Maximovskaya icon of the Mother of God

 

In 1299. Maxim, a Greek appointed Metropolitan of Russia, arrived from Kiev to Vladimir. Exhausted by the long journey, he fell asleep in his cell and saw a wonderful dream: the Mother of God with the Pre-Eternal Infant appeared to him and held out a holy pallium, saying: "Take this pallium and tend the sheep endowed with speech in My city/' Having woken up, the Metropolitan saw a pallium in his hands. He immediately told Grand Duke Andrei about the vision. Having made a gold casket, they placed the pallium in it, and an icon was painted in commemoration of the Most Holy Theotokos' appearance to Metropoli­tan Maxim. During the Tatar invasion in 1411-1412, steward Patriky hid the pallium in a cache in one of the cathedrals. The steward was tortured to death, but did not betray the secret, and since then the whereabouts of the pallium have remained unknown. The miracle-working icon was kept above the shrine of the Holy Hierarch Maxim in the Cathedral church of the city of Vladimir. Feast day: April 18/May 1.