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The History of the “Pimenovskaya” Icon of the Mother of God


The iconographic type of the “Pimenovskaya” icon of the Mother of God is Odigitria. For the first time, the icon was mentioned in the middle of the 16th century. In the Book of Royal Degrees, in which there already were the notes about two miraculous icons – the icon of St. Nicholas and the Mother of God, the following short inscription was made: “This miraculous icon of the Mother of God was brought from the city of Constantinople by Metropolitan Pimen of Russia. It has been standing in the church in Moscow. 



A man by the name Tiutrum, a merchant, pleased the servers of the church to bring the image to his house and to serve a moleben according to the tradition. Now the icon is kept behind the altar in the Cathedral of the Annunciation in the Moscow Kremlin”.

The name of the icon is connected to the name of Metropolitan Pimen of Russia, who brought the sacred image from Constantinople in the year 1381 or 1386.


At first, the icon was kept in the Dormition Cathedral in the Moscow Kremlin, but later it was moved to the Cathedral of the Annunciation. Until the year 1918, the icon was kept in the Church of the Twelve Apostles in the Kremlin, and later – in the National Museum of History. In 1930 it was moved to the Tretyakov Gallery. 

Translated by The Catalog of Good Deeds

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