The Mother of God of Tikhvin, Hodegetria

The origins of the appearance of the image of Mother of God of Tikhvin in the lands of Ruthenia date back to the 14th century. According to the legend, the icon of the Mother of God disappeared from the Church of Blachernae in Constantinople before it was conquered by the Turks and miraculously appeared at Lake Ladoga. Eventually, the image was found in 1383 in nearby Tikhvin. A brick temple for the icon was founded in the 16th century by Grand Prince Vasili III Ivanovich, and his son Tsar Ivan IV the Terrible built a monastery. The miraculous disappearance of the icon from Constantinople and its revelation in Tikhvin was given a symbolic meaning. It was explained that it was linked to the fall of Christian Constantinople as the Second Rome for the benefit of the Moscow Empire as the Third Rome, which continued the Orthodox tradition. In 1613-1614, after defeating Novgorod, the Swedes attempted to occupy Tikhvin Monastery. Its successful defence was attributed to the intercession of the image of the Mother of God. Therefore, in 1617, in the presence of a copy of the icon in nearby Stolbovo, the truce ending the Ingrian War was signed. This strengthened the reputation of the image of the Mother of God of Tikhvin, who was considered the defender of the northern frontiers of the Tsardom of Russia. After the occupation of Tikhvin by the Germans in 1941, the original icon was transported to Pskov, from where, in 1944, it was transported with the retreating German troops through Latvia to Germany and ended up in the American occupation zone. From 1950, the icon was located in the Holy Trinity Orthodox Cathedral in Chicago and only returned to Russia after the Tikhvin monastery was re-established in 1995.

Teresa Bagińska-Żurawska https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9243-3967