Feast of the Georgian (Gruzinskaya) Icon of the Mother of God — August 22 / September 4 (Julian Calendar)

On this day, August 22 according to the Julian Calendar (September 4 civil calendar), the Georgian Orthodox Church commemorates the feast of the Georgian Icon of the Mother of God, also known as the Iveron Icon, which is kept in Moscow at the Monastery of Metropolitan Alexis (1650). In 1622 Shah Abbas conquered and ravaged Georgia and carried away many sacred treasures to Persia. Among them was an icon of the Mother of God painted in Georgia, known as the Iveron (Georgian) Icon. Stephen, a servant of the Yaroslavl merchant George Lytkin, purchased it and presented it to his master. Moved by God, George Lytkin donated the holy icon to the Chernogorsky (later Krasnogorsky) men’s monastery in the Diocese of Archangel, in the region of the Dvina. Countless miracles were wrought through this holy icon, and in 1650 its feast was established.

In 1654 the Georgian (Iveron) Icon of the Mother of God was brought to Moscow to be restored and adorned with a new riza, and it was placed in the Church of the Most Holy Trinity in Kitai-Gorod. At that time an exact copy was painted from the icon and enshrined in the same church. A plague was then raging in Moscow. Multitudes of the afflicted flocked to the church, and the newly painted icon also shone forth with miracles. In 1658, by order of the Tsar and with the blessing of Patriarch Nikon, it was decided to celebrate the feast of this icon on August 22. In 1904, on the 250th anniversary of the glorification of the Georgian Icon of the Mother of God, a chapel in honor of the icon was arranged in the lower part of the Trinity Church, and the holy icon was placed in its iconostasis.