Anna’s recollections
On the 6th of November 2003 the following report appeared in our local newspaper:
Vatican City
Pope meets Putin, doesn’t get invited to Russia
From a correspondent in Vatican City
POPE John Paul II met Russian President Vladimir Putin today, and while he made a gesture in the hope of improving relations with the Russian Orthodox Church, he didn’t get an invitation to visit Russia in return.
The Pope has made improving relations with the Orthodox Church a priority of his papacy, but his long-sought dream of visiting Russia has been blocked by the Russian Orthodox Church, which is wary of advances by Catholics since the fall of communism.
In a gesture of reconciliation, the pontiff had his aides bring into the Vatican Library for the meeting an icon revered by Russian believers, the icon of the Mother of God of Kazan, which usually hangs in his private chapel.
Putin watched as the Pope blessed the icon, and then the Russian leader himself kissed it, Vatican interpreters said.
The Pope then said: “I want to thank President Putin for everything he has done to bring the Russian Orthodox and Catholic Churches closer together, and for peace in the world,” according to Russian reporters who were in the room.
The Pope has said he wants to return the icon as a gift to the Russian people, but he didn’t give it to Putin to take home.
The Vatican said both the Pope and Putin expressed the hope for a “positive development” in relations between the Holy See and Moscow. But an official Vatican statement made no mention of any possible papal visit.
Between 1953 and 1965, the Black Virgin of Kazan hung in the home of Anna Mitchell Hedges for all to see and admire. Hers was an open house as is her life; full of adventure, color, drama, sadness, happiness but above all absolute loyalty to the things she believed in with all her heart. This is her story of the Icon remembered from letters and articles… told in her own words.
A private home, an open museum
“Over the years I have entertained thousands of visitors from all walks of life. My home has always been open to those who needed to see and touch some of the very precious and historical things that I and been so fortunate to have come through my hands. I have given hundreds of interviews in support of books, radio and television programs, but in all this I have found that the truth as given from my lips has been rarely reported accurately… few actually listen with a clear crystal mind. People want to believe what they want to believe. Behind every single “personal” event there are thousands of stories all telling their own tale.
So now when “at last” in my life I have found the time to unpack everything and to have a read-through of much of my correspondence; I can remember so much more than what was first told. Reliving each emotion as if it were happening right now is in itself is another adventure. I can never tell you the whole truth only how I see and remember it through my eyes and feelings. So for the time being see and feel this through me and then form your own visions but… Don’t try to destroy or change mine… that you could never do!
So much has happened in ours lives and by saying “our” I mean my late father “F A Mitchell Hedges (d.1959) and myself. There is just not enough time to tell it all. So with the help from a few close friends I have embarked on the journey to open a web information page so I can put it all down for you to read and form your own opinions but mine will be as true to me as they day they were born. I cannot make you fully hold or feel the vast adventures and thrills that passed through our lives. Like us all we can only read, imagine and know what we ourselves have the capacity “to imagine”.
This will be a glance… a section of my own personal views on the Icon with links to quotes and references to personal correspondence that both my father and I wrote and received from the time the Icon came into our lives and how it went out into the public domain… where we always wanted it to go.
We believe this Icon is the Black Virgin of Kazan which went missing in 1917 during the Russian revolution. We don’t know whether it was secretly hidden, sold or stolen. All we know it went missing and there have been a lot of stories to support all sorts of theories. So first let me give you the history of the Icon as we know it from experts and the historical accounts.
The mystery begins
On the 15th April 1953 my father was approached by letter from a business friend who was negotiating the purchase of a collection of great historical and artistic value. It was initially refereed to as “The Louis Tussaud’s Collection”. This may have been because part of the collection had been on display in Blackpool’s (UK) wax works museum for a period of 20 years… as we understand.
My father was at the time a collector and dealer in fine antique silver and as this collection did not accommodate anything of this nature he was not initially interested. But… the correspondence persistently continued for several months as the buyers of the collection were keen to make good their purchase by offering various pieces to well know art collectors.
Most of the collection was in small items but there were three which were in themselves “outstanding”: the Icon (as yet not fully unidentified); a copy of the book “Mein Kampf”, which was hand made and reputed to have cost at the time £150 per page. Measured 13”x11” in an excellent binding but the pages were stained with blood. It was “the book” used by the top Nazi party leaders to swear a blood oath to the allegiance to all the beliefs contain in the book… Namely the ideals of the Third Reich. Their oaths were sealed in the blood of the pure Aryan race… Another icon if you would like to see it as such. The third item was a magnificent jeweled sword. That I have no knowledge of.
At this stage there was a great interest from many quarters including a possible interest from the then Russian government in power at the time (1954). Many industrialists and people in high political ranking were secretly vying to see what this wonderful treasure was and whether it was genuine or not? With the view to a safe investment or political subtle gain! There were discussions of splitting all the gems on the Icon and selling them off privately…
On the 25th Sept. 1953 a memorandum of sale was drawn up selling the Icon to Anna Mitchell Hedges… myself. Although the Icon was negotiated by my father it was actually paid for by myself. I had recently returned from S.E Africa where I had sold a large fishing and game reserve called “The Estuary” in St Lucia after having just finished one of our expeditions. After a year there I came back to England to look after my father and I put The Estuary under management. It was sold it in the early 1950’s. Part of that money went to pay for the Icon.
It becomes a very dark and whispering world when such a purchase of the Icon happens… When people are not privy to the real truth, gossips starts. Suddenly all sorts of rumors started to dart here and there and usually are so speculative and inaccurate that they do not deserve the time of day.
Here is a transcript from one of my father’s letters just 2 days after we had taken full possession of the Icon.
Dated 27th Sept. 1953
“I am quite glad the deal concluded quite happily for the Icon ‘though I must admit it has caused me a terrible lot of trouble. As I expect you have been told the Grand duchess Zenia I think her name is, and Princes Ludenderff were most anxious to see it and wanted me to take it straight away down to Hampton Court Palace (King Henry VIII palace London) to show it to them and to Lady Tredeger. I told them it was not for sale at any price. We could not get anything but a slow train to Reading until the 9.50 express so we decided to have dinner in London. Not certain where to go at ten minutes to seven I rang up the Savoy and asked them to keep a table for us. The most astonishing thing happened I have ever known. We none of us spoke to a soul yet when we arrived at the Savoy we were told that The Daily Mail were waiting for us, complete with photographers. We were escorted into a private room with a detective and told all about it.
Somebody, who I cannot tell you, must have supplied this information ‘though I cannot understand and how they knew we were going to the Savoy, and informed the Daily Mail that I paid £75.000 for it. I neither denied or confirmed this after all neither you nor I want to know what one buys or pays for something.
The Icon was guarded and when we left the detective had a cab waiting in readiness and escorted us to do it and we arrived home safely. I should think you are thanking goodness you have got rid of it.”
Another account of this meeting at Hampton court from Anna’s recounted notes dictated to her secretary in 1960.
“One day seven years ago Miss Mitchell-Hedges and her father agreed to take he icon to Wilderness House in the grounds of Hampton Court Palace: the home in exile of the aged Grand Duchess Zenia, sister of the last Czar of Russia. (Grand Duchess Zenia Alexandrovna eldest sister of Czar Nicolas II d 20th April 1960 aged 85)They expected a small informal occasion. Instead when they arrived, they found awaiting them a large assembly of Russian nobility priests and sisters: about 200 altogether in a small rooms,“It was a very moving occasion” she recalls “I shall never forget it” Tears streamed down the face of the Grand Duchess at the sight of the link with her far-off days as a little girl in Russia“It was pathetic.” I could not bear to remain in the room. But it was wonderful that I had been able to bring her a little Joy”The Black Virgin of Kazan says the first of the many traditional stories about it, was found miraculously in 1679.Was this the same icon that moved the Grand Duchess to tears almost four centuries later?Simple to ask: incredibly difficult to answers even for experts who have spent years exploring the labyrinthine maze of historical clues.
Uncovering history
From this moment we started to look more deeply into the Icon’s history and why it is so important to the Russian Orthodox Church. We knew we had bought a valuable Icon but which one? And why hadn’t the Russian government seized the opportunity for this item being sold at the time… There were now more questions than answers! The intrigue was beginning to create whispers in all sorts of directions.
Taken from notes at the time… Looking into the history of the Icon…
That first story is the simplest: A soldier’s young daughter in Kazan (on the Volga, halfway between Moscow and Sverdiovsk saw two visions in the snows in the courtyard of her father’s house, lay an icon of The Mother of God, emitting rays of light as bright as the suns.
She heard a voice, directing her to tell the monks of a nearby church what she had seen.
And so, says tradition the precious icon was found; and became the centre of veneration of the Russian Church. It was supposed to cure blindness: later, it was credited with the retreat of Napoleon from the gates of Moscow.
Is this the same one? The experts wish they knew.
The trouble, they say, is common to many another Russian treasures a gap in its history during the unsettled years after the revolution. Precious objects released by the Bolsheviks passed through many hands within short time. It has became impossible to say which or from where they originally came.
Miss Mitchell-Hedge’s icon is supposed once to have belonged to Goering. One of its former owners once exhibited it among that booths and sideshows of Blackpool’s “Golden Mile”.
Veteran Matton Garden diamond Merchant Mr. Norman Weitz may well have seen it in Russia when he went there after the revolution on behalf of a syndicate backed by the late Mr. Solly Joel, the South African millionaire.
Mr. Weitze spent £1.000, 000 buying antiques released by the Bolsheviks: among them many of the Russian Grown Jewels and about 250 icons.
“Icons are impossibly confusing” he says now, “Russia was in such a turmoil at that time that it was almost impossible to say which area any of them came from,
Most had some kind of icons and rich families had quite elaborate ones.
Five years ago detailed notes about the icon’s history were compiled by Mr. Cyril G E Bunt author of a book on Russia art and 49 years on the staff of London Victoria and Albert Museum. (See
- Chronology
.)
“Experts will agree” he wrote, that it is the work of a great icon painter of the 16th century… the pigments and the wood of the panel are perfectly preserved as exhaustive X-ray tests have proved, and have mellowed with age.
“The total value of its gems with their precious settings must be great.. historical and artistic values apart.”
His verdict was that this is a precious copy of the original miraculous icon that it was carried by Prince Pozharski during his march on Moscow with his Nationalist Army in 1612.
A copy he added that had been credited with miraculous powers in its own right as when, in 1737 it was supposed to have arrested flames that threatened a Moscow church and Convent.
Letters…
A series of letters between F A Mitchell-Hedges and Metropolitan Anastassy
- (President of the Synod of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia)
Between 1953 and 1957, we were living at Farley Castle near Reading in England. Not a week passed without an entourage of common men and women, dignitaries, Archbishops, bishops, priests, nuns of all denominations that came to see the Icon. We were in a constant state of entertaining the many guests that came to the house. All were treated in the same way… with courtesy and helpfulness. Each person no matter how important or humble came for its own reason and had its own story to tell… Neither my father nor I ever sought pry too deep in anyone’s personal need to be near the Icon. Through those years we knew how important it was to so many people that we sought to make sure it went back to Russia when the time was right. That has always been our first consideration.
During these years my father’s health was becoming “a cause for concern”… we sold Farley Castle and bought a house beside the sea at Shaldon in Devon (UK). Over the years of expeditions and adventuring my father had sustained several knife cuts, five bullet wounds and two bouts of malaria plus a recurring stomach inflection he picked up whilst we were in East Africa which it nearly cost him his life.
All through this time we both were in a quandary as to how we were going to return the Icon to its rightful home in Russia whilst there was still a communist government there! My father had grown very fond of this little jewel and knew like the Crystal Skull he was only a caretaker looking after it on behalf of an unseen vitality. We had received numerous very attractive offers from many parties over the years to sell it but we knew like most things it would “possibly” end up in a private collection or in a bank vaults so nobody would be able to see it… Our whole lives have been about allowing people to experience and share in the miracles of life in its full adventure.
“Father” passed away peacefully in his sleep in Shaldon on June 12 1959; a day I will never forget. He was 77 and had lived a very full life as you will read throughout this web site.
So the Icon and the Skull were now left to me to deal with… I sold Shaldon and moved back to Oxfordshire and set about putting into operation a way that I could pass on the Icon to its rightful owners…
More years passed……
Preparing the return home
It was decided in 1962 to set up a “foundation” to help the Icon and the Russian people in exile (they have no money), and in June 1962 sister Mary Loyola, who is the head of the History Department at the College of Holy Names commenced writing an independent history of the Icon which agrees with the one already done in this Country, for this purpose. Frank Dorland took the Icon to The Unites States to initiate all the ground work that would get things started.
Photographs (true color prints) were done to help with finance and arrangements made for the Convent of Our Lady of Vladimir to handle distribution of the pictures to the Russian Churches and Communities everywhere. In this way the Russian’s themselves are throwing their full support into the Icon project. These are being solely to help defray expenses for the setting up of the foundation, legal work etc. On the reverse side to the photo print of Virgin and Child is a brief history of the Virgin of Kazan also in Russian, the prayers used at the services held at the Convent of our Lady of Vladimir and a beautifully worded English translation of the Troparion through the courtesy of Mr. Jon Gregson.
Also in June, Mother Ariadno head of the Convent of Our Lady of Vladimir had a special service and requested they might borrow the Icon. That evening the Icon was taken from the bank vaults in San Francisco by armored car to the church where the seals were broken and the Icon given to Mother Ariadno. There vas about 1,200 people present, and they had a procession completely around the church with flower girls strewing flowers in the path, and stopping and holding the Icon up at certain points.
The Icon was then taken into the church which was absolutely packed and everyone was holding candles. The service took a little over an hour, and then it took another hour and a half so that everybody could pass individually up to the Icon and touch the glass front. After touching the case the priest would draw a cross on their forehead most beautiful, impressive and sincere.
There was another procession back to the armored car and all started to sing as the car moved away with a well resealed Icon. Mother Ariadno said “God Bless Miss Mitchell-Hedges for sending the Icon over”.
On November 4th 1962, for the first time since 1917, the Icon was used in a service on her feast day in the Russian Orthodox church. This service also included a requiem observance in Memory of those who lost their lives because of communism, The occasion for the part of November 4th ceremonies was the 40th anniversary of the start of the Bolshevik revolution which occurred on November 7th, 1917.
A proclamation was issued by the Mayor of San Francisco, the Honorable George Christopher as follows:
“Recognizing the importance of the occasion when the miraculous Icon of Kazan is used in Public worship in San Francisco I join the people of the Russian Orthodox faith in prayers for the ultimate restoration of complete freedom to enslaved peoples everywhere.These services in which the Icon will be used for the first time since 1917, are of great significance both for the members of your faith and for San Francisco. It’s uses here symbolizes your steadfast dedication which as done so much to enrich our country as well as your own lives.I am confidant that Sunday’s services of commemoration, thanksgiving and intercession will reflect the Christian spirit which will burn brightly in the hearts of the Russian people. May your prayers bring then comfort and strength the”(sgd) George Christopher mayor
The work continues
The Rev. Michael Sokolov recently returned from Paris conducted this service with Father Leonid Kaspersky and Father Strumer. Gregory Bologoff the center chairman also participated.
After many meetings between Mr. Dorland (art restorer), the Archbishop John and other heads of church it was definitely resolved to purchase the Icon and also at the same time to build a Shrine for her to be known as the “Shrine of Our Lady of Kazan and will be of the Novgorod of architecture which will hold approximately 300 people. This is being erected in San Francisco until such time as the Russian people feel they would like to take the Icon back to Moscow. She will be enshrined there as a symbol of Christian Ideals.
The people concerned now in the negotiations are Mr. Dorland (the Conservator of Art) Mr. Jules Howard, International Jewel Expert and Mr. Hennessy Secretary of the Californian Agricultural Committee.
Another important link in the chain is a secretary from the Russians from New York named, Countess Tolstoy a relative of the author. She handles and coordinates information from various factions of the church
To speed the process of raising funds the church is planning and sponsoring a rapid tour of the Icon to some of the major cities in the United States to show to church leaders and also raise funds at the same time. Mr.Dorland has been told that the Kennedy private plane will be placed at their disposal for the purpose of the Icon as soon as Mr. Jack Kennedy had been given all the details .
Recently the request of the church who were having a rather special meeting Mr. Hennessy took the Icon to New York and was royally received. He was away a week and had a special guard with him constantly, and the Icon traveled in a special case and was handcuffed to Mr. Hennessy, locked and sealed. It was to get the blessing of all church dignitaries who might not be together again for some years.., even the representatives and archbishops from Japan were there…also of course the Syrian, Greek and Russian Orthodox churches.
Mr. Hennessy with the aid of the church and attorneys has set up a separate bank account for the Icon, and money has started to come. This will also be controlled by audit.
This is an accurate description of major happenings to date, but it is a most wonderful and satisfying feeling that the wish of all the people concerned… The Grand Duchess… Miss Mitchell-Hedges…. Mr. Dorland… Mr. Jules Howard is being granted and that once more the Icon will be enshrined in her own setting. Dated 1962
During this period from 1962 I was beseeched on many fronts to sell the Icon to various private parties at a much higher price than what was agreed with the religious parties, but the die had been cast and it was my father’s wish and mine that it would go back to the Russian Orthodox Church.
The handling in this delicate transaction was given to the art restorer Frank Dorland who in hindsight seemed to have his own agenda and was playing both sides against the middle. Because the Icon had been defrayed during its disappearance from 1917 to 1933; some of the jewels had been removed and obviously sold to support who ever needed that money at the time. Frank Dorland was to restore the Icon and be the go between myself and the buyers.
The road to success?
On the March 25, 1963, the Honorable George Christopher Mayor writes to John Shahovskoy. Archbishop of San Francisco and Western United States initiating the purchase of the Icon:
Copy Archbishop of San Francisco and Western United States
2040 Anza Street
San Francisco 18 CalifHonorable George Christopher Mayor,March 25, 1963.
City and County of San Francisco,
City Hall,
San Francisco
Calif.My Dear Mayor Christopher,I am writing to ask an appointment with you for me and a small committee I have appointed to discuss our plans for purchasing the holy Icon The Virgin of Kazan and enshrining it in San Francisco. I feel that your advice and counsel would be of great assistance to us, and that after learning more of this opportunity that has been presented to us, there would be a way in which you, as Mayor of San Francisco, could help to get us started.‘The Virgin of Kazan’ Icon which is now in San Francisco for safekeeping is one of the most famous end miraculous of all our Icons and I feel that It’s enshrinement in San Francisco which is known throughout the world as the birthplace of the United Nations will hold out great hope, and be an inspiration not only for all those of the Orthodox Faith but for all Christendom in their battle and our’s against communism.This will be particularly true with the inclusion of a proviso which we would propose to include in our plans that would make it possible for the Holy Icon to be restored to Russia under some form of stabilised and Christian government. This Icon was enshrined in Moscow from 1631 AD, until 1917 AD. It had been brought to Moscow in 1618 to provide the strength and guidance that resulted in the defeat of the Polish invaders who had overrun Russia,
I am hopefully looking forward to our meeting It cannot help but have great and deep significance for all the world.
May I convey my esteem to you and pray god’s blessing on your work.
Sincere sincerely (sgd) John Shahovskoy.
Archbishop of San Francisco and Western United States
The Icon was taken all around the United Sates and Canada with the view to setting up the funds for its purchase… In 1964-1965 a special pavilion was erected at World Trade Fair in New York to house the Icon. Pope Paul XXIII came to bless it but what he did not know that immediately underneath the Icon was the Crystal Skull hidden from view… so he blessed that as well.
A setback…. The funds that had been raised and deposited in a special bank were misappropriated by a person or persons who shall remain nameless. So Frank Dorland had to take the Icon back to California where is was renegotiated for its purchase and I agreed with the parties that were buying it… payment will be on a donation basis until the full amount was raised which took 6 years. During this time the Icon was handed over to the Russian Orthodox Church where it was on full display.
So the Icon passed out of my hands in 1965 and the rest is history… Or is it? The Icon seems to have become a political tool in religious hands which is fueling their own agendas.
I would like to remind the reader that the Icon was to be restored to its former glory and returned to the Russian Orthodox Church… That was my father’s wish and mine and we worked hard with so many people to ensure that this happened and to “some” extent it did.
But somehow it went to Fatima which I knew about but that was under the guise that from there it would still be on full public display and would wait for its return to the Russian Orthodox Church in Moscow. That was in 1970…
All roads lead to Rome?
Now the Icon is in Rome… It rests in the private chapel of Pope John II out of public gaze… No matter how one can view this… The Icon is a very sensitive public emotional Relic and of great importance to historical Russia. It was always used for all the people NOT for sole exclusive rights of a single individual.
Its message is very clear in what it represents to those who initiated its role… THE FREEDOM OF THE RUSSIAN PEOPLE TO WORSHIP ITS ICON PUBLICLY. On more than one occasion it has been used to initiate a revolution and instigated a freedom of the people from oppression and aggression.
I am sometimes very amused at the amount of times that my father has been connected with Revolutions in his life… Riding with Pancho villa in 1912, the small revolution in Honduras, knowing Trotsky in NY, The Icon of the Crystal Skull, plus a few wonderful silver trophies that were all commemorative to great historical events… Which I may add were returned by him to their origins. So to coin a phrase “he would be turning in his grave if he knew all about this”…
If there was to be a revolution now it would be for you the rightful inheritors of this Icon to demand to have it return and put back into public view… This can only be done if you as a person has a voice to speak your truth with your heart… Mine is a past voice but speaking in the present for both myself and my father… This is not a politician battle to use an Icon for religious gain but to have it where it belongs.
The Icon was bought and paid for by the exiled Russian people of New Jersey… Somehow their voice and their contribution was not voted on when the Icon went to Fatima.
Here is my letter to the most Reverend John 23rd September 1970:
The most Reverend John
Archbishop of San Francisco & Western USA
2040 Anza Street
San Francisco., 18.
CaliforniaDear Archbishop John.
I am quite sure you are as delighted as I am that the Icon “Our Lady of Kazan” has been sold to the Blue Arm for our lady of Fatima, an is now certain to return to Russia as soon as the time is right.
It belongs to the Russian people, and I for one wanted then to have it gain one day, but as you will understand I could not possibly have given it to them.
It has been 8 years since it went to the States, but the end was exactly as I wanted, and the long wait was worth it.
I know you were in touch with the people of Fatima some years ago when you went to Baltimore (or rather Mr. Hennessey did) on your behalf.
I am glad it is remaining in the States and will not be travailing… There are so many people there who would wish to see Our Lady I am sure.
As a matter of curiosity what happened to the paper Icons etc. which were printed for the New York World Fair? I wish it were possible to get a few of them.
I treasure the book put out by “Life” in which the Icon and the Pieta are facing each other. I wish I could have got more so that I could have given them to my friends.Etc.I sincerely hope you are keeping well and with all my warmest regards to you, I am.
Sgd Anna Mitchell Hedges.
Mine is the first cry… Yours can be a shout and eventually the misappropriation and injustice can become a rectified restoration of the freedom of the people’s right to view “THEIR HOLY ICON.”
Tags: Anna Mitchell-Hedges | Pope John Paul II | Putin | Russian Orthodox Church | Virgin of Kazan
