Icon of the Mother of God, called «Sign», — sign of the Blessed Virgin Mary, which was in Novgorod the Great in 1170.
The icon of the Mother of God, called «Sign», depicts the Blessed Virgin Mary sitting and prayerfully covering Her hands; on her chest, against the background of a round shield (or sphere) — blessing the Divine Child — Savior Emmanuel. This image of the Mother of God is one of Her very first iconographic images. Icons of the Mother of God, known under the name «Sign», appeared in Rus' in the 11th-12th centuries, and became so after a miraculous sign from the Novgorod Icon that happened in 1170.
This year, the united forces of the Russian appanage princes, led by the son of the Suzdal prince Andrei Bogolyubsky, approached the walls of Veliky Novgorod. Novgorodians could only rely on God's help. Days and nights they prayed, begging the Lord not to leave them. On the third night, Archbishop Elijah of Novgorod heard a marvelous voice commanding him to take the image of the Blessed Virgin Mary from the Church of the Transfiguration on Ilyinaya Street and take it to the city wall.
When the icon was carried —, the enemies launched a cloud of arrows into the religious procession, and one of them pierced the iconographic face of the Mother of God. Tears flowed out of Her eyes, and the icon turned its face towards the city. After such a Divine sign, the enemies were suddenly attacked by inexplicable horror, they began to beat each other, and the Novgorodians, encouraged by the Lord, fearlessly rushed into battle and won.
In memory of the miraculous intercession of the Queen of Heaven, Archbishop Elijah then established a holiday in honor of the Sign of the Mother of God, which the entire Russian Church still celebrates. Athonite hieromonk Pachomius Logothetes, who was present at the celebration of the icon in Russia, wrote two canons for this holiday. Some Novgorod icons of the Sign, in addition to the Mother of God and the Eternal Child, also depict the wonderful events of 1170.
The miraculous icon, 186 years after the appearance of the sign, was located in the same Church of the Transfiguration on Ilyinaya Street. In 1356, the Church of the Sign of the Blessed Virgin Mary was built for her in Novgorod, which became the cathedral of the Znamensky Monastery.
Numerous lists from the icon of the Sign are known throughout Russia. Many of them shone with miracles in local churches and were named after the place where miracles appeared. Such lists of icons of the Sign include icons of Dionysievo-Glushitskaya, Abalatskaya, Kursk, Serafimo-Ponetaevskaya and others.