The image of the Mother of God of Kazan is a small,
16th-century icon that appeared miraculously in Kazan, capital of Tatarstan,
and that became famous for its miracles. The icon disappeared in 1904, most
likely the result of a robbery. During the Russian Revolution of 1917 a
merchant sold it to a collector from Great Britain. It reappeared in the United
States in the 1960s, where it became part of an auction of international art.
In this context, it was purchased by the Blue Army, a Catholic organization of
devotion to the Virgin of Fatima, which gave it to the Pope in 1993. John Paul
II has kept the icon in the chapel of his apartment, waiting for the
opportunity to meet with Patriarch Alexy II to return it. The Patriarch
considers the icon the property of the Russian Orthodox Church. The sacred icon
wwas returned to the Moscow Patriarchate on 28 August 2004, feast of the
Dormition of the Virgin,
according to the Orthodox calendar.
