Our Lady of Sitka
This icon has a special place in the heart of the parishioners of St Michael’s Cathedral as well as the worldwide Orthodox community.
Known as a wonderworking icon, “She” has been taken on tour all over the United States for veneration by groups or gatherings of the Orthodox faithful. Healing miracles have been attributed to the intersession of Our Lady of Sitka.
The Russian iconographer, Vladimir Lukich Borovikovsky, “wrote” this icon of the Virgin of Kazan at the end of the 1700s. He was part of an extended family of iconographers and artists who later became the foremost portrait artist for the court of Catherine the Great in St Petersburg. Borovikovsky was a master of ecclesiastical art and created a pair of icons which were eventually gifted to the newly completed St Michael’s Cathedral in Sitka.
This pair of icons consists of the Virgin and the nearby similar icon of Christ Pantocrator, or Judge, wherein Christ is holding the open Gospel of Matthew. Each icon is covered by a sculpted, silver “riza” allowing only the faces and hands of the painted images beneath to be seen. The contoured shapes of the rizas reveal a Western art influence since they would have been flat traditionally. These two significant, matched icons travelled thousands of miles by land, sea, and other means of transport from St Petersburg to reach their home here in Sitka in the early 1800s.
In this icon, the Mother of God is depicted in the ”Kazan” style wherein both the Mother and Child are facing the venerator. In another style which is sometimes called, Our Lady of Tenderness, the two figures face each other. A third style of the Mother of God is “signs” wherein Our Lady is gesturing to the venerator and the Christ Child may, or may not, be depicted with her. The Mother of God in this Icon often seems to have very different expressions as depicted above.
Many people every year experience miracles after asking the Most Holy Mother of God for her intercessions before her Holy Icon. If you, or someone you know, experienced a miracle involving Our Lady of Sitka, please share your story with us! We will not share it further without your permission.