The icon of the Mother of God called the "MilkGiver"
is found at the present time on Athos, in the church of the Karyes
kellion belonging to the Serbian Monastery of Hilandar. Oral
tradition, preserved till now in this monastery, states that initially
this icon was found in the Lavra of Saint Sabbas the Sanctified,
which is situated not far from Jerusalem.
Before his blessed end, Saint Sabbas the Sanctified, the great founder of the only lavra in the East, turned to the brethren surrounding his deathbed and prophetically stated that in time a pilgrim of royal lineage from Serbia, having the same name as he, that is, named Sabbas, would visit the Monastery, and to him the Icon of the Mother of God, the "MilkGiver", should be given as a blessing from the Monastery. Saint Sabbas the Sanctified peacefully departed to the Lord in the year 532. After the death of the Venerable one, more than six centuries rushed by at the Palestinian monastery founded by him. The icon of the Theotokos called the "MilkGiver" stood immovably in its place, awaiting the fulfillment of the prophetic deathbed testament of Saint Sabbas, which was passed down in his monastery by oral tradition from century to century. The fulfillment of the predictions ensued only in the 13th century, when Saint Sabbas [or Savva], the Archbishop of Serbia, actually arrived in Palestine. The prophetic testament of Saint Sabbas the Sanctified was related to him and the icon of the divine "MilkGiver" was handed to him together with another icon of the Mother of God, the socalled "Threehanded" Icon.
On the return trip from Palestine to Serbia, Saint Savva visited Mount Athos, where the Hilandar Monastery had been founded by him. And to this his Monastery, he left the icon of the Most Holy Theotokos, the "MilkGiver", as an inalienable legacy and finest adornment, having placed it in the church at the Karyes kellion belonging to Hilandar, which was subsequently called Typicarnitsa, since in it the Typicon (Rule) written by Saint Savva was preserved. The other icon, the "Threehanded" one, he took with him to Serbia. This was on the first journey of Saint Savva of Serbia to Palestine. A circumstance which involuntarily draws attention to itself is the fact that the icon of the "MilkGiver", contrary to the general practice of our Eastern Church, was placed by Saint Savva of Serbia, and remains till now, on the iconostasis not at the left side of the Royal Gates, but at the right side, where an icon of either the Holy Trinity or the Saviour is usually placed. The image of the Lord Almighty occupies that place on the left side of the Royal Gates in this church were the icon of the Mother of God strictly ought to stand.
The depiction of the face of the Mother of God and her Divine Son on the icon of the "MilkGiver" is expressive, beautiful and in a strict Church style. One may easily number this icon among the best images of the Byzantine school.
There is one more icon of the Mother of God that bears the name of the "MilkGiver". It is found in the Russian Scete of Saint Elias on Athos, and belongs to the number of the locally venerated icons. In 1992, by order of the Ecumenical Patriarch, the monks of this scete were expelled, and many valuables of the monastery were looted. At the present time, the fate of the locally venerated icon of the "MilkGiver" in the Scete of Saint Elias is not known to us.
icon from www.pravoslavie.ru