"Maximov" Icon

18 April /1 May

The Maximov Icon of the Mother of God was written in 1299, after Holy Hierarch Maximos, Metropolitan of Vladimir (+ 1305, commemorated 6 December) had experienced a vision. On the Icon, the Mother of God is depicted at full-length, with the Pre-eternal Infant and with Metropolitan Maximos, who is kneeling before her and receiving from her hands the hierarchical omophorion. The Icon was written to commemorate the appearance to Holy Hierarch Maximox of the Most-holy Mother of God, an apparition which took place upon his arrival in Vladimir from Kiev. In the vision, the Mother of God entrusted to him an omophorion, and said: “My servant Maximos, it is good that you have visited my city. Receive this omophorion and be a shepherd to the rational sheep of my city.” Upon awakening, the Holy Hierarch found himself holding an omophorion. The appearance of the Mother of God was a sign of Divine blessing for the transfer of the Metropolitan Throne from Kiev to Vladimir. For 112 years, the omophorion given to the Holy Hierarch by the Mother of God was kept at the Dormition Cathedral in Vladimir. In 1412, during an attack by the Tatars, the omophorion was hidden by Patrick, the gatekeeper, who was martyred by the Tatars.

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