OUR LADY, JOY OF THE SORROWFUL

Day 178: November 06

Our Lady, Joy of the Sorrowful, Moscow, Russia



The Mother of God "Joy of all those who are in sadness" is a very special icon that was miraculous for the first time in Moscow in 1688 thanks to the prayers of the sister of the patriarch of the time.

A woman named Eufemia, the sister of the patriarch who at that time was called Joachim, was ill and had suffered for a long time due to abdominal inflammation due to an open wound on her side. It was such a serious wound that you could even see her internal organs and there was therefore great concern for her own life. Euphemia, however, was a very pious woman and devoted to Our Lady and one day she heard a female voice say to her: "Euphemia! Go to the temple of the Transfiguration of my Son, there you will find an icon called 'the joy of all those who are in sorrow.' Ask the priest to pray over you for intercession using holy water and you will be healed."

Since she could not move, she sent someone to verify that such an icon really existed in this church and finding it they spoke with the priest who was at the church of the Transfiguration. He agreed to bring the icon to the sick woman's home, also bringing holy water with him, giving a blessing to Euphemia and to all the women who were in particular difficulties and wished to receive special help from Our Lady.

Everything happened as the voice had suggested and Eupemia's faith was rewarded, but we have no news of what happened to the other women perhaps because the greatest miracle was hers. And it was truly a miraculous event because the Church itself proposed to celebrate it as such in the years to come. Initially commemorated on October 24, the holiday was then moved to November 6.

The icon depicts the Mother of God holding the Child in her arms while she is surrounded by supplicant figures of the sick, the suffering, the poor, the afflicted, the needy and the sorrowful. On both sides of the Mother of God are angels who work to serve her in her work of intercession, represented by small scrolls with the requests of her devotees.

The icon is kept in the church of the "Icon of the Mother of God joy of all those who are in sorrow", also known as the Church of the Transfiguration in Moscow. The church is located on Bolshaya Ordynka, in the Zamoskvorechye area.


St Justin Russolillo Writes...

"Glory to the Most Blessed Trinity in you, O Mary! Glory to you, O Mary, in the Blessed Trinity, for your nobility, your dignity and your perfection, for your merits, your excellence and your privileges, for your titles, your crown of light, your worthiness and for your bliss."

(Ascension, trans. Louis Caputo, Vocationist Fathers, New Jersey, 1997, pp. 390-391)

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