Icon of Sofia Suzdal: what helps?

Reverend Sofia Suzdal is considered one of the most revered saints in the Russian Orthodox tradition. December 29 - the day of the death of Sophia's nun - became the official day of her memory in the church calendar. The relics and the ancient miraculous icon of St. Sophia, which are still preserved in the Intercession Monastery of the city of Suzdal, are the main relics of the monastery. Believers come from far-off corners to receive healing from illnesses and help in difficult matters.

Sofia Suzdal and Solomoniya Saburova

Few people today relate these two names. Meanwhile, in the worldly life, St. Sofia of Suzdal (1490 - 1542) was one of the noblest women of her time. In history, she remained as Solomoniya Saburova - the wife of Basil the Third, the last Grand Duke of Moscow.

Having chosen the fifteen-year-old Solomon at the bride's show arranged by the mother, Sophia Paleologus, according to the Byzantine custom, Prince Vasili aroused the displeasure of the approximate. For the first time, the Moscow ruler married an "uneven" boyar, not a princely family. Nevertheless, the kind and pious Solomonius gained love and respect at the court.

Princely share

Alas, her fate was tragic. All twenty years of marriage the princess remained childless. Neither hot prayers, nor trips to holy places, nor long services in temples helped either. The displeasure of the Grand Duke grew, the situation around the unfortunate Solomon grew more and more heated. Passionately wishing to have an heir, Vasily the Third forbade his brothers to marry, fearing that the Grand Duke's throne would go to his nephews. All this saddened the clever and kind princess, but she could do nothing.

The grand prince's divorce

Contrary to popular belief, it was not Henry VIII who initiated the tradition of royal divorce.

In 1525, after twenty years of childless marriage, Vasily Third decided to divorce his wife. Evil tongues claimed that the "prank" of the young princess Elena Glinskaya, with whom Vasili had been married, was not without the "charm", without waiting a year.

Divorce of Basil III was the first and unprecedented in the history of Russia. The prince's decision was supported by the boyars, but clergymen severely condemned, many of them paid freedom for the protection of the princess.

Nevertheless, the decision was made. The prince acted "on his own free will" and after the divorce, Princess Solomoniya had to take tonsure and retire to the monastery.

Naughty willy-nilly

Sophia Suzdalska, how did she perceive the news? The life of the saint contains two variants of her acceptance of monasticism. In the first she was tonsured violently at the behest of her husband, in the second - not wanting strife and civil strife and seeing her infertility, asked permission to voluntarily go to the monastery.

Contemporary history claims that the Monk Sophia, and then the Grand Duchess, as passionately as she could, resisted tonsure, having trampled upon her monastic robes with her last strength. However, having learned that he had tonsured - this is the desire of the prince, Solomon obeyed. However, with her new status, the nun Sophia could not resign for a very long time.

According to the chronicles of that time, having accepted her new position, she found peace in prayer and monastic labor. One of the legends says that the nun, not afraid of any work, personally dug a well for the monastery, when the monastery did not have enough water. Up to the present day, a cover sewn by her has been preserved on the grave of the holy Monk Ephrosia. By contemporaries Sofia Suzdal was revered as a true ascetic, kindness and an exemplary service that earned the love and respect of sister nuns and all who knew her.

Almost all of her subsequent life in monastic life, the ascetic conducted in the walls of the Intercession Monastery of the city of Suzdal, where she was buried in 1542.

Miracles of Suzdal

Soon after the death of the nun Sophia, miracles of healing began to occur on her grave. So, in 1598, the first recorded release of the blindness of Princess Anna Nechtova occurred. Four years later, in another amazing way, another woman saw the saint's grave. In the following years, other miraculous transformations are described. The prayer of Sofia Suzdal helped from eye diseases, deafness, paralysis and mental disorders.

St. Sophia was not only the healer, but also the defender. Appearing in a monastic vestment and with a lighted candle in the hands of the leader of the Polish army, who approached the monastery, Sofia Suzdalskaya saved her native abode.

As described by the Ancient Fedorov chronicler and clergyman of the 18th century, the chronicle and the clergyman Ananii Fedorov describes this event: a strong fear engulfed the commander of Lisovsky from the vision of the saint and his right hand was taken away, while the other Poles fell to the ground along with horses, stricken with disease. The enemy army retreated, and the most wonderful event was depicted on the tombstone of the ascetic.

Memory after death

The official church proclaimed the veneration of the nun Sophia as a saint only in 1650 - a hundred years after her repose, and the issue of canonization was taken two centuries later. Nevertheless, soon after the death, the people began to honor her as a holy and praying people reached out to her grave. It is noteworthy that even in the old, pre-printed svyatsam it is called the holy righteous nun, but at the same time Princess Sophia.

During the reign of Ivan the Terrible - the long-awaited heir of Prince Vasily from his second wife, Solomon-Sophia was remembered by the Monk Nun and veneration was, rather, a local character. It is noteworthy that already at that time Prince Andrew Kurbsky, in a letter to the tsar, called Sofia-Solomonia a venerable martyr, an innocent and holy one. According to the legend, Tsar Ivan the Fourth himself came to the Suzdal Pokrovsky Monastery and, according to the legends, personally covered the tomb of the nun with a blanket made in the workshop of his beloved wife Anastasia Romanovna specially as a gift to the grave of the saint.

At the next Tsar Feodor Ioanovich, the veneration of St. Sophia of Suzdal increased even more. On the grave of the Monk Nun, pilgrimages were made, the members of the royal family more than once paid tribute to the monastery by their visit. Up to now, an embroidered cover on her gravestone with the image of the Savior, presented to the monastery by Tsarina Irina Godunova, has been preserved. A donation inscription confirms the year and purpose of the offering.

How did the Princess Solomon

Up to now, not a single lifetime portrait of Princess Solomoniya Saburova has survived. We do not know if such images existed at all, since portraiture, like secular art, came to Russia only in the Petrine era, almost two centuries after the events described. Several miniatures from the chronicles depicting the scenes of the wedding of Basil III and Solomon, the tonsure of the princess and several other landmark historical episodes from the life of the prince's couple have been preserved. Contemporaries described Solomoniya Saburov as a woman of extraordinary beauty.

Engraving of the 19th century depicts a young dark-haired woman with the right features in a tiara and expensive clothes. Was the real Solomonia similar to the portrait image created by the artist of the times of Romanticism, difficult to say. Known for her portrayal of monasticism, but most likely it was also written after the death of St. Solomon-Sophia.

Iconography of St. Sophia

A lot of icons written in the 19th - 20th centuries represent Saint Sofia of Suzdal in accordance with the Byzantine icon-painting canon: in a monastic hood and a parain of blue-green, almost earthy color, brown cassock and a crimson or dark cherry mantle. Face and hands are written with ocher, big round eyes, thin straight nose, small lips.

The oldest image of St Sophia dates from the second half of the 17th century. Of course, before us is the exaggerated canonical image of the saint and it's foolish to look for a portrait resemblance to the descriptions and known images of the real Solomon. The name of the master, who transferred the image to the board, remains unknown. Presumably, the oldest icon of St. Sophia was created by icon painters in her native abode. It is interesting that in the traditional iconography, leading from this image, there is an obligatory attribute - the scroll, which holds Sofia Suzdal. This icon is considered a miraculous and, probably, intended for the tomb of the saint.

Recognition of a saint

In the Orthodox church calendar, the name of Sofia Suzdal appears a year before the revolution. In 1984, it was "officially" brought to the assembly of saints, but so far only local Suzdal, and since 2007, St. Sophia is revered at the all-church level.

The Monk Sophia bequeathed her burial in the land. Strange desire for that time, since traditionally people of her position were to be buried in stone tombs-crypts. More than four centuries, from 1542 to 1990, her ashes remained undisturbed.

In 1995, her grave in the monastery was opened and the relics of Sofia Suzdal were solemnly seized from the ground. Now they are exposed in the closed cancer in the Pokrovsky cathedral. This is the main shrine of the monastery, to which numerous pilgrims flock. The fact that, after lying in the ground for more than four hundred years, the relics were imperishable is striking. However, after the opening of the tomb, they decayed in a matter of minutes.

What come to the saint

With various requests and entreaties they turn to the Reverend Sophia. Already in our time, a list of her miracles is supplemented with new testimonies. Mostly they apply to her to get rid of all sorts of diseases. First of all, as the healer is revered in the people of Sofia Suzdal. What helps the saint yet? As we remember, Princess Solomonia was barren during her lifetime. However, the fact is amazing - a prayer to St. Sophia helps to find a long-awaited child for infertile couples.

There is evidence that she pointed the way to the stray, protected children from trouble and helped to soften the grumpy character of the old people.