According
to Tradition, the Apostles Peter and John were preaching in Lydda (later called
Diospolis) near Jerusalem. There they built a church dedicated to the Most Holy
Theotokos, then went to Jerusalem and asked her to come and sanctify the church
by her presence. She sent them back to Lydda and said, “Go in peace, and I
shall be there with you.”
Arriving
at Lydda, they found an icon of the Virgin imprinted in color on the wall of
the church (some sources say the image was on a pillar). Then the Mother of God
appeared and rejoiced at the number of people who had gathered there. She
blessed the icon and gave it the power to work miracles. This icon was not made
by the hand of man, but by a divine power.
Julian
the Apostate (reigned 361-363) heard about the icon and tried to eradicate it.
Masons with sharp tools chipped away at the image, but the paint and lines just
seemed to penetrate deeper into the stone. Those whom the emperor had sent were
unable to destroy the icon. As word of this miracle spread, millions of people
came to venerate the icon.
In the
eighth century, Saint Germanus, the future Patriarch of Constantinople (May 12)
passed through Lydda. He had a copy of the icon made, and sent it to Rome
during the iconoclastic controversy. It was placed in the church of Saint
Peter, and was the source of many healings. In 842, the reproduction was
returned to Constantinople and was known as the Roman Icon (June 26).
The
oldest sources of information for the Lydda Icon are a document attributed to
Saint Andrew of Crete in 726, a letter written by three eastern Patriarchs to
the iconoclast emperor Theophilus in 839, and a work of George the Monk in 886.
The icon
still existed as late as the ninth century.
Source: https://oca.org/saints/lives/2018/03/12/100791-icon-not-made-by-hands-from-lydda
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