The Kazan Icon is one of the most beloved images of the Theotokos in the Orthodox Church. It shows the Mother of God holding the Christ Child, and it’s been venerated for over four hundred years as a source of miracles, protection, and answered prayers.
The icon appeared in 1579 in the city of Kazan, Russia. A massive fire had destroyed much of the city that summer. A ten-year-old girl named Matrona had a vision, the Theotokos appeared to her and told her exactly where to dig in the ruins. When Matrona and her mother dug beneath the ashes of a burned house, they found an icon wrapped in red cloth. It was completely undamaged. The colors were fresh, the wood sound, as if it had been painted yesterday.
Word spread fast. The local archbishop led a procession through the streets with the newly discovered icon. Two blind men in the crowd reportedly received their sight that day. The Tsar ordered a church and convent built on the spot where the icon was found, and young Matrona eventually became a nun there.
But the Kazan Icon didn’t stay a local devotion for long.
In 1612, during what Russians call the Time of Troubles, Polish forces occupied Moscow. The country was falling apart. A volunteer army formed under the leadership of Kuzma Minin and Prince Dmitry Pozharsky, and they carried a copy of the Kazan Icon with them as they marched to liberate the capital. They succeeded. Moscow was freed, and the Kazan Icon became a symbol of national deliverance. The Russian people credited the Theotokos with saving their country.
After that, copies of the Kazan Icon spread everywhere. Cathedrals were dedicated to Our Lady of Kazan in both Moscow and St. Petersburg. Russian soldiers carried copies into battle. Families kept copies in their homes. When Napoleon invaded Russia in 1812, prayers before the Kazan Icon went up from churches across the country. The French were driven back, and again, people thanked the Mother of God for her protection.
We celebrate the discovery of the Kazan Icon on July 8th (Old Calendar) or July 21st (New Calendar). Some parishes also commemorate it on other dates connected to specific copies or local traditions.
The original icon was stolen in 1904. Thieves broke into the church where it was kept, apparently after the jeweled cover. The icon itself was damaged or destroyed, accounts vary. But by then, so many copies existed that the loss of the original didn’t diminish the icon’s place in Orthodox life. The most important copies in Moscow and St. Petersburg continued to be venerated, and they still are today.
What makes the Kazan Icon distinct? It’s a specific iconographic type showing the Theotokos from about the shoulders up, turned slightly toward us, with the Christ Child on her left side. His right hand is raised in blessing. It’s a tender image but also powerful. You can see why people turned to it in times of trouble.
Here in Southeast Texas, you won’t find the Kazan Icon as commonly as you might in a Russian parish, but many Antiochian churches have copies. We venerate all icons of the Theotokos, whatever their origin. The theology is the same: we’re not worshipping the wood and paint. We’re venerating the person depicted and asking her prayers. The Theotokos is alive in Christ, and she intercedes for us just as she did at the wedding in Cana when she told her Son, “They have no wine.”
If you visit St. Michael’s and see an icon of the Mother of God holding the Christ Child on her left, that might well be a Kazan Icon. Light a candle. Ask her prayers. The same Theotokos who appeared to a ten-year-old girl in the ashes of Kazan hears your prayers too.
