The icon of the Virgin "The Burning Bush" has a very unusual history of appearance, which dates back many centuries back to the time of early Christianity.
According to legend, near Sinai, very close toMount Horeb, stood a green bush bush. And suddenly this bush burned with a bright flame. Fire enveloped every leaf and every twig of the bush. Special in this spectacle was that the plant burned, but did not burn.
A passing prophet Moses noticed this miracle, stopped before the flame and heard the voice of God, who told him that very soon the Israelis would be freed from the Egyptian captivity.
You can read about this Old Testament event in the book Exodus (chapter 3, 4).
Soon the phenomenon seen by Moses, was called "Burning Bush" and was sealed on the first icon of the same name.
In addition, in honor of the event described above, a beautiful chapel was erected right behind the altar of the monastery of St. Catherine. They say that under the altar there are the roots of that same biblical bush.
The icon "Burning Bush", the significance of which is important for Christians, was written just at the foot of the mountain, about the place where the prophet noticed a burning bush.
In 1390 the Palestinian monks were brought to Moscowthis shrine. Today the most ancient icon "The Burning Bush", whose significance has not changed over time, is in the Annunciation Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin.
Этот образ Богородицы имеет разные варианты performances, among which one can meet the Mother of God, depicted in a bright flame that burns, but does not scorch it. And there is one where the Virgin Mary is depicted against the background of an octagonal star formed of two quadrangles with sharp concave margins. One of the quadrangles is colored green and symbolizes the bush of the bush, and the other is red, which means fire.
On the oldest icons you can see almostthe literal image of what happened: a green bush of thorns, enveloped in flame, and above it rises the Virgin Mary with the infant Jesus in her arms. Next to the bush on his knees is the prophet Moses.
The icon "Burning Bush", whose importance for Christians has not changed after so many centuries, has many legends about the miracles associated with it.
One such miracle was the case that occurred in 1820-1821. In a small town of Slavyansk, frequent fires began to occur, the cause of which was someone's arson. The criminal could not catch.
Once a certain old woman-parishioner had a dream, inwhich the Mother of God came to her and said that the fires would cease if the icon "Burning Bush" was written in this city. Its significance as an image that preserves from fires and various disasters caused by lightning or fire has been known for a long time.
The old woman told about her dream to the localarchpriest, and very soon the image was written. What was the surprise of the people when after the prayer of the icon "Burning Bush" was read, there was a culprit, or rather a culprit, arson! She turned out to be a local resident of Mavra, who suffered from dementia. She came out of the crowd, confessed everything, and more fires did not happen.
This case is not the only one. There are other miracles in history that occurred thanks to this image.
In addition to saving from fire, some cases are known.relief icons, with natural disasters and fires not related. For example, after tireless prayers in front of the Burning Kupina, unfairly convicted Dmitry Koloshin, who served as a groom at Tsar Fyodor Alekseevich, was released.
