In 1579, the Image of the Virgin appeared in Kazan, although at that time it was difficult to consider this city completely Russian. Only 27 years have passed since the capture of the city by Ivan the Terrible’s troops in 1552, and even less since the establishment of a separate diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church there in 1553. The local population, mostly professing Islam, was little disposed to such a great event. Moreover, the night before the Apparition in June 1579, the city was engulfed in a terrible fire, and many local residents considered this as malice on the part of Christians. Nevertheless, it was in this city and at such an anxious time that the Mother of God appeared with her honest image.
