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The '''Panagia of Blachernitissa''' (Gr. ''Παναγία η Βλαχερνίτισσα'', Turkish: ''Meryem Ana Kilisesi''), also known as '''Blachernae''', '''Vlachernae''', or '''Vlahernon''', is a 7th century Byzantine [[icon]] from Constantinople preserved in the imperial palace of Blachernai. The icon, according to tradition, was not written; rather, it was made from a composition of wax and the ashes of 6th-century [[martyr]]ed Christians.<ref>[[w:Blachernitissa|''Blachernitissa'' at Wikipedia]]</ref> Within the Church, there is only one other icon of this type—see the icon of [[Archangel Michael of Mantamados]]. The icon of ''Blachernitissa'' is currently located in Russia at the Tretyakov Gallery. ==History==
==Churches==
==='''Blachernae, Constantinople'''===
The Church of Panagia Blachernae is near the northern tip of the walls of Theodosios built by the Empress [[Pulcheria the Empress|Pulcheria]] (ca. 450-453), and her husband, Emperor Marcian (450-457). They had the church built oin the site of a sacred spring, which was a place of pilgrimage near the shore of the Golden Horn (known as ''Ayvansaray'' today). Inside is now the best known and most celebrated [http://www.ec-patr.org/afieroma/churches/show.php?lang=en&id=02 shrine of sanctuary to the Holy Virgin Mary in Constantinople]. The circular chapel (the ''Soros''), was built by Emperor Leo I (457-474) next to completed the church to hold [[Protection by adding the "Hagiasma" <ref> the Hagiasma in this case, is the fountain of holy water where water flowed out of the Mother hands of God|the robe]] marble statue of the Virgin Mary, brought from Palestine in 473</ref>. The chapel of He also built the Virgin's robe was covered in silver and considered a "reliquary of architectural dimensions.Hagion Lousma" Lay people were not allowed inside but could pray in the main church.<ref>[http://www.uni-heidelberg.de/subject/hd/fak7/hist/o1/logs/byzans-l/log.started941201/mail-21.html ''ODB''] 3:1929.the Hagion Lousma was a sacred pool where the emperors would participate in a bathing purification ritual</ref> .
Emperor Leo I also built the circular pareklision ''Hagia Soros'' (chapel), next to the church to contain the holy [[Protection of the Mother of God|robe]] and girdle of the Virgin Mary, brought from Palestine in 458 (or 473). The chapel of the Virgin's robe was covered in silver and considered a "reliquary of architectural dimensions." Lay people were not allowed inside but could pray in the main church.<ref>[http://www.uni-heidelberg.de/subject/hd/fak7/hist/o1/logs/byzans-l/log.started941201/mail-21.html ''ODB''] 3:1929.</ref> This very shrine also housed the miracle-working icon of the '''''Blachernitissa'''''. In 625-626, Constantinople was attacked by the Avards. Emperor Heraclius (reigned 610575-41 AD641) campaigned against the Persians, however, the icon was carried in a procession along the city walls and so the saving of the city was attributed to the intervention of the Theotokos. In order to protect the sanctuary, and the city from such a siege, Leo I added the famous quarter of Blachernae in 627, with its venerated church of the ''Blessed Virgin'', whose image was now considered as the palladium of Constantinople. The circumference of the walls were then, and still are, eleven to twelve miles. By 627this stage, the church of Blachernae had around 75 endowed clerics. During the iconoclastic period, and according to tradition,
There was a specific icon, the [[Panagia Hagiosoritissa]], associated with this shrine.<ref>[http://www.uni-heidelberg.de/subject/hd/fak7/hist/o1/logs/byzans-l/log.started941201/mail-21.html ''ODB''] 3:2171.</ref> The church was burnt down in 1070 and rebuilt by the year 1077 either by Romanos IV Diogenes (1067-71) or Michael VII (1071-87) and then destroyed again in 1434. Next to it was a bathhouse where a [[Life-giving Fount of the Theotokos|spring flowed]], and which still flows in the modern church on the site.<ref>[http://www.uni-heidelberg.de/subject/hd/fak7/hist/o1/logs/byzans-l/log.started941201/mail-21.html ''Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium''] (ODB) 1:293; Janin, Eglises CP, 161-71 and the end map entitled "Byzance Constantinople," ref. D2; George P. Majeska, Russian Travelers to Constantinople in the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries, (Washington, D.C.: 1984), 333-337.</ref> From the time of the Patriarch Timotheos [511-18] there was a procession—the "panhgur j"—which would take place every Friday from Blachernai to the [[Church of the Chalkoprateia]], near [[Hagia Sophia]], at the other end of the city.<ref>[http://www.uni-heidelberg.de/subject/hd/fak7/hist/o1/logs/byzans-l/log.started941201/mail-21.html Janin, Eglises CP, 177].</ref>
*Panagia Vlahernon (Corfu, Greece) - 17th century
*[[Panagia Vlahernon Greek Orthodox Monastery (Williston, Florida)]]
==Name ambiguity==
'''''Name ambiguity''''' - There are two places with the name "Blachernae." The first location, and most recognised, is in Constantinople and is spelt with a 'B'. The second, is a municipality in the prefecture of Arta, Greece. It is not so well known and most commonly spelt with a 'V'.
==References==