Icon of Virgin Mary the Elder

Virgin Mary Gerontissa Silver icon and enamel colours, exact copy of Byzantine Art.

Celebration 2 December

The characteristic feature of this icon is that the Virgin Mary is depicted full-face in a prayer pose without Christ. The picture features a jar, which is reminiscent of a miracle of the Virgin Mary.
The icon is a copy of the mosaic icon of the Virgin Mary Gorgopikou, which was in the Holy Monastery of Pantokrator in Constantinople.
It took its name from yet another miracle during the preparation of the sleep of an Orthodox Abbot.The miracle is as follows:
To a sick old Abbot, the Virgin Mary revealed to him the day of his sleep. The old man’s desire was to receive the Blessed Sacrament before he departed to the Lord. So he begged the priest who was a minister to make it faster so he could get to communion. The minister, however, was delayed and the old man was in danger of not arriving to receive communion. Then from the icon of the Virgin Mary an angry voice was heard asking the minister why he was late and the old man was in danger of not arriving to receive communion. Then the official complied and immediately did his duty. Since then, this icon of the Virgin Mary was called “Gerontissa”, because it supported the wish and request of the old abbot.

Another miracle of Our Lady of the Elderly is the following:
During the reign of Emperor Constantine Monomachus[1], the icon of the Virgin Mary of Antiphonetria performed the following miracle at the Monastery of Constamonitou[2] on Mount Athos. On the 1st of August, when our Holy Church celebrates the Feast of the Assumption of the Holy and Life-Giving Cross, the then rector of the monastery named Agathon was very sad because the monastery lacked the necessities for the propriety and light of the church. It was the eve of the feast of the feast of the recollection of the relic of the holy protomartyr Stephen, patron saint of the monastery, and being in such sorrow he begged the Virgin with warm tears, kneeling before her Holy Icon all night long. Sleepy and tired as he was, he fell asleep for a while and immediately went into a trance and heard a voice from the icon of the Virgin Mary Antiphoness telling him not to be sad and sad, because she takes care of everything on Mount Athos.
Indeed, to confirm what was said, the church’s jar was filled with oil as well as the rest of the monastery’s containers of the necessities of life. When Agathon heard this, he woke up happy and amazed at the sight. He immediately left and went to the temple. When he found that the jar of oil was full. I was surprised and he loudly proclaimed the miracle to all the brothers.”

The jar depicted on the cover was made to commemorate a miracle of the Virgin Mary in the 17th century. At that time the monastery had no oil at all and, although the needs were great, the shortages were enormous and as a result the monks abandoned the monastery. The Abbot prayed to the Elder and had placed all his hopes in Her. One morning, after the abbot’s prayers, the Fathers saw the oil flowing from the entrance of the storeroom where the empty jars were kept. “When they went inside they saw one of the jars, which survives to this day, overflowing with oil. With this oil, whose flow was unstoppable, they filled all the empty jars in the warehouse and only then did it stop gushing.

Let us ask Our Lady to intercede for the salvation of our souls to her Son and God, because “the supplication of the Mother is very valid for the grace of the Saviour”, so that we may deserve to enjoy the eternal goods of Paradise. Our Lady is the mother of us all, we need her help constantly and we have a duty to invite her to come and help us.
And by this grace, O Christ, God deserves us and the good things of pleasure.