What does the Iveron Mother of God protect from? Video icon of the Iveron Mother of God

From historical sources it is known that in the 10th century, the miraculous Iveron appeared in the Iveron Monastery on Athos, the significance of which in the life of the monastic monastery is enormous. For many centuries she became a treasure and a talisman, a protector from enemies and an assistant in all endeavors. The sacred image has other names - the Gatekeeper, the Goalkeeper, Portaitissa.

Eat distinctive feature, by which it is easily recognized. The photo of the shrine allows you to examine the wound on right cheek Virgin Mary and a trickle of blood.

Icons are intended for people to pray and ask for intercession and help. The saints who are depicted on them are direct intermediaries between man and God. The images of Christ and the Virgin Mary are especially revered. There are many faces of the Virgin Mary, and they all have their own names and purposes.

The wonderful story of the Iveron Icon of the Mother of God

According to Christian legends, in Asia Minor, not far from the city of Nicaea, there lived a widow. The woman was pious and religious; she instilled the Christian faith in her only son. It was kept in her house. In those days, the country was ruled by Emperor Theophilus, who persecuted Christians in every possible way.

One day the imperial overseers came to the house. One of them noticed the image and pierced it with a spear. When the iconoclast saw that blood was flowing from the right cheek of the Mother of God, he was horrified, fell to his knees and asked for forgiveness. Having believed, he decided to save the miraculous icon and advised the woman how to do it.

After praying, the widow came to the seashore at night and floated the shrine over the waves. She swam and after some time arrived at the Iversky Monastery on the Holy Mountain. At night, the monks noticed an unusual glow in the sea, from which a pillar of fire rose to the sky. This miracle continued for several days. Finally, the monks decided to find out what it was, and they sailed closer in a boat.

The appearance of the icon in the Iversky Monastery

Seeing the wonderful icon, the monks tried to get it out of the water, but they failed. She did not give in to their hands, but floated further and further as soon as they approached. Returning to the monastery with nothing, the monks gathered in the temple and began to pray to the Mother of God for help in finding her image.

At night, the Mother of God appeared in a dream to Elder Gabriel and told him that she wanted to bestow her image on the Iveron monastery. In the morning, the monks went in procession to the seashore. Gabriel entered the water and looked reverently. A wonderful image with honors and prayers was placed in the monastery church.

Then other miracles happened to the icon. In the morning she found herself on the wall above the gates of the Iveron Monastery. The monks placed her in the temple several times, but the next day they found her again above the gate. The Mother of God again dreamed of the monk Gabriel and revealed her will to him: she does not want to be protected, but will herself be the guardian and protector of the monastery, and as long as her image is in the monastery, the grace and mercy of Christ will not become scarce.

The monks built a gate church in honor of the Mother of God and placed a miraculous image there. Many years later, the widow’s son came to the monastery and recognized his family heirloom. For more than ten centuries, the Iveron Icon of the Mother of God has been located here, the significance of which is very great, because she is the guardian of the monastery. The image received its name from the name of the monastery, where it remains to this day. A silver frame was made for the icon. Only the faces of the Virgin and Child remained open. There are many known cases when the Mother of God came to the aid of monks, saving them from hunger, disease and from numerous barbarians who tried to seize the holy monastery.

Iversky Monastery

The Iveron Monastery is one of 20 holy monasteries located on Mount Athos, located on the peninsula of the same name in Greece. It was founded by Georgians, and the Monk Gabriel was also a Georgian by nationality.

The name has Georgian roots, based on the ancient name of their country (Iberia). Now it is a Greek monastery. The Greeks call it Ibiron, and Portaitissa is the holy image of the Iveron Icon of the Mother of God. The meaning of this word in Russian is “Gatekeeper”.

It is striking that the holy image can be carried by any of the male spectators present (women are not allowed into the monastery). Portaitissa is taken out in any weather, and nothing happens to it. It is not a priceless rarity that can only be viewed from a distance. The Greeks treat the miraculous image as a shrine, and not as a museum exhibit.

Iveron Icon of the Mother of God. Significance in Russian history

Lists (copies) of the wonderful icon, the first of which were delivered to Russia under Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, were especially revered in Rus'. I met the shrines from Athos in Moscow myself, surrounded by a large crowd of Orthodox Christians.

One of the lists was sent to Valdai, where the Iversky Monastery was founded. The second was placed above the Moscow front Resurrection Gate, through which all guests and the tsars themselves entered the city. There was a ritual: when going on a campaign or returning from it, the royals always went to venerate the Mother of God, asking her for protection and patronage.

The common people had free access to the Resurrection Gate, and the Goalkeeper became one of the most revered icons, the intercessor of Muscovites. Another list was taken to the homes of sick people who themselves could not come to pray. After the October revolutionary upheavals, the chapel was destroyed.

In 1994, a new chapel was founded at the Resurrection Gate, and someone who arrived from Athos new list The Iveron Icon is now kept there.

Anyone who deeply believes finds protection and consolation in the miraculous Iveron Mother of God.

Iveron Icon, days of remembrance:
February 25 (February 12, old style) - on this day the copy of the Iveron Icon was transferred to the monastery in Valdai. This list was written by an Athos icon painter specifically for the Iveron Monastery, built in Valdai in the exact likeness of the Athos Monastery.
May 6 (April 25, old style) - the second discovery of the icon list. In 2012, the icon was solemnly handed over to the Russian Orthodox Church and was installed in its place in the Novodevichy Convent, where it had been located since 1648. During the years of Soviet power, after the closure of the monastery, the shrine was in the collections of the State Historical Museum.
October 26 (October 13, old style) is the day of the solemn meeting when the Athos Iveron Icon appeared in Moscow in 1648
On Tuesday Holy Week - according to legend, it was on Tuesday of Bright Week that the monks of the Iveron Monastery saw an icon of the Mother of God floating towards them on the water.

WHAT DO THEY PRAY TO THE MOTHER OF GOD THROUGH HER IMAGE OF THE IVERIAN ICON

The second name of this icon of the Mother of God is the Goalkeeper (Portaitissa). She, like a real guardian, stands to protect you and your home and protects you from evil actions and destructive thoughts.

The Mother of God through the Iveron image of the present Mothers is the Intercessor of our home from various disasters - from robbery, floods, fires, etc.
The Iveron icon helps in healing mental and physical illnesses; it shows sinners the path to repentance.

It must be remembered that icons or saints do not “specialize” in any specific areas. It will be right when a person turns with faith in the power of God, and not in the power of this icon, this saint or prayer.
And .

THE HISTORY OF THE DISCOVERY OF THE IVERIAN ICON

After the first Ecumenical Council, at which, thanks also to the adherents of the Arian heresy, they received a worthy rebuff and a calm time finally came in the Christian world. But in the 9th century a new misfortune came - fighters against Orthodox images appeared, they simply destroyed the icons.

In those years, in the region of Nicaea (now Turkey) there lived a family of Orthodox Christians, a widow and her teenage son. The woman was not poor and next to her house she erected a temple in which there was an ancient icon of the Mother of God. One day, iconoclast troublemakers came to this church and began to demand money from the woman. She told them that now she did not have that amount; upon hearing this answer, one of the attackers struck the icon on the face of the Mother of God with a sword. Suddenly blood flowed down the icon, as if from a living body.
« Heroes“They were frightened by what they saw and left the temple, but when leaving it, they warned that they would return for the money the next day.

At night, the widow and her son took the damaged icon, went to the seashore and, after reading a prayer, laid it on the water. Suddenly the icon stood in vertical position and swam from the shore into the open sea. Mother and son, amazed at what was happening, looked at this miracle. After everything that happened, they were forced to leave their home. The son went to Thessaloniki, then to Mount Athos to the Iveron Monastery, where he took monastic vows and became a monk.
He told the story of such an unusual rescue of the image of the Mother of God, whose icon miraculously went into the sea.

Once, being near the monastery gates, not far from the water, the elders saw a pillar of fire rising above the sea. This sight frightened them. They began to pray to the Lord, but the vision did not disappear, and by night it became even brighter.

Finally, the monks saw an icon of the Mother of God floating in the sea. They tried to get it, but when they began to approach it, the icon moved away from them.
After several unsuccessful attempts, the monks got together and began to pray to the Lord for help in finding the icon. God heard their prayers, and chose the monk Gabriel, who is now known as Gabriel the Holy Mountain, as the person who would deliver the shrine to the Iveron monastery. This monk was a real hermit, spending all his time in prayers to the Lord. That day he was not in the monastery, since in the summer he went to pray in the mountains and only with the onset of cold weather did he return to the monastery.
One day, while he was sleeping, Gabriel saw the appearance of the Mother of God Herself. The Mother of God commanded him to leave his hermitage, return to the monastery, go to the abbot and inform him that the Queen of Heaven wants to give Gabriel Her icon, which came to them by sea. But for this, he must, like Jesus Christ, without fear, with faith, walk on the surface of the water, take the icon, and then take it to the monastery, which She will now protect.

He fulfilled everything exactly according to the command of the Mother of God. Having stepped onto the water, Gabriel walked along the surface, and then the icon itself began to approach the monk, he took it in his arms and carried it to the shore. After the icon was found, the image of the Mother of God was placed on the holy altar, and a service was continuously held in front of it for three days. But suddenly the icon was gone, it disappeared, they rushed to look for it, and found it above the monastery gates. The monks again placed the icon on the altar, and again, inexplicably, it ended up above the gate. Several times the icon " traveled" from place to place.

The Most Pure One again appeared in a dream to the hermit Gabriel and ordered him to go to the monastery again and inform everyone that this icon was not sent for the monks to guard it, but on the contrary - now the Mother of God herself, through her icon, will guard Iveron and Her entire second destiny is Athos.
Since then, this icon has received the name Portaitissa, which is translated from Greek language means - Goalkeeper.

The Iverskaya monastery is considered the house where this icon. On the territory of the monastery a temple was erected in the name of Portaitissa, the patroness of Athos.

The icon is illuminated by an unquenchable lamp, which is called “ Goalkeeper's Lamp».
Sometimes during church services, without any external influence, the lamp swings like a pendulum, thus warning of the proximity of such great disasters as earthquakes, epidemics, and attacks from enemies.
Residents of Athos said that before the Turks attacked Cyprus, the lamp swayed so much that even the oil spilled over the edge, but the Protectress, through Her icon, did not allow Athos to be captured.
IN modern times, such incomprehensible swinging of the lamp began before the Americans arrived in Iraq, before the earthquake in Spitak, and before other phenomena. This is how the Iveron Icon happened to inform people about upcoming events on a planetary scale.

The Guardian and Defender of Iveron, the Iveron Icon of the Mother of God always showed her help to the brethren, when famine occurred, She sent the abbot of the monastery to the barn, where he found a large number of flour. The enemies did not attack Athos, the fires that broke out went out on their own, and there were always food supplies in the bins.

Unrepentant sinners cannot pass through the gates of Iveron.

In 422, according to legend, the daughter of Tsar Theodosius wanted to visit the monastery to see the shrines, but by the voice of the Mother of God she was forbidden to do so.
Since then, by order of the Mother of God, who protects the peace and tranquility of monastics, Athos has been inaccessible to women for 1,700 years.

In Russia there are two main lists of this icon. One of them is located in the church of the Patriarchal Metochion in Peredelkino. They say that these lists were made with paint, which was rubbed with holy water, taken from an authentic icon from New Athos.

GREATNESS

We magnify You, Most Holy Virgin, and honor Your holy image, through which you heal our illnesses and raise our souls to God.

VIDEO - ICON OF THE MOTHER OF GOD OF IVERSKAYA

Thanks to historical sources It is now known that in the tenth century, an icon of the Mother of God appeared on the territory of the Iversky Monastery, which is considered to be miraculous. It became of great importance on the territory of the monastic monastery. It is considered to be a talisman of a holy place and a real treasure. Therefore, she is considered an intercessor and protector from enemies and adversaries. Also, the Iveron Icon of the Mother of God is considered capable of helping in all endeavors and aspirations.

Description and meaning of the icon

She is also given other names, such as the Gatekeeper or Portaitissa. It has a feature that distinguishes it from other shrines: you can see a small wound and blood flowing from it down the right cheek. Such “mutilation” of the Iveron Icon of the Goalkeeper was caused by infidels who wanted to destroy the image, but by grace liquid flowed from a wound on a piece of wood.

The main purpose of icons is the ability to pray to them and ask for help. And yet they single out separately orthodox icon Iverskaya, helping to save the house from external influence. She is able to protect a woman from carnal ailments and help her cope with mental disorders that are often found in Everyday life. Therefore, women are often sent by confessors to pray to the Iveron Icon in order to receive admonition.

History of the Goalkeeper Icon

The history of writing begins with the ministry of Jesus Christ. It is generally accepted that its author is Luke, the holy apostle who became the first icon painter. He was the first to create icons of the Mother of God and captured this face, which the Mother of God herself approved.

According to legends widespread among Christians who adhere to the Orthodox and catholic faith, near a city called Nicaea, once located in Asia Minor, lived a widowed woman. She was distinguished by her pious character and strong faith, which she tried to instill in her only son. But Theophilus, who held the position of emperor, made efforts to destroy all Christians and their followers. One day the overseers noticed a holy image in the house and decided to destroy it by piercing it with a spear. Blood flowed down the cheek of the holy image, and the guard was shocked and prayed for forgiveness for his deed.

The woman decided to restore and protect the holy image and at night, after praying, she released it. sea ​​waves. The restored icon was nailed to the walls of the monastery, and Mary herself appeared in a dream to the abbot and told about the gift to the monastery. From here the Iveron Icon received its name and meaning, which is difficult to overestimate. According to legend, the acquisition of the image is associated with various miracles.

• Firstly, the monks were able to remove the icon from the sea only with the blessing of the Mother of God herself.
• Secondly, the image itself chose where to be. Hence the second name that the Iveron Icon received Holy Mother of God– The goalkeeper, which is also recommended to be hung in the hallway in the house.

The icon was framed in a silver frame, leaving open to the Virgin Mary and Baby. History knows many cases when she saved monks from hunger and barbarians who wanted to conquer the monastery and subjugate it to themselves.

Copies taken from the icon, which had miraculous properties, were delivered to the territory of Rus', even during the reign of Alexei Mikhailovich, who occupied the throne. They were held in special esteem. There even arose a ritual, when setting off on a campaign or returning from it, to bow to the Holy Mother of God, mentally turning to her with a request for protection and patronage. Another list was regularly taken around hospitals so that patients who were not leaving the hospital could pray and worship.

How does the Iveron Icon of the Mother of God help?

Since ancient times, the icon of the Mother of God, the Goalkeeper, has been helping people to strengthen their faith and ward off all sorts of misfortunes. Here we can talk about bodily ailments and various enemies. As we know from history, the Iveron Icon has always helped in preserving the Russian land from invaders, protecting monasteries and other abodes of faith. The image can also be used to protect the home. Here the meaning of the icon also refers to protection from subtle entities, because the image is capable of strengthening faith and healing not only physical, but also spiritual ailments.

That is why many choose the icon of the Iveron Mother of God for their home altar, and the prayer addressed to her protects the house with all its inhabitants.

For Orthodox man your own home is like a temple, which is why it is so important home icons Mother of God.

The Iverskaya icon is of particular importance for women, whom it helps and protects, and if you look at where to hang the Goalkeeper icon, then it is quite possible to resemble the monastic way of life and hang it above the door or somewhere in the hallway.

Prayers to the Iveron Icon

Prayer to the Most Holy Theotokos before the Iveron Icon

Oh, Most Holy Virgin, Mother of the Lord, Queen of Heaven and earth! Hear the much-painful sighing of our souls, look down from Thy holy height upon us, who with faith and love worship Thy most pure image. Behold, immersed in sin and overwhelmed by sorrow, looking at Your image, as if You are living with us, we offer our humble prayer. The imams have no other help, no other intercession, no consolation, except for You, O Mother, of all those who mourn and are burdened! Help us, the weak, quench our sorrow, guide us, the erring, on the right path, heal and save the hopeless, grant us the rest of our lives in peace and silence, grant us Christ death and at the Last Judgment of Your Son, the merciful Intercessor appeared to us, and always We sing, magnify and glorify Thee, as the good Intercessor of the Christian race, with all those who have pleased God. Amen.

The Icon of the Mother of God, famous for its miracles in the areas of the Mother of God - on Athos, in Iveria (Georgia) and in Russia - is named after the Iveron Monastery on Holy Mount Athos.

Iveron Icon of the Mother of God. 1st half XI or early XII century Starting salary XVI century (Iveron Monastery on Athos)

The first news about it dates back to the 9th century - the times of iconoclasm, when, by order of the heretical authorities, holy icons in houses and churches were destroyed and desecrated.

A certain pious widow who lived near Nicaea kept the treasured image of the Mother of God. It soon opened. The armed soldiers who came wanted to take away the icon, one of them hit the shrine with a spear, and blood flowed from the face of the Most Pure One. Having prayed to the Lady with tears, the woman went to the sea and lowered the icon into the water; the standing image moved along the waves.

They learned about the icon with a pierced face, floating on the sea on Athos: the only son of this woman took monasticism on the Holy Mountain and labored near the place where the ship carrying the Mother of God Herself to Cyprus once landed, and where later, in the 10th century, the Georgian nobleman John and the Byzantine commander Torniky founded the Iveron monastery.

One day, the inhabitants of the Iversky Monastery saw a sky-high pillar of fire on the sea - it rose above the image of the Mother of God standing on the water. The monks wanted to take the icon, but the closer the boat sailed, the further the image went into the sea... The brothers began to pray and earnestly asked the Lord to grant the icon to the monastery.

The next night, the Most Holy Theotokos appeared in a dream to Elder Gabriel, who was distinguished by a strict ascetic life and a childishly simple disposition, and said: “Tell the abbot and the brethren that I want to give them My icon as protection and help, then enter the sea and walk with faith waves - then everyone will know My love and favor towards your monastery.”

The next morning, the monks went to the shore with prayer singing, the elder fearlessly walked on the water and was honored to receive the miraculous icon. They placed it in a chapel on the shore and prayed before it for three days, and then transferred it to the cathedral church (in the place where the icon stood, a source of clean, sweet water opened).

The next day the icon was discovered above the monastery gates. She was taken to her previous place, but she again found herself above the gate. This happened several times.

Finally, the Most Holy Theotokos appeared to Elder Gabriel and said: “Tell the brethren: I do not want to be guarded, but I myself will be your Guardian in this life and in the future. I asked God for My mercy, and as long as you see My icon in the monastery, the grace and mercy of My Son towards you will not become scarce.”

Iveron Monastery on Mount Athos

The monks built a gate church in honor of the Mother of God, the Guardian of the monastery, in which the miraculous icon remains to this day. The icon is called Portaitissa - Goalkeeper, Gatekeeper, and after the place of its appearance on Athos - Iverskaya.

According to legend, the appearance of the icon took place on March 31, Tuesday of Easter week (according to other sources, April 27). In the Iversky Monastery, a celebration in her honor takes place on Tuesday of Bright Week; the brethren with a religious procession go to the seashore, where Elder Gabriel received the icon.

In the history of the monastery, there are many cases of the gracious help of the Mother of God: the miraculous replenishment of supplies of wheat, wine and oil, the healing of the sick, the deliverance of the monastery from barbarians.

So, one day the Persians besieged the monastery from the sea. The monks appealed to the Mother of God for help. Suddenly a terrible storm arose and the enemy ships sank, leaving only Amir’s commander alive. Struck by the miracle of God's wrath, he repented, asked to pray for the forgiveness of his sins, and donated a lot of gold and silver for the construction of the monastery walls.

Iconography

The iconography of the Iveron Icon is a special version of the “Hodegetria”, which in Byzantine art received the name “᾿Ελεοῦσα” (Russian - “Merciful”). The board is elongated, the figures fill almost the entire space of the ark. The image of the Mother of God is half-length, the head is slightly inclined towards the Infant Christ, the right hand is raised in a prayer gesture at chest level.

Myrrh-streaming Iveron Icon of the Mother of God, Montreal

The Divine Infant sits on the Mother’s left hand high and straight, in a slight turn towards Her, his head tilted back slightly. Right hand The Baby is stretched forward towards the hand of the Mother of God with a blessing gesture with two fingers; in his left He holds a scroll, resting vertically on his knee.

The position of the hands of the Mother of God, the parallel semicircular folds of Her maforia visually create a kind of container - a kind of throne for the Infant Christ, which corresponds to Byzantine theological and poetic ideas about the image of the Mother of God - a temple, a container of the Incontainable and is reflected in many monuments Byzantine art XI-XII centuries

The manner of painting the faces is peculiar: with large, massive features, wide-open almond-shaped eyes; the gaze is directed forward, the expression of the faces is concentrated. A significant iconographic detail is the image on the face of the Mother of God of a wound from which blood is oozing.

At the beginning of the 16th century, the icon was decorated with a chased silver gilded frame of Georgian work, leaving only the faces of the Mother of God and the Child exposed. Apparently, the frame quite accurately reproduces the iconography of the ancient image, but in the margins it is supplemented with chased images of half-figures of the 12 apostles.

Iveron Icon – Russian pages of history

In the 17th century, they learned about the Iveron Icon in Rus'. Archimandrite of the Novospassky Monastery Nikon, the future Patriarch, turned to the Archimandrite of the Iveron Athos Monastery Pachomius with a request to send an exact list miraculous image.

“...Having gathered all their brethren...they performed a great prayer service from evening until daylight, and blessed the water with the holy relics, and poured holy water over the old Portaitissa miraculous icon of the Most Holy Theotokos, and collected that holy water into a great basin, and having collected it, they again poured a new one board that they made all of the cypress tree, and again collected that holy water into a basin, and then they served the Divine and Holy Liturgy with great boldness, and after the Holy Liturgy they gave that holy water and holy relics to the icon painter, monk, priest and spiritual father, Mr. Iamblichus Romanov so that he, mixing holy water and holy relics with paints, can paint a holy icon.”

The icon painter ate food only on Saturday and Sunday, and the brethren celebrated all-night vigil and liturgy twice a week. “And that (newly painted) icon does not differ in anything from the first icon: neither in length, nor in breadth, nor in face...”

Meeting of the copy of the Iveron Icon of the Mother of God from the holy Mount Athos in the Ascension Church, Pavlovsky Posad, April 2010.

On October 13, 1648, the icon was greeted in Moscow by Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, Patriarch Joseph and crowds of Orthodox people. (This icon was owned by Tsarina Maria Ilyinichna and her daughter Tsarevna Sofya Alekseevna; after the death of the princess, the image remained in the Novodevichy Convent. Currently it is in the State Historical Museum.)

According to legend, the monks who were carrying the shrine from Mount Athos did not have enough money to cross the Danube. They had already decided to return to the monastery, but the Mother of God Herself helped them - She appeared to the rich Greek Manuel and ordered him to pay the Muslim carriers for the monks.

Another list, by order of Patriarch Nikon, was delivered from Athos to Moscow, decorated with a precious robe, and in 1656 transferred to Valdai, to the newly built Iversky Mother of God Svyatoozersky Monastery (after the revolution, the icon disappeared without a trace).

Iveron Icon of the Mother of God. 1995 Icon painter Hierom. Luke (Iverskaya Chapel, Moscow)

From the icon located in royal family, another list was made; in 1669 it was installed in the chapel at the gate overlooking the main Tverskaya street in Moscow. The goalkeeper became one of the most revered shrines, the Intercessor Mother of Muscovites.

The winners entered Red Square through the Resurrection Gate; Kings and queens, having arrived in the old capital, first of all went to bow to Iverskaya - like everyone who came to the city. Muscovites went to the chapel to pray for all their urgent needs; they took the icon from house to house, served prayers in front of it, and received it by faith: the Iveron Goalkeeper became famous for her healings of the sick and many miracles.

In 1929 the chapel was destroyed, and in 1931 the Resurrection Gate was demolished. The icon was transferred to the Church of the Resurrection of Christ in Sokolniki, where it remains to this day.

In November 1994 His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II consecrated the foundation of the Iverskaya Chapel and the Resurrection Gate in the same place, and less than a year later they were restored. On October 25, 1995, a new copy of the miraculous Iveron icon, written by an icon painter monk with the blessing of the Iveron abbot, arrived in Moscow from Athos. The Good Goalkeeper returned to the main gates of Her city.

The Iveron Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos is one of the most famous and revered in the Orthodox world. According to legend, it was written by the evangelist Luke, for a long time was in Asia Minor Nicaea, and from the beginning of the 11th century. permanently resides in the Iveron Monastery on Holy Mount Athos (in honor of which it received its name).

Not far from the Iveron monastery on the seashore, a miraculous spring has been preserved to this day, flowing at the moment when the Mother of God set foot on Athos soil; this place is called Klimentova pier. And it was to this place that the Iveron Icon of the Mother of God, now known to the whole world, miraculously, in a pillar of fire, appeared across the sea. The veneration of this image is evidenced by the fact that the Monk Nicodemus the Holy Mountain alone wrote four canons to the Iveron Icon of the Mother of God.

During the second period of iconoclasm (813-843), the widow, the owner of this icon, who lived near the city of Nicaea, saving the image from desecration, sent it floating on the waves with prayer. Several centuries have passed. And so, in 1004, he miraculously, in a pillar of light rising to the very heavens, arrived at the shores of Athos. The monks of the Iveron monastery, together with other Athonite monks, who hastened to the place of the miraculous phenomenon, tried to approach the icon in boats, but it moved away from them. Then they gathered in the main cathedral of the Iveron Monastery and began to ask the Mother of God to allow her to take away Her miraculous icon.

At the time described, the blessed elder Gabriel, originally from Iberia, labored near the Iveron monastery. He led an ascetic hermit's life and constantly said the Jesus Prayer. Day and night he studied Holy Bible and the works of the Holy Fathers. The monk's only food was mountain herbs and spring water. This God-bearing elder had a vision of the Mother of God, commanding him to take Her image from the water and announce to the brethren of the Iveron Monastery that She was giving them Her icon.

The brothers of Iviron went to the sea in a religious procession, chanting the Most Holy Theotokos with church chants along the way. The Monk Gabriel entered sea ​​waters, and the icon began to quickly approach the shore. Then he walked towards her across the waves, as if on dry land, and the icon sailed straight into his hands. At the place where Elder Gabriel emerged from the water with the icon, a chapel was erected (now the park of the Most Holy Theotokos Portaitissa (Goalkeeper, Iveron)). This wonderful event took place on Tuesday of Bright Week.
The brethren of the Iveron monastery with great reverence transferred the found miraculous image to their monastery. For three days in a row, the monks served All-Night Vigils and Divine Liturgies, thanking the Most Holy Theotokos for the mercy shown.

Initially, the icon of the Mother of God was placed in the main cathedral of the Iversky Monastery. But the next morning next day she found herself above the gates of the monastery. This went on for several days. The Most Holy Theotokos, appearing to St. Gabriel, said:
“Go to the monastery and tell the abbot and the monks so that they do not tempt Me. I did not appear to them so that they would protect Me, but so that I myself could be their guardian, and not only in the present, but also in the next century. And also tell them: while on this mountain the monks live in the fear of God and in reverence and work according to their strength to gain virtue, then let them have boldness and hope in the mercy of My Son and Master, for I asked Him for them as My inheritance , and He gave them to Me. Let My icon be to them as a sign of these words of Mine: as long as they contemplate it in their monastery, until then the mercy and grace of My Son and God will not fail them.”

Since then, the miraculous Iveron Icon began to be called the “Goalkeeper,” and some time later it was placed in a specially built church at the gates of the monastery.
Once, during a Saracen raid, one barbarian boldly hit the icon with his spear. At that same moment, blood flowed from the image, which can still be seen on it today. The robber repented and became a monk under the name of Damascus, but he called himself a Barbarian. The monk achieved holiness, and his iconographic image was preserved in the monastery.

Divine punishment befell the ships of the pirates who attacked the Iveron monastery: a storm broke out and sank all the ships except the ship of their leader. Repentant, he donated significant funds for the restoration of the monastery.
In 1651, the Russian Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich gave Iviron the Monastery of St. Nicholas, which became the courtyard of this Athos monastery. This was done in gratitude for the healing of the Tsar’s daughter, who received healing from the list of “Goalkeepers” brought by the inhabitants of the Iveron Monastery to Moscow.

Here is what the famous Russian pilgrim-pedestrian of the 18th century Vasily Grigorovich-Barsky writes about “The Goalkeeper”:
“In this beautiful church, at the inner gates of the monastery, in the iconostasis, instead of the usual Mother of God, there is a certain holy and miraculous icon, named by the ancient monks Portaitissa, that is, the Goalkeeper, extremely terribly transparent, with great feathers, holding Christ the Savior on her left hand , blackened on the face for many years, both completely showing the image, everything except the face is covered with silver-plated gilded clothing, and in addition, dotted with valuable stones and gold coins, from various kings, princes and noble boyars given for many of her miracles, where and I saw Russian tsars, queens and princesses, emperors and empresses, princes and princesses, gold coins and other gifts hung with my own eyes.”
The legend of the Iversky Monastery tells of a miracle performed by the Mother of God. One poor man asked to spend the night in Iviron, but the monk-goalkeeper demanded payment from him. The poor man had no money, and, dejected, he walked along the road to Kareya. Soon he met a mysterious Woman who gave him gold coin. The poor man returned and gave the gold coin to the gatekeeper. The monks, paying attention to the antiquity of the coin, suspected the unfortunate man of theft. After his story about the Wife, they went to the “Goalkeeper” icon and saw that this coin was one of many donated to the Mother of God.

Due to the fact that the monks refused gratuitous hospitality to the traveler, all the food in the Iveron Monastery spoiled.
The repentance of the monks was great. Since then, the vow of free hospitality has been strictly observed on the Holy Mountain. And on the site of the appearance of the Mother of God, a small temple was built.

The Russian saint Parthenius testified that during the Greek uprising of 1822, Turkish soldiers living in the monastery were unable to disturb the “Goalkeeper” dressed in precious vestments and decorated with many magnificent gifts. And a few years later, the monk serving at the icon was amazed to see a woman dressed in black woman. She diligently swept the monastery.
It's time to thoroughly sweep the entire monastery. “He’s been standing unswept for so many years,” said the Wife and became invisible.
Soon the Sultan issued a decree for all soldiers to leave the Holy Mountain, although before that he had repeatedly threatened to destroy its monastery to the ground.
The famous singer Nektariy Vlah (1812-1890), invited as the best Athonite protopsalt to the patronal feast at the Iveron Monastery, was poisoned during a fraternal meal by other singers who were jealous of his skill. Feeling unwell, Nektary went to the Church of the Most Holy Theotokos Goalkeeper and, turning to the Mother of God with fervent prayer, drank oil from the lamp of Her icon. The poison lost its potency, and Nectarius sang at the festival as well as he had ever sung in his life.

Before the First World War, the gentle expression of the face of the Infant Christ on the Iveron Icon changed and became formidable
A lot of historical data has been preserved about cases of healings of the sick, blind, lame and possessed by the Iveron Icon. Through prayers from the miraculous icon, the brethren of the Iveron Monastery repeatedly received miraculous help during times of shortage of flour, wine and oil.

In front of the Iveron Icon hangs a large unquenchable lamp, called the “Lamp of the Goalkeeper.” She has wonderful property- without the slightest outside influence during the hours of worship, it sometimes begins to swing like a pendulum, warning of the approach of global disasters or some other important events. Thus, before the Turkish attack on the island of Cyprus, the lamp was swayed so that oil flowed over its edges. In our days, such inexplicable swinging occurred before the American invasion of Iraq, before the earthquake in Armenia and many other events on a global scale.

The “Goalkeeper” herself never left Iviron; in response to requests from the laity, the monks sent lists of the miraculous image. The icon is taken out of the paraklis only three times a year, where it remains permanently:
- on the eve of the Nativity of Christ, after the ninth hour, it is solemnly transferred by the brethren to the cathedral and remains there until the first Monday after the feast of the Council of John the Baptist;
- With Holy Saturday until Monday of St. Thomas Week. On Tuesday of Bright Week a solemn procession of the Cross takes place through the territory of the monastery;
- on the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

According to Athonite legend, shortly before the Second Coming the Iveron Icon will leave Holy Mount Athos. This was announced Reverend Neil Myrrh-streaming, who appeared repeatedly in 1813-1819. monk Theophan.

Days of celebration of the Iveron Icon of the Mother of God:

February 12 (February 25) and on Tuesday of Holy Week- finding the image on Mount Athos;
October 13 (October 26) - the copy of the icon sent to Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich from Athos was transferred to Moscow in 1648;

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