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The [[icon]] '''Panagia Portaitissa''' ("She who resides by the door" or "Keeper of the gate") also known as ''Theotokos Iverskaya'', and more recently the ''Iveron Mother of God'', is a wonder-working icon of the [[Theotokos]] that was, according to traditions, painted by the [[Apostle]] and [[Evangelist]] [[Saint]] [[Apostle Luke|Luke]].

This icon is considered to be the most famous and most revered miraculous icon icon of the [[Theotokos]] on the [[Mount Athos|Holy Mountain]] <ref> The official icon of for [[Mount Athos]] is the [[Panagia Axion Estin]], however, this icon is the most popular</ref>. It is a pre-[[iconoclasm|iconoclastic]] Byzantine icon, with dimensions of 1.37 x 0.94 m. The entire icon is encased by an 1819 gold and silver shirt covering the entire icon except for the faces. The most unique characteristic of the image is what appears to be a scar on the chin of the Virgin.

This is the most famous and most revered miraculous icon of the [[Theotokos]] on the Holy Mountain. In During the 9th century, during the reign of [[Theophilus the Iconoclast]], it this icon was the personal property of a devout widow from [[Nicea]] <ref> This town in Asia Minorno longer exists, who kept it and honored it but in her private [[chapel]]. The emperor's men who heard of this decided not to carry out immediately the order about icons, but tried to blackmail its rich owner. In the time which they gave her to collect it was the money they demanded, the widow took venue for two Ecumenical Councils; the icon and her dearly loved son andfirst, after fervent prayer, took it to the sea and left it on which composed the surface first eight articles of the wavesNicean Creed, so that it should not be defiled by the iconoclasts. The icon stood upright on the water and began to head towards the westseventh, while which reinstituted the widow's sonveneration of icons after a lengthy struggle with the iconoclast heresy, following her advice, also fled towards which had erroneously equated the west veneration of icons to escape persecutionidol worship. Later he became a [[monk]] and died on the north-east coast of Mount Athos near or </ref> in the [[Monastery]] of Clement (now [[Iviron Monastery (Athos)|Iviron Monastery]])Asia Minor, who kept it and so the honored it in her private [[anchoritechapel]]s round about heard from him the story of the icon.

It was during the reign of the iconoclast Byzantine emperor Theophilus that soldiers came to the house of the widow. One eveningof the soldiers struck the Icon with his sword, when monks and immediately blood began to flow from Georgia the gashed cheek of the Virgin. Shaken by this miracle, the soldier instantly repented, renounced the iconoclast heresy, and entered a monastery. On his advice, the widow concealed the Icon in order to avert its further desecration.  After praying for guidance before the Icon, the widow put the Holy Image into the sea. The icon did not sink and stood upright on the water and began to drift towards the west, while the widow's son, following her advice, also fled towards the west to escape persecution. Later he became a [[monk]] and died on the north-east coast of Mount Athos near or in the [[Monastery]] of Clement (now [[w:Caucasian IberiaIviron Monastery (Athos)|Caucasian IberiansIviron Monastery]]) . There he recounted the story of how his mother had started set the Holy Icon upon the waves, and this story hes been handed down from one generation of monks to live at another.  Many years later, the Icon made its appearance on the Monastery of ClementHoly Mountain. According to Athonite tradition, an amazing phenomenon puzzled all the monks of the Iveron area: a column of fire stood upright on the sea and reached to the heavens. This At that time the holy monk Gabriel was one of the brotherhood in this monastery. The Mother of God appeared to him in a vision continued and directed him to convey to the abbot and brothers of the monastery that She wished them to have Her Icon as their help and salvation. She told Gabriel to be seen for several daysapproach the Icon on the waters without fear and take it with his hands. Obedient to the words of the Mother of God, says Athonite tradition, Gabriel "walked upon the waters as though upon dry land, " took up the Icon and brought it back to the shore. The icon was then brought into the monastery and placed in the altar.  Nevertheless, after its reception and installation in the [[church]], the icon repeatedly disappeared and was found above the gate of the monastery on the inside. In a dream, the Blessed Virgin told St. Gabriel that this was the place which she herself had chosen, so that she could protect the monks saw and not be protected by them. Thus the icon adrift has taken the name of "Portaitissa" and to this day its presence in the monastery and on the Holy Mountain is regarded as a guarantee of the protection of Athonite [[monasticism]] by the Theotokos. Later, a chapel was built near the wall of the monastery in which the icon was placed, while the old entrance was closed and a grander one was built.  The [[miracle]]s performed by the Portaitissa are unnumbered, and are celebrated especially on [[August 15]] and on Monday of [[Bright Week]], when there is a procession and the finding of the icon is commemorated with a [[liturgy]] in the chapel on the shore, at the exact spot where St. Gabriel took it out of the sea. They made their supplications  == Recent History ==The traditional name for this icon has always been the "Portaitissa" but in more recent times the Icon has come to be known as the "Iveron" Mother of God that , in connection with the name of the monastery, by the American and Russian communities. In 1648, news of this priceless treasure should wonder-working Icon reached Russia through pilgrims who had visited Mt. Athos. The [[List of primates of Russia|Patriarch]] [[Nikon of Moscow|Nikon of Moscow]], while he was still [[Archimandrite]] of [[Novospassky Monastery]], commissioned an exact copy of the Iviron icon to be given made and sent to themRussia. Almost immediately upon its arrival on [[October 13]], the icon was glorified with numerous miracles attributed to it by the faithful. The [[Iverskaya Chapel]] was built in 1669 to enshrine the icon next to the Kremlin walls in Moscow. The chapel was the main entrance to Red Square and traditionally everyone, from the Theotokos appeared Tsar down to the devout anchorite Gabriel lowest peasant would stop there tovenerate the icon before entering the square. After the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, the chapel was destroyed by the Iberian Bolsheviks and bade him the fate of the icon is unknown to walk on this day. Another newer version of the famous Portaitissa is the [[Myrrh]]-streaming icon from Montreal in Canada. For fifteen years, between 1982 and 1997, myrrh continually flowed from this Icon. Brother [[José Muñoz-Cortes]] <ref> [http://www.yalchicago.org/Portaitissa_Miracle_Icon.html Brother Jose Muñoz Cortez], Guardian of the Hawaiian Myrrh-Streaming Icon of the water Mother of God, was murdered in Athens by a young Romanian man who had asked Br. Jose for assistance in obtaining permission to travel to Canada.</ref> devoted himself to take the care and protection of this icon , and to give accompanied it on numerous trips to parishes all over the United States and Canada, South America, Australia, and Europe.  In 2007, another copy of the Montreal Myrrh-Streaming Iveron Icon began streaming Myrrh at the Russian Orthodox Church in Hawaii. <ref>[http://www.orthodoxhawaii.org/icons.html The Myrrh-Streaming Icons of Hawaii]</ref>  Several [[feast day]]s during the [[abbotliturgical year]] and brethren celebrate a few of the monasterythese miracles.

== Contemporary miracle Notes ==* [http:<small><references/></www.yalchicago.org/Portaitissa_Miracle_Icon.html Brother Jose Muñoz Cortez, Guardian of the Hawaiian Myrrh-Streaming Icon of the Mother of God] == See also ==*[http://www.macedonian-heritage.gr/Athos/MonasteryImages/iveron/PAREKKLISI.html Chapel of Panagia Portaitissa of the Monastery of Iveron]small>

==Sources==