Description
In Hodigitria, the Mother of God is gently turned to the right, with Jesus sitting on her left forearm. It also performs the "Hodigitria" gesture with the right hand. Jesus makes a gesture of blessing with his right hand, while in the left he holds a scroll of papyrus. His feet, visible from underneath the tunic, fall down, raising the right knee only slightly. A copy of this icon was brought to the residence of the tsar in the 17th century by Archimandrite Pachomiusz, who built a separate chapel for her. Since then, the icon, made by monks in a monastery in the Atos mountains associated with the Iwiron monastery, has become very popular in Russia.
