Author: Natalia Skorobogatko
Publisher: TD White City
The Smolensk icon of the Mother of God Hodegetria ... What do we know about it and why is it so called? This icon, according to legend, is one of those written by the holy Evangelist Luke himself. It is called the Hodegetria, which in Greek means "Guidebook." It is called the "Guidebook" because the Byzantine emperor blessed her daughter Princess Anne, who was married to the prince of Chernigov, Vsevolod Yaroslavin, on a long journey to the Russian land. And so this icon, which accompanied and guarded the princess on the way, came to Russia in the 11th century. And when the son-heir of this couple Prince Vladimir Monomakh transferred the icon to Smolensk, to a new cathedral church, she began to be called Smolensk.
