Our Lady Hodegetria of Tichvin (Theotokos of Tikhvin)

russian wooden icon

The Theotokos of Tikhvin  is one of the most celebrated Orthodox Christian icons. It is said to be one of the icons written by St. Luke the Evangelist. According to tradition, in the 5th century, the icon was transferred from Jerusalem to Constantinople, where a church was built specially for it. These are the same traditions as accrue to the Hodegetria icon, suggesting the stories have become conflated; in terms of composition the Tikhvin icon is of the Hodegetria type. Some art historians prefer a date of about 1300, and a Russian artist. This matches a further tradition that the icon miraculously appeared, hovering over a lake, in Russia near Tikhvin in 1383.