A surety is a person who takes responsibility for another. In Orthodox Christianity, the Mother of God is often presented as an entity that feels compassion for all humankind and is determined to ask God to forgive all our sins. This tradition originates from a Byzantine apocryphal text called ‘The Trials of Theotokos, ’ which was widely known in Ancient Rus'. The text tells of the Mother of God pleading for mercy on behalf of the sinners tormented in Hell.
The Surety of Sin icon exhibited at our museum depicts Mary with the Child Christ in her arms. Both the Mother of God and her Divine Infant bear radiant, lavish crowns on their heads. The Child Christ has clasped both palms around His Mother’s right hand, as if reassuring Her. This gesture symbolises Christ’s promise not to turn a deaf ear to the petitions of suffering mortals, for His Mother’s heart is aching for them, as well as His commitment to listening to sinners' prayers, as His Mother believes that they are worth listening to. Thus, the Mother of God the Surety of Sin is an icon that expresses the idea of divine love and unconditional forgiveness.
Researchers are still uncertain where and when the concept of this icon first emerged. The first mentions of the Mother of God the Surety of Sin date back to the mid-nineteenth century and are associated with a monastery near the town of Karachayevo in the Oryol Governorate. According to these historical sources, the monastery kept its icon in atrocious conditions. It kept wearing down more and more with every year, the monks did nothing to safeguard it, and the congregation was gradually turning away from it.
But then, in 1843, the entire population of Karachayevo had the same dream. In that dream, it was revealed to them that the half-forgotten icon actually had supernatural properties. In the morning, the locals crowded inside the monastery, demanding that the icon be brought back out into the church. One woman started praying fervently for the health of her son, who was gravely ill, and the child was miraculously cured.
The townsfolk began to revere the icon even more after a cholera outbreak. Witnesses and other contemporaries reported that many people who prayed to the icon to be cured of cholera did actually recover. And so it came to pass that all who were sick or troubled began praying to Mary for protection at the church in Karachayevo. The most frequent requests were protection from disease or epidemics, or a cure for insomnia and loss of appetite.
The Surety of Sin icon exhibited at our museum depicts Mary with the Child Christ in her arms. Both the Mother of God and her Divine Infant bear radiant, lavish crowns on their heads. The Child Christ has clasped both palms around His Mother’s right hand, as if reassuring Her. This gesture symbolises Christ’s promise not to turn a deaf ear to the petitions of suffering mortals, for His Mother’s heart is aching for them, as well as His commitment to listening to sinners' prayers, as His Mother believes that they are worth listening to. Thus, the Mother of God the Surety of Sin is an icon that expresses the idea of divine love and unconditional forgiveness.
Researchers are still uncertain where and when the concept of this icon first emerged. The first mentions of the Mother of God the Surety of Sin date back to the mid-nineteenth century and are associated with a monastery near the town of Karachayevo in the Oryol Governorate. According to these historical sources, the monastery kept its icon in atrocious conditions. It kept wearing down more and more with every year, the monks did nothing to safeguard it, and the congregation was gradually turning away from it.
But then, in 1843, the entire population of Karachayevo had the same dream. In that dream, it was revealed to them that the half-forgotten icon actually had supernatural properties. In the morning, the locals crowded inside the monastery, demanding that the icon be brought back out into the church. One woman started praying fervently for the health of her son, who was gravely ill, and the child was miraculously cured.
The townsfolk began to revere the icon even more after a cholera outbreak. Witnesses and other contemporaries reported that many people who prayed to the icon to be cured of cholera did actually recover. And so it came to pass that all who were sick or troubled began praying to Mary for protection at the church in Karachayevo. The most frequent requests were protection from disease or epidemics, or a cure for insomnia and loss of appetite.
