In pious families
The wonderworking icon of the Mother of God, “Helper in Childbirth”, has been venerated by women in labor since ancient times. In the nineteenth century many Russian families had this icon at home. While pregnant and when in pain during labor, women often turn with sincere prayers to the Queen of Heaven, hoping that the One Who gave birth to the Divine Infant without pain is able to deliver them from pain and possible tragedies.
Even in our time, in pious families you can see the icon of the Mother of God, called, “Helper in Childbirth”. In this icon the Mother of God is depicted with Her head uncovered and Her hair loose over Her shoulders, and with Her arms folded on Her chest. Below Her hands is the Infant Christ, Who is in Mary’s womb. This icon resembles the Icon of the “Sign”. There is another icon of the Most Holy Theotokos, “Helper to Wives Giving Birth”. In this icon, the Mother of God is depicted with Her head uncovered and her hair loose over Her shoulders, with Her arms folded on Her chest and the fingers of Her left hand covering up to half of the fingers of Her right hand. Below Her folded arms, the Christ Child appears as if in the womb, with His right hand blessing and His left hand on His knees. The head of the Mother of God is slightly tilted. The entire image is placed on a crescent moon. The icon is clearly of Western origin, but it became widespread in the Russian lands.
The location of the origin of the icon of the Mother of God, “Helper in Childbirth”, is sadly unknown, but there are numerous copies and new versions of this icon in many Russian churches and the homes of believers. The book by Archbishop Methodius, On the Miracle of the Renewal of the Holy Icons, describes such an occurrence: “In early November 1924 in the village of Kisykor (China) a widow named Iulitta Savelyevna Mashukova had an icon of the Mother of God, called ‘Helper in Childbirth’. The icon was acquired by the great-grandmother of Mashukova’s daughter-in-law, Claudia Evtifeyevna, and was passed down from mothers to daughters as a blessing for marriage. Thus, it was passed on to Claudia Evtifeyevna. According to a rough estimate, the icon is over 100 years old. Before renewing itself, the icon had turned completely black. The outlines of the faces of the Mother of God and the Divine Infant could barely be discerned on scrutiny, and the foil riza covering the icon had lost its luster and turned black too.
“And so, in the last days of October 1924, the daughter-in-law noticed that the riza on the icon had begun to lighten, and the outlines of the faces were becoming much clearer. She did not hesitate to share this with her husband and mother, and her husband reacted to her words with extreme distrust, expressing it in the words: ‘Wait for it to renew itself!’ After this conversation day after day all of them became more and more convinced of the truth of the daughter-in-law’s observations. The appearance of the icon changed—the riza became more and more brilliant, the outlines of the faces became clearer, and finally on November 3, the renewal was completed. The faces of the Mother of God and the Infant Christ are clear, and the riza has a silver luster. The icon is painted on thick paper, apparently lithographed; the kind of lithography is unknown.”1
The Book of the faithful’s gratitude
The revealed wonderworking copy of the Icon of the Mother of God, “Helper in Childbirth”, is kept at the Cathedral of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in the town of Serpukhov near Moscow. High on a hill, visible from everywhere around, the Cathedral of St. Nicholas the “White” dominates the town. This church on Kaluzhskaya Street has a long and checkered history, which testifies to the special love of the townspeople for it. Initially, the church was wooden, as is written in the documents of the sixteenth and the early seventeenth centuries. However, in 1649 it became Serpukhov’s first stone church, which is where it got its name, “Nicholas the White”. But less than 100 years later, it was rebuilt again. The initiator of this was a local clerk of the Zemstvo (local government), Mikhail Popov, who wrote in 1721: “And now, according to my promise, I have built a stone church in place of the dilapidated one and made the roofline of the church accordingly.”2
The Cathedral of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, Serpukhov
The church was consecrated. But in 1831, the reconstruction design of the church building was drawn up again. And the church of St. Nicholas the White, built in 1835–1857, became an excellent example of the Moscow imperial style.
After the Revolution of 1917, the church was given the status of a cathedral by the holy Patriarch Tikhon of Moscow, and the venerated shrines of closed churches were kept in it, in particular the icon of the Mother of God, “The Inexhaustible Cup”, from Vladychny Convent (in honor of the Entry of the Mother of God into the Temple) of Serpukhov. However, the Cathedral of St. Nicholas the White shared the destiny of many churches in Serpukhov—in 1929 it was closed, and its icons were burned. Hostility toward the Church, blasphemously fostered in people by the new Government, made itself felt—the icon of St. Nicholas on the outer wall of the church was constantly vandalized. But, as residents of nearby houses recalled, every time the next morning the icon of the holy wonderworker renewed itself, showing God’s power and foretelling a new lease of life for the desecrated cathedral.
On the eve of the millennium of the Baptism of Rus’, the Cathedral of St. Nicholas the White had the reputation of being an outstanding architectural monument. And, by the grace of God, in 1995 it was returned to the faithful. And during the stay of His Holiness Patriarch Alexei II of Moscow and All Russia in Serpukhov, the town administration handed the keys to the church to the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church.
We have given the history of this church because it houses the only wonderworking copy of the icon of the Mother of God, “Helper in Childbirth”, in Russia. The Book the Faithful’s Gratitude testifies to how much merciful help the Mother of God gives people through this icon. The dean of St. Nicholas Cathedral, Archpriest Vladimir Andreyev (1958–2021), compiled an akathist hymn to this icon, which is read at prayer services. Here is his narrative about the appearance of the wonderworking copy of the icon of the Most Holy Theotokos, “Helper in Childbirth”:
“In 1993, during Lent, I was giving Communion to an old woman at home. And when she learned that I served in a newly opened parish, she asked her granddaughter to bring down an icon of the Mother of God from their attic and gave it to me. Dark, covered in cobwebs and layers of dust, with a sooty riza, it was like the many thousands of icons that were ‘stored’ in attics during the years of atheism. The type of the icon was unknown to me, and it was only when I cleared the frame and the image that I involuntarily gasped with surprise—the icon was called ‘Helper in Childbirth’.
The “Helper in Childbirth” mosaic on the wall of the Cathedral of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in Serpukhov
“I remembered my wife’s first childbirth: Her water broke at night, an ambulance was called, and only a day later the hectic stimulation of childbirth by doctors began, and sepsis—widespread in our hospital, and the death of our baby. A few years later, the second birth: My wife was in the ICU, while I spent six months alone at home with our infant in my arms. And I prayed: clumsily, in my own words, but fervently and boldly, because I implored God to save two lives: of my wife and daughter. I did not make any vows, intuitively believing that the Lord does not fulfill our prayers in return for any promises, but solely through His mercy and love for us. Later, when my prayer to the Lord became thanksgiving, I suddenly discovered that I had a daily need for communion with God—that is, to pray and know God.
“This is how I came to the Church. And the time of my priestly ordination almost coincided with my entering the first grade at school. She started learning to read and write, while I started to serve God.
“Looking at the Icon of the Mother of God, ‘Helper in Childbirth’, I composed a real akathist hymn to it and now, after a long time, I still marvel at how I managed to do it in just two evenings. At first, I read the akathist at home. But one day a woman came to our church in tears—her daughter was supposed to have an operation at that time. The doctors told her that in order to save the life of the mother in labor, intrauterine excision (the killing of the fetus) was required; and her daughter was in a late term of pregnancy. The woman and I read the akathist in front of the holy icon, and to my joy, she came back in the evening, shining with happiness: the lives of both the mother and the baby had been saved. After that miracle I decided to show the akathist to our ruling hierarch at that time, Metropolitan Juvenaly of Krutitsy and Kolomna. After suggesting some amendments, Vladyka blessed the akathist to be read in our church. From that day on, every Saturday we celebrate a prayer service with the reading of the akathist and the Blessing of the Waters in front of this holy icon.
“Unfortunately, we did not keep any records of the effects of prayer services until recently, but here are two of the most memorable cases that occurred in the families of my acquaintances.
“Galina and Igor. Six miscarriages, and the seventh pregnancy was not promising. Galina’s mother, now reposed, resigned from her position as a senior nurse at an abortion clinic where legalized infanticide is committed. The whole family confessed, took Communion, we celebrated a prayer service, and for the rest of her pregnancy Galina drank holy water after services of intercession to the Mother of God. Their daughter Anna is now five years old!
“Svetlana and Vladimir. He came to our church on building matters (the church was being restored) and on that day (it was Friday) he was dejected. It turned out that the examination had shown that his wife Svetlana’s baby had an abnormal position in her womb—a breech position, and on Monday she was to go to the hospital. I persuaded Vladimir to come with his wife to our prayer service on Saturday morning. And after the Saturday prayer service, on Monday, I saw them again, joyfully stunned—Svetlana had been examined at hospital and sent home because the fetus had turned over itself! I asked the chief physician of the Serpukhov maternity hospital, Vladimir Irsenovich Kim, about this case, and he just spread his hands. Wondrous are Thy works, O Lord!”
The Book of thanks is truly a prayerful sigh of relief from our people who are desperate, dying out, but not giving up in penitent tears and immeasurable love for Her Who pities and protects the Russian nation. We stand on that and we will never disappear from the face of the earth. Here we offer readers only several stories of grace-filled help of the Mother of God (it is simply impossible to describe everything).
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Nikishova, Nina Ivanovna:
“Through the prayers of Fr. Vladimir, a miracle occurred at the wonderworking icon, ‘Helper in Childbirth’: my granddaughter Polina was born. There was a one hundred percent rejection of the fetus, and before that there had been two miscarriages. Glory to Thee, our God! Glory to Thee! And to our Mother, our Most Holy Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary! There is no limit to our happiness.”
Inozemtseva, Irina Ivanovna:
“Lord, glory to Thee, glory to Thee! Mother of God, I thank Thee! Through the prayers of Fr. Vladimir, through the help of God and the wonderworking icon of the Mother of God, ‘Helper in Childbirth’, we now have a grandson. We had been waiting for him for eight years. Glory to Thee, O God! Glory to Thee!”
Maria from Serpukhov:
“I have no words to describe everything. I have big problems with my son. I’ve been attending church for several years, ordering commemorations for forty Liturgies for my son’s health, and reading akathists. I pray to the Lord and the Most Holy Theotokos every day. And one day in a dream the Most Holy Theotokos appeared to me. I was standing in front of Her, exhausted from suffering. She illuminated me with Her gaze and said, ‘Maria, I’ll help you.’ I couldn’t immediately identify what icon it was, so I went to all the churches in Serpukhov, searching for the icon of the Mother of God that I had seen in my dream. And when I came to the Church of St. Nicholas the White (I love it very much; Fr. Vladimir baptized my son here many years ago and then baptized his own son), I saw the icon of the Theotokos, ‘Helper in Childbirth’. I lit a candle in front of it. I stood there, prayed tearfully, and felt better. I hope and believe that the Most Holy Theotokos will help me. Glory to Thee our God!”
Luneva Maria Sergeyevna from Moscow:
“I want to express my deepest gratitude. My prayer to the Most Holy Theotokos was answered, and my request was miraculously fulfilled. I am forty-five, and my son is seven months old. I became pregnant after many years of complicated treatment, and all the doctors had unanimously warned me about possible abnormalities in the development of the baby and kept saying that I would definitely have a caesarean. At the very beginning of my pregnancy, in February 2005, I turned to the Icon, ‘Helper in Childbirth’. I can only say one thing: my pregnancy was so easy that I did not register at a women’s clinic because I needed medical aid, but just to observe the existing rules. And my delivery was so quick and correct that the doctors canceled the scheduled C-section. My son was born on his own, perfectly healthy and very handsome. I can’t find appropriate words of gratitude to express all my feelings. O most Holy Mother of God, glory to Thee!”3
There are many obstetricians and gynecologists among the parishioners of St. Nicholas Cathedral in Serpukhov, some of whom openly say that when medicine seems to be powerless, it often helps to turn to the Mother of God. In our time, the Icon of the Mother of God, “Helper in Childbirth”, is still housed at the Cathedral of St. Nicholas the White, where prayer services with the Blessing of the Waters are held on Saturdays in front of the wondrous icon, and the Mother of God’s unceasing help to all who flock to Her with faith continues.
