Description

The depiction of the Kazanskaya is of the Hodegetria (‘She who points the Way’) type. However, the distinctive hand of the Mother of God pointing at the child cannot be seen. The reason is found in the legend in which a peasant girl had a vision that there was an icon on the spot where a church had once gone up in flames. Most of the icon was still intact, only the lower part had been lost, precisely the part with the hands of the Mother of God.