The Theodore—Kostroma Icon of the Mother of God was painted
by the Evangelist Luke and resembles the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of
God.
This icon received its name from Great Prince Yaroslav
Vsevolodovich (+ 1246), the father of Saint Alexander Nevsky, and who in
holy Baptism was named Theodore in honor of Saint Theodore Stratelates
(February 8).
According to Tradition, the icon was found by his
elder brother, Saint George (February 4), in an old wooden chapel near
the city of Gorodets. Later, the Gorodetsk Theodorov monastery was built
on this spot. Prince Yaroslav-Theodore became the Great Prince of
Vladimir after his brother Saint George perished in battle with the
Mongols at the Sita River. In the year 1239, he solemnly transferred the
relics of his brother from Rostov to the Vladimir Dormition cathedral.
He gave the icon which he inherited from his brother to his own son,
Saint Alexander Nevsky.
Yaroslav-Theodore is renowned in Russian
history. He continued with the glorious traditions of his uncle Saint
Andrew Bogoliubsky (July 4), and of his father Vsevolod III Big-Nest,
and he was connected to almost all of the significant events in the
history of Rus in the first half of the thirteenth century.
Russia
was burned and torn apart by the Mongols in 1237-1238. He raised it up
from the ashes, rebuilt and embellished the cities, the holy monasteries
and the churches. He restored cities along the Volga devastated by the
enemy: Kashin, Uglich, Yaroslavl’, Kostroma, Gorodets.
He founded
he church of Theodore Stratelates at Kostroma and the Theodorov
monastery near Gorodets in honor of his patron saint. For eight years he
ruled as Great Prince, but he had to guide the land through a
singularly difficult path, maintaining a military-political balance with
the Golden Horde to the East, while mounting an active opposition to
Catholic Europe in the West. His closest companion was his son, Saint
Alexander Nevsky, who also continued his policies.
The
wonderworking Theodore Icon of the Mother of God was constantly with
Saint Alexander, and he prayed before it. After Saint Alexander Nevsky
died on November 14, 1263 at the monastery founded by his father, the
icon was taken by his younger brother Basil.
Basil Yaroslavich
was the youngest (eighth) son of Yaroslav Vsevolodovich. In 1246 after
the death of his father (Prince Yaroslav was poisoned in the capital
city of Mongolia, Karakorum when he was only five years old) Basil
became prince of the Kostroma appanage-holding, the least important of
his father’s domains. In the year 1272, he became Great Prince of
Vladimir.
His four years as Great Prince (1272-1276) were filled
with fratricidal princely quarrels. For several years he waged war
against Novgorod with an unruly nephew Demetrius. In becoming Great
Prince, however, Basil did not journey to Vladimir, but remained under
the protection of the wonderworking icon at Kostroma, regarding this
place as safer in case of new outbreaks of strife.
He had
occasion also to defend Rus against external enemies. In 1272, during a
Tatar incursion, a Russian army came forth from Kostroma to engage them.
Following the example of his grandfather, Saint Andrew Bogoliubsky (who
took the wonderworking Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God with him on
military campaigns), Prince Basil went into battle with the
wonderworking Theodore Icon. A blinding light came forth from the holy
image, and the Tatars dispersed and fled from the Russian land.
The
Chronicles say that the Great Prince Basil had a special love for the
Church and the clergy. After the martyric death of Bishop Metrophanes of
Vladimir during the storming of Vladimir by Tatars on February 4, 1238,
the Vladimir diocese had remained widowed for many years. This grieved
Great Prince Basil. With his help, a large cathedral was constructed in
Vladimir in 1274. This was apparently in connection with the
consecration of Saint Serapion (July 12) as Bishop of Vladimir. He was
an igumen from the Monastery of the Caves.
Metropolitan Cyril III
(+ 1282) presided over a council of Russian hierarchs. This was the
first council in the Russian Church since the time of the Mongol
invasion. Many problems and disorders had arisen in Church life, but the
Russian Church was just barely beginning to recover from the woe that
had befallen it. One of its main tasks was to recover a Russian churchly
literacy, and the restoration of the tradition of the ancient Russian
“princely order.”
Without books the Church’s salvific activity
would be almost impossible. Books were needed for church services, and
for preaching, for the monastic cell rule, and for believers to read at
home. Through the efforts of Metropolitan Cyril and the Russian bishops
and monastic scholars, this important task was begun. The council
approved new editions of essential books which formed the canonical
basis of Orthodox church life.
In 1276, Prince Basil completed
his life’s journey. Most of the important events in his life occured
with the blessing of the Theodore Icon of the Mother of God. He died at
Kostroma, and there he also found his final resting place. Since that
time, the holy icon has been in the Kostroma cathedral of Saint Theodore
Stratelates.
Renewed interest in the Theodore Icon of the Mother
of God and the spread of its veneration throughout all Russia is
connected with events of the beginning of the seventeenth century, and
the end of the Time of Troubles. In the year 1613, the wonderworking
Theodore Icon from the Kostroma cathedral was used at the proclamation
of Michael Romanov as the new Tsar. In memory of this historic event,
March 14 was designated for the commemoration of the Theodore Icon of
the Mother of God.
Numerous copies were made from the Kostroma
Theodore Icon, and one of the first was commissioned and brought to
Moscow by Tsar Michael’s mother, the nun Martha. From the second half of
the seventeenth century, various copies of the Theodore Icon were
enlarged with scenes depicting events from the history of the
wonderworking icon.
In the year 1670 the hierodeacon Longinus
from the Kostroma Hypatiev monastery wrote the “Narrative concerning the
Manifestations and Miracles of the Theodore Icon of the Mother of God
in Kostroma.” Not all the things contained in it agree with things
previously stated.
The Theodore Icon is two-sided. On the reverse
side is the image of the holy Great Martyr Paraskeva, depicted in the
splendid attire of a princess. It is believed that the image of
Paraskeva on the reverse of the icon is connected with the wife of Saint
Alexander Nevsky.
The Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos of Saint Theodore is also commemorated on August 16.
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