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Cetinje is
a town of immense historical heritage, founded in
the 15th century. It became the center of
Montenegrin life and both a cradle of
Montenegrin/Serbian
culture and an
Eastern Orthodox religious center. It is because
of this and the heroic legend born after its eternal
resistance from Ottoman intrusions, that it was
nicknamed Serbian
Sparta1 (Српска Спарта). It is
because of its heritage as a long-term Montenegrin
capital that it is today the honorary capital of
Montenegro. |
|
Black Madonna |
| Christian tradition states that
he was the first
iconographer, and painted pictures of the
Virgin Mary (The
Black Madonna of Częstochowa) and of
Peter and Paul. While there will never be
scientific evidence to support the tradition that
Luke painted icons it was widely believed in
earlier centuries, particularly in Eastern
Orthodoxy. The tradition also has support from the
Saint Thomas Christians of India who claim to
still have one of the
Theotokos icons that St Luke painted and Thomas
brought to India.[10] |
|
Black Madonna of Czestochowa, |
|
Faustinus and Jovita
Generally, the two saints are portrayed as Roman
military, often with the sword in a handful in the
palm of martyrdom. The church dedicated to them held
the Madonna icon from 7 years between its flight
from Rhodes and its new home on Malta. The church is
an ancient city and comune in the Lazio region of
central Italy, |
| The
Battle of the Nile (also known as the Battle of
Aboukir Bay) took place on 1 August 1798. The battle
effectively ended
Napoleon's ambition to take the war to the
British in
India. The forces Napoleon had brought to
Egypt were stranded. Napoleon attempted to march
north along the
Mediterranean coast but his army was defeated at
the
Siege of Acre by Captain Sir
Sidney Smith. Napoleon then left his army and
sailed back to France, evading detection by British
ships. Given its huge strategic importance, some
historians regard Nelson's achievement at the
Nile as the most significant of his career,
Trafalgar notwithstanding. Not content to rest on
his laurels, Nelson then rescued the Neapolitan
royal family from a French
invasion in December 1797. During his time in
Naples he fell in love with Emma Hamilton, who
became his mistress. |
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Tsar
Paul I of Russia. |
| On
26 September
2006, a statue of Maria Feodorovna was unveiled
near her favourite Cottage Palace in
Peterhof. Following a service at
Saint Isaac's Cathedral, she was interred next
to her beloved husband
Alexander III in the
Peter and Paul Cathedral on
28 September
2006, 140 years after her first arrival to
Russia and almost 78 years after her death. In 2005,
Queen
Margarethe II of Denmark and President
Vladimir Putin of Russia and their respective
governments agreed that the Empress's remains should
be returned to
Saint Petersburg in accordance with her wish to
be interred next to her husband.
A number of ceremonies took place from 23 to
28 September
2006. |
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National Museum of Montenegro |
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madona-of- philerimos.com [official
web site]
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National Museum of Montenegro [mnmuseum.org] |
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Our Lady of Philerme, The Sunday
Times, Malta, April 26, 1998. @icons explained.com
|
THE ORDER OF ST. JOHN OF JERUSALEM,
KNIGHTS HOSPITALLER
Under the Constitution of King Peter II of
Yugoslavia |
|
by F. A. Sinfield
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Biographies
- Dowager Empress Marie @ alexanderpalace.org
By Art Beeche |
|
ARCHAEOLOGICAL
MUSEUM OF RHODES IMAGE GALLERY |
Filerimos hill (267 m) The hill took its name
from a monk who came from Jerusalem in the 13th
century bringing with him an icon of the Blessed
Virgin painted by the Apostle Luke. The small church
he build became later a basilica and then in the
14th century the Knights built in St. John, a large
monastery with its excuisite bell-tower that one
still sees today. |
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The site of Filerimos
Ialyssos & Filerimos
[The church built by the Knights, in the 14th c.,
originally consisted of two hexagonal chapels in the
area of the aisleless Byzantine church. It was
modified in the late 15th c., though retaining its
distinctive double form, since the icon of the
Panayia Philerimou was worshipped by both Orthodox
and Catholic Christians]
National Museum of Cetinje
[where the icon is kept today]
The Njegos Network - Galleries - History and Culture
- Cetinje National Museum
The
National Museum of Montenegro
National museum
Madonna di Filermo
|
Madonna di Filermo
Die Insel Rhodos
|
|
More_sacrilege in Poland Feb2002
Replacing in the icon the Mother of Christ with the
"mother of Lourdes" |
WINE
TRADE IN ANTIQUITY |
Our Lady of Philerme
also known as Phileremos; Philermos; Filermo;
Filérimos; & Filéremos
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|
The
proper name of the Knights of St John is the
Sovereign and Military Order of the Knights Hospitaler of St John of Jerusalem - the Knights of
St John, the Knights of Rhodes, the Knights of
Malta, and the Knights Hospitalers.
Also used are Sovereign
Military Order of Malta (SMOM); Hospitallars,
and Chevaliers of Malta) |
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It measures 50 by 37cm and has a rich
gold covering which leaves only the face of the Virgin
exposed. On the gold covering there is the eight-pointed
cross in enamel that radiated round the head of the Virgin.
A precious halo surrounds the face, decorated with a row of
precious stones and adorned with nine huge rubies
alternating with diamonds set in a flower pattern. One of
the rubies is missing but it seems it had been missing even
when it was handed to King Alexander.
The robe of the Virgin has a neckline with a double tow of
diamonds, a necklace of sapphires and diamonds, and hanging
from it, six sapphires in the shape of drops. The central
sapphire is missing and seems to have been replaced with an
earring. Surrounding the picture is a gold frame, with
winged angels at the corners, and trophies of the Order in
the middle. |
| Russian
Orthodox Church |
| Since 1798, the Orthodox Church in Russia as the day
celebrated 'the Maltese relics' (as they are called in the
Russian Orthodox Church calendar) were celebrated on October
12th. On that day in 1799 (October 12, according to
the Julian calendar), together with the other precious
relics (the right hand of St John the Baptist and a fragment
of the True Cross), the icon was carried in a long
coach-procession followed by huge crowds from St Petersburg
to Gatchina, the residence of Paul I, where it was exposed
in the cathedral for public veneration. Until 1916 the
genuine icon and the other relics used to be brought to
Gatchina on October 12 every year. The main depository of
the 'Maltese relics' was the Grand Cathedral of the Winter
Palace in St Petersburg. However The Romanov Family was
considered the lawful owner of the relics not the church. |
| A
venerated copy for Rhodes |
 |
| The copy arrived in Rhodes in a very
damaged state and without the precious riza in 1925 in
answer to a request by the Italian Government which,
following the occupation of Rhodes in 1912, had undertaken
the rebuilding of the Sanctuary on Mount Phileremos. The
request had actually been for the true icon but, as its
whereabouts were at the time unknown, the copy was sent
instead.
The copy remained in Rhodes
until after World War II when, following the annexation of
Rhodes to Greece, it was transferred to Italy [in the
Basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli (Porziuncola, Assisi)]. |
| The
existence of the Icon became known in the 1990's |
There is another version of the story
which differs slightly in descripting the trip from Denmark
to Montenegro. This has the dowager queen Dagmar of Denmark
bequeathing the icon to her niece, Yelena Karageorgévitch,
daughter of Peter I of Yugoslavia, and of Zorka, of
Montenegro. And that Princess Yelena, from Cannes, in full
agreement with her cousin, Queen Elena of Italy, had
arranged to have the icon hidden in a monastery in the
mountains of Cettigne, "in the midst of people who were very
loyal to Petrovitch Niegosch."
[(The
Times of Malta 28th May 1997 page 60, provides the
information that the relics were bequeathed to Princess
Yelena. The Sunday Times of Malta April 26th 1998, page 42
ART, provides that they were entrusted to King Alexander I.
]
After the end of the War, the Government
placed the relics in the Museum at Cetinje where they were
kept in the reserve collection and never exhibited.
(The Sunday Times of Malta
April 26th 1998, page 42 ART).
Despite the fact that the relics remained in
Yugoslavia, a myth emerged within the still existing Order
of St. John, that the Monastery gave the relics to the Nazis
who removed them, never to be seen again). |
| A
symbol for the times? |
"At the threshold of the third
millennium of the Christian era, it is highly appropriate
that we should be making a reappraisal of this holy relic.
It has happened many times for a miraculous relic to
disappear from public view for years and be considered lost,
for it then to be brought back by Providence. This is the
case with the 'Maltese relics'. They accompanied the Order
of St John in their struggles in Rhodes (1306-1522). They
protected the knights in their wanderings in the
Mediterranean (1523-30). They helped them to survive in
Malta (1530-1798). For almost 120 years the relics were
closely connected with the Russian emperors and for decades
with the Yugoslav kings. Lately they became associated with
the Cetinje monastery in Montenegro, where they are kept
today. And here again Providence intervened. It is very
symbolical that exactly during the visit of Patriarch of All
Russia Alexis II to Yugoslavia in 1993 the icon "reappeared
before the world". And it is precisely Russia that has taken
the initiative of returning its replica to Malta. The
international symposium in Malta is meant to discuss
religious, historical and artistic aspects of the icon. And
I am sure that as the result of our session the miraculous
nature of the relic will once again show and new evidence
will emerge to prove that it is truly a bond which unites
people. And we all form part of this unity."
Dr Francis Cachia
in his published interview [
The Times, Malta
]with Russian Ambassador Dr Sergey S. Zotov
as part of publicity for an upcoming gathering to discuss
the icon 202 years after it left the islands leaving.
Participants included the Russian Metropolitan Kirill, the
Montenegrin Metropolitan Amphilohius and high-ranking
representatives from the Holy See, and others who came to
Malta to take part in the event.
|
| The Black
Madonna Today |
 |
In 2006, relaunched Polish pop-culture
magazine Machina caused considerable
controversy with this cover showing pop
star Madonna with her daughter, Lourdes in the garments of
the much venerated Madonna long associated with protecting
Poland, – the Black Madonna of Czestochowa,
considered to be the holiest painting in Poland, with
thousands of pilgrims walking across Poland to reach it
every year: |
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There are
about 450-500 Black Madonnas in Europe depending on how they
are classified. There are at least 180 Vierges Noires in
France and there are hundreds of non-medieval copies too. A
few are in museums but most are in churches or shrines and
are venerated by devotees. Many are associated with miracles
and some attract substantial numbers of pilgrims
The interest in these images is growing
for many reasons although the great success of the book and
movie The Da Vinci code gets considerable credit. [more]
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Its fame as a wonder-working image
was known throughout the lands bordering the Aegean
Sea.
The wondrous icon got its name from her
sanctuary on Mount Phileremos in Rhodes. The icon
was already the centre of a popular cult when the
Knights of St. John conquered the island in 1306-9.
The Rhodians, who venerated it under the title of
Qeovtoko" Filevremou~ ('The Mother of God
of Phileremos') piously believed that it was painted
by St. Luke and brought to Rhodes from Jerusalem
about the year 1000.
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Saint Luke the
Apostle |
| Author of the new testament and
widely considered the first iconographer |
|
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| Luke the Evangelist painting the
first icon of the Virgin Mary. Luke is also said to
be the author of the most well known the
Black
Madonna of Czestochowa as well as the "Salus
Populi Romani", now in the Basilica of St Mary Major
in Rome, the Madonna of St Mary in Via Lata, and
those of the Pantheon and the Ara Coeli. |
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Rhodes
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| From
Rhodes, the great island light of the Mediterranean
whose wealth stemmed from its role as sea-faring trader of
the joy within each of its famous amphoras of wine
comes a little known Black Madonna who must first complete a
Grand Tour before settling in a place of honor at the
planet's newest nation---Montenegro |
| |
| Our story begins at the stronghold of
Dionysus, god of wine who
spread his magic potion wide and far from this well located
port on the Island of Rhodes where the icon may have even
been created by the most respected of the New Testament
authors Luke. |
|
Rhodes location near the
mainland of Asia, its importance in the Hellenic world being
a pivotal point of contact for the Greeks and the
civilizations of the Orient, was disproportionate to its
size.
 |
| Rhodes was
the location of the Colossus of Rhodes. Helios
was worshipped in various places of the Peloponnesos,
but especially on Rhodes, where each year
gymnastic games were held in his honor. The
University connected to Alexandria was the most
prominent proponent of a heliocentric solar system
which was contrary to both Greek and later Christian
views of the Universe |
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East Greek amphora from Rhodes, 530–500 B.C. |
Rhodes was one of the
first islands in the Aegean to adopt the cultivation of the
grape vine and the viticulture as a mainstay of its economy.
Aided by its powerful naval forces, Rhodes was a foremost
merchant of wines and crops by the mid 7th century B.C.
Rhodes was also able to undertake cereal trade on a massive
scale, which brought incredible wealth to the island.
The first reference to
Rhodian wine is by Aeschynes, an Athenian politician who was
exiled to Rhodes in 330 BC. In his fifth letter he mentions
that he stayed in a small house with a garden in Kamiros,
and that he was offered oil, honey, and an excellent wine,
which he appreciated as better than the Athenian one.
“Rhodian wines are loaded
in the port of Ialyssos, and reach Piraeus in four days if
the weather is good. The grape producers of the state of
Ialyssos have the best vineyards in the lush plains of the
state of Rhodes. Ialyssos is the birthplace of famous
Diagoras and his offspring, who have achieved great
victories in the Olympic Games, and statues of himself, his
children, and grandchildren adorn the sacred Altis in
Olympia. The port of Camiros does business with nearby
places, whereas Lindos trades in the whole of the Eastern
Mediterranean.”
According to Diodorus
from Sicily, when the new city of Rhodes was founded by
merging Lindos, Camiros, and Ialyssos, Rhodians erected in
the lower part of the city, near the marketplace, a temple
called Dionysion, to honor Dionysus, god of wine.
The summit of
Philerimos was the site of Ialysos, one of the three ancient
cities of Rhodes. Ialyssos was
sung of by Pindar and as its pre-Hellenic suffix indicates
it was inhabited from ancient times by a race of people
known for their merits. In Pindar's ode, the island was said
to be born of the union of Helios the sun god and the nymph
Rhode, and the cities were named for their three sons.
Proud and clever, integrated with rich
resident foreign merchants attracted by the ancient
Mediterranean's most sophisticated banking system, as well
as a blessed geographic location off the
Turkish coast and not
far away from Alexandria the pride of Ptolemaic Egypt,
Rhodes also attracted some great minds.
Its famous schools of philosophy and
science and literature and rhetoric, shared masters with
Alexandria: the Athenian rhetorician Aeschines who formed a
school at Rhodes; Apollonius of Rhodes; the the
father of astronomy Aristarchus,
and astronomers
Hipparchus and Geminus, the rhetorician Dionysios Trax. Its
school of sculptors developed a rich, dramatic style that
can be characterized as "Hellenistic Baroque".
However in 43 B.C. Rhodes was devastated by the Roman
general Crassus and never regained its pivotal political and
commercial role in the Eastern Mediterranean, although it
remained an academic centre, attracting many young rich
aristocratic Romans to learn rhetoric and philosophy.
Saint Paul brought Christianity to the island. Rhodes
reached a second zenith in the third century, and was then
by common consent the most civilized and beautiful city in
Hellas.
Today visitors will
be able to explore the restored Byzantine church of our Lady
of Philerimos, a chapel with 15th century frescoes, and the
ruined Castle of the Knights. |
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"Throughout our
Order, the birthday of Our Lady is kept with great
solemnity in thanksgiving for the raising of the
Turkish siege of Malta on 8 September 1565. At
Valletta, in the Order's church of St. John the
Baptist, there was venerated an ancient icon of Our
Lady which had originally been brought from
Jerusalem to the shrine on Mount Phileremos on
Rhodes (hence the title).
An exact copy is
now one of the treasures of the Basilica of St. Mary
of the Angels at Assisi.
This feast, which traces the privileges of Our Lady
to Christ her son, was introduced by Pope Sergius I
(687-701), following Eastern tradition. Our Lady's
Birthday is closely linked with the coming of the
Messiah: it is the promise, the preparation and the
fruit of salvation. Mary was the dawn before the Sun
of Justice and the herald to all the world of the
joy brought by our Saviour." |
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[From: The Missal
with readings of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem
of Rhodes, & of Malta, London 1997] |
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| The Phileremos Madonna came
to be considered the most precious possession by the Knights
of St. John when it interceded on their behalf following
prayers and veneration in key battles defending their island
fortress of Rhodes from attackers. |
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| History
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The Lady of Philerimos icon was discovered in
Rhodes by the Knights of St John while withdrawing from Palestine in
1306.
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| 6th c. BC. Amphora of
Fikellura style Rhodian workshop |
| The Archaeological Museum
of Rhodes is housed in the medieval building of the Hospital
of the Knights. The building was begun in 1440 by Grand
Master de Lastic with money bequeathed by his predecessor,
Fluvian, and completed in 1489 by Grand Master d'Aubusson. |
Fifteenth century travellers' accounts mention the
citadel on Mount Phileremos and report on the icon with its
sanctuary and adjoining monastery on which the Knights lavished
their munificence. Two new chapels were added to the sanctuary by
Grandmaster
Pierre d'Aubusson after the siege of 1480 which, according to the
eye-witness account of Guillaume Caoursin, had been settled in
favour of the Knights by the intercession of the Virgin and St. John
the Baptist. During the siege the icon had been transferred for
safety inside the walls of the city and the same precaution was
adopted in 1513 when there was a threat of an invasion, and in the
siege of 1522. On the latter occasion it was placed in the church of
St. Mark.
With the fall of Constantinople in 1453, the
Knights of Rhodes knew their turn would soon come. Thrown on the
defensive, their life on the island of Rhodes kept them
perpetually on the alert. Naturally, they also transported
the miraculous icon of the Virgin from Philerimos to St Mark's
church in town. During the three months of the siege, fierce battles
took place at various points around the fortified city of Rhodes,
Fort St Nicholas being the point most seriously attacked. Having
suffered great losses, the Turks broke the siege in August, 1480.
Some 40 years later, in 1522, the second great
siege took place. By now Egypt had been conquered by the Ottomans
and the expulsion of the knights from Rhodes was imperative because
of the position of the island on the line of communications between
Constantinople and Alexandria. This time it was Suleiman the
Magnificent who prepared the attack and Grand Master Villiers l'Isle
Adam who undertook the defence. The Turkish fleet numbered 300 ships
and the invading army 200,000 men. As in the first siege, the fleet
crossed the straits from Marmarice and started heavy bombardment of
the city. But this time around they captured the fort of Philerimos
to stop reinforcements coming to the aid of the knights from the
west. One after another the city walls were breached at strategic
points, with immediate assaults following. The sultan had posted
himself on a watch tower made of ships' masts and, like Xerxes at
the naval battle of Salamis, he was witnessing the battle from a
vantage point.
The knights sustained this great onslaught with
remarkable bravery for six months. They capitulated only when their
supplies were completely exhausted. The Ottomans had the great
advantage that they could easily bring in reinforcements and
supplies. On 20 December 1522 the capitulation was signed. Suleiman,
in homage to their heroism, offered the knights the best possible
terms - that after the evacuation of the city of Rhodes and of the
castles they could sail to Crete in Turkish ships, free of charge,
taking with them their arms and all their possessions. Furthermore,
any civilians wishing to leave Rhodes could follow the knights with
all their belongings. Nearly all the country folk remained but about
half the citizens sailed away with the knights.
Once again the Knights of St John were
homeless and roaming around Europe in search of a permanent home
until, finally, in 1530, they established themselves in Malta,
having been given this land as a fiefdom by Charles V. As for
the Rhodeans, they had to endure long years of foreign
occupation, four centuries under the Ottoman Turks and 30 years
under the Italians, until they could become part of the Hellenic
world again.
After the loss of Rhodes, the icon followed the
Knights on their seven year exile and, between 1524- 27, it was
venerated in the collegiate church of SS. Faustino and Giovita at
Viterbo. In Malta it was placed in the church of St. Lawrence at
Birgu where it escaped damage when the church was destroyed by fire
in 1532. After the building of Valletta, it was transferred first to
the church of the Virgin of Victories and subsequently to the
conventual church when a chapel had been prepared to receive it. |
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Malta History
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 The Ottomans invaded in 1565 undertaking the Great Siege of
Malta which began on May 18 and lasted until September 8
when the Spanish fleet joined the battle. |
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The philosophical and religious ideas of the Enlightenment were
not sympathetic to the old ideals of crusading and holy war which
regarded them as uncivilized
ignorance. The elevation
of the military to supranational ecclesiastical institutions above
the rule of law of individual nations was not just rejected but seen
as an opportunity to convert the property of the Order of St. John [aka
Knights of Malta & Hospitallars] to the state.
The French Revolution of 1789, significantly weakened the Knights
of Malta through loss of noble, sovereign and church support and
despite the ability of the order to protect French interests in the
Mediterranean in 1792 the Order's property in France was
confiscated. However in 1793 the French envoy promised the Order on
Malta French support should the British invade, but the promise did
little to enlist support when in 1793, the French executed the
longtime protector of the order, King Louis XVI.
In July 1797 Ferdinand von Hompesch from Germany was elected as
grand master of the Malta based order although most brother first
language was French and the official language was Italian. France
and Italy, represented by the Kingdom of Naples and Sicily, Great
Britain, Russia and Austria all had a strong interest in controlling
Malta as part of a larger strategy of controlling the Mediterranean.
The Maltese people were said to favor either French or British
control in place of the Knights and the Knights did not trust them
to fight along side of them.
Napoleon was in the process of was giving himself total
control of France. The new constitution would soon confirm the
property rights of all those who had bought land taken from the
Catholic Church during the revolution. This measure would
solidify Napoleon's support among the middle classes.
On 9 June 1798, en route to Egypt, General Napoleon Bonaparte and
the French fleet arrived at Malta and demanded it surrender. The
Knights were conflicted since it was formed and pledged as a sacred
duty to fight for Christians not against them and Hompesch as
commanding officer never took the field. The decision to capitulate
was not unanimous, as the Grand Master did not sign the document.
The support he expected from the Order's allies did not eventuate as
Spain refused to come to Malta's aid being an ally of France and
Ferdinand IV of Naples had departed Naples for Sicily when the
French occupied southern Italy and so was in no position to fulfill
his obligation as military protector.
With the island surrendered Hompesch was allowed to take three
sacred relics with him, the Hand of St John, relic of the true cross
and the Lady of Philerimos which had resided on Malta since being
brought there from Rhodes in 1530. On the evening of 1 August
the British fleet under Admiral Horatio Nelson caught up to the
French fleet off the Egyptian Coast and defeated it the the Battle
of the Nile. The treasure ship, loaded with the booty from the
ransacked palaces and churches of Malta was sunk and has never been
recovered.
With the loss of Malta, the only powerful remaining friend of the
knights was the tsar of Russia. Hompesch sent the relics to Russian
Tsar Paul I of Russia. who eventually became recognized as the head
of the order although Hompesch remained in Trieste, Italy. The Czar,
invested at a ceremony officiated over by Monsignor Lorenzo de Litta,
the Apolostolic Delegate to St Petersburg, assumed the title of the
72nd Grand Master. Then the Florentine born, Emperor of the Holy
Roman Empire Francis II (1768-1835) ordered his subject, von
Hompesch, to relinquish the office of Grand Master and send the
Order's relics to Austria's Russian ally and the new Grand Master
despite the fact that the Tsar did not comply with the orders
restrictions to be Catholic and unmarried.
On 12 October 1799, after the resignation of Hompesch, it was
presented, together with the relics of the Hand of the Baptist and a
splinter of the True Cross, to Tsar Paul I who had, meanwhile, been
elected Grandmaster by a few rebel knights. Though the election was
completely irregular, it was accepted in the hope that Paul's
influence might regain Malta for the Knights. The presentation was
made by the Order's representative, the Count de Litta, in the
imperial residence of Gatchina about 40 kilometres outside St.
Petersburg.
Meanwhile the Maltese were revolting against French rule
and the British were blockading the island. Hompesch attempted to
further his alliance with Ferdinad IV the King of Naples
[1759-1806] for the Knights return and enlist the help of the
Maltese people but the British who took Malta in September 1800 did
were ambivalent on the return of the Hospitallers to authority
for Malta. The Tsar, who many believed was interested in the Knights
because of the military value of Malta, demanded a Russian garrison
be admitted and continued to negotiate with Bonaparte until his
murder in March of 1801. His successor, Tsar Alexander [1801-25]
took less interest in the Order of St. John.
After Paul's death in 1801, the icon, which had been
reinvested with with a gold riza set with precious stones, was
transferred to the Winter Palace at St. Petersburg. It survived the
Bolshevik revolution of 1917 because, when the palace was stormed,
it was in a church at Gatchina, together with the other relics of
the Knights, for the annual celebration in their honour on the 12th
of October.
 |
| Grand
Duchess Olga Alexandrovna of Imperial Russia at right, Czar
Nicholas II (center), and their mother
Maria Feodorovna
(at left). Olga and her sister, Xenia bequeathed the
madonna icon to the Russian Orthodox Bishops in Exile |
| In 1920, after various vicissitudes, the
icon and the relics somehow found themselves in the luggage
of the dowager empress, Maria Feodorovna, who had was
brought to asylum via the Black Sea to London. by her nephew
King George V who had sent the warship HMS Marlborough to
retrieve his aunt. She settled near Copenhagen in her native
Denmark. According to one version of the story, before she
died in 1928, the empress entrusted the icons to her
daughters, the Grand duchesses Xenia Alessandrowna and Olga
Alessandrowna, who passed them to the President of the Synod
of the Russian Orthodox Bishops in Exile, Archbishop
Antoniye of Kieff and Galizia |
| The icons were taken to the newly built
Russian church in Berlin but, in 1929, they were transferred
to Belgrade where in April 1932 they were officially
consigned to the custody of Alexander I of Yugoslavia. They
were kept in the chapel of the royal palace of Dedinje until
1941 when owing to the threat of the Nazi invasion they
were, sent to the Orthodox Monastery of Ostrog,
near Niksic, in Montenegro. |
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|
Alexander
I of Yugoslavia kept the relics in the private
Chapel of the Royal Palace in Belgrade. |
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This Ostrag monastery is the most famous place of
pilgrimage in Montenegro. It is one of the most
visited monasteries on the Balkans, and believers from all
over the world, individually and in groups come here to
visit it. It is the meeting point of all three confessions:
Orthodoxy, Catholicism and Islam, because there is a belief
that the bones of Sveti Vasilije Ostroski are miraculous |
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| After the war the
Lady of Philerimos was kept quietly at the museum in
the ancient Montenegrin capital of Cetinje. Today
visitors are able to see this historic, symbolic and
many believe -- powerful icon situated in a "blue
space". |
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