Information about the miracles that occur through prayers before the Tolga image of the Most Holy Theotokos. Tolga Icon of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Disillusioned with modern medicine, people find healing around miraculous faces. A cure for many diseases is granted by the Tolga Icon of the Mother of God.

The Mother of God, who lived her earthly life, knowing well human needs, did not leave without Her protection the people for whom the blood of Her beloved Son Jesus Christ was shed on Golgotha.

The Holy Virgin Mary reveals Herself to people in images, which are then embodied in saving icons.

The Yaroslavl Territory, where the icon of the Mother of God "Tolgskaya" appeared, is not forgotten by God's mercy.

An image born in fire

It was August, 1314. According to the legend of the elders, Bishop Prokhor of Rostov traveled around the lands entrusted to him of the Belozersky limits, decided to go down the Sheksna River, and then along the Volga, to visit the glorious city of Yaroslavl.

Only 7 miles remained for the saint to Yaroslavl, when night came, which caused a stop. The right bank of the Volga was chosen as the place of overnight stay, or rather, a piece of land near which the Tolga River flowed into the Volga.

It was midnight when the campsite was illuminated by the brightest light emanating from a column of fire. The glow spread from the opposite bank, illuminating the bridge that had come from nowhere. Heavenly power attracted the Elder to the pillar, the light of which radiated the image of the Most Holy Theotokos with the Child. The bishop walked to them over a fiery bridge.

Often God Himself reveals Himself to people in the form of burning fire, as was the case with Moses when he saw the fireproof bush.

Before the miraculous face of the Virgin Mary with the Child, Bishop Prokhor fell to his knees and spent the rest of the night in prayer.

Upon returning to the parking lot, after conducting the morning service, the saint discovered that his staff had remained near the pillar of fire.

The sent servants quickly not only found the left rod, but found an icon of the Mother of God near the thickets, about which they informed the bishop. Saint Prochorus immediately recognized his night vision. The bishop himself, all the people accompanying him knelt down, fervently praying, glorifying God, giving Him praise for the miraculous gift.

The divine power of the icon of the Mother of God filled the builders who arrived from Yaroslavl. In one day they erected a temple, which was consecrated that same evening. At the end of the service, all the sick were healed.

For almost 6 centuries there was a monastery near Togla, a monastery near it. All this time, the path of the suffering, the sick, those wishing to receive the help of the Holy Virgin Mary did not overgrow.

Since 1926, when the Soviet authorities closed the monastery, a colony of juvenile delinquents was placed in its place, until 2003 the miraculous image was kept in the Yaroslavl Museum. Since 2003, the Bright Face has illuminated the Tolga monastery, leaving it only 2 times for a short time.

Large icon of the Tolga Mother of God

Healing and liberating power of the icon

The great Tsar Ivan the Terrible, who was suffering from severe pain in his legs, heard about the healing power of the icon of the Mother of God. The king ordered to transfer him to the Tolga monastery. For a long time, fervently, John prayed before the Holy Face, received healing, going out to his subjects with his feet.

What other icons pray for healing:

In 1392, after the announcement of the kontakion, the right hand of the Mother of God began to stream myrrh, after a while myrrh appeared on the left leg of the Infant. Thus, the Blessed Mother of God gave Her divine sign to the weak people.

For 7 centuries, the miraculous power of the Holy Face has helped people who come with a pure heart, faith in the healing power of Jesus Christ.

Reverent silence reigns in the temple, where pilgrims, on their knees, ask the Mother of God for the healing of the spirit, soul, body:

• save from godlessness;
• protect during famine;
• heal from diseases;
• get rid of celibacy;
• free from addiction: drunkenness, smoking, fornication and drug addiction.

The grace-filled power of the icon of the Mother of God "Tolgskaya" is the protective cover of Yaroslavl. The bright face of a loving Mother gives hope to the fallen spirit, heals and relieves addictions.

Description of the Tolga face of the Mother of God

Assumption Cathedral of Yaroslavl is the custodian of God's jewels. It is here that the Big Tolga Icon of the Mother of God with the Child is located.

About other temples of Yaroslavl:

Connoisseurs of iconography have not come to a consensus about the authorship of writing the Holy Face, but most of them tend to Yaroslavl origin.

The icon is made on a linden board.

It depicts the Blessed Virgin sitting on a throne, covered with a veil with flowing folds, adorned with silver and pearls. The high back of the throne is decorated with an exquisite ornament depicting climbing plants near the openings of the arches.

At first glance, the sad eyes of the Virgin Mary are striking, in which all the pain for humanity is collected. The head of the Virgin is adorned with the sign of Divinity, inherent in this particular icon.

The baby, in a red shirt and a blue cloak, comfortably settled down on the left knee of the Mother of God, gently pressing his cheek to the Mother's cheek and wrapping her arms around Her, as if supporting the Virgin during her suffering.

Tenderness emanates from the face of the Child, Divine love, filling the prayers with peace and tranquility.

Very often, patients who come on crutches are healed, throw away crutches, leave on their own feet, constantly thanking the Virgin Mary, glorifying the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Babies, old people, men, women are healed. They are healed by their own prayers, petitions of mothers and loved ones.

It is difficult to count all the miracles bestowed on people after tireless prayers and faith in receiving what they ask for, but the prayer of thanksgiving to the Holy Trinity, the Virgin Mary and all the Saints constantly flows to God.

The Apparition Icon of the Tolgskaya Mother of God

Prayer before the face of the Mother of God

Prayer and akathist before the bright image of the Virgin Mary with the Child echoes the prayer "Our Father", saying which with all their hearts and minds people ask:

• about the power of God;
• protection from the arrows of the evil one;
• cover of God

“O Most Holy Lady, Virgin Mother of God, above Cherubim and Seraphim and most holy of all saints! You, Omnipotent, on Tolga, Thy multi-healing icon to the blessed Saint Tryphon favored the fiery manifestation of Thou, and with it many and inexpressible miracles Thou hast done, and now You are doing it, according to Thy unspeakable mercy to us. Before Your most pure image, we bow down and pray, Blessed Intercessor of our kind: in this earthly wandering, many-sorrowful and many-rebellious, do not deprive us of Your intercession and protection of God.

Save and protect us, Lady, from the fiery arrows of the crafty enemy of our salvation. Strengthen our weak will to do the commandments of Christ, soften our petrified hearts with love for God and our neighbors, grant us contrition of the heart and true repentance, yes, cleansed from sinful filth, we will be able to bring to the Creator the fruits of good deeds pleasing to Him and we will be honored with a peaceful Christian death and answer right at His terrible and impartial Judgment. Hey, Lady All-Merciful!

In a terrible mortal hour, most of all, show us Your powerful intercession, then hasten to help us, the helpless, and with Your sovereign hand, free us from the power of the fierce world-ruler, for truly, Your prayer before the Lord can do a lot, and nothing will stop Your intercession, only admiration . Also, looking at Your holy image with tenderness before it, as if You live with us, worshiping, with good hope for ourselves, and each other, and our whole belly to You, according to God, we prayerfully commit and magnify You with our Savior born from You, The Lord Jesus Christ, to Him, with His Beginningless Father and the Most Holy Spirit, all glory, honor and worship is due, now and forever and forever and ever. Amen".

Watch a video about the Tolga Icon of the Mother of God

In Orthodoxy, the Mother of God is revered more than all the saints. She helps people in all pious deeds, there are icons of the Mother of God in any Orthodox home. Moreover, if usually the saint is depicted in any one way, then there are thousands of images of the Mother of God. they are called differently so that there is no confusion, but each has its own, only its own characteristics. Thus, although there are many icons, there are still a certain number of them in the world, the Mother of God cannot be written in any way.

How did all these icons appear and why are there so many of them? The image of the Mother of God - the first icons of the Christian world. According to legend, the very first image was written by the Evangelist Luke, and he wrote it from the original. But all the other images were not a copy from that first image. They appeared in the world in a variety of ways: they were painted by icon painters, and then glorified by miracles, appeared in the most unexpected places (in such cases, the image is considered miraculous).

For example, the Kazan icon of the Mother of God was found in a conflagration, and the Tolga icon of the Mother of God was found on a knot of a tree, high above the heads of all people. Such images are revered from the moment of their acquisition, they are considered miraculous.

The icon of the Mother of God of Tolga was acquired by Bishop Prokhor, after a short time a monastery began to be built nearby.

The icon itself is named after the place of appearance and current stay. It was not far from a small river in Tolga that the icon of the Mother of God of Tolga was found. Almost 700 years have passed since its acquisition, the image is considered very ancient and valuable.

Before the revolution, it was male, but over the decades that have passed since the start of perestroika, it has been restored as female. The beginning of its revival was laid at the dawn of the nineties, the community gathered with difficulty. But the Tolga Icon of the Mother of God helps the nuns of the monastery. Gradually, all material difficulties were overcome, repair work was completed. The Tolga icon is not the only shrine of the monastery. Here rest the relics of whose books have been re-published in recent years. Now the icon of the Mother of God Tolgskaya is located in the Yaroslavl region, in the Tolgsky monastery. And in Soviet times, the icon was kept in the city museum, but in the nineties it was transferred back to the monastery. At first, it was brought here on holidays: the image is ancient and extremely valuable, so the transportation was carried out in a special car with security. But now in the monastery it was possible to create the conditions necessary for the storage of such an ancient icon. Therefore, the icon of the Mother of God of Tolga now resides in the temple, and you can venerate it on any day.

The monastery lives a measured life, akathists are read daily in front of the Tolga Icon, prayer services are served before the relics, and the indestructible psalter is read. The sister nuns write down testimonies of miracles that happened through prayers before the Tolga icon.

Every year the monastery celebrates Tolgin Day - August 21, the day of special veneration of the Tolga Icon of the Mother of God. Many pilgrims flock here. After the Liturgy, the sisters distribute from the relic park - a cedar forest on the territory of the monastery, treat them with monastery kvass. Everyone who comes on this day to pray to the Mother of God at the monastery leaves comforted and joyful.

2018 marks the 27th anniversary of the founding of the sisterhood.

In the monastery church of the Conception of St. rights. Anna in the iconostasis there is a large icon of "Tolga".

For the sisters of the Conception Monastery, the Tolga Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos is a special patroness, since on August 21, 1991, His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II signed a Decree on the creation of a Sisterhood in honor of the “Merciful” Icon of the Mother of God at the Church of St. Elijah the Prophet in Ordinary Lane, with the aim of reviving the Zachatievsky Women’s monastery as a transitional form to the monastic community. The elder sister of the Sisterhood was approved by the sisters Maria (Kaleda), the current abbess of the monastery, abbess Juliana.

Information about the miracles that occur through prayers before the Tolga Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos

The Tolga Icon of the Mother of God is “an irreplaceable patroness of Yaroslavl, the same precious shrine for him as the icon of Iverskaya for Moscow, for Vladimir Bogolyubskaya, for Kostroma Feodorovskaya. Even from ancient times, in the midst of the gloomy darkness of national disasters, the blessed light shone on Tolga and since then for a number of centuries it has been tirelessly shining over the Russian country.

For centuries, the holy Tolga icon has been a grace-filled power for all those who have fallen to it with faith. During this time, many grave thoughts of the people were told to her, many sorrows were laid at her foot, many tears were shed when kissing the Holy Face, many ailments were resolved by the grace-filled power of ardent faith.

Terrible natural disasters - famine, pestilence, great fires visited Yaroslavl repeatedly, sometimes with such force that they forced the unfortunate inhabitants to imagine the onset of the end of the world. But even in these days of the “peace of the people”, whenever the Tolga Image of the Queen of Heaven appeared above the heads of the confused, powerless before the elements of the crowd, like a vigilant saving guard, like God’s help from heaven, the people’s grief subsided, and often the element itself subdued the rage: heaven gave water and the ulcer stopped.

The same was observed in the private life of each of the Yaroslavl residents. Every important family event, grief and joy, attracted him to pour out his feelings before the Tolga icon of the Mother of God. And never at all times, the people's pious path from Yaroslavl to "Tolga" was overgrown with grass; in some cases and at some times of the year it turned into a wide, smooth road, trodden by thousands of pilgrimage feet.

And at the present time, the flow of all who with faith and love flow to the Mother of God in the Tolga monastery does not stop, just as the mercy of the Most Pure Queen of Heaven, abundantly poured out on the human race, does not stop:

1995, Yaroslavl

A fourteen-year-old boy was healed of a spinal disease. Prayers at the Tolga Icon and anointing with oil from a lampada saved him from a secondary fracture and a hump diagnosed in the hospital. The miracle was so obvious that the doctors, not finding a fracture in the picture, were perplexed. The teenager's grandmother wrote an article to the local newspaper to inform the people of Yaroslavl about the miracles occurring from the icon.

1995, Volgograd

A boy named Igor from Volgograd got rid of a leg disease.

Arriving at the Tolgsky Monastery, he could move only with the help of crutches. After the mother's prayers at the Tolga Icon, the child was healed.

2001, Moscow

A resident of the capital, V. Chunarev, after his mother visited Tolga and her ardent prayers at the monastery shrines, was healed of heart disease.

O. Chunareva brought medical certificates to the monastery and spoke about her son's recovery.

2005, St. Petersburg

After being applied to a particle of the Lord's Robe and to the icons brought from Tolga, the woman's injured hand stopped hurting and her fingers gained mobility.

According to Maria Budazhistskaya

2006, Ivanovo

A day after the girl visited Tolga and drank the holy monastery water, the wart disappeared from her palm, which had to be removed with a laser.

According to Maria Zorina

2007, St. Petersburg

By kissing the Tolga Icon of the Mother of God, an elderly woman was healed, suffering from severe pain caused by inflammation of the trigeminal nerve.

2008, Kaluga region, Peremyshl district, p. Akhlebino

After applying to the Tolga Icon of the Mother of God, the woman was healed of drunkenness.

According to Fotiny Dronova

2008, Tambov

Prayers at the Tolga Icon of the Mother of God, daily reading of the akathist and anointing sick places with church oil helped the spouses Mikhail and Tatiana to be healed. (Mikhail suffered from headaches after a minor stroke, Tatiana had a ligament rupture in the knee joint).

After a miraculous deliverance from ailments, the couple got married, about which they reported to the monastery.

2011, Ryazan

After three days of prayers at the icon, attendance at prayer services for the blessing of water, anointing with oil from the icon of St. Ignatius and the Tolga Icon of the Mother of God, the woman got rid of edema on her right leg. In gratitude for the healing, she brought her golden ring as a gift to the icon.

According to Larisa Alekseeva

2014, Moscow region

“I will tell you about a miracle that happened to me in Tolga. I then dressed thoughtlessly, not according to the weather, and the day was cold and rainy. Having examined the monastery, I, as a great lover, walked along the Volga for a long time and thoroughly froze. By evening, the throat was blocked, and the temperature began to rise. The room was also cool for me getting sick. I was depressed, I think - now, tomorrow I will go to the service sick, and I was preparing for Communion .. And in the morning, upon arrival, I bought a backgammon myrrh, consecrated from the Tolga Icon of the Mother of God. I prayed, anointed my sore throat with a cruciform .. And in the morning I got up ... completely healthy! And after Communion, she flew at all! It was a marvelous trip .. everything that was planned came true .. Thank God for everything!

R. B. Ekaterina

2015, Moscow

My husband and I were in the Monastery on 07/25/15, and after praying before the Tolga Icon of the Mother of God, I became pregnant after 17 years of ineffective treatment for infertility, and the obstetric term was set from 07/27/15, until now my husband and I are under the impression that this is if not a miracle?

R. B. Natalia

2015, Naro-Fominsk

In May 2015, my wife and child and I were in your monastery (six-day river cruise). At the sight of your monastery, I was seized with an incomprehensible excitement. I have never seen such grandeur and beauty. At the end of the tour, I went to the Tolga Icon of the Mother of God three times and asked to be cured of my knee, which had been hurting me for more than 7 years, and nothing helped me. It is surprising that there are many relics of the Saints in the Monastery, but for some reason my gaze was fixed only on the Icon of the Mother of God, and an unknown force brought me back to it. When we left the monastery, it was pouring rain, I took the child in my arms and did not immediately understand that a real miracle had happened, my knee stopped hurting. More than six months have passed, and I am still under the impression of a perfect miracle. The knee doesn't hurt.

Every day I turn with gratitude to the Tolga Icon of the Mother of God and I want to thank the abbess of the Monastery and all her novices for the warm welcome.

R. B. Eugene

2015, Tikhvin, Leningrad region

In August 2015, I was privately in the city of Yaroslavl with my family and had no plans to visit the Tolga monastery at all. By a miraculous coincidence, the road led to the monastery, after the veneration of the Tolga Icon of the Mother of God the next morning, the pain in the shoulder joint, which had been hurting for almost 2 months, practically disappeared! After that, I myself felt such spiritual grace, an invincible desire to come and work for the good of the monastery, which I did in September. And now, after almost 3 months, I am still impressed by the monastery.

R. B. Vyacheslav

2016, Moscow region

R. B. Olga

Dm. Orlov "Yaroslavsky first-class Tolgsky monastery. 1314–1914 (Historical and statistical essay)”, Yaroslavl, Typo-Lithography by N. Kh. Nikolaeva, 1913

The Tolga Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos appeared on August 8, 1314 to the Rostov Hierarch Prokhor (Tryphon in schema). Traveling around the diocese, the saint visited the Belozersky borders and went from there down the rivers Sheksna and Volga to Yaroslavl. At nightfall, a stop was made 7 versts from Yaroslavl, on the right bank of the Volga opposite the confluence of the river. Tolgi. At midnight, when everyone was asleep, the saint woke up and saw a bright light illuminating the surroundings. The light came from a pillar of fire on the other side of the river, to which the bridge stretched. Taking the rod, the saint crossed to the other side and, approaching the pillar of fire, saw in it the icon of the Most Holy Theotokos standing in the air. Struck by the vision, the saint prayed for a long time, and when he came back, he forgot to take his staff.

The next day, after the celebration of Matins, when Saint Prochorus was about to continue his journey in the boat, they began to look for his rod, but they could not find it anywhere. Then the saint remembered that he had forgotten his staff on the other side of the river, where he had crossed over a miraculous bridge. He told about the phenomenon, and the servants sent to the other side on a boat returned with the news that they had seen an icon of the Mother of God in the forest between the trees, and next to it was a bishop's baton. The saint immediately crossed over with all the people to the other side and recognized the icon that had appeared to him. After a fervent prayer in front of the icon, the forest was cleared in that place and the church was laid. As soon as the residents of Yaroslavl found out about this, they arrived at the indicated place. By noon, the church had already been built, and in the evening the saint consecrated it in honor of the Entry of the Most Holy Theotokos into the temple, transferred the icon there and established a celebration on the day of its appearance. Later, St. Prokhor built the Tolga Monastery at this church. Saint Prochorus died on September 7, 1328.

Troparion of the Mother of God before the icon of Her Tolgskaya
voice 4

Today, your image shines brightly on Tolga / Your image, Most Pure Virgin Theotokos, / and, like the unsetting sun, / always given to the faithful, / Seeing him in the air, / invisibly Angels, as if by no one, hold, / His Grace Bishop of the city of Rostov Tryphon / flow to the manifested a luminous pillar of fire, / and on the waters, as if on dry land, pass, and praying to You faithfully for the flock and for the people. / And we, flowing to You, call: / Blessed Virgin Mother of God, / Save those who glorify You faithfully, / our country, deliver the bishops / and all the Russian peoples from all troubles / according to Your great mercy.

Kontakion of the Mother of God before the icon of Her Tolgskaya
voice 8

The wonderful and God-pleasing light-bearing sight of Your appearance, Most Pure Virgin, / with faith beholding there is a certain expectation of salvation, / a pillar of fire showing intercession, / vigilant and warm for us to God, send up a prayer, / save the Russian country from all troubles, we pray, / Yes, with joyful lips we cry out to You all: / Rejoice, Leader of eternal bliss.

Prayer to the Most Holy Theotokos before the icon of Her Tolgskaya

O Most Holy Lady, Virgin Mother of God, superior to the Cherubim and Seraphim and most holy of all saints! You, Omnipotent, on Tolga, Thy multi-healing icon to the blessed Saint Tryphon favored the fiery manifestation of Thou, and with it many and inexpressible miracles Thou hast done, and now You are doing it, according to Thy unspeakable mercy to us. Before Your most pure image, we bow down and pray, Blessed Intercessor of our kind: in this earthly wandering, many-sorrowful and many-rebellious, do not deprive us of Your intercession and protection of the sovereign. Save and protect us, Lady, from the kindled arrows of the crafty enemy of our salvation. Strengthen our weak will to do the commandments of Christ, soften our petrified hearts with love for God and our neighbors, grant us contrition of the heart and true repentance, yes, cleansed from the filth of sin, we will be able to bring the Creator the fruits of good deeds pleasing to Him and be honored with a peaceful Christian death and answer right at His terrible and impartial Judgment. Hey, Lady All-Merciful! In the hour of the terrible mortal, most of all, show us Your powerful intercession, then hasten to help us, the helpless, and with Your sovereign hand, rescue us from the power of the fierce peacekeeper, for truly, Your prayer can do much before the Lord, and nothing is impossible for Your intercession, if only you rejoice . Meanwhile, Thy holy image is tenderly looking before him, as if you live with us, worshiping, with good hope for ourselves, and each other, and our whole belly to You, according to Bose, we prayerfully commit and magnify Thee with our Savior born from You, By the Lord Jesus Christ, to Him, with His Beginningless Father and the Most Holy Spirit, all glory, honor and worship is due, now and forever and forever and ever. Amen.

The Tolga Icon of the Mother of God is an icon of the Mother of God revered in the Russian Orthodox Church. It is known from three lists of the late XIII - early XIV centuries, one of which, according to legend, was "manifested" in 1314 to the Rostov Bishop Prokhor, and he is revered as miraculous. The Tolga icon belongs to the icon-painting type of Eleus. The list of the last quarter of the 13th century is kept in the State Tretyakov Gallery, and the “revealed” icon is in the Tolga Monastery.

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The Tolga icon is revered as the patroness of the Yaroslavl land. The celebration in honor of the icon takes place on August 21st.

Large icon of Our Lady of Tolga

The oldest known icon of the Tolgskaya Mother of God was called the Big (Throne) or Tolgskaya I. Its writing dates back to the last quarter of the 13th century. Various versions are put forward regarding the origin of the icon. So F. Schweinfurt attributes the icon to the Italian master of the Pisan school of peridaducento, and V. I. Antonov to the Georgian school. Both of these versions are not supported. The Yaroslavl origin of the icon is evidenced by the widespread use of ornamental decorations and its writing on a lime board, which speaks against its southern origin. The iconography of the Tolga Throne Icon comes from Byzantine painting of the late 12th-13th centuries. A number of iconographic details in the face of Jesus Christ (drawing of eyebrows, nose, wide eyes, mouth, forehead shape, rounded chin, separation of strands of hair) repeat the face of Emmanuel on another Yaroslavl icon - “Oranta the Great Panagia” (first third of the 13th century). In the Tolga Monastery, founded in 1314, the Throne Tolga Icon probably ended up as an ancient and glorified image and was placed in the monastery cathedral on a high place, like the “Oranta the Great Panagia” in the princely Dormition Cathedral of Yaroslavl.

Iconography

The icon is painted on a lime board measuring 140 by 92 cm. The Virgin Mary is depicted on it in full growth, sitting on a throne. The Divine Infant stands on her left knee, embraces her neck and presses against her cheek, and the Mother of God lightly supports him with both hands. Maria is dressed in a blue tunic and brown maforium with wide pleats. Maforium has a silver border richly decorated with pearl ornaments. As a sign of Mary's ever-virginity, an image of a quadrifolio is placed on the maphoria. The baby Jesus is depicted wearing a pink-red himation and a blue tunic. On the sides of the throne, the archangels Gabriel and Michael soar in the air. The throne on which the Mother of God sits has a high back with arched openings, decorated with ocher floral ornaments. The faces of Mary and Jesus are painted with ocher on a dark sankir, ruddy is applied to the cheeks, the face of Jesus is painted brighter than the face of the Virgin. Academician V. N. Lazarev described the icon as follows: In the Tolga icon we have a complicated type of Tenderness, which is distinguished by a special immediacy of expression. This is perhaps one of the most emotional Russian icons of the 13th century. Although she lacks subtle aristocracy, she captivates with warmth.

The “appeared” icon of the Mother of God of Tolga

This copy of the Tolga icon is called the "revealed" or "Tolgskaya II". He is considered miraculous. The legend of her miraculous discovery was written in the 16th century on the basis of local legends. The icon was kept in the Tolgsky monastery, built on the site of its acquisition. In the 1920s, it was withdrawn and was in the collection of the Yaroslavl Art Museum. In 2003 the icon was returned to the monastery.

Tradition

Church tradition connects the following story with its appearance. In 1314, Prokhor, Bishop of Rostov and Yaroslavl, returning from the Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery to Yaroslavl, stopped for the night on the banks of the Volga, six miles from the city, at the confluence of the Tolga River. At night, Prokhor saw a column of light on the opposite bank and a miraculously appeared bridge across the Volga, leading to it. He took his staff and went to the vision that appeared.

Having reached the opposite shore, the bishop saw the image of the Most Holy Theotokos holding in her arms the Infant, our Lord Jesus Christ; the image did not stand on a tree, but miraculously stood in the air at a height of five cubits, so that it could not be reached from the ground with hands. The bishop, venerating the icon of the Mother of God, sent warm prayers to the Lady of the World, combined with tears; after a rather long prayer, he returned back, forgetting his staff in this place. - Dimitri Rostovsky. Lives of the Saints8 August

In the morning, the bishop's servants could not find his staff, and Prokhor told them about the night vision. He ordered them to go to the other side and bring the staff. The servants fulfilled the order and found on the opposite bank in the place indicated by the bishop his staff and the icon of the Mother of God standing on the ground. After that, Prokhor with his retinue went there and ordered to clear a place for the construction of a wooden church, which, with the help of the townspeople who arrived there after the news of the miraculous appearance of the icon of the Virgin, was erected on the same day. Prokhor consecrated the church in honor of the feast of the Presentation of the Most Holy Theotokos into the Temple and founded a monastery with it, which received the name of Tolga Vvedensky. The day the icon was found - August 8, became the day of celebration in its part. Traditions attribute the following miracles to the revealed Tolga icon: September 16, 1392 - the myrrh-streaming of the image during matins; the resurrection of a dead child brought to the monastery for burial, through the prayer of his parents in front of the icon; late XIV - early XV centuries - the miraculous preservation of the icon during the fire that destroyed the church. The icon was found unharmed in a grove near the monastery; 1553 - Tsar Ivan the Terrible was healed of a leg disease. In gratitude, at the direction of the king, a stone cathedral was erected in the Tolgsky monastery; 1766 - saving Yaroslavl from drought.

Iconography

The icon is written on a board measuring 61 by 48 cm. According to V. N. Lazarev, this icon is an abbreviated list of the Tolga Throne Icon. The Mother of God is depicted bust, and Jesus is seated, not standing. The position of the hands of the Virgin Mary has been changed, a prototype was borrowed for them from the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God. The color of the icon is dominated by dark colors - red-brown, black-green, emerald green, ocher, skillfully compared with the color of the silver background. The engraving of the faces is done in several layers of golden and pinkish-brown ocher over a dark umber sankir. The illuminated parts of the faces are modeled with white with a small admixture of ocher and pure white. With great freedom, the face of the baby was painted, the brightened parts of which the artist marked with confident strokes of white paint. To convey a mournful expression to the face of the Mother of God, the artist highlighted her eyes: the pupils are depicted large and almond-shaped, the eyebrows and eyelids are outlined with white strokes, and the edge of the pupils is underlined with white highlights. All this highlighted the dark eye sockets on the face of the Mother of God in contrast.

Tolgskaya III

Around 1327, a list was made from the revealed Tolga icon, which received the name Tolga III. The icon was kept in the Tolga Monastery, and then entered the collection of the Russian Museum (St. Petersburg). It is made not as emotional as the revealed icon, and in a number of details it resembles the Big Tolga icon. The Infant is depicted sitting on the left hand of the Virgin, his face, as well as on the Tolga throne icon, is given the features of the face of Emmanuel on the icon “Oranta the Great Panagia” (Yaroslavl, first third of the 13th century). The himation of Jesus is orange-pink, the chiton is dark blue. The folds of the himation repeat the pattern of the Tolga throne icon. The animations on Tolgskaya III are made in the same manner as on the other two lists.

Image reproduced by edition: Lazarev V. N. Russian icon painting from its origins to the beginning of the 16th century. M.: Art, 2000.

With. 202¦ 162. Mother of God Tolgskaya 1 .

1 This icon was named Tolgskaya by the art critics who discovered it conditionally, after the monastery where this monument was found. In Russian iconography, Tolgskaya is called the half-length Mother of God from the Vvedensky Cathedral of the same monastery. The canonicity of the waist composition is confirmed by a copy of Our Lady of Tolgskaya in 1744, a letter from Ivan Andreev from the Vysokopetrovsky Monastery in Moscow, now in the State Historical Museum. V. N. Lazarev (see bibl.) believes that “Tolgskaya I-I” is a Russian icon, executed in the last quarter of the 13th century.

Meanwhile, V. N. Lazarev himself (V. Lasareff, Studies in the iconography of the Virgin. - “The art Bulletin”, vol. XX, No. 1, 1938, march, p. 54) notes the spread in Georgia of a rare Russia of the type of the throne Hodegetria, a variant of which is Eleusa on the throne. The historical reference given below sheds light on the origin of "Tolga I".

The Simeon Chronicle preserved the news of the import from Georgia in 1278 of “full and great self-interest” by the Yaroslavl prince Fedor Rostislavich Cherny: “... Prince Fedor Rostislavich ... and many other princes with boyars and servants went to war with Tsar Mengutemer, and God help the Prince of Russia, taking the glorious city of Yassky Dedyakov ... and taking full and great self-interest ... The Tsar, having honored the good princes of Russia and praised the greats and bestowed them, let them go home with much honor, each to his own fatherland ”(quoted from the book. : A. N. Nasonov, Mongols and Russia, M.–L., 1940, p. 64).

The location of the city of Dedyakovo, under which Prince Mikhail Yaroslavich of Tverskoy was killed in 1318, is specified by the information of the Great Chetiy-Minai (November, notebook III, M., 1914, l. 1080b): “... beyond the Terkom River, on the rivers on Seventsy, near the city of Tetyakov, past all the high cities of Yassky and Cherkasy, near the iron gates ... "Dedyakov was located near the Darial Iron Gates and the Sundzha River (otherwise Sevenets or Sevendzha), located in the Dzaudzhikau area (see J. Rotoski, Voyage dans les steps d "Astrakhan et du Caucase, t. 1, Paris, 1829, pp. 339–340, as well as F. Brun, On the wanderings of the Tsar - Presbyter John. - Notes of the Novorossiysk University, Odessa, 1870, p. 13).

Thus, from this region of Ossetia, located in the XII-XIII centuries. heavily influenced by Georgian culture (cf. Sh. Ya. Amiranashvili, History of Georgian Art, vol. 1, M., 1950, p. 139) a work of Georgian painting, executed before 1278, which today has turned into Tolgskaya I-th, could be exported.

Russian waist icons " Tolgskaya II-I" (1314, Yaroslavl Regional Museum of Local Lore) and " Tolgskaya III-I"(first half of the 14th century, Russian Museum) were written in Yaroslavl under the influence of the artistic image of this work, which I define as the rarest example Georgian easel painting of the third quarter of the 13th century. In Russian icons of the XIV century. the composition of Tolga I is close to the iconography of the waist-length Tenderness, popular at that time. In the future, this composition changes even more, giving rise to variants that are far from the original (see, for example, the half-length “Tolgskaya Podkubenskaya” of the 14th century in the Vologda Museum).

XIII century. Rostov-Suzdal school (?).

The Mother of God is represented on the throne. Supporting the baby standing on her knees with both hands, Mary bows her head to him. Jesus embraces her, pressing against her mother's cheek. In the upper corners are full-length angels, the upcoming Mother of God with hands covered with clothes. The clothes combine cube-blue and brown-red colors in two shades. White abundant gaps are better preserved on the blue parts of the clothes. Lined with a red cloth depicted at the forehead, the reddish-brown maphorium of Our Lady is decorated with a silver border and a headband with pearls and colored stones. The ocher throne, painted with a yellow floral ornament, is depicted with an arcade in three rows (the upper two are through); the throne is seated with pearls and colored stones along a black band framing it. On the throne lies a bright green pillow, below you can see a veil of the same color. Under the pillow there is a dark brown carpet (?) embroidered with stones and pearls, as well as the footstool on which the feet of the Mother of God in red shoes rest. The vohrenie is dense, clay-brown with brown, after yellow sankir. Olive and dark red shadows are splashed, as are white highlights at the mouth, on the nose and under the eyes. The eyes are dark brown, almost black, with a bright white protein. The hair of the Savior is filled with a blackish-brown dye over a greenish preparation; on the groin halo - traces of precious stones painted with paints. Upcoming angels are presented in pink and blue robes. At the top left above the angel are traces of a cinnabar inscription (Georgian (?)). The star on the forehead of the Mother of God, the ornament of the throne and the wings of angels were written in the 16th century. In a few places of loss of ancient painting (on the clothes of the Mother of God and the pillows of the throne), later inserts are left. The background and margins are silver, possibly made of tin. The top and bottom fields are sawn off; roller-like thickenings on the side margins are hewn.

The board is thin cypress, dowels are stuffed on forged nails, driven from the back and from the front side 2. Pavoloka coarse-grained, gesso, egg tempera. 140×92.

2 These signs - the type of wood of the board and the method of attaching the dowels - also speak in favor of the Georgian origin of the icon.

From the Exaltation Church of the Tolga Monastery near Yaroslavl, then the Yaroslavl Regional Museum of Art.

Disclosed in the TsGRM in 1925 by G. O. Chirikov, P. I. Yukin and I. I. Suslov.

Received from TsGRM in 1930. With. 202
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With. 168¦ 25. Large icon of the Mother of God of Tolga (Tolgskaya I)

Last quarter of the 13th century. 140×92. Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow.

From the Exaltation Church of the Tolga Monastery near Yaroslavl. Overall safety is good. The greatest losses are on the halo and the background, the silver of which has oxidized. There are inserts of a new gesso on clothes. The top and especially the bottom margins are shortened. The iconographic type of Our Lady of Tenderness with a standing baby is borrowed from Byzantine sources. It is found on two Sinai icons of the 12th-13th centuries ( Sotiriou G. et M. Icones du Mont Sinai, vol. I, fig. 148, 201). The image of the Mother of God sitting on a throne was also well known to the Byzantines (ibid., fig. 54, 157, 171, 191, 222, 232), although it became more widespread in Ducento painting. But from this it would be wrong to draw a conclusion about Italian influences on the icon. The closest iconographic analogies for it are the miniature of the Exultet scroll in the Paris National Library (Nlles Acq. lat., no. 710, circa 1115), which reproduces the Greek original: Bertaux L. L "art dans l" Italie Méridionale. Paris, 1904, p. 228–229; cf. with scrolls Exultet pl. II, 11 s), 13th-century Byzantine relief at San Marco ( Demus O. The Church of San Marco in Venice, p. 121, fig. 35), a gold icon of the 13th century in the Hermitage ( Bank A.V. Byzantine art in the collections of the Soviet Union. L.-M., 1967, ill. 247, p. 374). But on the Tolga icon, the whole composition is embodied. An attempt by V. I. Antonova to attribute the icon of Our Lady of Tolga to the Georgian school is fantastic. The icon is not written on a cypress board, but on a lime board, which speaks against its southern origin. With. 168
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