The Tikhvin Icon of the Mother of God is one of the eight miraculous and especially revered icons of the Mother of God in Russia. According to legend, it was written in the 5th century by the holy Apostle Luke. She is considered the patroness of babies, pregnant women and women in labor. Before the Tikhvin icon, they pray for the enlightenment of blind people, the healing of severe eye diseases, epilepsy, paralysis, the preservation of peace and the end of the war.
Until 1383, the icon was kept in Constantinople, from where it suddenly disappeared immediately after the conquest of the city by Turkish troops. After that, the shrine appeared in a radiant light over the water of Lake Ladoga. Miraculously transferred from one place to another, the icon stopped near the small town of Tikhvin (Leningrad Region).
A wooden church of the Dormition of the Theotokos was later built on the site of the icon's appearance. In 1560, at the behest of Tsar Ivan the Terrible, a monastery was founded under him, surrounded by a fortress wall. In 1613 - 1614, the Swedish troops, who captured Novgorod, more than once wanted to destroy the monastery, but the intercession of the Mother of God saved the monastery.
During the war with Napoleon, the miraculous icon was given as a blessing from the Tikhvin Assumption Monastery to the local militia squad, and after the end of the campaign it was solemnly returned to the monastery. The Tikhvin Icon of the Mother of God also accompanied the Russian army during the Crimean War.
In 1924, the Tikhvin monastery was closed, and the shrine was placed in one of the city's churches. During the Great Patriotic War during the occupation of Tikhvin, the icon was transported to Pskov. In 1944, it was received by the Orthodox community of Riga, headed by Archbishop John, who in 1949 took the icon to the United States of America. There she was kept for a long time in the Holy Trinity Cathedral in the city of Chicago. After the death of the Archbishop, the Tikhvin Icon passed to his son, Archpriest Sergius Garklavs, according to his will, he was to transfer it to the revived Tikhvin Assumption Monastery.
In 1983, the Russian Orthodox Church celebrated the 600th anniversary of the appearance of the Tikhvin Icon of the Mother of God. However, the shrine itself at this time was still in the United States of America. The miraculous Tikhvin Icon of the Mother of God returned to our country on June 23, 2004.
