Lot 328
A RARE RUSSIAN ICON OF THE MOTHER OF GOD OF SEVEN LAKES, 17TH/18TH CENTURY. Here the Mother of God cradles the infant Christ, who delivers a blessing with his right hand and holds a scroll with his left hand symbolizing his great wisdom. While this particular example follows the basic composition for the various Smolensk/Hodegetria types, it is unusual in that the right hand of the Virgin is raised in a blessing rather than gesturing towards the infant Christ. The margins with family saints. 12.25 inches x 10.5 inches (31 x 26.7 cm).
Estimate:  $1,500 - 2,500  

Price Realized: $5,750.00

The Icon of the Mother of God of Seven Lakes is a wonderworking icon that has been associated with the Seven Lakes Hermitage of the Mother of God located near the city of Kazan, Tatarstan. During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries the icon was associated with the miraculous deliverance from attacks of pestilence in the area around Kazan. The feast days for the icon are: July 9, August 10, and October 26.

The monk Euthymius, who was the founder of the Seven Lakes monastery, brought the Smolensk Icon of the Mother of God from Great Ustiug to the Seven Lakes monastery near Kazan on October 13, 1615. He placed the icon in the Church of the Ascension of the newly established monastery that he had founded. The icon would later become known as the Icon of the Mother of God "of Seven Lakes". It is probable that this type of icon had earlier been known as the Tsargrad-Smolensk Icon of the Mother of God because it had borne the name, in smaller letters, of "Tsaregradskaya" - meaning "from Tsargrad (Constantinople), in addition to "Sedrniyezernaya" (of Seven Lakes).

In June 1654, a deadly plague raged throughout all Russia that eventually reached Kazan. Having had taken a toll of over 400,000 people in the Moscow area, the toll in Kazan reach 40,000 in a short time. A radiant man appeared to a certain pious monk as a vision in a dream who commanded that the inhabitants of Kazan should establish a seven-day fast and then meet the icon of the Mother of God which was coming to them in a procession from the Seven Lakes hermitage for their deliverance.

After hearing about the monk's vision, the Seven Lakes Icon was brought to the city in a procession where it was met by another of Russia's wonderworking icons, the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God. After the procession and icons had circled the walls of the city, the Seven Lakes Icon was placed in the Church of the Annunciation. After an All Night Vigil and Liturgy the next morning, the icon was carried in visit to the homes of wooden city. After seven days of prayer and processions, the deadly pestilence began to abate. In 1771, the Seven Lakes Icon again was carried in procession around the city of Kazan and brought deliverance from pestilence to Kazan for a second time.