In Orthodoxy, the Mother of God is revered the most.saints. She helps people in all pious deeds, the icons of the Virgin are in any Orthodox home. And if usually the saint is depicted in one way, then the images of the Mother of God are thousands. The icons of the Mother of God are called differently in order to avoid confusion, but each has its own, peculiar features. Thus, although there are many icons, but still there are a certain number of them in the world, the Mother of God cannot be written as you please.
How did all these icons appear and why are theyso many? The image of the Mother of God - the first icons of the Christian world. According to legend, the very first image was written by Luke the Evangelist, and he wrote it from the original. But all the other images were not a copy of that first image. They appeared in the world in many different ways: they were written by icon painters, and then glorified by miracles, appeared in the most unexpected places (in such cases, the image is considered to be hand-made).
For example, the Kazan icon of the Virgin was foundin the conflagration, and the Tolgsky icon of the Mother of God - in the knot of a tree, high above the heads of all people. Such images are revered from the moment of their discovery, are considered miraculous.
The icon of the Mother of God of Tolga was found by Bishop Prokhor, and after a short time a monastery began to be built nearby.
The icon itself is named after the place of occurrence and the presentstay It was not far from the small river in Tolga that the icon of the Mother of God of Tolga was found. Almost 700 years have passed since its discovery, the image is considered to be very ancient and valuable.
Before the revolution, the Tolga Monastery was male, butIn the decades that have passed since the beginning of perestroika, it has recovered as a woman. The beginning of its revival was laid at the dawn of the nineties, the community was going to difficult. 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 are the relics of St. Ignatius Brianchaninov, whose books began to be published again in recent years. Now the icon of the Mother of God of Tolga is 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, therefore the transportation was carried out in a special car with security. But now the monastery managed to create the conditions necessary for storing such an ancient icon. Therefore, the icon of the Mother of God of Tolga now resides in the temple, and it can be attached to it on any day.
The monastery lives a measured life, beforeThe Tolg icon is read daily by akathists, prayers are served in front of the relics, and a prayer-less hymn is read. Sisters-nuns record evidence of miracles that occurred through prayers in front of the Tolga icon.
Every year in the monastery is celebrated Tolgin Day -August 21, the day of special reverence for the Tolg icon of the Mother of God. Many pilgrims flock here. After the Liturgy, the sisters distribute cedar cones from a relict park - a cedar forest in the territory of the monastery, treat them to monastic kvass. All those who come on this day to pray to the Mother of God in the monastery, leave comforted and joyful.
