The Mother of God of Hodigitria

Mother of God Hodegetria of Smolensk icon, Russia 19th-20th c. The displayed icon is one of the numerous depictions of Hodegetria of Smolensk, popularised in Russia and known in the former principalities of Rus since the middle of the 11th c. - see S.12677MŁ, S.12777MŁ, S.12785MŁ. Since 1654, Smolensk, taken from the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth again, permanently passed under the rule of the Russian state. The original Smolensk Mother of God painting, considered the defender of the western borders of Rus, has been in Smolensk since 1812. During Napoleon's Russian campaign, Bishop Jonah of Smolensk transported the icon to Moscow and Yaroslavl. After the retreat of the French troops, it returned to Smolensk. Moscow's 1456 copy of Smolensk's original icon was secured in Vologda in 1812. In turn, the 1602 copy of the icon placed in the Gate Church in the Smolensk Kremlin was taken by the Russian troops retreating from the burning Smolensk. It was carried in processions and military marches, starting with the Battle of Borodino; it travelled with the Russian army through all of Europe, all the way to Paris, and returned to Smolensk. Despite the persecution of the Russian Orthodox Church after the 1917 revolution, despite the destruction of the furnishings of many temples or the elimination of their status as places of worship, all of the oldest Hodegetria of Smolensk icons had survived the worst time period until World War II. The oldest Smolensk icon was found in the closed Church of the Dormition by the Germans entering Smolensk in 1941; unfortunately, after they were driven out, the painting was gone, and its disappearance remains a mystery. Equally unexplained is the disappearance of the visually similar Mother of God of Tikhvin icon - see S.12837MŁ, S.12838MŁ. Teresa Bagińska-Żurawska https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9243-3967