Icon of the Mother of God "Vilno"

Commemorated on February 14

According to local tradition, the Vilenskaya Icon was written by the Holy Apostle and Evangelist Luke. Elena, daughter of John III Vasilievitch, unifier of Russia, brought the Icon to Vilno in token of her parents’ blessing, on the occasion of her marriage in 1495 to Alexander, Prince of Lithuania.

After Elena’s death, the Icon was installed in the Church of the All-Holy, in which Elena had been interred. Later, the Icon was translated to the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity in Vilno, where it remained until the Russian Revolution of 1917.

In a men’s monastery near Vilno, another Vilno Icon of the Mother of God appeared in 1341. On that Icon, the Mother of God was pictured at full length, standing upon a depiction of the moon, with angels holding a crown over her head.

By permission of the Orthodox Church in America (www.oca.org)