The Kazan Mother of God revealed by Patriarch Kirill turned out to be an early copy of the miraculous icon

The daughter of collector Sergei Vorobyov told how he found the image at the Izmailovsky market

The sensational announcement by Patriarch Kirill about the discovery of the original miraculous icon of the Kazan Mother of God, made in the Assumption Cathedral of the Kremlin, produced a truly deafening effect. “Miracle!” – many exclaimed, but not art critics. MK found out what has been happening to the icon for the last 20 years. It turns out that in 2000, collector Sergei Vorobyov purchased a darkened image at the Izmailovsky market, carried out restoration at his own expense, showed it to specialists, and it turned out that it was a truly valuable icon. But it can’t possibly be the original. Obviously, this is one of the first lists of the miraculous image.

Sergei Vorobyov, a collector, artist and restorer, left this world a year ago. Like his father, Nikolai Vorobyov, he devoted his life to collecting and restoring ancient icons. The family keeps a large collection: in 2015–2016 it was shown at an exhibition at the Museum of Russian Icons. Sergei Vorobyov was from the outgoing generation of romantics who searched for “black boards” in abandoned villages, churches and antique ruins, hoping to find masterpieces under a layer of darkened linseed oil and soot. He found one of these pearls in 2000 at the Izmailovsky market. It was this icon that Patriarch Kirill presented to the believers on the day of Our Lady of Kazan in the Assumption Cathedral of the Kremlin, declaring that this is the same icon that 9-year-old Matrona found in the ashes in 1579 after a fire that almost completely destroyed Kazan and which helped defend Minin’s homeland and Pozharsky, and then Kutuzov. However, as the collector’s daughter Daria Vorobyova said, the icon kept in their family actually dates back to the end of the 16th century, but cannot be the same miraculous image.

– Daria, in 2002, your father gave the icon of the Kazan Mother of God to Patriarch Alexei. Where did he find her?

– In Izmailovo there is a market where they sell icons, dishes, and various things. There he bought it for a fairly large sum, at least for our family. Naturally, she was black. He restored it and cleaned it. Art critic Natalya Chugreeva came to visit us, she immediately said that this was a valuable icon – one of the first copies of the Kazan Mother of God, that it was from the end of the 16th century. We thought about keeping it, but my parents decided to donate it to the church, although they could have sold it. But they considered that it was wrong to sell, and the pope gave the icon to Patriarch Alexy, who promised that it would be immediately exhibited in the Kazan Cathedral. Natalya Chugreeva arranged a meeting with the Patriarch. There is a letter of gratitude from him.

– Natalya Chugreeva wrote a conclusion, from which it follows that this is an ancient and valuable list, but just a list. What do you think about the statement of Patriarch Kirill? Why did he decide that this one was miraculous?

“As soon as I heard the statement in the morning, I immediately realized that this was our icon. Of course it’s a list. I think that Patriarch Kirill hardly made any conclusions himself. Why he decided that this was the miraculous icon found by the girl in the ashes of Kazan is difficult to say. Apparently, this is the time. People are waiting for some miracle. The fact is that for 20 years the icon lay in Peredelkino in a warehouse of things that are usually given as gifts to some officials. Alexey put it there and, probably, it got lost there. And when it was now found, perhaps one of the art historians told Patriarch Kirill that this could be that same miraculous icon. If we sold the icon to the church, then information about it would be documented, and since it is a gift, it was apparently left in the “back drawer” and forgotten. Perhaps they wanted to give it to the Vatican. The fact is that a month after we presented the icon to the Russian Orthodox Church, I heard the news about the presentation of a gift in the form of an 18th-century icon of Our Lady of Kazan to the Vatican. Only she looked richer – in a precious setting and stones. Maybe they first decided to give ours as a gift, and then changed their minds. We expected that the icon would sooner or later appear in some temple, and we had almost lost hope.

– What are your emotions now? On the one hand, your father’s will has been fulfilled, on the other hand, there is a catch in the story…

– These are the emotions. We understand everything, but, of course, my mother and I are very glad that the icon is available to all believers, as dad wanted.