The Vydropussk Hodegetria Icon of the Mother of God
Commemorated on July 28
The Vydropussk
Hodegetria Icon of the Mother of God in the XV Century was situated in a
temple of the GreatMartyr George in the village of Vydropussk, Novgorod
governance. During the time of a conflagration of the church, this holy icon
remained undamaged. After the taking of Novgorod by the Moscow GreatPrince Ivan
III, his army returned to Moscow. One of the soldiers, a Murom native, having
gone into the church took from it the icon of the Mother of God, and going to
his own estate put it in a church of Saint Nicholas. When they served the first
molieben before the stolen holy icon, after the reading of the words of the
Gospel: "...and returned to Her own house" (Lk. 1: 56) suddenly a
whirlwind flew, the canopy of the temple opened, the Icon of the Mother of God
was raised up on the air and miraculously transported to the church of the
village of Vydropussk.
The guilty thief of
the holy icon repented himself and came on foot to Vydropussk, beseeching the
Mother of God to forgive him. In the XVI Century this holy icon was taken to
Moscow, and from it an exact copy was made for the church of the village of Vydropussk,
and the original was put in the temple of the Transfiguration in the city of
Torzhek.
© 1996-2001 by translator Fr. S. Janos.