The miraculous face of Jesus Christ. “The Savior Not Made by Hands” is an icon especially revered by Orthodox Christians in Rus'

Miraculously imprinted on the plate with which Christ wiped his face

Origin story

According to the Tradition set out in the Chetya Menaion, Abgar V Ukhama, suffering from leprosy, sent his archivist Hannan (Ananias) to Christ with a letter in which he asked Christ to come to Edessa and heal him. Hannan was an artist, and Abgar instructed him, if the Savior could not come, to paint His image and bring it to him.

Hannan found Christ surrounded by a dense crowd; he stood on a stone from which he could see better and tried to portray the Savior. Seeing that Hannan wanted to make His portrait, Christ asked for water, washed himself, wiped His face with a cloth, and His image was imprinted on this cloth. The Savior handed this board to Hannan with the command to take it with a reply letter to the one who sent it. In this letter, Christ refused to go to Edessa himself, saying that he must fulfill what he was sent to do. Upon completion of His work, He promised to send one of His disciples to Abgar.

Having received the portrait, Avgar was healed of his main illness, but his face remained damaged.

The situation of the city seemed hopeless; the Most Holy Theotokos appeared to Bishop Eulavius ​​and commanded him to remove from the walled niche an Image that would save the city from the enemy.

Having dismantled the niche, the bishop found Miraculous Image: a lamp was burning in front of him, and on a clay board covering the niche was a similar image. In memory of this, in the Orthodox Church there are two types of icons of the Savior Not Made by Hands: the face of the Savior on the ubrus, or Ubrus, and a face without trimming, the so-called. Chrepie.

After a religious procession with the Image Not Made by Hands along the city walls, the Persian army retreated.

Transfer to Constantinople

In honor of this event, August 16 was established religious holiday Transfer from Edessa to Constantinople of the Image Not Made by Hands (Ubrus) of the Lord Jesus Christ.

There are several legends about the subsequent fate of the Image Not Made by Hands. According to one, it was kidnapped by the crusaders during their rule in Constantinople (1204–1261), but the ship on which the shrine was taken sank in the Sea of ​​Marmara. According to other legends, the Image Not Made by Hands was transferred around 1362 to Genoa, where it is kept in a monastery in honor of the Apostle Bartholomew.

Mention in ancient sources

According to the Tradition set forth in the Chetya Menaion, Abgar V Uchama, sick with leprosy, sent his archivist Hannan (Ananias) to Christ with a letter in which he asked Christ to come to Edessa and heal him. Hannan was an artist, and Abgar instructed him, if the Savior could not come, to paint His image and bring it to him.

Hannan found Christ surrounded by a dense crowd; he stood on a stone from which he could see better and tried to portray the Savior. Seeing that Hannan wanted to make His portrait, Christ asked for water, washed himself, wiped His face with a cloth, and His image was imprinted on this cloth. The Savior handed this board to Hannan with the command to take it with a reply letter to the one who sent it. In this letter, Christ refused to go to Edessa himself, saying that he must fulfill what he was sent to do. Upon completion of His work, He promised to send one of His disciples to Abgar.

Having received the portrait, Avgar was healed of his main illness, but his face remained damaged.

After Pentecost, the holy Apostle Thaddeus went to Edessa. Preaching the Good News, he baptized the king and most population. Coming out of the baptismal font, Abgar discovered that he was completely healed and gave thanks to the Lord. By order of Avgar, the holy obrus (plate) was glued onto a board of rotting wood, decorated and placed above the city gates instead of the idol that had previously been there. And everyone had to worship the “miraculous” image of Christ, as the new heavenly patron of the city.

However, the grandson of Abgar, having ascended the throne, planned to return the people to the worship of idols and, for this purpose, destroy the Image Not Made by Hands. The Bishop of Edessa, warned in a vision about this plan, ordered to wall up the niche where the Image was located, placing a lit lamp in front of it.

Over time, this place was forgotten.

In 544, during the siege of Edessa by the troops of the Persian king Chozroes, the Bishop of Edessa, Eulalis, was given a revelation about the whereabouts of the Icon Not Made by Hands. Having dismantled the brickwork in the indicated place, the residents saw not only a perfectly preserved image and a lamp that had not gone out for so many years, but also the imprint of the Most Holy Face on the ceramics - a clay board that covered the holy lining.

After a religious procession with the Image Not Made by Hands along the city walls, the Persian army retreated.

Linen cloth with the image of Christ for a long time was kept in Edessa as the most important treasure of the city. During the period of iconoclasm, John of Damascus referred to the Image Not Made by Hands, and in 787, the Seventh Ecumenical Council, citing it as the most important evidence in favor of icon veneration. In 944, the Byzantine emperors Constantine Porphyrogenitus and Roman I bought the Image Not Made by Hands from Edessa. Crowds of people surrounded and brought up the rear of the procession as the Image Miraculous was transferred from the city to the bank of the Euphrates, where galleys awaited the procession to cross the river. Christians began to grumble, refusing to give up the holy Image unless there was a sign from God. And a sign was given to them. Suddenly the galley, onto which the Image Not Made by Hands had already been brought, swam without any action and landed on the opposite shore.

The silent Edessians returned to the city, and the procession with the Icon moved further along the dry route. Throughout the journey to Constantinople, miracles of healing were performed continuously. The monks and saints accompanying the Image Not Made by Hands traveled around the entire capital by sea with a magnificent ceremony and installed the holy Image in the Pharos Church. In honor of this event, on August 16, the church holiday of the Transfer of the Image Not Made by Hands (Ubrus) of the Lord Jesus Christ from Edessa to Constantinople was established.

For exactly 260 years the Image Not Made by Hands was preserved in Constantinople (Constantinople). In 1204, the Crusaders turned their weapons against the Greeks and captured Constantinople. Along with a lot of gold, jewelry and sacred objects, they captured and transported to the ship the Image Not Made by Hands. But, according to the inscrutable fate of the Lord, the Miraculous Image did not remain in their hands. When they sailed along Sea of ​​Marmara, suddenly a terrible storm arose, and the ship quickly sank. Greatest Christian shrine disappeared. This ends the story of the true Image of the Savior Not Made by Hands.

There is a legend that the Image Not Made by Hands was transferred around 1362 to Genoa, where it is kept in a monastery in honor of the Apostle Bartholomew. In the Orthodox icon painting tradition there are two main types of images of the Holy Face: “Savior on the Ubrus”, or “Ubrus” and “Savior on the Chrepiya”, or “Chrepiya”.

On icons of the “Spas on the Ubrus” type, the image of the Savior’s face is placed against the background of a cloth, the fabric of which is gathered into folds, and its upper ends are tied with knots. Around the head is a halo, a symbol of holiness. The color of the halo is usually golden. Unlike the haloes of saints, the halo of the Savior has an inscribed cross. This element is found only in the iconography of Jesus Christ. In Byzantine images it was decorated precious stones. Later, the cross in halos began to be depicted as consisting of nine lines according to the number of nine angelic ranks and three were inscribed greek letters(I am Jehovah), and on the sides of the halo in the background place the abbreviated name of the Savior - IC and HS. Such icons in Byzantium were called “Holy Mandylion” (Άγιον Μανδύλιον from the Greek μανδύας - “ubrus, cloak”).

On icons such as “The Savior on the Chrepiya”, or “Chrepiye”, according to legend, the image of the Savior’s face after the miraculous acquisition of the ubrus was also imprinted on the ceramide tiles with which the Image Not Made by Hands was covered. Such icons in Byzantium were called “Saint Keramidion”. There is no image of the board on them, the background is smooth, and in some cases imitates the texture of tiles or masonry.

The most ancient images were made on a clean background, without any hint of material or tiles. The earliest surviving icon of the “Savior Not Made by Hands” - a Novgorod double-sided image of the 12th century - is located in the Tretyakov Gallery.

Ubrus with folds begins to spread on Russian icons from the 14th century.

Images of the Savior with a wedge-shaped beard (converging to one or two narrow ends) are also known in Byzantine sources, however, only on Russian soil they took shape into a separate iconographic type and received the name “Savior of Wet Brad”.

In the Cathedral of the Assumption Mother of God in the Kremlin there is one of the revered and rare icons - “The Ardent Eye of the Savior”. It was written in 1344 for the old Assumption Cathedral. It depicts the stern face of Christ looking piercingly and sternly at the enemies of Orthodoxy - Rus' during this period was under the yoke of the Tatar-Mongols.

“The Savior Not Made by Hands” is an icon especially revered by Orthodox Christians in Rus'. It has always been present on Russian military flags since the time of the Mamaev Massacre.

A.G. Namerovsky. Sergius of Radonezh blesses Dmitry Donskoy for a feat of arms

Through many of His icons the Lord manifested Himself, revealing wondrous miracles. So, for example, in the village of Spassky, near the city of Tomsk, in 1666, one Tomsk painter, to whom the village residents ordered an icon of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker for their chapel, set to work according to all rules. He called on the residents to fast and pray, and on the prepared board he painted the face of the saint of God so that he could work with paints the next day. But the next day, instead of Saint Nicholas, I saw on the board the outlines of the Miraculous Image of Christ the Savior! Twice he restored the features of St. Nicholas the Pleasant, and twice the face of the Savior was miraculously restored on the board. The same thing happened a third time. This is how the icon of the Miraculous Image was written on the board. The rumor about the sign that had taken place spread far beyond Spassky, and pilgrims began to flock here from everywhere. Quite a lot of time had passed; due to dampness and dust, the constantly open icon had become dilapidated and required restoration. Then, on March 13, 1788, the icon painter Daniil Petrov, with the blessing of Abbot Palladius, the abbot of the monastery in Tomsk, began to remove the former face of the Savior from the icon with a knife in order to paint a new one. I already took a full handful of paints from the board, but the holy face of the Savior remained unchanged. Fear fell on everyone who saw this miracle, and since then no one has dared to update the image. In 1930, like most churches, this temple was closed and the icon disappeared.

The miraculous image of Christ the Savior, erected by no one knows who and no one knows when, in the city of Vyatka on the porch (porch in front of the church) of the Ascension Cathedral, became famous for the countless healings that took place before it, mainly from eye diseases. A distinctive feature of the Vyatka Savior Not Made by Hands is the image of angels standing on the sides, whose figures are not fully depicted. The copy of the miraculous Vyatka icon of the Savior Not Made by Hands hung from inside over the Spassky Gate of the Moscow Kremlin. The icon itself was delivered from Khlynov (Vyatka) and left in the Moscow Novospassky Monastery in 1647. The exact list was sent to Khlynov, and the second one was installed above the gates of the Frolovskaya tower. In honor of the image of the Savior and the fresco of the Savior of Smolensk with outside, the gate through which the icon was delivered and the tower itself were called Spassky.

Another miraculous image of the Savior Not Made by Hands is located in the Transfiguration Cathedral in St. Petersburg. The icon was painted for Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich by the famous icon painter Simon Ushakov. It was handed over by the queen to her son, Peter I. He always took the icon with him on military campaigns, and he was with it when laying the foundation of St. Petersburg. This icon saved the life of the king more than once. The emperor carried a list of this miraculous icon with him. Alexander III. During the crash of the royal train on the Kursk-Kharkov-Azov railway On October 17, 1888, he emerged from the destroyed carriage along with his entire family unharmed. The icon of the Savior Not Made by Hands was also preserved intact, even the glass in the icon case remained intact.

In the collection of the State Museum of Art of Georgia there is an encaustic icon of the 7th century, called the “Anchiskhat Savior”, representing Christ from the chest. Georgian folk tradition identifies this icon with the Image of the Savior Not Made by Hands from Edessa.

In the West, the legend of the Savior Not Made by Hands became widespread as the legend of the Payment of Saint Veronica. According to him, the pious Jewish Veronica, who accompanied Christ on His way of the cross to Calvary, gave Him a linen handkerchief so that Christ could wipe the blood and sweat from his face. The face of Jesus was imprinted on the handkerchief. The relic, called the “Veronica board”, is kept in the Cathedral of St. Peter's in Rome. Presumably, the name Veronica, when mentioning the Image Not Made by Hands, arose as a distortion of Lat. vera icon (true image). In Western iconography distinctive feature images of the “Plate of Veronica” - a crown of thorns on the head of the Savior.

According to Christian tradition, the miraculous Image of the Savior Jesus Christ is one of the proofs of the truth of the incarnation in human image of the second person of the Trinity. The ability to capture the image of God, according to the teachings of the Orthodox Church, is associated with the Incarnation, that is, the birth of Jesus Christ, God the Son, or, as believers usually call Him, the Savior, the Savior. Before His birth, the appearance of icons was unreal - God the Father is invisible and incomprehensible, therefore, incomprehensible. Thus, the first icon painter was God himself, His Son - “the image of His hypostasis” (Heb. 1.3). God acquired a human face, the Word became flesh for the salvation of man.

Troparion, tone 2

We worship Your most pure image, O Good One, asking for forgiveness of our sins, O Christ our God: for by the will of Thou didst deign to ascend in the flesh to the cross, that Thou mightest deliver what Thou hast created from the work of the enemy. We also cry out to You with gratitude: You have filled all with joy, our Savior, who came to save the world.

Kontakion, tone 2

The first Christian icon is the “Savior Not Made by Hands”; it is the basis of all Orthodox icon veneration.

According to the Tradition set forth in the Chetya Menaion, Abgar V Uchama, sick with leprosy, sent his archivist Hannan (Ananias) to Christ with a letter in which he asked Christ to come to Edessa and heal him. Hannan was an artist, and Abgar instructed him, if the Savior could not come, to paint His image and bring it to him.

Hannan found Christ surrounded by a dense crowd; he stood on a stone from which he could see better and tried to portray the Savior. Seeing that Hannan wanted to make His portrait, Christ asked for water, washed himself, wiped His face with a cloth, and His image was imprinted on this cloth. The Savior handed this board to Hannan with the command to take it with a reply letter to the one who sent it. In this letter, Christ refused to go to Edessa himself, saying that he must fulfill what he was sent to do. Upon completion of His work, He promised to send one of His disciples to Abgar.

Having received the portrait, Avgar was healed of his main illness, but his face remained damaged.

After Pentecost, the holy Apostle Thaddeus went to Edessa. Preaching the Good News, he baptized the king and most of the population. Coming out of the baptismal font, Abgar discovered that he was completely healed and gave thanks to the Lord. By order of Avgar, the holy obrus (plate) was glued onto a board of rotting wood, decorated and placed above the city gates instead of the idol that had previously been there. And everyone had to worship the “miraculous” image of Christ, as the new heavenly patron of the city.

However, the grandson of Abgar, having ascended the throne, planned to return the people to the worship of idols and, for this purpose, destroy the Image Not Made by Hands. The Bishop of Edessa, warned in a vision about this plan, ordered to wall up the niche where the Image was located, placing a lit lamp in front of it.
Over time, this place was forgotten.

In 544, during the siege of Edessa by the troops of the Persian king Chozroes, the Bishop of Edessa, Eulalis, was given a revelation about the whereabouts of the Icon Not Made by Hands. Having dismantled the brickwork in the indicated place, the residents saw not only a perfectly preserved image and a lamp that had not gone out for so many years, but also the imprint of the Most Holy Face on the ceramics - a clay board that covered the holy lining.

After a religious procession with the Image Not Made by Hands along the city walls, the Persian army retreated.

A linen cloth with the image of Christ was kept in Edessa for a long time as the most important treasure of the city. During the period of iconoclasm, John of Damascus referred to the Image Not Made by Hands, and in 787, the Seventh Ecumenical Council, citing it as the most important evidence in favor of icon veneration. In 944, the Byzantine emperors Constantine Porphyrogenitus and Roman I bought the Image Not Made by Hands from Edessa. Crowds of people surrounded and brought up the rear of the procession as the Image Miraculous was transferred from the city to the bank of the Euphrates, where galleys awaited the procession to cross the river. Christians began to grumble, refusing to give up the holy Image unless there was a sign from God. And a sign was given to them. Suddenly the galley, onto which the Image Not Made by Hands had already been brought, swam without any action and landed on the opposite shore.

The silent Edessians returned to the city, and the procession with the Icon moved further along the dry route. Throughout the journey to Constantinople, miracles of healing were performed continuously. The monks and saints accompanying the Image Not Made by Hands traveled around the entire capital by sea with a magnificent ceremony and installed the holy Image in the Pharos Church. In honor of this event, on August 16, the church holiday of the Transfer of the Image Not Made by Hands (Ubrus) of the Lord Jesus Christ from Edessa to Constantinople was established.

For exactly 260 years the Image Not Made by Hands was preserved in Constantinople (Constantinople). In 1204, the Crusaders turned their weapons against the Greeks and captured Constantinople. Along with a lot of gold, jewelry and sacred objects, they captured and transported to the ship the Image Not Made by Hands. But, according to the inscrutable fate of the Lord, the Miraculous Image did not remain in their hands. As they sailed across the Sea of ​​Marmara, a terrible storm suddenly arose and the ship quickly sank. The greatest Christian shrine has disappeared. This ends the story of the true Image of the Savior Not Made by Hands.

There is a legend that the Image Not Made by Hands was transferred around 1362 to Genoa, where it is kept in a monastery in honor of the Apostle Bartholomew.
In the Orthodox icon painting tradition there are two main types of images of the Holy Face: “Savior on the Ubrus”, or “Ubrus” and “Savior on the Chrepiya”, or “Chrepiya”.

On icons of the “Spas on the Ubrus” type, the image of the Savior’s face is placed against the background of a cloth, the fabric of which is gathered into folds, and its upper ends are tied with knots. Around the head is a halo, a symbol of holiness. The color of the halo is usually golden. Unlike the haloes of saints, the halo of the Savior has an inscribed cross. This element is found only in the iconography of Jesus Christ. In Byzantine images it was decorated with precious stones. Later, the cross in halos began to be depicted as consisting of nine lines according to the number of nine angelic ranks and three Greek letters were inscribed (I am Jehovah), and on the sides of the halo in the background were placed the abbreviated name of the Savior - IC and HS. Such icons in Byzantium were called “Holy Mandylion” (Άγιον Μανδύλιον from the Greek μανδύας - “ubrus, cloak”).

On icons such as “The Savior on the Chrepiya”, or “Chrepiye”, according to legend, the image of the Savior’s face after the miraculous acquisition of the ubrus was also imprinted on the ceramide tiles with which the Image Not Made by Hands was covered. Such icons in Byzantium were called “Saint Keramidion”. There is no image of the board on them, the background is smooth, and in some cases imitates the texture of tiles or masonry.

The most ancient images were made on a clean background, without any hint of material or tiles. The earliest surviving icon of the “Savior Not Made by Hands” - a Novgorod double-sided image of the 12th century - is located in the Tretyakov Gallery.

Ubrus with folds begins to spread on Russian icons from the 14th century.
Images of the Savior with a wedge-shaped beard (converging to one or two narrow ends) are also known in Byzantine sources, however, only on Russian soil they took shape into a separate iconographic type and received the name “Savior of Wet Brad”.

In the Cathedral of the Assumption of the Mother of God in the Kremlin there is one of the revered and rare icons - “The Ardent Eye of Savior”. It was written in 1344 for the old Assumption Cathedral. It depicts the stern face of Christ looking piercingly and sternly at the enemies of Orthodoxy - Rus' during this period was under the yoke of the Tatar-Mongols.

“The Savior Not Made by Hands” is an icon especially revered by Orthodox Christians in Rus'. It has always been present on Russian military flags since the time of the Mamaev Massacre.

A.G. Namerovsky. Sergius of Radonezh blesses Dmitry Donskoy for a feat of arms

Through many of His icons the Lord manifested Himself, revealing wondrous miracles. So, for example, in the village of Spassky, near the city of Tomsk, in 1666, one Tomsk painter, to whom the village residents ordered an icon of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker for their chapel, set to work according to all rules. He called on the residents to fast and pray, and on the prepared board he painted the face of the saint of God so that he could work with paints the next day. But the next day, instead of Saint Nicholas, I saw on the board the outlines of the Miraculous Image of Christ the Savior! Twice he restored the features of St. Nicholas the Pleasant, and twice the face of the Savior was miraculously restored on the board. The same thing happened a third time. This is how the icon of the Miraculous Image was written on the board. The rumor about the sign that had taken place spread far beyond Spassky, and pilgrims began to flock here from everywhere. Quite a lot of time had passed; due to dampness and dust, the constantly open icon had become dilapidated and required restoration. Then, on March 13, 1788, the icon painter Daniil Petrov, with the blessing of Abbot Palladius, the abbot of the monastery in Tomsk, began to remove the previous face of the Savior from the icon with a knife in order to paint a new one. I already took a full handful of paints from the board, but the holy face of the Savior remained unchanged. Fear fell on everyone who saw this miracle, and since then no one has dared to update the image. In 1930, like most churches, this temple was closed and the icon disappeared.

The miraculous image of Christ the Savior, erected by no one knows who and no one knows when, in the city of Vyatka on the porch (porch in front of the church) of the Ascension Cathedral, became famous for the countless healings that took place before it, mainly from eye diseases. A distinctive feature of the Vyatka Savior Not Made by Hands is the image of angels standing on the sides, whose figures are not fully depicted. Until 1917, the copy of the miraculous Vyatka icon of the Savior Not Made by Hands hung on the inside above the Spassky Gate of the Moscow Kremlin. The icon itself was delivered from Khlynov (Vyatka) and left in the Moscow Novospassky Monastery in 1647. The exact list was sent to Khlynov, and the second one was installed above the gates of the Frolovskaya tower. In honor of the image of the Savior and the fresco of the Savior of Smolensk on the outside, the gate through which the icon was delivered and the tower itself were named Spassky.

Another miraculous image of the Savior Not Made by Hands is located in the Transfiguration Cathedral in St. Petersburg. The icon was painted for Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich by the famous icon painter Simon Ushakov. It was handed over by the queen to her son, Peter I. He always took the icon with him on military campaigns, and he was with it at the foundation of St. Petersburg. This icon saved the life of the king more than once. Emperor Alexander III carried a list of this miraculous icon with him. During the crash of the Tsar's train on the Kursk-Kharkov-Azov Railway on October 17, 1888, he emerged from the destroyed carriage along with his entire family unharmed. The icon of the Savior Not Made by Hands was also preserved intact, even the glass in the icon case remained intact.

In the collection of the State Museum of Art of Georgia there is an encaustic icon of the 7th century, called the “Anchiskhat Savior”, representing Christ from the chest. Georgian folk tradition identifies this icon with the Image of the Savior Not Made by Hands from Edessa.
In the West, the legend of the Savior Not Made by Hands became widespread as the legend of the Payment of Saint Veronica. According to him, the pious Jewish Veronica, who accompanied Christ on His way of the cross to Calvary, gave Him a linen handkerchief so that Christ could wipe the blood and sweat from his face. The face of Jesus was imprinted on the handkerchief. The relic, called the “Veronica board”, is kept in the Cathedral of St. Peter's in Rome. Presumably, the name Veronica, when mentioning the Image Not Made by Hands, arose as a distortion of Lat. vera icon (true image). In Western iconography, a distinctive feature of the images of the “Plate of Veronica” is the crown of thorns on the head of the Savior.

According to Christian tradition, the miraculous Image of the Savior Jesus Christ is one of the proofs of the truth of the incarnation in human image of the second person of the Trinity. The ability to capture the image of God, according to the teachings of the Orthodox Church, is associated with the Incarnation, that is, the birth of Jesus Christ, God the Son, or, as believers usually call Him, the Savior, the Savior. Before His birth, the appearance of icons was unreal - God the Father is invisible and incomprehensible, therefore, incomprehensible. Thus, the first icon painter was God himself, His Son - “the image of His hypostasis” (Heb. 1.3). God acquired a human face, the Word became flesh for the salvation of man.

Troparion, tone 2
We worship Your most pure image, O Good One, asking for forgiveness of our sins, O Christ our God: for by the will of Thou didst deign to ascend in the flesh to the cross, that Thou mightest deliver what Thou hast created from the work of the enemy. We also cry out to You with gratitude: You have filled all with joy, our Savior, who came to save the world.

Kontakion, tone 2
Thy ineffable and Divine sight of man, the Indescribable Word of the Father, and the unwritten and God-written image is victorious leading to Thy false incarnation, we honor him with kisses.

_______________________________________________________

Documentary film “The Savior Not Made by Hands”

An image left to us by the Savior himself. The very first detailed intravital description appearance Jesus Christ, was left to us by the proconsul of Palestine, Publius Lentulus. In Rome, in one of the libraries, an undeniably truthful manuscript was found, which has great historical value. This is a letter that Publius Lentulus, who ruled Judea before Pontius Pilate, wrote to the ruler of Rome, Caesar. It talked about Jesus Christ. Letter to Latin and written during the years when Jesus first taught the people.

Director: T. Malova, Russia, 2007

It is customary to pray to this image in the most difficult life situations when despair, despondency or anger prevent you from living like a Christian.

The miraculous image of the Savior is considered the most valuable and one-of-a-kind icon. This icon is worshiped by Christians all over the world, because the miraculous image is capable of completely changing the life of everyone who sincerely asks for it.

“The Savior Not Made by Hands” is an icon that has a unique meaning among other icons of world significance. We find ourselves literally face to face with the Savior. He is the driver of our life, our sun, our path. This is an icon for prayer of request and thanksgiving, and both protect us from unfriendly phenomena and events. It is known that if we voluntarily follow the Lord along His path, then we fall under His protection in the most natural way - He is our Leader, Teacher, Savior.

History of the icon

According to legend, the icon appeared with the help of a real miracle. King Abgar of Edessa fell ill with leprosy and wrote a letter to Jesus, asking him to heal him. terrible disease. Jesus answered the message, but the letter did not heal the king.

The dying monarch sent his servant to Jesus. The man who arrived conveyed his request to the Savior. Jesus listened to the servant, went to a vessel of water, washed his face and wiped his face with a towel, on which His face was miraculously imprinted. The servant took the shrine, took it to Avgar, and he was completely healed just by touching the towel.

Avgar's icon painters copied the face that remained on the canvas, and closed the relic itself in a scroll. Traces of the shrine are lost in Constantinople, where the scroll was transported for safety during the raids.

Description of the icon

The icon “Savior Not Made by Hands” does not depict events; the Savior does not act as an unattainable God. Only His face, only his gaze directed at everyone who approaches the icon.

This image carries the main thought and idea of ​​the Christian faith, reminding everyone that it is through the person of Jesus that a person can come to the truth and enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Prayer before this image is like a private conversation with the Savior.

What do they pray to the icon for?

Every Orthodox Christian who prays in front of the icon of the “Savior Not Made by Hands” has the most honest conversation with the Savior about his life and eternal life. It is customary to pray to this image in the most difficult life situations, when despair, despondency or anger do not allow one to live as a Christian.

A prayer to the Savior before this image can help:

• in healing a serious illness;
• in getting rid of sorrows and sorrows;
• in a complete change in life path. You can always find more useful articles, interesting videos and tests on our website.

• Prayers to the miraculous image of the Savior

  “Lord my God, by your mercy my life has been given to me. Lord, will you leave me in my trouble? Cover me, Jesus, and guide me beyond the lines of my misfortune, protect me from new shocks and show me the way to peace and quiet. Forgive me my sins, Lord, and allow me to humbly enter Your Kingdom. Amen".

  “Heavenly Savior, Creator and Protector, Shelter and Cover, do not leave me. Heal, Lord, my mental and physical wounds, protect me from pain and troubles, and forgive me my sins, voluntary and involuntary. Amen".

  In the Orthodox Church, one of the most famous and revered images is the icon of the Savior Not Made by Hands. Its history goes back to the times of the New Testament, when the Savior performed his earthly ministry. The legend about the emergence of the first miraculous image is set out in a book called Chetyi Menaia. Here's what she says.

  History of the icon "Savior Not Made by Hands"

  The ancient ruler Avgar Ukhama V fell ill with leprosy. Realizing that only a miracle could save him, he sent his servant named Hannan to Jesus Christ with a letter in which he asked Him to come to him in the city of Edessa and heal him. Hannan was a skilled artist, so he was instructed, in case Christ did not want to come, to paint His portrait and bring it to the ruler.

  The servant found Jesus surrounded, as usual, by a crowd of people. To get a better look at Him, Hannan climbed onto a high stone, settled there and began to draw. It wasn't hidden from all seeing eye The Lord's. Knowing the artist's intentions, Jesus asked for water, washed His face, and wiped it with a cloth, on which His features were miraculously preserved. The Lord gave this miraculous portrait to Hannan and ordered it to be sent to Abgar, who sent it, adding that He Himself would not come, since He had to fulfill the mission entrusted to Him, but would send one of His disciples to him.

  Healing of Avgar

  When Avgar received the precious portrait, his body was cleared of leprosy, but traces of it still remained on his face. The ruler was delivered from them by the holy Apostle Thaddeus, who came to him at the command of the Lord.

  

  The healed Abgar believed in Christ and accepted holy baptism. Many residents of the city were baptized along with him. He ordered the board with the image of the Savior to be attached to the board and placed in a niche of the city gate. This is how the first icon “Savior Not Made by Hands” appeared.

  The significance of this event is very great. Christians acquired an image generated not by the imagination of a mortal man, but by the will of the Creator. However, years passed, and one of Abgar's descendants fell into idolatry. To save the precious image, the Bishop of Edessa ordered the niche in which it was located to be walled up. They did so, but before placing the last stone, they lit a lamp in front of it. The vanity of the world filled the minds of the townspeople, and the wonderful image was forgotten for a long time. long years.

  Second acquisition of the image

  The Icon of the Savior Not Made by Hands spent many years in a niche. Only in 545, when the city was besieged by the Persians, a miracle happened. There was an apparition to the bishop of the city Holy Mother of God, who reported that only the icon of the Savior Not Made by Hands, walled up over the gates of the city, would save them from their enemies. They urgently dismantled the masonry and found the Image Not Made by Hands, in front of which the lamp was still burning. On the clay board that covered the niche, the exact same image of the Savior miraculously appeared. When the townspeople made a religious procession with the acquired shrine, the Persians retreated. In this miraculous way, the city was delivered from the enemy by the icon of the Savior Not Made by Hands. The description of this event was brought to us by Sacred Tradition. It is in the memory of everyone who is familiar with Christian literature.

  After more than eighty years, Edessa became an Arab city. Now this territory belongs to Syria. However, the veneration of the holy image was not interrupted. The whole East knew that praying to the icon of the “Savior Not Made by Hands” works miracles. Historical documents indicate that already in the 8th century all Christians of the East celebrated holidays in honor of this holy image.

  Transfer of the image to Constantinople

  In the middle of the 10th century, pious Byzantine emperors bought the shrine from the ruler of the city of Edessa and solemnly transferred it to Constantinople, to the Pharos Church of the Mother of God.

  

  There, for more than three hundred years, the icon “Savior Not Made by Hands” was located. The significance of this fact is that while previously it was in the hands of Muslims, it has now become the property of the Christian world.

  Information about the further fate of the image is contradictory. According to one version, the icon was taken away by the crusaders after they captured Constantinople. However, the ship on which they tried to deliver her to Europe was caught in a storm and sank in the Sea of ​​Marmara. Another version indicates that it is kept in Genoa in the monastery of St. Bartholomew, where it was taken in the mid-14th century.

  Different types of image

  The image that appeared on the clay board covering the niche in which the image was walled up became the reason that the icon of the Savior Not Made by Hands is now presented in two versions. There is an image of the Most Pure Face on the ubrus, it is called “Ubrus” (translated as a scarf), and without the ubrus it is called “Skull”. Both types of icons are equally revered Orthodox Church. It should be noted that Western iconography presented another type of this image. It's called Veronica's Plat. On it the Savior is depicted on a board, but wearing a crown of thorns.

  

  The story will be incomplete without touching on the history of its appearance. This version of the image is associated with the Passion of Christ, or more precisely, with the episode of carrying the cross. According to the Western version, Saint Veronica, accompanying Jesus Christ on his way of the cross to Golgotha, wiped His face from drops of blood and sweat with a linen handkerchief. The most pure face of the Savior was imprinted on him, preserving the features inherent in Him at that moment. Therefore, in this version, Christ is depicted on the board, but wearing a crown of thorns.

  Early lists of images in Rus'

  The first copies of the icon of the Savior Not Made by Hands came to Rus' immediately after the establishment of Christianity. These were, apparently, Byzantine and Greek copies. Of the earliest images of this iconographic type that have reached us, we can name the Novgorod Savior Not Made by Hands. The author of the icon gave the face of Christ extraordinary depth and spirituality.

  Features of the writing of early icons

  

  Feature ancient icons A similar theme is the blank background on which the holy face is depicted. Missing are the folds of the scarf or the textured details of the clay board (and in some cases the brickwork) that covered the original image. All these details appear no earlier than the second half of the 13th century. Since the 14th-15th centuries, the Russian tradition has included depicting figures of angels holding the upper ends of a scarf.

  Veneration of the image in Russia

  In Rus', this image has always been one of the most revered. It was he who was depicted on the battle banners of the Russian army. Special worship to him as miraculous image began after the Tsar's train crashed near Kharkov in 1888. Emperor Alexander III, who was in it, miraculously escaped from imminent death. It is generally accepted that this happened due to the fact that he had a copy of the Savior Not Made by Hands with him.

  

  After that miraculous deliverance from death, the highest church leadership established a special prayer service glorifying the miraculous icon. IN Everyday life The holy image, through prayers addressed to it with faith and humility, brings people healing from ailments and the granting of requested benefits.

  The name of the Spasskaya Tower of the Moscow Kremlin and the gate of the same name are directly related to this icon. Until 1917, it was located above the gate on its inner side. This was a list of miraculous icons delivered from Vyatka in 1647. Later she was placed in the Novospassky Monastery.

  In the Christian tradition, the special significance of this image is due to the fact that it is considered as material proof of the truth of the Savior’s incarnation in the form of a man. In the era of iconoclasm, this was the most important argument in favor of supporters of icon veneration.