Feast in honor of the Georgian icon of the Mother of God
In the north of Russia there is the river Pineg, which flows into the river Dvina; on the banks of the river Pineg there are many villages; next to this river is a large and high mountain called the Black; this mountain extends to the very Ocean (Northern Ice) and has a length of about five hundred acres; previously it was empty and uninhabited. According to some revelation of God, a monastery was built on that mountain in the year 7111 of the creation of the world (in 1603 from the year of our Lord) in the name of the Most Holy Mother of God; the monastery was built by a certain hierarch of that country named Miron, who was also a former monastery governor.
In 1622 the Persian Shah Abbas conquered Iberia [present-day Georgia]; finding here a multi-purpose image of the Lord God and Savior of our Jesus Christ, he took it; at that time the Persians took many other shrines and honest icons in Iervia and took them all to Persia, not for worship (because they were pagans), but to sell to Russian merchants; for there were very many Russian merchants in Persia at that time, and the Persians knew that they paid homage and worshiped the holy icons. Among these merchants was a man named Stefan from the Russian city of Yaroslavl; this Stefan was the governor of their citizen of Yaroslavl, named Georg.
At the same time as he was buying this icon in Persia, his lord George, mentioned above, who lived in the city of Yaroslavl, had a dream vision in which he heard these words: <unk> The steward of your estate, who lives in Persia, has bought you a precious pearl; and when he brings it to you, you shall send it to the borders of the Dvina region, to the Black Mountain.
Shortly thereafter, according to God's command, George went to the Dvinsk region and came to the aforementioned Monastery of Montenegro [or Krasnogorsk.] with that icon (the icon was called Georgian because it was taken from the country of Iverskaya or Georgian).
At the time when the holy icon of the Mother of God was brought to this monastery, the abbot and the brothers were keeping vigil in the temple all night; a certain monk of that monastery, named Pithirim, blind and deaf for many years, who had been serving in the monastery hospital, went out in the shade in front of his cell to pray to God. While he was praying, suddenly a great light shone on him, so that he was very afraid, because for many years he had not seen the light (due to blindness); Pithirim took this for a demonic deception; then he clothed himself with the sign of the holy cross and lifted his eyes to that great tower, on which he saw a light like the moon; then he was transformed, and those who had been created began to see and hear about the sun. After the revelation of the sun and the glory of God, he went to him, and afterward he spoke about the sun and the sun, and about all things that would happen to him and to the brethren.
When that pious man, George (who was there at that time), heard of this glorious miracle, he built a beautiful temple in the monastery of Tom in honor of the Most Holy Mother of God. And then began to be performed many miracles from that holy icon; many sick people were healed; for example, the grace of the Most Holy Mother of God healed a woman named Neonila, who was in a relaxed state; another woman named Theodosia, who suffered from blindness, was also healed.
At the intercession of the Mother of God, a certain man named John, who was engaged in fishing and drowned in the lake, was saved from drowning; besides this, the Mother of God appeared to another man named Paul, who lived in a seaside country and was possessed by stomach disease for a whole year; appearing to Paul, the Mother of God taught him the divine Scriptures and healed him from the disease.
<unk> The miraculous signs of the mercy of the Queen of Heaven do not cease to be performed from the Georgian icon to the present time. For example, in 1897 (17 June) the wife of the priest of the village of Shuysky, Totem county, Volga province, was healed from an extremely serious and dangerous illness by this icon.].
In 1654, the miraculous Georgian icon of the Mother of God was brought from the Montenegrin or Krasnogorsk monastery to Moscow to renew painting and was placed, as it is believed, either in the Trinity, in Nikitnik, church. or in the house of one of the parishioners of this church. In the first week of the Great Lent of the same year, hieromonk Makarios, at the request of a certain craftsman, Gavrilo Yevdokimov, who had a seriously ill son, brought this icon to him in the house for prayer, and the patient received healing.
May these miracles be given to all who come with faith to the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory with the Father and the Holy Spirit, now and forever and ever. Amen.