Three-handed Theotokos. Date of occurrence: VIII c. Place of a presence: monastery of Hilandar on Mount Athos, Greece.

Bogorodica Trojeru?ica (English: Three-handed Theotokos) or simply Trojeru?ica (Three-handed) is a famous wonderworking icon in the Serb Orthodox monastery of Hilandar on Mount Athos, Greece. It depicts Theotokos (Virgin Mary) holding young Jesus. It is the most important icon of the Serbian Orthodox Church[1]. On the back of the icon is the painting of St Nicholas.

Traditionally, the icon was painted by or for St. John Damascene and it is associated with his miraculous healing around the year 717. According to tradition, while he was serving as Vizier to the Caliph, he was falsely accused of treachery and his hand was cut off.

Alternatively this mutilation was by, or at the behest of, the Byzantine Iconoclast emperor Leo the Isaurian, who was indeed a great opponent of St John; though as John remained in Islamic Damascus, the Emperor was unlikely to have been able to reach him himself.

Upon praying in front of an icon of the Theotokos his hand was miraculously restored. In thanksgiving, he had a silver replica of his hand fashioned and attached it to the icon. Naif people were surprised seeing three hands on the holy icon (two of Theotokos plus one more) and named the icon "three-handed" (Tricherousa).

John Damascene became a monk at Mar Sabbas outside of Jerusalem and gave the icon to the monastic community there. Later the icon was given as a present to St. Sava, who gave it to the Hilandar. Until very recently the icon was formally the abbot of Hilandar, with monks elected to serve as its deputy. This icon has two feast days: July 11 [O.S. June 28] and July 25 [O.S. July 12] .

Art historians think the style of the icon today is more likely from the 14th century, and it may be a copy or re-painting of an earlier prototype. Another version brought to Moscow in 1661 became famous, and resulted in many Russian copies.

Fyodorovskaya Theotokos. Date of occurrence: XII c. Place of a presence: Kostroma. Fyodorovskaya Theotokos. XVIII с.

Fyodorovskaya Theotokos (Russian: Федоровская Богоматерь), also known as Our Lady of St. Theodore and the Black Virgin of Russia, is the patron icon of the Romanov family and one of the most venerated icons in the Upper Volga region. Her feast days are March 27 and August 29.

Since the Fyodorovskaya follows the same Byzantine Eleusa (Tender Mercy) type as the Theotokos of Vladimir, pious legends declared it a copy of that famous image, allegedly executed by Saint Luke. In Greek, Theotokos means "God-bearer". It is believed that, before the Mongol invasion of Rus, the icon was kept in a monastery near the town of Gorodets-on-the-Volga. After the Mongols sacked and burnt the town, the icon disappeared and was given up for lost.

Several months later, on 16 August 1239, Prince Vasily of Kostroma wandered while hunting in a forest. While trying to figure his way out of the thicket, he saw an icon concealed among fir branches. When he reached out to touch it, the icon mysteriously rose up in the air. The frightened and awestruck prince informed the citizens of Kostroma about the miracle he had witnessed and returned with a crowd of people to the forest. They fell prostrate before the icon and prayed to the Theotokos. Then the icon was transported to the city and placed in the Assumption Cathedral. A conflagration destroyed the cathedral and most of its icons soon thereafter, but the Fyodorovskaya was found intact on the third day after the fire.

The people of Gorodets, situated considerably to the east of Kostroma, learned about the miracle of its survival of the fire. They recognized the newly found icon as theirs and demanded it back. After a long litigation, the people of Kostroma had a copy of the icon painted and sent back to Gorodets.

Church legends differ as to why the icon was named after Saint Theodore Stratelates (Russian: Fyodor Stratilat, not to be confused with Theodore Tyro). One explanation is that, during Vasily's absence in the forest, several people claimed to have seen the apparition of St. Theodore walking the streets of Kostroma with an icon of the Theotokos in his hands.

Black Madonna of Czenstochowa. Place of a presence: Poland.

The Black Madonna of Czenstochowa is a holy icon of the Virgin Mary, that is both Poland's holiest relic and one of the country's national symbols.

The origins of the icon and the date of its composition are still hotly contested among scholars. The difficulty in dating the icon stems from the fact that the original image was painted over after being badly damaged by Hussite raiders in 1430. Medieval restorers unfamiliar with the encaustic method found that the paints they applied to the damaged areas "simply sloughed off the image" according to the medieval chronicler Risinius, and their solution was to erase the original image and to repaint it on the original panel, which was believed to be holy because of its legendary origin as a table top from the home of the Holy Family. The painting displays a traditional composition well-known in the icons of Eastern Orthodoxy. The Virgin Mary is shown as the "Hodegetria" ("One Who Shows the Way"). In it the Virgin directs attention away from herself, gesturing with her right hand toward Jesus as the source of salvation. In turn, the child extends his right hand toward the viewer in blessing while holding a book of gospels in his left hand. The icon shows the Madonna in fleur de lys robes.