The "Icon" of the Theotokos which St. Seraphim had

[Little_Boy_Lost]

In my searches for the Icon which Seraphim of Sarov had with him until his death, I come up with two different icons for the same name “The Theotokos of Tenderness”.

In one set it usually some variation on this
antiochian.org/node/19122

Where Mary is holding the infant Christ and both are looking at one another.

The second set contains only the Theotokos and she has her eyes closed and her hands crossed.
holytrinityorthodox.com/calendar/los/July/19-08.htm

I what I read about the icon, it was atypical as it only portrayed the Theotokos in it. Something of a rarity amongst Iconography of the east it seems. But I would like clarification. Thanks!

 

[josephdaniel29]

In my searches for the Icon which Seraphim of Sarov had with him until his death, I come up with two different icons for the same name “The Theotokos of Tenderness”.

In one set it usually some variation on this
antiochian.org/node/19122

Where Mary is holding the infant Christ and both are looking at one another.

The second set contains only the Theotokos and she has her eyes closed and her hands crossed.
holytrinityorthodox.com/calendar/los/July/19-08.htm

I what I read about the icon, it was atypical as it only portrayed the Theotokos in it. Something of a rarity amongst Iconography of the east it seems. But I would like clarification. Thanks!

It is my understanding that it is the second icon. And it’s not as atypical as you might think.

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[Harpazo]

In my searches for the Icon which Seraphim of Sarov had with him until his death, I come up with two different icons for the same name “The Theotokos of Tenderness”.

In one set it usually some variation on this
antiochian.org/node/19122

Where Mary is holding the infant Christ and both are looking at one another.

The second set contains only the Theotokos and she has her eyes closed and her hands crossed.
holytrinityorthodox.com/calendar/los/July/19-08.htm

I what I read about the icon, it was atypical as it only portrayed the Theotokos in it. Something of a rarity amongst Iconography of the east it seems. But I would like clarification. Thanks!

I know that St. Seraphim was healed by the Kursk Root Icon when he was young boy. That icon is still around today and is currently travelling throughout the country. I saw it last December and it is coming back to my area in 2 weeks. It is an amazing experience to be in the presence of something so incredibly holy, and something that incredibly holy men and women have venerated.

In Christ,
Andrew

 

[josephdaniel29]

I know that St. Seraphim was healed by the Kursk Root Icon when he was young boy. That icon is still around today and is currently travelling throughout the country. I saw it last December and it is coming back to my area in 2 weeks. It is an amazing experience to be in the presence of something so incredibly holy, and something that incredibly holy men and women have venerated.

In Christ,
Andrew

Here is the upcoming visitation schedule of the Kursk Root Icon.

Link

I highly recommend if it is in your area take the opportunity to go and venerate the icon. It really is an amazing experience.

 

[Harpazo]

Here is the upcoming visitation schedule of the Kursk Root Icon.

Link

I highly recommend if it is in your area take the opportunity to go and venerate the icon. It really is an amazing experience.

Oh I’ll be there again, God willing!

In Christ,
Andrew

 

[Alexander_Roman]

St Seraphim’s icon of the Virgin of Tenderness (the Mother of God holding her hands in cross-wise position) is an icon of her at the moment of the Annunciation and the Incarnation of OLGS Jesus Christ in her womb.

On the icon, she is looking into her heart and engaging in mystical prayer. Saints, like St Paissy Velichkovsky, the teacher of the Jesus Prayer, would explain that the Mother of Jesus our God was the first practitioner of the “Prayer of the Heart” as she “pondered all these things in her heart” which a “sword would pierce so that the thoughts of many might be laid bare.”

St Seraphim would pray the Jesus Prayer (and the 150 Hail Mary Rule) before this icon and so the Eastern tradition developed of invoking the Name of Jesus before a Marian icon (just like in the West there is the tradition of praying the Rosary before the Blessed Sacrament).

There are several other miraculous icons that depict the Mother of God in such a meditative pose. But even the icon of “Our Lady of Perpetual Help” depicts the Mother of God in that way. On that icon, althoug she holds the Hands of her Son, her eyes show that she is “pondering in her heart.”

I find the icon of St Seraphim of Sarov to be the best possible image of an Easternized “Immaculate Heart of Mary.”

Alex

 

[Little_Boy_Lost]

I have only found Russian versions of the Icon of Tenderness. Are there any that have been written in the Byzantine/Greek style?