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The Mother of God, blessed by Christ from above, appears to the Saints. The prototype for this icon was painted by order of Prince St Andrew Bogolubsky in memory of his vision of the Virgin. In 1157 he was taking the famous Vladimir Mother of God icon to the Suzdal region. Near Vladimir the horses refused to move on. After much prayer that night the Prince received a vision from the Virgin. She came carrying an open scroll, and told him to leave her icon at Vladimir, and to build a Church on the site of his vision. She then raised her hands to heaven and disappeared. He did as instructed and called the monastery and the city that grew around it ‘Bogolubsk, loved by God’.
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