Panagia Ierosolomytissa – Old Lithograph – Mount Athos

In 1870 after Christ in the monastery of Mary Magdalene on Mount Sinai there is a nun named Tatiani who is a very talented icon painter and is considered one of the best not only in her monastery, but also in the wider area and beyond. One day when Tatiani falls asleep, she sees a very strange dream.

A nun she doesn’t know appears in her cell and insists on painting her. Tatiani replies to the nun that she is a hagiographer and not a painter, so she only knows how to make hagiography in the classical Byzantine style and not portraits. Anyway, he explains to her that she is not interested in painting but only in iconography, so if the nun wanted a portrait of her for some reason, she would have to look elsewhere.

The nun then told her that she wants Tatiani to paint her and that since she is not a painter, she should paint her. Tatiani, wanting to get rid of her, told her that even if she could paint her she couldn’t because she didn’t have wood on which to make the image. The nun replied that this is not a problem and immediately gave her a stick of hagiography.

Tatiani realized that she couldn’t simply “get rid of” the unknown nun, so she took her tools and started working. At that moment, however, the nun’s robes began to shine and Tatiani immediately understood that in front of her was not a human being, but the Virgin Mary! Our Lady told her that she wants Tatiani to be the second person after Luke to paint her. At that moment Tatiani woke up scared and immediately went to the Abbess.

When Tatiani returned with the Abbess to the cell, they immediately noticed a fragrance emerging from behind the door. When they opened the door, they saw an image of the Virgin Mary which depicted her exactly as Tatiani saw her in her dream. The image was therefore unmade. The next day, Tatiani saw the Virgin again in her sleep and asked her to take the icon to her house in Gethimani.

Today, the Virgin Mary of Jerusalem is a Holy Pilgrimage of the Theomitrician monument in Getshimani and is considered particularly miraculous since she has “answered” all kinds of requests of the faithful who visit her.