This Icon of the Theotokos dates to the 17th or early 18th Century, but no record as to where it first appeared has survived. While it is true that no historical documents mention it, references in old church books in the town of Pryazhevo (from whence the Icon got its name), attest to its antiquity. It is in the church in Pryazhevo, a village not far from the town of Zhitomir, that the Icon is to this day.
The absence of documents regarding the Pryazhevo village church is explained by the fact that in the 18th Century, both the village church and the Miraculous Icon belonged to the Uniates; it was only on October 18, 1794, that at the direction of the Russian government, it was returned to the Orthodox. Before the destruction of the Unia, some Catholic priest came to Pryazhevo and, taking the Icon of the Mother of God, attempted to take it away, but was unable to do so. When he was a little over 4 km from Pryazhevo, his horses suddenly stopped. Nothing the people tried could get them to move from the spot. Inadvertently glancing at the Icon of the Mother of God, the priest noticed on her face some kind of moisture, resembling tears. He realized that the Queen of Heaven did not want her Icon to be taken away from the village of Pryazhevo. He immediately ordered the coachman to return to Pryazhevo; upon their arrival, he returned the Icon to its place in the Pryazhevo church.
As the church was poor, at first the Icon of the Mother of God was decorated with a copper riza. Learning of this, in 1864 Empress Maria Alexandrovna sent a silver riza encrusted with precious stones to be placed on the Pryazhevo Icon. On May 24, 1874 the Miraculous Icon was taken from the High Place, where it had previously rested, and installed above the Royal Doors in the Iconostasis; an Icon of Jesus Christ praying in the garden of Gethsemane was put in the High Place.
At the time of the appearance of this Icon of the Mother of God, it became the established custom to carry it in a Procession of the Cross to the Cathedral in Zhitomir; later, when the Pryazhevo church fell into the hands of the Uniates, this practice came to an end. When the Pryazhevo Icon returned to the Orthodox, an appeal was made to the Holy Synod to re-establish the ancient pious tradition. In response, the Synod issued an ukaz permitting an annual Procession of the Cross with the Miraculous Icon of Pryazhevo to the Zhitomir Cathedral. By established tradition, the Icon remains in Zhitomir from June through August.
A fountain of healing help and comfort has not ceased to pour forth from the Pryazhevo Icon, and now pours out on those who run to it with faith and hope in the Heavenly Queen’s intercession before God.