The Korsun Icon of the Mother of God:
Commemorated on October 9
The Korsun Icon of
the Mother of God: In Ephesus had been preserved an icon of the Mother of
God, written by the holy Evangelist Luke. On 9 October in the year 988, a copy
of this icon was transferred from Korsun to Kiev by the holy
Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Vladimir (Comm. 15 July), and it came to be called
the Korsun Icon. Later on this icon was transferred to Novgorod, and from
thence – to Moscow to the Uspensk cathedral in the Kremlin. Another like image
of the Mother of God was brought from Greece to Russia in 1162 by the Nun
Evphrosynia of Polotsk (Comm. 23 May).
Saint Evphrosynia
founded the Saviour monastery at Polotsk. When she learned that in Greece was
an icon written by the Evangelist Luke, she then dispatched rich presents to
the Greek emperor and the patriarch Luke Chrysovergos with a request to send
her this icon. The holy image was dispatched to Rus' from Ephesus. They
conveyed the icon through Korsun, and at the request of the inhabitants of that
city it remained there about a year, likewise receiving the name of Korsun
Icon. And in the year 1239 the daughter of the Polotsk prince Bryachislav,
Alexandra, leaving for marriage to holy Nobleborn Prince Alexander Nevsky
(Comm. 23 November), conveyed this icon to the city of Toropets.
© 1996-2001 by translator Fr. S. Janos.
