About the miraculous icon of the Holy Mother of God, called "Odigitria"

After the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles, the Apostle and Evangelist Luke, who was a skilled icon painter, painted the image of Our Lady of the Virgin Mary on a tablet and brought it to the Most Pure Virgin.

Then pointing to the icon, she said: "May my grace be with this icon". And this word of the Most Holy Mother of God was truly fulfilled: by the grace of the Most Blessed Virgin, from that icon, indeed, many and unspeakable miracles came forth, and the sick were healed.

Later, the Evangelist Luke sent the icon to Antioch [Antioch, a city in Syria, on the Orontes River] to the powerful Theophilus, who was among those who believed in Christ and for whom Luke wrote his Gospel and the book of Acts of Apostles.

Many years passed, and the holy icon was taken from Antioch and moved first to Jerusalem and then to Constantinople.

Queen Eudokia, wife of the Byzantine emperor Theodosius the Younger [Emperor Theodosius II the Younger reigned from 408 to 450], arriving in the holy land to worship the local shrines, took the icon of the Blessed Mother of God painted by the Evangelist Luke and sent it as a gift to the king's sister, blessed Pulcheria, as it is written in the life of the latter [The memorial of Queen Pulcheria is celebrated on September 10].

Pulcheria accepted the miraculous icon with joy and love and placed it in the Church of the Holy Mother of God, which she had built in Vlachern [Vlachern - a place in Constantinople, in the western corner of the city.

The icon of the Virgin Mary, brought from Palestine, was kept here in a gold-plated coffin, with a portion of her belt.] Since then, this icon has become a major decoration for the reigning throne, as it has been used to perform many miracles and heal the sick.

This name was established after the Mother of God herself appeared to two blind men, led them to her church in Vlachern to a miraculous icon, where they, after praying, received a vision.

The governor of the Persian king Khosrow, Sarvar, and a Scythian prince approached Constantinople with a large army and besieged the city, cutting it off from the rest of the world and preparing to strike a decisive blow.

Then the Patriarch of Constantinople Sergius, taking with special reverence the miraculous icon "Odigitrius", as well as the image of the Holy Mother of God, began to go around with them and with other sacred icons of the city wall and perform a prayer song to God and His Holy Mother.

When the patriarch and the clergy, after fervent prayer before the icon of the Virgin, dropped the rose of the Virgin into the waters of the sea bay, there was a turmoil in the sea and the ships of the approaching enemies were sunk; at the same time, those of the attackers who were on land were also in confusion, and therefore were driven out by the Greek troops without special effort.

To commemorate this marvelous intercession of the Most Holy One over the reigning city, it is established to perform the singing of the grateful akaphist every year on the fifth Saturday of the Great Lent.

When the iconoclastic heresy came to dominate, and the wicked kings began to persecute the icons and their worshippers, some of the Orthodox clergy secretly took the "Odigitrius" icon from the Vlachern temple at night and carried it to the Pantokrator [i.e., Lord Almighty; the monastery was on the outskirts of the city] monastery.

They hid it in the church wall and, after praying, lit a lamp in front of the image and fenced it so that it would not be desecrated by the heretics.

And when the Church was at peace again and the hostilities against the holy icons ceased, they searched for a long time for the icon of the Most Holy Mother of God, written by the Evangelist Luke and later named Odygitrius. Finally, according to divine revelation, the icon was found hidden in the wall of the church of the Pantokratov monastery, and they saw that the lamp lit in front of it had not been extinguished.

All the faithful, when they learned about this acquisition of the miraculous icon, were filled with great joy, and with prayer and singing solemnly moved it to its former place in the Vlachern temple.