Days of celebration: January 25
The Akathist Icon of the Mother of God is located in the iconostasis of the Cathedral Church of the Entry of the Virgin of the Serbian Hilandar Monastery on Mount Athos. Information about the origin and history of the glorification of this image on the Holy Mountain has not been preserved. Legend relates the time of his stay on Mount Athos to the end of the XII century, connecting him with Sava of Serbia, who, according to the revelation from the icon, found treasures and completed the construction of the monastery. However, there are no references in the lives of the saint confirming this legend. The only reliable evidence of the icon left by eyewitnesses is related to its miraculous rescue during a fire in the monastery in 1837. The iconographic type of image is called “Emotion”. According to some sources, this is a Greek icon of the XVI century, which is well preserved. The infant is shown to the left of the Mother, holding a scroll in his left hand and blessing with his right. The Mother of God supports the Infant by the right shoulder. The icon is placed in a silver salary, probably Russian work of the XIX century, and in a frame with picturesque images of 12 kontakionsand 12 ikos of the Akathist of the Virgin, created in the XVII century. The origin of the icon’s name is not fully determined: on the one hand, the name could have originated in connection with the reading of the Akathist to the Virgin before it during a fire, on the other hand, according to Bishop Porfiry (Uspensky), the name may indicate the iconography of the frame’s compositions with images of scenes from the Akathist.
