The Feodorovskaya Icon of the Mother of God, with the Legend of the Icon in 16 Border Scenes

The given antique Russian icon belongs to the Byzantine iconographic type known as “Eleusa” (“The Merciful”), which depicts the Holy Virgin leaning towards Christ, who lovingly yearns to His Mother – cheek to cheek, and hugging Her neck. But unlike other “Eleusa” religious icon paintings, this particular type has Christ’s left foot shown naked up to the knee – as a sign of His future Passions and Suffering on the Cross. This composition is taken from a venerated medieval Marian image, known as the Feodorovskaya Icon of the Mother of God (its Feasts are celebrated on March 14^th, August 15^th and 16^th by the Julian calendar). According to the legend, this religious icon of Christ and the Mother of God was painted by St. Luke himself. In the 12^th century, it was given as a gift by Prince Andrei Bogolubsky to the people of Gorodets, from which it disappeared after the Tatar (Mongol) conquest. The antique icon then made its miraculous appearance in Kostroma, with people bearing witness to the fact that it was brought by a certain warrior, who closely resembled Saint Theodore Stratilates. This legend naturally gave the hand-painted icon its current name (Feodorovskaya).

The saint icon appeared on August 16^th, 1239 during Prince Vasiliy’s hunting trip when he saw it standing on a pine tree. After being retrieved through fervent prayer, the holy icon of Christ and the Mother of God was brought to Kostroma, to the Church of St. Theodore Stratilates. In 1260, it saved Prince Vasiliy and his army from the Tatars in the Battle of the Holy Lake.

The hand-painted icon of Christ and the Mother of God became increasingly venerated in the 17^th century since it was before this particular image that the Russian people prayed and implored Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov to accept the throne in 1613. Since that time, the wonder-working Marian image became the official patronal Orthodox icon of the Romanov Dynasty and became venerated throughout Russia. From the middle of the 17^th century, the official Legend of the Icon was written down, and religious icon paintings bearing the legend’s narrative made their appearance.

The given piece of famous religious icons finds its closest analogy in a similar antique icon painted in the first half of the 19^th century and now kept in the State History of Religion Museum in St. Petersburg. Not only is the composition of the centerpiece and border scenes identical, but also the centerpiece’s frame – with the depictions of the Cherubim and the Seraphim, as well as the Symbols of the Evangelists, brought out in the ornamented angles.

The detailed execution of the many-figured composition, the traditionalist manner of religious icon painting, the rather dry treatment of the vestments with their lavish gold hatching, the subtle color scheme – all these traits allow us to consider this Feodorovskaya icon of Christ and the Mother of God to be the work of Vladimir provincial iconographers of the late 19^th century.

From the inscription on the reverse, we know that this particular antique Russian icon was given as a gift to the Reverend Nectaria on the day when she became Abbess of St. Seraphim Ponetaevskii Monastery (on January 9^th, 1894). Necaria was the successor to the first Abbess – Mother Eupraxenia, who founded the monastery in 1869 in the village of Ponetaevka in the Nizhny Novgorod region. This monastery was well known for its arts and crafts. It produced numerous monastery icons on wood and canvas, as well as miniature-on-enamel works of art. In 1885, a miracle appeared from one of the “Mother of God of the Sign” holy icons painted by one of the sister-nuns. Since that time, this particular religious icon was known as the Seraphimo-Ponetaevskaya Icon of the Mother of God.

This saint icon was given to Abbess Nectaria by the Archimandrite Theodosius (Sobolev), who at that time was the Father-confessor to the monks of the Totems Holy Savior Sumorin Monastery. In 1918, Archimandrite Theodosius was brutally murdered in the Arkhangelsk region; and in 2003, he was canonized as a new martyr for Christ.

The given antique Russian icon has the highest value both, as a historical and museum piece, and is undoubtedly of great interest to private and state religious icon art collections.