June: Day 18: Teaching 1: The Bogolyubov Icon of the Mother of God

June: Day 18: Teaching 1:
The Bogolyubov Icon of the Mother of God

(Can We Always Hope To Receive What We Ask From the Mother of God?)

By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko

I. Eternal monuments of the miraculous help of the Queen of Heaven to suffering Christians are Her numerous miraculous icons, which adorn the Russian land. Among them, the Bogolyubov Icon of the Mother of God, the feast in honor of which is now celebrated, has been reverently venerated in Holy Rus' since ancient times. This miraculous icon was painted in the twelfth century, by order of the Holy Grand Prince of Vladimir, Andrew Yuryevich Bogolyubsky. In 1157, when the pious prince was leaving Vyshgorod to return to his homeland, the land of Suzdal, he took with him the Vladimir icon of the Mother of God that had been in the Convent of Maidens, upon the advice of his boyars. During his journey from Vyshgorod to Rostov, he did not cease to perform prayers before the icon of the Mother of God. When they were approaching the city of Vladimir, at one place near the Klyazma River the horses harnessed to the sleigh in which the holy icon was being carried stopped. They changed horses several times, but none of them could move the sleigh. The Grand Prince then ordered the tents to be pitched and then, together with those accompanying him, he prayed for a long time before the icon of the Mother of God. The Mother of God then appeared to him with a charter in her hand and commanded him to remain forever in Vladimir, and on that place (ten miles from the city) to build a monastery and a church in the name of the Nativity of the Mother of God. The pious and God-fearing prince did not hesitate to fulfill the command of the Queen of Heaven and erected a monastery on the site of Her appearance, calling it Bogolyubov. At the same time, to glorify this miraculous event, he ordered icon painters to depict the radiant face of the Mother of God in the form in which She appeared to him. The newly painted icon was called Bogolyubsky ("the God-lover") and was to be celebrated annually on June 18. Local residents soon began to venerate it as miraculous. 

In 1771–72, a terrible and destructive plague raged in many places in Russia, especially in Moscow and Vladimir. Hundreds of people died from the terrible infection, and no medical means could save the sick from a painful death. Then some pious residents of Vladimir asked permission to bring the miraculous Bogolyubov Icon of the Mother of God from the Bogolyubov Monastery to the city to perform public prayers to it.  ,After the procession with the miraculous icon, almost all, even the most hopeless, patients recovered, and out of a hundred patients, only two or three died, and then soon the plague finally stopped in Vladimir. Meanwhile, the plague continued to rage in Moscow, taking several people to the grave every day. The inhabitants of the capital city resorted in fear to the Moscow miraculous icons and saints of God, praying to them for deliverance from the righteous wrath of God. When the rumor of the miracles of the Bogolyubov Icon of the Mother of God in Vladimir reached Moscow, then here too they began to come with prayer to this icon, tearfully asking the zealous Intercessor, the Mother of the Most High Lord, for the deliverance of the Christian race from the destructive disease. By the faith and zeal of those praying, the disease began to weaken here too. Since that time, the Bogolyubov Icon of the Mother of God has become famous in Moscow and is still revered with reverence by all devout citizens.

II. How often nowadays do others exhaust themselves in seeking human assistance, forgetting about God, the "Helper in times of trouble" (Psalm 46:2)! How many of us strive to find relief in need and illness from people, rather than contemplate that there is a diligent Intercessor for all, the Mother of our God. Indeed, She does not always assist in hardships and sorrows, but only when we are deserving of Her help and intercession before God.

a) So let us ask ourselves: when and in what circumstances can we hope to receive what we ask for from our Heavenly Mother? Always, when we ask Her with living, unwavering faith, with childlike love and obedience, with firm and undeniable hope, with a sincere desire to use all that She bestows according to God's will, for the good and salvation of our souls; especially when we ourselves, with sincere zeal and love towards Her, strive to be true children of Hers, true followers of Her Divine Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ; when, imitating Her, we seek to please the Lord by fulfilling His holy and life-giving commandments, serving Him with reverence and fear – with faith and purity, with temperance and patience, with love and mercy towards our neighbor.

But can an unworthy son, who forgets his parents, disdains their love, is disobedient to their authority, and does not fulfill their will, expect signs of love and favor from his father and mother? Likewise can a sinner, who forgets his Heavenly Father, despises His greatness and holiness, fearlessly transgresses His holy will, and does not fulfill His saving commandments, be pleasing in the sight of his Heavenly Mother? Is he worthy to turn to Her with prayer, to hope for Her intercession, to expect gifts of love and goodness from Her? “You draw near to Me with your lips,” She will say in answer to his prayer, “but where is your heart? Has it not departed from My Son and God to a far country? Does it not wander along the crossroads of self-will and unbridled lusts? You want Me to fulfill your requests, but do you yourself fulfill the most holy will of your Lord and God? Do you act as the Lord and Master of your life has commanded you for your own happiness and blessedness? You ask that I should send you the gifts of God's goodness, that I should bless you with abundance and contentment; but have you yourself given to your Lord, when He asked of you a mite in the person of a beggar, when He knocked at the door of your house in the person of a needy stranger? You desire that I should deliver you from every sorrow and circumstance, and comfort you in the day of sorrow, but have you yourself comforted the weeping, lightened by heartfelt sympathy the burden of the sufferer, delivered the persecuted and offended, looked with love upon the homeless orphan and widow? You pray for the forgiveness of your sins, but where are the fruits of your repentance? Have you turned away from sin and wickedness with all your heart? Have you atoned for all your iniquities and lawlessness? Have you forgiven your brother who offended you? Have you sincerely reconciled with your rival? Have you prayed with all your heart for those who hate you and do you harm? Turn first to My Son and God with all your heart, and I will turn to you with My love and mercy!"

b) But he who becomes completely careless about his salvation and neglects repentance, who, becoming more and more entrenched in sins, finally comes to the depths of evil, is completely unworthy either to be called the son of our Heavenly Mother, or to turn to Her with prayer. Is such a person worthy, even if he calls himself a Christian, of the gracious protection of the Mother of God? Can the more honorable than the Cherubim cover with Her intercession a hardened sinner who, by his impenitence, crucifies Her Son a second time, from which the sorrowful weapon again pierces Her most holy soul? In such a state, the very prayer of a sinner, even if he wanted to pray, as coming from an impure and unrepentant heart, becomes a sin for him.

III. Who then is worthy to abide in the love and good will of the Mother of God? He who is a Christian not only in name, but in life and in his deeds, who, believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, keeps His holy commandments and statutes. He who, even after a sinful fall, does not remain in obduracy and impenitence, but seeks justification in Christ by repentance and confession of his sins, strives to cleanse his conscience and wash away the filthiness of his soul with tears of compunction and contrition of heart. Therefore, the Holy Church teaches us, brethren, first and foremost to entreat our Heavenly Mother that She raise us up from the depths of sin and enlighten the eyes of our hearts to the sight of salvation. Let us seek from Her this first and most necessary good; everything else will be added to us of itself. Amen. 

 

Source: A Complete Annual Cycle of Short Teachings, Composed for Each Day of the Year. Translated by John Sanidopoulos.