The Icon
of the Glykophilousa

In the days of the Emperor Theophilos the Iconoclast, a certain patrician named Symeon, a member of the Senate, had a pious and virtuous wife who secretly venerated the holy icons, named Victoria. This renowned woman kept in her house the wondrous icon of the Glykophilousa of which we speak; while the impious iconoclasts were then making diligent search everywhere, to find holy icons and deliver them to the fire.

Then the said honourable woman Victoria, pressed by her husband, was compelled to put the holy icon away from her house; and, enlightened from God, she took it in her hands, went down to the nearby shore, and having kissed it with pain of heart and many tears, and having called upon the Lady Theotokos, she set it upon the sea, hoping to receive it again after the frenzy of iconoclasm.

And the holy icon, standing upright, sailed wondrously upon the waters, and having crossed the Sea of Marmara, the Hellespont, and the Aegean, came to harbour at the Holy Mountain, at the port of the holy Monastery of Philotheou — there where the holy spring is found to this day — and it was revealed to its Abbot that he should go down and receive it.

And the Abbot, filled with boundless joy, went down with the rest of the Fathers to the shore in procession; and beholding the wondrous icon flashing with divine light, the Abbot received it into his hands; and when it had come forth from the sea — O the wonder! — water gushed up at the place where the holy Icon first stood, healing of every disease, as is seen to this day; and with psalms and hymns, with lights and incense, they bore it up to the holy Monastery, and set it in the place where it stands to this day.

From that time until now, every year on the Monday of Bright Week, in remembrance of the miracle, a procession and a blessing of the waters is held.

« 1713 — In this holy Monastery there was a devout sacristan named Ioannikios, who came each day and lit the lamps. Coming also before this holy icon, he would say to her: “Why, O Lady, has your grace endowed the other Monasteries of the Mountain with revenues and estates, while this Monastery is left wanting in all things?” One night, worn out, he sat in the stall opposite, and falling asleep he beheld the Lady Theotokos saying to him: “Why, my child Ioannikios, do you trouble me so often? I am the Guardian and Provider of this Monastery in all things.” He awoke trembling, yet full of joy, and running, fell before the holy Icon with tears. »

« 1801 — A stranger who had come to the Monastery for veneration, seeing the gold coins hanging upon the icon, resolved to steal them. He hid in a stall, took the coins, and fled secretly. Going down to the harbour of Iviron, he found a ship ready; he boarded and departed. But having sailed about one mile, the ship stood still — O the wonder! — in the midst of the sea, though a favourable wind was blowing. Two brothers of the Monastery hastened, boarded the ship, and the sacrilegious man, falling at their feet, gave back the coins with tears. »

« 1800 — Devout pilgrims from Thessaloniki were lodging in the guest-house. One of them rose at midnight, and being dizzy from sleep, took the window for a door, and fell from the third storey outside the Monastery upon a heap of stones. As he fell he cried: “Most Holy Theotokos, help me!” And straightway one appeared like a nun, and held him fast. He remained unharmed, and coming to himself, came to the gate of the Monastery. He dedicated his horse to the Monastery, and a silver lamp to the holy icon. »

« The former-Abbot Kallinikos, coming with forty pilgrims from Ainos, was between Lemnos and Imbros when a violent wind arose. All aboard the ship despaired and awaited death. Kallinikos consoled them: take courage in the Lady Theotokos. The rudder strangely fell away and was lost, yet the ship, steered by the Theotokos, came to rest in a sandy and safe place. When day broke, they marvelled at the providence of the Theotokos. They reached the Monastery and kept a threefold feast: of Pascha, of the Annunciation, and of their deliverance from shipwreck. »

A Christian from the town of Ainos had a wife barren and childless for many years. Coming on pilgrimage, he took with him a little oil from the lamp of the holy icon, and on returning he and his wife anointed themselves with reverence — and O the wonder! — that same year the woman conceived and bore a son. In return for the grace, he offered to the Holy Monastery a mule as a gift, confessing openly the wonderworking of the Lady Theotokos Glykophilousa.

This holy icon stands to this day upon the column of the left choir of the Catholicon.