Our Lady Kazanskaya ~ Protector of Marriage & Family

Description Our Lady Kazanskaya Icon is usually given to a newly formed family as the wedding blessing gift. Prayers to this icon also help with solving problems in courts cases, & with building new houses. The Kazan Mother of God (Kazanskaya Bogomater’ in Russian) is a highly revered icon, beloved of the people and hailed as a holy protectress. For centuries people prayed before the Kazan Mother of God for support and protection, couples were blessed with it before their marriages, and people hung it by their children’s cribs and in places of honor in their homes, turning to it whenever they faced trouble, disease, and misfortune. Feast days of Our Lady of Kazan are celebrated on July 8/21, October 22, November 4 Orthodox Icons were venerated in churches, public places, private homes, and were often believed to offer protection & have healing properties. This veneration split the Church in the 8th-9th century as two opposing camps developed – those for & those against their use in worship – a situation which led to many icons being destroyed and persecution of those who venerated them. Many ordinary believers had their own family icons in their homes or carried them on their person for protection like the earlier representations of pagan gods that had been worshipped in a domestic setting independent of a priest or temple. The practice may have evolved from earlier pagan rituals, as people of the ancient world worshipped statues & figures of their gods. Evidence suggests that they commissioned portraits of their gods for veneration in their own homes, just as in churches home icons were prayed, bowed to, kissed, and had offerings of incense and tapers lit before them. Place in your home to aid in protection or even use as a focal point to give petitions and leave offerings. Vintage 90’s USSR Orthodox Icon ~ If you do not like the writing on the side the two pieces can be gently pulled apart and the hinges removed.  When they are gone they are gone.