The Icon of the Mother of God « Assuage my Sorrows » 102.207

The name of the wonder making icon “Assuage my Sorrows” is uncommon. It sounds more like a prayer pronounced from the bottom of one’s heart in a sorrowful moment. The iconography is non-traditional as well. The infant Jesus as if rests in a cradle formed by folds of His Mother garments. In His hands there is a rotulus with words “Hold righteous court, make mercy and bounties…” (these words are irreproducible on the small icon). In Her left hand the Mother of God holds the legs of Her Son, Her right hand being near Her cheek. Since ancient times that gesture has meant being sorrowful, and here it as if tells us that the Mother of God grieves together with all who are sorrowful, and invokes consolation for them from Her Son.

The wonder making icon “Assuage my Sorrows” was taken to Moscow by Cossacks in1640. More than a hundred years it stayed in St. Nicholas Church in Zamoskvorechye (Moscow suburbs). According to the legend it was revealed in the following manner: a certain women of noble extraction had long suffered from weakness in her hands and feet. In this case, physicians were of no help, and the sufferer was prepared for the worst. But in a vision, she was told to go to Moscow and pray before the icon of the Mother of God she was shown – “Assuage my Sorrows” icon. The relatives took the woman to Moscow and brought her to the church but the icon was found nowhere. Then the priest ordered all the time-worn icons withdrawn from use to be brought down from the bell-tower. One of the icons actually bore the inscription “Assuage my Sorrows”. As soon as the woman saw the icon she exclaimed: It is she! It is she! On seeing it the woman for the first time in years was able to raise her hand and to cross herself. After a church service the ailing woman felt so much stronger that she was able to stand and leave the church unaided. This miracle occurred on February 7 (January 25), 1760. Since then, a Feastday in honor of the “Assuage my Sorrows” icon has been observed. In the church of St Nicholas, the icon was installed in an appropriate place, and an altar was dedicated in its honor.

In the 1930s St. Nicholas Church in Sadovniki was destroyed. The wonder making icon was taken from Zamoskvorechye to Moscow, to another St. Nicholas Church where it remains now.

On the obverse of the small icon there is the refrain of the akathist oikos to the wonder making icon “Assuage my Sorrows”: “Rejoice our joy, deliver us from all kinds of evil, and assuage our sorrows”.