The Miraculous Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos 'Gerontissa' ('The Old Lady')

One of the most revered images of the Queen of Heaven, residing on the Holy Mount Athos, along with the Iberian, is considered the miraculous icon 'Gerontissa', which is in the Pantokrator monastery.

The celebration of the revered icon of the Queen of Heaven, called 'Gerontissa', according to the Orthodox calendar, takes place twice a year - April 4 (17) and December 2 (15). On the holy image, the Blessed Virgin is depicted in full growth, doing prayer. It has long been noted that the appeal to the intercession of the Most Holy Goddess at this icon, prayed for centuries, helps people get rid of diseases and sorrowful life circumstances; Especially often the Lady gives mercy to the elderly, for which she received the name 'Gerontissa' - 'Staritsa'. For younger people, this holy image helps in childbirth, in getting rid of infertility, as well as in study.

For a long time 'Gerontissa' stayed in the altar of the monastery church. However, after the miracle associated with the departure of the pious abbot to the Lord God (about him will be discussed below), the image was placed with the supporter the dome of the temple of the northeastern pillar, so that pilgrims arriving at the Pantokrator monastery could also bow to it. Even during the Byzantine Empire, the image of the Most Pure One was renewed and covered with a silver robe. This was done with the donation of a wealthy lady from Constantinople, who, it is believed, was commanded to decorate the icon by the Blessed Virgin herself.

The origin of the revered icon 'Gerontissa' is not known for certain. It is only known that it is older than the monastery itself. There is a version according to which the venerated image was donated to the builders of the holy monastery by the Byzantine emperor Alexei I Komnenos. It is not excluded that the icon was a copy made from a mosaic icon 'The Hearted One', which was located in an older monastery called Pantokrator, located in Constantinople.

One way or another, the first miracle of the Queen of Heaven was revealed through her icon even at the stage of the construction of the Pantokrator monastery on Athos. One night, the Gerontissa icon and all the builders' tools disappeared - and reappeared in the morning at about five hundred meters from the place where they were left the day before. This was repeated several times - until the monks understood exactly where the Lady wants to build the monastery.

The icon received its name 'Gerontissa' because of one incident associated with the departure of the pious abbot of the monastery to the Lord. It was revealed to this elderly prayer book, who once fell ill, that in a few days he would leave the earthly world. The hegumen asked the priest-monk of the monastery to celebrate the Liturgy and give him Holy Communion. However, he, having entered the altar, delayed the beginning of the service. Then a voice was heard from the monastery icon of the Most Holy Theotokos, calling him to begin the Liturgy at once. What the shocked hieromonk immediately did - and at the end of the service, he gave the Father Superior of the Most Pure and Life-giving Mysteries of Christ. Soon after this, the elderly hegumen departed to the Lord, and the monastery icon was nicknamed 'The Old Lady' (as a sign that she patronized the elders, which in Greek sounds like 'gerondas') - and carried from the altar to the temple to worship everyone who came to the holy monastery.

Another miracle was shown by the Most Pure Virgin through her icon in the 17th century, in the years when there was a severe famine. The monastic brethren began to disperse from the monastery in search of food in all directions. The abbot of the monastery urged those who remained not to despair and ask the Lady for help; he himself fervently prayed to her about the same. And something unprecedented happened. In the monastery pantry, where only empty vessels had stood for a long time, the monks, entering it in the morning, found that olive oil was pouring over the edge from one jug without stopping. They were shocked by what they saw - and realized that in this way the heavenly Patroness of the monastery gives them food. A thanksgiving service was served in front of the Gerontissa icon to mark the end of the famine. And then they depicted on it a jug with oil pouring out of it - in memory of the miraculous deliverance.
Relatively recently, by historical standards, on December 2, 1948, another miracle was revealed in the Pantokrator monastery. A cloud suddenly appeared over the monastery, the rain from which extinguished the fire that was playing out in the monastery. None of the monks doubted that they owed their magical salvation to the heavenly Mother Superior of the Pantokrator monastery and the entire Holy Mount Athos. After all, the word 'Gerontissa' can be translated from Greek as well.

Lists of the miraculous icon 'Gerontissa' are in many churches in Hellas. There are many of them in other Orthodox countries, including Russia. One of them is located in the Novo-Tikhvinsky convent of the capital of the Urals - Yekaterinburg. It was written on the Holy Mount Athos, in the Pantokrator monastery from the original, the robe for it was made in Greece.
Another revered list during the time of the Russian Empire was in the Pochaev Dormition Lavra (now Ukraine). It was also created on Mount Athos - it was commissioned by the icon painters of the Pantokrator monastery by Archbishop Modest (Strelbitsky) of Volyn and Zhitomir. After the icon was delivered to Zhitomir, it was solemnly transferred to Pochaev. In the Lavra, the image was placed in the altar of the Church of the Dormition of the Mother of God, to the right of the throne. Before the beginning of the service, the clergy of the monastery invariably asked the blessing of the Blessed Virgin from Her icon 'Gerontissa'.