Days of celebration: February 7
The icon of the Mother of God, known as “Assuage My Sorrows,” gained fame in Moscow due to the many miracles that happened to it since the second half of the XVIII century, especially in 1771, during the plague epidemic. This icon was brought to Moscow by the Cossacks in 1640, during the reign of Mikhail Feodorovich (1613-1645), and placed in the church of St. Nicholas on Pupyshy, in the Sadovniki district. However, at some point, perhaps due to a fire and several reconstructions of the church, this icon was forgotten and abandoned, and for a long time it was in a neglected state in the bell tower. Despite its oblivion, the icon became an object of divine miracles, and this prompted a call to the memory of the forgotten shrine. She was moved to the temple and then a chapel was built in her honor. The annual celebration of this miraculous icon, held on January 25, was established in 1760 to celebrate the healing of a woman who saw this holy image and recovered after a prayer service in front of the icon in the Church of St. Nicholas on Pupyshy in Moscow. At that time, services and akathists were composed. Icons “Assuage my sorrows” are honored in many churches in Moscow and other cities. Later, after the destruction of St. Nicholas Church in Sadovniki in the 1930s, the icon of the Mother of God was moved to the Moscow church, named after St. Nicholas, in Kuznetskaya Sloboda, where it remains to this day. A characteristic feature of this icon “Assuage my sorrows” is that the Infant holds an unrolled scroll, and the Mother of God supports her cheek with her hand.
