Mother of God “Comfort” or “Consolation”

Commemorated on January 21 The Vatopedi “Comfort” or “Consolation” Icon of the Mother of God is in the old Vatopedi monastery on Athos, in the church of the Annunciation. It was called “Vatopedi” because, according to Tradition, the son of the emperor Theodosius the Great was saved from drowning near this spot when his ship was wrecked, and here they built the monastery of Vatopedi. In the tenth century a certain hegumen of the monastery, Saint Nilus, was praying before this icon, when he heard a voice from it warning him not to open the gates of the monastery to robbers who intended to plunder the monastery under the guise of merchants. The hegumen looked at the icon and saw that the face of the Mother of God and that of the Infant Christ had come alive, and Her hand was raised as if to stop the hegumen from going to the gate. There was also a voice warning him that pirates were waiting to break into the monastery. Saint Nilus told the other monks what he had seen and heard, and they hurried to the walls and drove off the pirates with stones. In thanksgiving for their deliverance, the monks lit an unquenchable lamp before the icon, and it continues to burn today.