Miraculous icon “Holy Mother of God” is venerated in Rozhen Monastery

The feast of the miraculous icon “Holy Mother of God - Gatekeeper” will be celebrated with vespers in the Rozhen Monastery, the Nevrokop Diocese announced.

According to tradition, this is one of the icons painted by Saint Luke the Evangelist. During the iconoclasm in Constantinople, a widow threw it into the sea so that it would not be destroyed. About a hundred years later, the icon appeared in a bay in front of the Iveron Monastery on Mount Athos. Then the Virgin Mary visited the elder Gabriel in a dream, allowing him to carry it to the monastery. The name of the icon – Portaitissa or Gatekeeper – comes from the fact that after Gabriel brought it back from the sea, the monks placed it in the temple, but a few mornings later they found it in front of the gates of the monastery. The miraculous icon has many copies, one of which was made in 1790 for the Rozhen Monastery.


Editor: Diana Tsankova