http://www.suntimes.com/output/religion/cst-nws-icon17.html
The Rev. Sergei Garklavs first met her when he was a teenager in Riga, Latvia, 70 years ago.
Together they traveled across Europe in the aftermath of World War II with thousands of other refugees, Garklavs helping to carry her through Latvia to Poland to Germany. And he was by her side when at last she found a home in Chicago, where he has cared for her for more than half a century.
This weekend, Garklavs, 76, will say goodbye as his beloved Tikhvin Icon of the Mother of God, an ancient painting of the Madonna and child that he lovingly refers to as "she," leaves Chicago and returns to the home she fled in war-torn Russia.
According to tradition, the 34-by-43-inch icon, which is usually shrouded in a bejeweled, gold-plated covering, was painted by St. Luke the Evangelist. Historical records trace it to the 5th century, when it was taken from Jerusalem to Constantinople.
The next 1,600 years of the icon's history are riddled with stories of miracles, divine intervention and harrowing escapes. It survived the fall of Constantinople, the Russian Revolution, the Third Reich, several fires, bombings and innumerable moves. Hundreds of healings and other miracles have been attributed to the icon throughout the centuries.
http://www.cleveland.com/living/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/living/108746470447450.xml
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/...1,7440005.story?coll=chi-newslocalchicago-hed
The Rev. Sergei Garklavs first met her when he was a teenager in Riga, Latvia, 70 years ago.
Together they traveled across Europe in the aftermath of World War II with thousands of other refugees, Garklavs helping to carry her through Latvia to Poland to Germany. And he was by her side when at last she found a home in Chicago, where he has cared for her for more than half a century.
This weekend, Garklavs, 76, will say goodbye as his beloved Tikhvin Icon of the Mother of God, an ancient painting of the Madonna and child that he lovingly refers to as "she," leaves Chicago and returns to the home she fled in war-torn Russia.
According to tradition, the 34-by-43-inch icon, which is usually shrouded in a bejeweled, gold-plated covering, was painted by St. Luke the Evangelist. Historical records trace it to the 5th century, when it was taken from Jerusalem to Constantinople.
The next 1,600 years of the icon's history are riddled with stories of miracles, divine intervention and harrowing escapes. It survived the fall of Constantinople, the Russian Revolution, the Third Reich, several fires, bombings and innumerable moves. Hundreds of healings and other miracles have been attributed to the icon throughout the centuries.
http://www.cleveland.com/living/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/living/108746470447450.xml
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/...1,7440005.story?coll=chi-newslocalchicago-hed
