Our Lady Derzhavnaya, icon.





The Our Lady Derzhavnaya, "the Reigning Icon" was found on this date in 1917 in Kolomenskoye, Russia





The icon is believed to have been painted in the 18th Century by an unknown iconographer. It was removed from Ascension Convent in Moscow province during the Napoleonic invasion of Russia and hidden in the village church in Kolomenskoye, where it was forgotten. On this date, in 1917, peasant woman Evdokia Adrianova, from the village of Pererva in Moscow Province, related that she had a dream in which the Blessed Virgin appeared and instructed her to go to the village of Kolomenskoye, where she would find an old icon which, "will change color from black to red." She did in fact travel to Kolomenskoye and related her story to the village priest who accepted her story and helped her search. They found the icon, which was covered with candle soot, and discovered upon taking it outside that the icon depicted the Blessed Virgin wearing a red robe and with regal symbols. Because of the day of the event, Russian Orthodox faithful have interpreted the appearance in connection with the abdication of Czar Nicholas II on the same day.





The icon has also been associated by some with the Marian apparitions at Fatima that commenced on May 13, 1917. This is so much the case that the the Reigning Icon and the Theotokos of Port Arthur icon have been twice taken to Fatima, once in 2003 and once in 2014, a fairly remarkable effort given their age and the degree of attachment to them by the Russian Orthodox, particularly Russian Orthodox emigres, and all the more remarkable given Fatima's strong association with Catholicism.. The icon today is installed in the Kronstadt Naval Cathedral.





Theotokos of Port Arthur icon, which also was taken to Fatima in 2003 and 2014 by Russian Orthodox faithful and which had also been lost. It was found in 1998 by Russian Orthodox pilgrims in a Jerusalem antique shop.