Translation to Moscow of the Icon of the Mother of God “Assuage my Sorrow”

Commemorated on January 25.

The “Assuage my Sorrows” Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos was glorified at Moscow by many miracles in the second half of the eighteenth century, particularly during a plague in 1771. The icon had been brought to Moscow by Cossacks in 1640 in the reign of Tsar Michael (1613-1645), and placed in the church of Saint Nicholas in the Pupishevo district of Moscow.

Once, perhaps after a fire and the rebuilding of the temple, the icon was carelessly put in a bell tower. However, the abundant mercies manifested by the Mother of God would one day bring about a renewed veneration of this holy icon.

The Feast of the wonderworking icon on January 25 was established in 1760 to commemorate the healing of a sick woman who had seen the icon in a vision. A voice instructed her to go to the church of Saint Nicholas in the Pupishevo district of Moscow where she would find this icon. “Pray before it, and you will receive healing.”

She obeyed and went to Moscow, where she found an icon, darkened by age and dust, in the church’s bell tower. When the sick woman saw the face and inscription she cried out, “It is She!” The woman, who previously had been unable to move her arms and legs, walked out of church on her own after a Molieben was served before the icon on January 25.

In 1760 an honored place was set aside for the Icon in the church, and later a chapel was built for it. The Church Services and the Akathist for the Icon date from this period. Copies of the “Assuage my Sorrows” Icon are to be found in some churches of Moscow and other cities. The church of Saint Nicholas at Pupishevo was destroyed in the 1930s, but by the grace of God the Icon has survived. It is now in the church of Saint Nicholas near Kuznetskaya Sloboda.

The “Assuage my Sorrows” Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos is also commemorated on September 25 and October 9 .