The All Holy Mothers Of God

The sacred icon of the Most-holy Theotokos the Consolation.

The icon depicted is a hand-painted copy of the original.

All of us take great consolation in seeing and reverencing the image of our Panagia.  Just like the holy apostles, when we see her, we also see the face of our Lord; her Son and God.

Her face is always serene, and the grace that flows through her is undeniable and unquenchable.

Mary the Theotokos has maternal boldness before the Lord.  As we chant in the Akathist Hymn, she is the “saint above all the saints.”  She is and always will be our firm and  unshakable consolation.

The Most-holy Theotokos appears where she wills to do the will of her Son and God.  Since, as Saint Paul says, “the church is the body of Christ,” she cares for us as she cares for her Son.  She always directs our attention to Him.  Her place in our salvation is indisputable, undeniable, and irreplaceable.  She fervently supplicates her Son for our welfare and our salvation.

The story behind this miracle-working icon of the Most-holy Theotokos of Great Consolation begins in the eighth century.

The Vatopedi Monastery

Panayia Paramythia, also known as the Vatopedi Mother of Consolation, is a ninth century miraculous icon of the Virgin Mary from the holy and great Monastery of Vatopedi, Mount Athos, Greece.

Tradition has it that the Emperor Theodosius the Great had a son who fell off the ship and into the sea, as it sailed near the coast of Athos.  By the miraculous intercession of the Mother of God, he was carried to shore unharmed, and he was found sleeping in a bush, not far from the monastery.  This is the event that defined the name of the monastery of Vatopedi – (Vato + paidi), derived from the Greek words bavtoV + paidivon, meaning the “bush and the child.”

The sacred tradition of our Holy Church tells us that the original expressions on the faces and the positions of the bodies of Christ and the Blessed Panayia changed when the following miracle occurred on January 21, 807.

The Miracle

Pirates had secretly landed on the shore near the monastery, and they were hiding, waiting for the gates of the monastery to open in the morning in order to launch an attack on the monks.  The Abbot of the monastery had remained behind after the end of Matins in order to continue his prayer.  But he heard the blessed Panayia say to him, “Do not open the gates of the monastery today, but go up on the walls and drive away the pirates.”

As the holy abbot turned to look at the icon, he saw the Theotokos turned towards her right shoulder and looking at him, while the young Jesus was stretching out His hand to cover His mother’s mouth, saying, “No Mother, do not watch over this sinful flock; let them fall under the sword of the pirates and be punished as they deserve.”

But the Blessed Virgin, taking Her Son’s hand in Hers and turning Her head a little to free her mouth, repeated the same words to the holy Abbot.

This last arrangement of the figures has remained permanently on the icon.  Thus, it is sometimes referred to as =Aceiropoivhto, meaning that it was “not made by hands.”  The

monks were miraculously saved from the pirates.  They gave thanks to the Theotokos and named the icon “Paramuqiva,” which means “consolation,” and conveys the content of the miracle.

The icon is a wall-painting and is on the right choir of the chapel named after it.

In memory of this miraculous event that saved the monks and the monastery, a perpetual lamp burns in front of the wonderworking icon.

Every day a Canon of Supplication is chanted in honor of Panayia, and on Fridays the Divine Liturgy is celebrated.

The words of this description are not mine, they are those of Father Emmanuel Matzouris of St. Basil’s in Troy, NY, USA.