Size: 8 3/4" x 7 1/4"
Iconography of this
icon is example of "The Orans" type (the Virgin of the Sign). Virgin of the Inexhaustible Cup - the Helper and prayer of someone who is suffering from addiction (alcohol, drug abuse, or other addiction) themselves, or for someone with a friend or family member struggling with addiction.
Made in Russia.
THE HISTORY OF ICON:
A peasant from the Efremovskii district of Tula province, was a retired soldier a drunkard and alcoholic. The man having hit rock-bottom had paralysis and could not walk. A Holy Man appeared to him in a dream and told him to go to the Monastery of Our Lady Queen of Heaven in the town of Serpukhov where you will find an icon of Our Lady of the Inexhaustible Cup. He had no money and no one to help him go to the Monastery. The Holy Man again appeared to him two other times commanding him to craw on all fours. He followed the Holy Man's bidding. On his way a kind lady gave him shelter and messaged his legs. After this he was able to continue his journey with the help of others.
When he told them at the Monastery of his dream, no one knew of this icon. He insisted and it was suggested there was an icon of the Virgin seated in a cup hanging in the hallway from the vestry to the cathedral. No one knew how the Cathedral had this icon. To their surprise, they found the inscription "Our Lady of the Inexhaustible Cup" on the verso of the icon. They immediately celebrated a service supplicating the Virgin to intercede for the man who was made cured of illnesses and freed from his passion for alcohol.
The news of this miracle spread throughout Russia and people sought the aid of the Virgin for themselves and their loved ones suffering from alcoholism. Many copies of the icon were made throughout Russia. Many of these
icons became miracle working icons. One of these icons is at the Danielov Monastery (the home of the Russian Patriarch) in Moscow.
