The icon of the Intercession of the Holy Virgin is based on the Akathist Hymn to the Mother of God — the most important hymn, in which the faithful glorify the Virgin. Its first lines read as follows,

The iconography of the image is associated with a wonderful story from the life of Andrew the Fool-for-Christ. In 910, the enemy troops besieged the capital of Byzantium — Constantinople. The inhabitants of the city gathered in the Blachernae church and began to pray for salvation. Among the worshipers was Andrew the Fool-for-Christ. He saw how the Mother of God, illuminated by heavenly light and surrounded by Angels and saints, walked through the air and then extended her omophorion (head cover) over the worshipers.

Saint Dimitry of Rostov described this moment as follows,

At that time a storm destroyed the enemy ships, and the Protection of the Virgin became a sign of intercession and consolation.

The icon painter divided the icon from the museum collection into two scenes — the earthly and heavenly one. In the lower part, he depicted the worshipers in the Blachernae Church. He featured Deacon Romanos the Melodist, the famous composer of church hymns. In the upper part, the icon painter depicted the figure of the Virgin: She stands surrounded by the saints and holds an omophorion.

In the Russian tradition, there were different ways to depict the miracle of the Intercession. In the icon from the museum collection, the painter combined several traditions of different schools. The tradition of Suzdal is manifested in that the Mother of God holds a small white bishop’s omophorion against the background of the Blachernae church. The Novgorod tradition can be recognized in the figures of Angels who hold a veil over the believers.

The icon painter created an impressive multi-piece composition. He combined five plots into a single field at once, without marking each scene by a separate frame. The only exception was the fragment where the Virgin appeared to the sleeping Romanos the Melodist. The author placed the scene in a closed architectural background at the bottom. In the margins, he left an explanatory note from the Akathist to the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos,