Blachernitissa

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The Blachernitissa Icon of the Theotokos.

Blachernitissa (Greek: Βλαχερνίτισσα), also called Theotokos of Blachernae (Gr: Θεοτόκος των Βλαχερνών, Θεοτόκος η Βλαχερνίτισσα) or Our Lady of Blachernae (Gr: Παναγία η Βλαχερνίτισσα), is a 7th-century encaustic icon representing the Most Holy Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary. It is also the name given to the Church built in honour of the Virgin Mary in the Blachernae section of Constantinople.

The Theotokos was considered to be the intercessory protectress par excellence of Constantinople and, indeed, of the entire Eastern Roman Empire (called "Byzantium" by some modern Western scholars). Blachernitissa is unusual among Orthodox icons in that it is not flat, but is formed in bas relief. According to Sacred Tradition, the icon Blachernitissa was made of wax combined with the ashes of Christian martyrs who had been killed in the 6th century. It is of a style called Hodigitria (literally, "She who leads the way"). The Theotokos' intercession, asked through veneration and prayer before the icon, was credited with saving Constantinople from the Persians in 626 and later from the Arabs. These miracles are commemorated annually in the Orthodox Church on the Saturday of the Akathist on the Fifth Saturday of Great Lent. The icon was preserved in the Blachernae imperial palace, from which the palace received its name.

After the fall of Constantinople in 1453, the icon was transferred to Mount Athos for safe keeping. Then in 1654 it was sent by the Athonite monks to Moscow as gift to Tsar Aleksei Mikhailovich. There it was enshrined in Dormition Cathedral in the Moscow Kremlin. This event is celebrated annually in the Russian Orthodox Church on July 7 Following the Bolshevik Revolution the Soviet authorities removed it from the cathedral, and is currently displayed in the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow.