The seven-arrows icon the Mother of God is an icon of the Virgin revered in the Orthodox Church. The celebration of the icon takes place on August 13 (according to the Julian calendar).

The Blessed Virgin Mary is depicted with pierced seven arrows. The Blessed Virgin is written with swords embedded in Her heart - three on the right and four on the left. The number “seven” in scripture usually means the completeness, redundancy of something, and in this case, the completeness and boundlessness of that grief, sadness and “heart disease” that the Virgin experienced during Her earthly life. The icon depicts the Gospel story of how, on the fortieth day of Christ's birth, the righteous Joseph and the Blessed Virgin Mary brought the Divine Infant to the temple to perform rituals according to the law of Moses. They were met in the church by the holy elder Simeon, who announced to those present that the Baby is the promised Messiah, and the Theotokos predicted future suffering, saying that Her "weapon will pass the soul."


The prototype of the icon comes from the Toshenskaya St. John the Theologian Church in the vicinity of Vologda on the banks of the Toshni River. According to legend, the icon was acquired by the peasant of Kadnikovsky district, who found it on the bell tower of the church, where they walked on it, taking it for a board. The icon was especially famous in 1830, when cholera raged in Vologda. After 1917, the icon disappeared from the St. John the Theological Church, and its whereabouts are unknown.

The icon has an ancient origin (in the publications of the 19th century it is indicated that it is at least 500 years old). A revered image was painted on canvas pasted on a board, which allows dating it to the 18th century (perhaps it was made from an unknown image of the 17th century). The Virgin Mary is depicted with pierced seven arrows.

The iconography is similar to the Virgin’s icon “Softening of Evil Hearts” or “Simeon Prophecy”, but has its own characteristics - all swords (arrows) are located to the left and right of the Virgin. Both icons are currently considered varieties of the same iconographic type.

Direct printing on wood