Icon "Burning Bush": meaning and history

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.

A bit of history

According to legend, near the Sinai, very near the mountain Horeb, there was a green bush bush. And suddenly this bush burned with a bright flame. The 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 Israelites 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 imprinted 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 importance 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.

How did this image come to Russia

In 1390, the Palestinian monks brought this shrine to Moscow. Today the most ancient icon "The Burning Bush", the meaning of which has not changed over time, is in the Annunciation Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin.

Description of the image

This image of the Virgin has different versions, among which you 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 almost a literal image of what happened: a green bush of blackthorn, embraced by a 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.

Miracles of Our Lady

The icon "Burning Bush", the significance of which has not changed for Christians 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 began to occur frequent fires, the cause of which were someone's arson. The criminal could not catch.

Once a certain old woman-parishioned had a dream, in which the Mother of God came to her and said that the fires would stop 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 local archpriest, 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, the culprit was found, or rather, the culprit, arson! She was 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 of icon help are known, with natural disasters and fires unrelated. So, for example, after unremitting prayers before the "Burning Bush", the unjustly convicted Dmitry Koloshin, who served as a groom under Tsar Fyodor Alekseevich, was released.