Orthodox cross "Crucifixion. Icon of the Mother of God "Sovereign"
Metal: red gold 585"
Average weight: 25.75 g
The front side of the cross depicts the Crucified Lord Jesus Christ. Standing before him are the holy Russian prince-warriors: on the left and right - Dmitry Donskoy and Alexander Nevsky, below - the passion-bearers Boris and Gleb. In the middle crosses, surrounded by golden rays of Divine Glory, are placed the symbols of the holy evangelists: Matthew in the form of an angel, Mark in the form of a lion, Luke in the form of a calf, John in the form of an eagle. Each of them is winged and holds the Gospel. At the top, above the Cross of the Savior, the image of Etymasia is placed. This is the Prepared Throne, which the Lord prepared for Himself through suffering. He will sit on it to judge people at His Second Coming. The front side of the cross is crowned with the image of the Holy Trinity depicted on the ear.
On the back in the center is a symbol of Orthodox statehood, the Sovereign Icon of the Mother of God. She is surrounded by saints who personify the spiritual foundations of Orthodox power. On the left is Elijah the prophet, a fearless accuser of rulers. For his fiery zeal for the Glory of God, he was taken to Heaven alive in a fiery chariot. According to legend, Elijah the prophet will be the forerunner of the Second Coming of Christ to earth and will suffer bodily death during the sermon. On the right is Apostle Andrew the First-Called: the Russian Orthodox Church originates from his ordination. Below is the Great Martyr George the Victorious, a brave warrior-snake fighter, whose image is on the Russian coat of arms.
The miraculous image of the Mother of God “Sovereign” was found on the day of the abdication of the throne by the Emperor. martyr Nicholas II Alexandrovich. The Most Holy Theotokos appeared twice in a dream to the peasant woman Evdokia Andrianova. March 2, 1917, while in the village. Kolomenskoye near Moscow, the woman suddenly realized that the Kolomensk Church of the Ascension of the Lord was the very church that she had seen in a dream and was looking for. Together with the rector of the temple, priest Nikolai Likhachev, in the basement, in the temple's junk, she found a large dark icon of the Mother of God, in which Evdokia recognized the image shown to her. The coincidence of the day of the icon's appearance with the day of the emperor's abdication was perceived by the Russian Orthodox people as symbolic evidence that royal power and guardianship of Russia is now in the hands of the Most Holy Theotokos Herself.
The name of the icon corresponds to its iconography. The Mother of God is presented as the Queen of Heaven and the Queen of Earth. She sits on the royal throne with the Divine Son on her lap. In Her outstretched right hand is a scepter, the left is placed on the ball of the orb. The head of the Mother of God is crowned with a royal crown surrounded by a golden halo. Above in the clouds is the Lord of Hosts, blessing the world.
The shape of the cross is symbolic. Similar crosses, with rays in the middle crosses, became widespread in the 17th century as a visible image of church hymns and prayers. In them, the Cross of Christ is glorified as “light-bearing”, “the brightest radiance of the sun”, “the light of the world”...
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