Feast of the Jerusalem Icon of the Mother of God

The Jerusalem icon of the Mother of God, according to tradition, was painted by Luke the Evangelist in Gethsemane fifteen years after the Ascension of Christ.

In 463 the icon was translated to Constantinople. Through its intercession the Byzantine army drove back an invading army of Scythians. In 988 the Jerusalem icon of the Mother of God was taken to Korsun (Kherson) and given to the newly baptised Prince Vladimir, equal to the apostles. When the people of Novgorod accepted Christianity, Vladimir gave them the icon as a gift. In 1571 Ivan the Terrible sacked the city and took the holy image to the Dormition cathedral in Moscow. After Napoleon’s invasion the Jerusalem icon of the Mother of God vanished without trace. In its place an exact copy of it was set up in the Dormition cathedral.