Moscow's Miracle-Working Icons

Icons have been revered in Russia for centuries, and when it comes to miracle-working icons, pilgrims will travel thousands of kilometers to seek their divine assistance.

- Anastasia Osipova

People bring flowers to these works of art, and speak to them as if they were living beings. Orthodox believers have reported seeing myrrh seeping from such icons. They are said to have a remarkable fragrance, and some icons are known to weep.

Behind every miracle-working icon is a fantastical story of its appearance – indeed, such an “appearance” is critical to an icon’s status as a miracle-worker. And often this appearance bespeaks some important episode in the history of the Russian state.

In reality, most miracle-working Russian icons are actually copies (which is what in the Orthodox tradition they call copies of the original miracle-working icons) of a venerated original. The copies are believed to inherit the original’s miraculous powers.

There are at least three miracle-working icons you can visit in Moscow churches.

The Tikhvin Icon is one of the most revered icons in Russia, and the original is reputed to have been painted by Luke the Evangelist himself.

The icon is thought to have been brought from Jerusalem to Constantinople in the fifth century. Centuries later, however, 70 years before the fall of the Byzantine Empire in 1383, it disappeared from the city. It is believed to have flown through the air and appeared above Lake Ladoga, where it was seen by fishermen. The icon continued on its journey, stopping near the city of Tikhvin (which is south of the lake and east of Veliky Novgorod).

A church was built on the site of the icon’s appearance,* and in 1560 Ivan the Terrible decreed that a monastery (Tikhvin Assumption Monastery) be founded here.