The Theotokos of the Akathist and the Zographou

THE MIRACULOUS ICONS OF THE MOTHER OF GOD

THE THEOTOKOS "OF THE AKATHIST"
AND THE ZOGRAPHOU MONASTERY MARTYRS

The following written account exists in the Sacred Monastery of Zographou on Mt. Athos


THE ZOGRAPHOU MOTHER OF GOD
"OF THE AKATHIST"
Commemorated with the Zographou Martyrs
on October 10

BEFORE THE COUNCIL of Florence with its unfortunate outcome, the West sought with all her means to draw to herself the East which was then shaken by political circumstances. Even the Emperor Michael Palaclogos himself cooperated with the West in this effort, to keep the oath he had given to Pope Gregory X, after the blinding of John Lascaris and the seizure of his throne, which took place during the thirteenth century.

John Beccos, who was Patriarch [of Constantinople] at that time, acting in agreement with this apostate counsel and purpose of the Emperor, subjected the Eastern Church to the see of Rome at the Second Council of Lyons. This had disastrous results for the Eastern Church, since the Latins persuaded the Orthodox to adopt their error not by the power of the word of the Gospel, but with the naked sword and all manner of violence and afflictions. Hence thousands of victims fell by their sword for the purity of Eastern Orthodoxy. But because the Holy Mountain always was and is the beacon and foundation of the suffering Eastern Church, the Latins, so that they might destroy these foundation-stones of Orthodoxy, invaded it too, persuading with words, beguiling with money and promises, and forcing with threats and tyrannical force even to martyrdom, so that the authority of the Pope of Rome might be recognized even on the Holy Mountain. A few of the fainthearted were persuaded by violence and money, or with fear of tortures and death, and became deniers of the Orthodoxy of their and of our Fathers. But the majority of them sealed their confession with their own blood, and by their steadfastness censured the Pope for his sacrilegious assuming of the title "Vicar of Christ," Who Himself alone was, is, and shall be the Head of His holy Church. Unfortunately, however, the unfortunate Lavra and the Monastery of Xeropotamou fell and turned away from the teachings of our Fathers and received the Westerners with honor and with servile fear. This took place, certainly, because the Emperor cooperated with the Latins to turn aside the monks of the Holy Mountain to the false doctrines of Rome.

Yet God, even in order that the rest might be established in Orthodoxy of faith, punished the Monastery of Xeropotamou at the very time those unfortunate monks were celebrating their abominable Liturgy,; with newly-introduced Latin innovations, with the Westerners. For the supports and fortifications of the Monastery of Xeropotamou were shaken to their very foundations and fell, so that many of the Latins, and many of those monks who had fallen away and had become of one mind with them, were crushed under the falling walls – at the very time they were celebrating their ungodly Liturgy! Because of their madness, the rest of those who had come from distant Italy gave no heed at all to this manifest condemnation from heaven, and scattered throughout the entire Holy Mountain, seeking to find new victims of their error and of eternal perdition and corruption.

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1. The Roman Mass. At Great Lavra, during the Latin Mass a black mist enveloped the entire Monastery. Those monks of Lavra who took part in the Mass did not decay when they died, but rather became hideously blackened and bloated. They are entombed in the Cave of the Wicked Dead in the coastal cliff face in the area of the Roumanian skete of the Holy Forerunner (Prodromou). See: The Monks of Athos, by R. M. Dawkins; Athos, the Holy Mountain, by Sydney Loch; and Athos, the Mountain of Silence, by Philip Sherrard (Tr. Note.)


In this dreadful and fearsome time for the Holy Mountain, in the environs of the Monastery of Zographou there was a monk struggling by himself who had the holy custom of reading the Akathist Hymn many times during the day before this divine Icon.

One day, when the archangelic greeting to the Most Holy Virgin Mary, "Rejoice!" was ceaselessly sounding on the lips of this elder, suddenly he heard from this holy Icon the following words: "Rejoice thou also, O elder of God!" The elder became terrified. "Fear not,' quietly continued the voice of the Mother of God, coming from the Icon, "but go quickly to the Monastery and announce to the brothers and the abbot that the enemies both of My Son and of Me are approaching. Whoever is weak in spirit, let him hide in patience until the temptation passes. But let them who aspire to martyric crowns remain in the Monastery. Go quickly, then." The elder then obeyed the voice and wish of our All-pure Lady and, leaving his cell, ran as quickly as he could to the Monastery in order to give the brothers means and time for each of them to inspirit himself and soberly to think of the approaching danger. But just as the elder reached the gate of the Monastery, behold, standing at the gate he saw the holy Icon of the Mother of God that had been in his cell, before which he had been reading the Akathist only a little earlier and from which he had heard the voice. At this, with compunction and reverence he fell down before it. After he had venerated the Icon, he took it and thus appeared with it before the abbot. When the brethren heard of the approaching danger, they were greatly troubled. The weaker of them hid quickly in the mountains and caves. But twenty six monks – among them the abbot – remained in the Monastery and went into the tower, awaiting their enemies and martyric crowns. After a little while the Latins also came and at first, with all the power of the eloquence of the Westerners, incited the monks to open the gates of the Monastery to them and recognize the Pope as head of the universal Church. At the same time they promised them the mercy of the Pope himself, and a great quantity of gold. But from the tower the monks asked the Latins, saying, "And who told you that your Pope is the head of the Church? From whence is this teaching of yours? With us, the Head of the Church is Christ! It is easier for us to decide to die rather than to let this sacred place be defiled by your violence and tyranny. We shall not open the gates of the Monastery! Depart from hence!" The Latins cried out furiously, "Die then!" And immediately they gathered a large amount of dry sticks and wood around the tower and set fire to them. The flame rose high and spread into the air, but the monks did not in the least yield from their spiritual boldness. They glorified and blessed the Lord, and while they prayed for their enemies they surrendered their pure souls unto Him in peace on the tenth of October in the year 1274.

The names of these prize-winners and righteous martyrs are written in the codex of the Monastery of Zographou and in the Bulgarian Horologion.

The holy Icon, from which the elder heard the voice of the Mother of God warning the monks of Zographou Monastery of the approach of Her enemies, was in the tower with the righteous Martyrs. But afterwards it was found undamaged under the ruins of the fire.

In commemoration of this miracle they placed the holy Icon in the temple of the Repose of the Mother of God, on the iconostasis. And a vigil lamp quietly sheds a small but continuous and never-extinguished light before the countenance of the Virgin Mother of God. This holy icon of the Mother of God is very dark and seems to have been restored. By the Bulgarian monks it is known by the name of Haerovo (that is to say: She who was addressed by the salutation Haere – Rejoice), and the place where the wondrous revelation was made kown to the elder is likewise even to this day called Haerovo. Moreover, the icon is called "She who forewarns"; and instead of the communion hymn in the sacred Liturgies of this chapel the Bulgarian fathers read the Akathist Hymn before this Icon.

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The following miracle, by which God glorified His Martyrs six centuries after their suffering, as a sign even to our own age, is recorded in the official Mount Athos Patericon (in Russian), Moscow, 1897, Part II, pp. 249-50.

A part of the tower in which the holy Martyrs suffered stood until 1873; but since it covered a newly-erected building at the north side of the Monastery, and likewise since it was ready to collapse from age, it became necessary to tear it down. However, so as not to forget the place on which the Saints had performed their martyric labor, and for the better preservation of their memory, the brothers of the Monastery of Zographou unanimously expressed the desire to build a memorial on this site. Through the zeal of the brothers a memorial began quickly to be raised; it was finished in the same year of 1873, and all awaited with joy the day of the commemoration of the Saints [October 10], when it was intended to consecrate this memorial.

Finally the eve of the awaited feast arrived, and in the main church of the Monastery the All-night Vigil began, according to custom, in the first hour after sunset. The night was quiet and there was no moon; there shone only the faint light of stars. At midnight, when after the first kathisma of matins the "Life and Suffering of the Saints" was being read, there was suddenly heard in the church a slight noise, and at the same time there appeared above the church a pillar of fire which illumined the Monastery and nearby places with such a strong light that it was possible to distinguish not only nearby but even distant objects. This wondrous pillar, having remained standing over the church for a few minutes, moved to the memorial and stopped above it, and then began to ascend, and finally turned into a ring, as if crowning the memorial and the place on which the holy Martyrs had performed their martyric labor. Thus was the wondrous sign accomplished, having continued for as long as fifteen minutes, witnessed by many of the brethren and those who had come for the feast. Those who saw this miracle glorified God, Who had glorified His Saints; to Him from us also may there be honor and glory forever. Amen.