30. Mother of God of Feodor

Details

Russian, mid-18th century
65 x 46.5 cms

Provenance:
Private collection, Belgium.

Description:
The Mother of God of Feodor is another icon of the Eleousa type.

Its origin can be traced to 1164. It is believed that the icon was kept in a wooden monastery near the town of Gorodets. This monastery was burnt by the Mongols, when the icon disappeared and was presumed lost.

On August 16th in the year 1239 the icon appeared miraculously to Prince Vasily of Kostroma who had lost his way whilst hunting. Suddenly he saw the icon in a pine tree. When he tried to touch it, the icon arose out of reach. Vasily told the citizens of Kostroma about the miracle he had witnessed. Together they returned to the forest and prayed before the icon, took it in their hands and placed it in the church of St Theodore Stratilat (in Russian Feodor Stratilat) in Kostroma. The Mother of God of Feodor is also called the Mother of God of Kostroma. Her feast day is August 16.

Outside Gorodets and Kostroma the icon was little known before 1613. On March 14th of that year Mikhail Romanov, who lived in the Ipatyevsky monastery in Kostroma, was elected Tsar. His mother, Ksenia, blessed him with the icon of the Feodorovskaya, and the icon’s fame spread over all Russia. In 1620 Mikhail declared the Feodorovskaya as the holy Protectress of the Romanov dynasty. The second feast day of this icon is therefore March 14.

The Mother of God of Feodor is invoked in cases of difficult child-birth.