Travel icon depicting the Mother of Consolation, 19th century

Bronze casting

Height × Width: 13 × 8 cm Weight: 126.2 g.

Tradition traces the origin of the cult to the miraculous rescue from a shipwreck of the son of Theodosius I, Arcadius, attributed to the intervention of the Virgin Mary. At the site where Arcadius was found, on Vatopedi Beach near Mount Athos, Patriarch Nektarios erected a sanctuary and placed the icon of the Otrada, which served as a model for copies later sent to Russia. Moreover, at the top of the scene, God the Father emerges from the clouds, surmounted by a host of cherubim. This object belongs to the group of icons of the Russian Old Believers, mass-produced from the 17th century onward and characterized by strict adherence to the canons of Byzantine tradition. These objects, often made of bronze and sometimes enriched with colored enamels, were generally small in size and intended for private devotion. Their portability allowed them to be easily carried and, if necessary, concealed, thus meeting the religious needs of a community that, after the schism known as the Raskol, endured periods of persecution by the official Russian Orthodox Church.