The type “Joy of All Who Sorrow” developed in Russian iconography in the 17th century under Western European (Roman Catholic) influence. The icons of “Joy of All Who Sorrow” are often strikingly different from each other, and it is sometimes difficult to understand what they all have in common. Throughout the course of its formation, the iconography of “Joy of All Who Sorrow” never had a single stable composition, so the canon of the icon is not strict, and it exists in a variety of versions.

In the icon displayed, the Virgin Mary is depicted full height in the center of a multi-figure composition. She is dressed in royal attire against a background of golden gloriole, on a brown stepped elevated platform — the ambo. On Her left arm, She holds the Baby Jesus, and in Her right hand is a scepter crowned with a cross, a symbol of Her heavenly power. Above the Virgin Mary, against a background of golden gloriole is God the Father in white robes.

Legend has it that the icon “Joy of All Who Sorrow” helped Euphemia Papina, a sister of Moscow Patriarch Joachim, to heal a chronic wound in her side. This happened in Moscow in 1688. The newly glorified image of the Virgin Mary was in the Church of the Transfiguration of the Savior on Ordynka, where Euphemia was a parishioner. As for when and under what circumstances the icon came to the church, there is no exact information. Rumors of the miraculous healing spread quickly throughout Moscow, as they concerned the patriarch’s close relative. Soon a formal legend was written, and prayers dedicated to the icon appeared. The workers of the Tsar’s icon painting workshop at the Armory began to make copies of the icon.

Around 1710–1711, due to the move of the royal court from Moscow to St. Petersburg, Tsarevna Natalia Alekseyevna, Peter the Great’s sister, took the icon “Joy of All Who Sorrow” out of the Church of the Transfiguration on Ordynka. It remains unknown whether she took out a copy or the original. Uncertainty in this matter has persisted in many popular reference books on miracle-working icons of the Virgin Mary since the 19th century: some authors adhere to the version of the original, others — to that of the copy. Nevertheless, both icons of “Joy of All Who Sorrow” — the one that remained in Moscow and the one that was taken to St. Petersburg — were venerated as miracle-working icons.