, the miraculous image disappeared from the St. John the Theological Church, and in 1930 services were stopped there. In July 2001, the parish of the Church of St. John the Evangelist regained life, but the shrine has not yet returned to the temple.
Before the icon of the Most Holy Theotokos "Seven-shot", or "Softening of Evil Hearts", they pray in case of enmity or persecution, for the pacification of those at war, and also in bitterness of the heart - for the sending down of the gift of patience.
Icon of the Mother of God "Zhizdrinskaya Passionate"
There is also another image of the Theotokos, which has its own special history, which is directly called "And your own soul will pass the weapon" (aka "Zhizdrinskaya Passionate"). This icon depicts the Most Holy Theotokos in a prayer position; With one hand She supports the Child lying at Her feet, and with the other she covers Her breast from the seven swords directed at her.
The miraculous "Sofrino" icon
Among the miraculous copies of the icon "Softening Evil Hearts", the myrrh-streaming icon, which was revealed in Russia at the end of the 20th century, is currently in special reverence. This icon, produced by a polygraphic method at the enterprise of the Russian Orthodox Church "Sofrino", was purchased in an ordinary church shop.
On May 3, 1998, its owner, Margarita Vorobyova, noticed that myrrh was flowing down the surface of the icon. The history of myrrh and bleeding is simply amazing. In 1999, before the explosions of houses in Moscow, the face of the Mother of God changed on the Icon, dark circles appeared under the eyes, and the apartment began to smell of incense. On August 12, 2000, on the day of the sinking of the Kursk submarine, tiny bleeding wounds appeared on the Icon of the Mother of God. Since then, the image has been bleeding and myrrh constantly. It streams myrrh so abundantly that the world is harvested in liters. And it bleeds on the eve of tragic events, while the examination showed that human blood, of the first group ...
It is the LIVING Mother of God who greets people who come to her bow in different ways, healing someone, helping someone, others cannot even approach the Seven-arrow Icon ... for example, in the courtyard of Optina Hermitage, in Yasenevo, where the image often happens on Sundays , one woman is noticed, she always asks men to let her kiss the Icon forcibly. All those possessed with superhuman strength break out, and they themselves cannot approach the shrine. But every time the resistance weakens.
Moreover, the Mother of God chooses her own path ... repeatedly they simply could not take her to her destination, as the saying goes, "they strayed in three pines" and forgot the way to where they had been many times before ... "the Icon does not go" ...
Hundreds of believers come to pray in front of this image, asking them to soften the hearts of enemies, alleviate the suffering of relatives and friends, and receive consolation. Do not remember all the amazing testimonies and miracles created by the Icon of the Mother of God and do not list the names of all the sick who were healed and those who asked for peace.
To store it in the village of Bachurino near Moscow was built chapel(Address: Moscow region, Leninsky district, Bachurino village. Directions: 3 km from MKAD along Kaluga highway before turning to agricultural Kommunarka (after the Mostransgaz building)). For more than 15 years, the keeper of the icon has been Margarita's husband Sergei.
Temple-chapel in honor of the Icon of the Mother of God (Softening of Evil Hearts), Bachurino village
The myrrh-streaming icon has visited many dioceses of Russia, and has also been abroad many times - in Belarus, Ukraine and Germany. Many people who worshiped this image of the Queen of Heaven with love and reverence have witnessed cases of healings and a feeling of special spiritual joy that they felt from touching the shrine. On January 27-29, 2009, the myrrh-streaming icon of the Most Holy Theotokos "Softening Evil Hearts" was in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow at the Local Council of the Russian Orthodox Church. In the presence of this shrine, as well as the miraculous Feodorovskaya Icon of the Mother of God, the election and enthronement of the new Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia, took place. As eyewitnesses testify, after the election of the 16th Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, Kirill, the icon of the Mother of God "Softening Evil Hearts", located on the analogue in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, abundantly pacified.
Now the icon, known all over the world, is on pilgrimages all over the world practically without interruption, from the USA to Australia, from Athos to the Far East. And wherever this icon appears, extraordinary events and miracles occur: the icon generously pours out its celibate myrrh, other icons begin to stream myrrh, people are healed of incurable diseases, and an endless miracle of softening evil hearts takes place.
In the Murmansk temple, the baby, whom the mother put to the icon, unexpectedly loudly and clearly pronounced: "She is crying!" And everything fell into place. Truly, “through the mouth of a baby speaks the truth,” for it became clear what we are witnessing, why we were given this miracle, what exactly the image of the Queen of Heaven pours out to us in the form of this crystal clear and fragrant world. These are the tears of the Mother of God. She cries for us. The hardening of our hearts. About the world departing from Her Son - Christ our God.
Prayer
O Mournful Mother of God, who surpasses all the daughters of the earth in her purity and in the multitude of sufferings that you brought to the earth! Accept our much-painful sighing and save us under the roof of Your mercy, for another refuge and warm intercession, unless You have us, but, as you have boldness for Your One, who was born, help and save us with Your prayers, so that we can reach the Kingdom of Heaven without fail, where with all the saints let us sing praises in the Trinity to the One God, always, now, and ever, and forever and ever. Amen.
Troparion, voice 5
Soften our wicked hearts, Mother of God, / and extinguish the misfortunes of those who hate us, / and resolve any tightness of our souls, / looking at Your holy image, / With Your compassion and mercy we are touched / and kiss Your wounds, / Our arrows, You tormenting, we are terrified. / Do not give us, Merciful Mother, / in our hardheartedness and perish from the hardheartedness of our neighbors, // Thou art truly softening of evil hearts.
Kontakion, voice 2
By Thy grace, Lady, / soften the hearts of the evildoers, / send down the benefactors who observe them from all evil, / those who pray to Ty zealously // before Thy honest icons.
The prayer addressed to the Seven-shot Mother of God “Softening Evil Hearts” (other names are “Seven-shot”, “Simeon's Prophecy”) is aimed at pacifying and calming warring people. Before the icon of the Theotokos "The Prophecy of Simeon" they pray for their enemies, ask them to soften their hearts. The icon of the Seven-shot Mother of God also helps to ease mental anguish, overcome hostility in relationships, and instills mercy in people's hearts.
It is necessary to pray to the Most Pure Mother of God in front of her icon “Seven-arrow” (“Softening of Evil Hearts”) with the help of the following texts:
Description of the icon of the Most Holy Theotokos "Softening Evil Hearts" ("Seven-shot")
The face of the Mother of God “Softening Evil Hearts” is very similar to the “Seven-shot” icon of the Most Holy Theotokos, therefore both of them are united by the name “Seven-shot”. The difference between them lies in the location of the arrows:
- the “Seven-shot” arrow, which pierced the heart of the Mother of God, is located on two sides: three on one side, four on the other;
- at the Mother of God “Softening of Evil Hearts” the arrangement of arrows is as follows: three - to the left, three - from the side of the right, one - from below.
On the icon “Softening Evil Hearts,” the Most Pure Mother of God is depicted alone, with a heart pierced by seven swords (arrows). Sometimes there is a variety where the Most Pure Virgin is written with the Christ child on her knees. Seven swords (arrows) act as a symbol of the prophecy given by Saint Simeon the God-Receiver in the Jerusalem Temple during the Presentation. He predicted that many trials, sorrow and grief were prepared for the lot of the Mother of God at the sight of how her Son would suffer. The swords were not chosen by chance: they mean bloodshed.
The number 7 itself is endowed with symbolic meaning. In Holy Scripture, 7 is a sign of completeness, an excess of something. In the case of the icon, this is the fullness of grief and heartache that fell to the lot of the Blessed Virgin Mary during her earthly life, the fullness of her sorrow. The Mother of God suffers not so much because of the torments of Jesus Christ, but because of the seven deadly human sins that pierce her soul. Thus, swords (arrows) are also a symbol of sinful passions.
The origin of the icon of the "Seven-shot" Mother of God ("Softening of Evil Hearts")
The icon of the "Seven-shot" Mother of God is extremely revered among believers. The Vologda region is considered the birthplace of the icon. Initially, she stayed in the St. John the Theological Church, which was located on the banks of the Toshnya River. This river flows not far from Vologda. One curious legend has been preserved about its origin.
Tells a legend about a peasant from the Kadnikovsky district, who suffered from incurable lameness for many years. Once he had a dream in which a divine voice told that his ailment would be healed if he found an icon of the Most Holy Mother of God in the bell tower of the Theological Church, prayed to her with faith, and asked for healing.
The peasant came to the church, told about his dream, asked to be allowed inside the bell tower, but the priests refused to fulfill his request, and so 2 times. The man came a third time, and his perseverance did its part with perseverance. The peasant was allowed to climb the bell tower, and he immediately found the image of the "Seven-shot" Mother of God.
The icon served as a staircase, and the bell ringers simply walked along it, not suspecting anything. Horrified by the accidental blasphemy, the clergy cleaned and washed the image well, brought it to its proper form, and then served a prayer service, during which the peasant prayed fervently. Immediately after this, a miracle happened: his illness receded, he was completely healed. So the Orthodox Church acquired another icon - the image of the "Seven-shot" Blessed Virgin Mary.
The image of the "Seven-shot" Mother of God received particular fame in 1830, when a cholera epidemic was raging in Vologda. Residents of the city held a religious procession around the city walls, led by an icon. After that, the disease subsided, and soon the epidemic stopped completely.
The miraculous icon disappeared from the Church of St. John the Theologian after the fateful year 1917. Since 1930, no divine services have been held here. The parish resumed its activities in 2001, but the icon of the “Seven-shot” Mother of God has not returned to its homeland until now.
In what cases should one refer to the icon of the Most Holy Theotokos “Softening Evil Hearts”?
By reading a strong prayer in front of the image of the Blessed Virgin Mary “Softening Evil Hearts”, you can improve relations between family members, between relatives and close people, between husband and wife, between children and their parents.
The "seven-shot" Mother of God is able to protect from outbursts of anger, anger and irritation (both her own and other people), from other people's intolerance. The icon helps with any enmity between family members or society. The Mother of God is also prayed to during hostilities: she is asked for protection from an enemy attack.
Showing Her benevolence to the human race, the Most Holy Theotokos revealed on Russian soil many icons painted in the Western, Catholic tradition. Glorifying these images with miracles, God reminds that He is above the canons and does what is useful to the human soul. One such example is the Seven-arrow Icon of the Mother of God, which has become famous in Russia and beloved by the Orthodox people. Her "sister", which differs only in some details - the icon "Softening Evil Hearts" - has long taken its rightful place in Russian home iconostases. Looking at the meek face of the Mother of God, the soul is cleansed of anger and despondency, directing thoughts to the eternal.
The legend about the appearance of the icon in Russia
At the end of the 17th century on the river. Toshne of the Vologda district, a small stone church was erected in the name of the Apostle John the Theologian. Almost a hundred years later, the Mother of God was pleased to glorify Her image in this church. Several times a sick peasant addressed the clerks with a request to climb the bell tower. In a dream, he saw the Mother of God, who commanded to take her icon from there. The bell-ringers knew for sure that there were no icons on the bell tower and therefore did not let the applicant in.
Thanks to persistence, the peasant finally got to the belfry and began to search. Descending the stairs, he stumbled over one of the steps. The board came off and everyone saw the image of the Blessed Virgin with seven arrows piercing Her heart, darkened by dirt.
Icon "" The seven-shot Mother of God "
The icon was immediately washed and placed in the church. After a prayer service, the peasant was healed of his illness. The miraculous image was installed in one of the side-altars, which was later consecrated in his name.
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A hundred years later, in 1830, Vologda was engulfed in a cholera epidemic. The seven-shot icon of the Mother of God went to the city, where it was surrounded with a procession of the cross around the walls. By the grace of God, the disease subsided. In honor of this event, a memorial day for the icons "Seven Arrows", "Softening of Evil Hearts" and a similar one in the plot "Passionate" was established on August 26.
Miracles through prayers from the Mother of God did not dry up until the Civil War, when the St. John the Theological Church was destroyed to the ground. But the locals managed to preserve the shrine. After the Great Patriotic War, the miraculous icon was placed in the Lazarevsky temple in Vologda, where, by the grace of the Blessed Virgin, it remains today.
"Don Madonna" in Italy
By the time of World War II, the image of "Seven-shot" was rewritten several times and spread throughout the southern regions of Russia. One of them was kept by residents of the village of Belogorye (Voronezh Region). It was a shrine taken out of one of the temples destroyed in the 1920s.
In 1942, Italian soldiers who fought on the side of the Nazis discovered a large ancient icon in a house destroyed by a bombing. They immediately recognized the familiar face of the Mother of God and handed the find to the regimental priest.
Feeling the nearness of death, the soldiers constantly prayed in front of the Madonna in order to return home alive. But on the occasion of the successful offensive of the Soviet troops, there was little hope. In the hottest time, the priest Fr. Polycarpo handed over the shrine with the transport leaving for Italy, with a request to all Italian mothers to pray for their sons before the "Donskoy Madonna", as the icon in the regiment was called.
Mother of God with seven arrows
The image was passed on to the mother of Fr. Polycarpo, who immediately began to fervently pray for her son. By the grace of God, the priest with several soldiers were wounded and taken prisoner, after which they were able to return to their homeland. The icon that had seen many tears was placed in a specially built chapel. It is located in Venice, where veterans of the Second World War come annually to touch the image from a distant land and pray for the souls of the slain. In the same place, in two vessels, earth and water from the Don are stored.
On the Don land, where the icon came from, an obelisk in the shape of a cross was also erected over the burial place of the remains of Italian soldiers discovered by the searchers. So the Mother of God "Softening Evil Hearts" softened the hearts of the warring parties, as 300 years earlier she softened the intransigence of the bell ringers, who did not let the peasant called by the Mother of God into the bell tower.
Myrrh-streaming icon from Bachurino
In the late 90s, in a difficult time for Russia, the Lord performed many miracles. One could often hear about the myrrh streaming of icons, renewal of faces, miraculous manifestations of holy images. The Blessed Virgin also did not bypass her icon "Softening Evil Hearts", which was bought by a simple Muscovite in a church shop.
This happened in 1999. In the apartment of Margarita Vorobyova, an ordinary paper icon of the Mother of God "with arrows" was covered with a fragrant world. Each such case is twice investigated by scientific commissions at the Russian Orthodox Church, revealing cases of quackery. When no natural reasons for the appearance of liquid on the icon are identified, the image is placed in a sealed glass case. If the icon continues to stream myrrh, then it is recognized as a miracle of God. The myrrh-streaming of Seven Arrows turned out to be true and a chapel was built for her in the village of Bachurino.
Adoration of the Myrrh-streaming Icon of the Seven-shot Mother of God
Important! The endless miracle of the Bachurin image continues to this day. In moments of technological disasters and terrorist acts, the fragrant oil on the icon turned into blood. Thus, the Mother of God empathized with Her people in a difficult historical period.
The miracle of God cannot be kept secret, therefore the myrrh-streaming icon is constantly traveling. With donations from Muscovites, parades of the image are organized all over the world. "Seven-shot" was warmly greeted in all cities of Russia, on the holy Mount Athos, in Australia, in the USA, where representatives of the Church Abroad, who in principle did not want to communicate with Russian Orthodox Christians, approached the image to pray. Such was the miracle of "Softening Evil Hearts" in America.
Meeting of two icons in the land of Italy
In 2011, the myrrh-streaming "Seven-shot" arrived in Italy. According to the Vorobyovs accompanying the shrine, no one specifically plans the routes of the Virgin Mary, She herself arranges her travels, sending donors and favorable circumstances.
Temperamental Italians greeted the icon at the airport “on the verge of disorder”: such is the love of this people for the Mother of God. Moreover, the well-known "Don Madonna" was supposed to meet her icon-sister in Venice.
When the case with the "Seven-shot" was opened, everyone was surprised to find that an unusually large amount of the world stood out. The Mother of God thus sent a special blessing to the Italian land. All the airport employees came running to get at least a drop of the wonderful world.
Basilica of Saint Ambrose, Italy
Crowds of people constantly accompanied the streets of the city "Semistrelnaya". In the church of St. Ambrose of Mediolansky, where the shrine "spent the night" during its stay in Italy, both Milanese and visitors prayed around the clock. The Mother of God visited in her own way all the cities where there were Orthodox churches.
Italians-Catholics, who have shown an interest in Orthodoxy for a long time, did not remain aloof from an obvious miracle. “Seven-shot” was invited to bless a conference dedicated to the Royal Passion-Bearers (the shot family of the last Russian Tsar).
Then the Mother of God visited Venice, where a prayer service was served in the Chapel of Peace in front of two icons, the Don Madonna and the Moscow Seven-shot. Even Catholic monks have come under the anointing of the world.
The Orthodox Church does not consider miracles to be the main and only proof of the existence of God. The appearance of myrrh-streaming on icons can occur both by the will of God and by the temptation of the devil.
Important! A believing Christian does not doubt the holiness of the Mother of God, even if miracles do not occur from the icon. For the prayer of the Mother of God, it is enough to have any home icon, preferably an Orthodox canonical letter.
The meaning of images and prototypes of icons in the Catholic Church
The icon depicts the Most Holy Theotokos without the Infant of God, Her hands are folded across her chest in a cruciform or prayer manner. Seven arrows are directed to the center of the chest: 4 and 3 from above or 6 from above, 7 from below. According to the numerical representation of arrows, the icons "Seven-shot" and "Softening of Evil Hearts" are distinguished, although this distinction is conditional.
The oldest versions of the icon look like painting and are painted on canvas, while in modern times, images are painted in the Russian icon-painting tradition.
Before the revolution in Zhizdra, Kaluga region. there was a miraculous image "Passionate Mother of God", where the Mother of God is depicted holding Jesus taken from the cross in her arms, and 7 arrows pierced Her heart.
Among the Catholics, such images of the Mother of God are called Stabat Mater, the Suffering Mother. In Germany (Saarland), pilgrims flock to the chapel, where the statue of Our Lady in black maforia is placed, with the dead Jesus on her knees, seven gilded arrows are directed at Her from above. In Aachen Cathedral, an icon of the Madonna with seven arrows in her heart is venerated.
Catholic images of Stabat Mater
A statue of Mary of the 17th century. with arrows in the heart can be seen in the Milan Cathedral (Italy).
In Armenia (Gyumri), at the end of the 19th century, the Church of the Seven Wounds of the Mother of God was built, which also houses an icon similar in plot to the Seven Arrows. It is called "The Seven Sorrows of the Virgin".
In all cases, the "seven tribulations" mean the suffering of the Mother of God according to the Gospel:
- circumcision (not the rite itself, but the sad prophecy of Simeon, uttered at the same time: "The weapon will pass through your very soul");
- flight to Egypt from the wrath of Herod;
- search for 12-year-old Jesus lost during the feast in Jerusalem;
- separation from Jesus when He goes to preach;
- nailing to the cross;
- burial of Christ.
There is also another interpretation. The seven arrows are the seven passions: pride, despondency, fornication, gluttony, anger, greed, envy.
Human sins hurt the Mother of God in the very heart, but nothing darkens Her calm gaze, full of mercy to the fallen. Seeing the bright Face of the grieving Mother of God, cruel hearts soften.
Old Believer icon
Since the 18th century, in the southern regions of Russia, the image "Softening Evil Hearts" with a completely different plot has been known. The icon depicts the Mother of God with the Boy Jesus, in front of her is a stone wall. On the head of the Most Pure One wears a royal crown depicting the dead Jesus and the Mother of God herself, weeping over Him. On Mary's chest there is a medallion with a cross, to the right along the golden field of the icon the inscription: "Softening the evil hearts of the Most Holy Theotokos."
The intricate symbols and the cloak of the Mother of God, decorated with a star pattern, speak of the icon's western origin. The first such image was miraculously found near Mogilev, in the village. Rudnya (swampy places where ore was mined) at the end of the 17th century. By the time of the phenomenon of "Seven-shot" in Toshnya and "Softening" in Rudna coincide.
The name of the icon was given by St. Dmitry Rostovsky, having written a quatrain dedicated to the miraculous image:
“Where is the Creative Iron from blat; Virgo Moved Dearest Zlata. Yes, the people of Cruel Morals soften; And turns iron hearts to God. "
These words are placed at the bottom of the image, on the frame. The icon was revered by the Old Believers.
Temples in honor of the icon
Since the beginning of the journey around the country of the myrrh-streaming icon from Bachurino, many churches have been built in the name of "Softening Evil Hearts": in Moscow (Konkovo), Nebuga (Krasnodar Territory), Kiev (Ukraine), Usinsk (Komi), Sverdlovsk Region. and others. Churches in honor of this image are opened at children's colonies and educational institutions. Since 2011, the temple in the name of the "Seven-shot" icon has been operating in Cyprus.
About other Orthodox churches and monasteries:
- Monastery in honor of the holy Apostle Luke in the village of Laki
In front of the image of the Mother of God "Seven-shot" the warring ones pray for reconciliation, the unfortunate for mercy, the sick for health and receive what they ask for. For a relatively short time of glorification, the icon "Softening Evil Hearts", which came to the Russian Church from the West, acquired an Orthodox understanding and became beloved among the people.
Watch a video about akathist and prayer of the Seven-shot Mother of God