On August 26, the icon of the Mother of God “Passion” is venerated. The icon got its name from the fact that two Angels with instruments of the passion of the Lord are depicted near the face of the Mother of God.The following is known about the glorification of the icon: one pious woman, Catherine, after her marriage began to undergo demonic possession: she lost her mind, ran away to the forest and more than once attempted suicide. In moments of enlightenment, she prayed to the Mother of God and vowed to enter a monastery in case of healing. After recovery, she remembered about the vow only after a long time, felt fear and from emotional excitement she went to bed. The Most Holy Theotokos appeared to her three times, commanding to go to Nizhny Novgorod and buy Her icon from the iconographer Gregory for prayer. Catherine did so and got well, and since then miracles began to be performed from the icon. The feast for the sake of the icon is celebrated on August 13 on the occasion of its transfer in 1641 from the village of Palitsy to Moscow; a church was built at its meeting place at the Tver Outpost, and then, in 1654, the Strastnoy (“Passion”) monastery.
In the Catholic world, there is a similar type of icon called “Perpetual Help”, which is especially revered in the Philippines. This type of icon was developed by Italian and Greek masters in the XV century. Its most famous copy was brought to Rome in 1480 from Crete and now it is in the church of St. Alfonse.In 1865, Pope Pius IX handed it over to the Redemptorist Order and said: “Make this icon known all over the world.” Thanks to the activities of the redemptorists, the veneration of this icon has spread widely in the Catholic world, now there are several hundred churches and sanctuaries dedicated to it, including in Manila. Catholic churches in the Russian cities of Orsk and Petrozavodsk were consecrated in honor of this image.
