Vatican Returns the Holy Icon back to Russia

In 2003 I wrote these words: “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.”

I could not believe back in 2003 that a year later in 2004 on August 28th my dream came true. It was a very emotional day for me and I wish with all my heart I could have been present to see this wonderful event. My father would have been very proud… all through his life he acquired many wonderful treasures and it was his wish to have such treasures restored back to the rightful owners… this is but one of them.

This Icon represents to its people the restoration of hope and freedom… and all through my life I have advocated such notions that all people are born free and need from time to time to be able to see the very iconic symbols that enables them to feel that freedom of love.

And so with the Crystal Skull which my father called The Skull of Doom… I prefer to call it The Skull of Love and in its own way it has restored many people’s faith in themselves… I wish now that in the future that it is used for such purposes and the all those will marvel at it beauty and craftsmanship.

28th August 2004

The image is an 18th-Century copy of one of Russia’s most sacred images, the Virgin of Kazan, and was bought in the West by Roman Catholics in 1970.

Patriarch Alexy, the head of the Russian Church, thanked the Pope, who views the gift as a goodwill gesture. But he also appealed to Rome not to try to “compete” for Russian Christians.

The icon was handed over by Catholic Cardinal Walter Kasper in a ceremony at the Kremlin’s Cathedral of the Assumption after a service to mark the Orthodox Feast of the Assumption.

It is expected to be housed temporarily in a chapel at Patriarch Alexy’s residence until a decision is taken on its permanent home.

For his part, the Pope said in a message that despite the division between Moscow and Rome, the icon was a “symbol of the unity of the followers of the only-begotten son of God” This was not the way it was supposed to happen. John Paul II had a different plan in mind for the return of the Icon of Kazan to Russia “he wanted to deliver it personally to Orthodox Patriarch Alexy II, as a sign of rapprochement between the two Churches divided since 1054.

Instead, on Wednesday the Pope said goodbye to the icon, at the Vatican, during an incense-filled Liturgy of the Word celebration in Paul VI Hall.

By handing the icon over to two emissaries, Cardinals Walter Kasper and Theodore McCarrick, who took it to Russia, the Holy Father has once again shown the world an example of humility in accepting that the most cherished of man’s plans are not always God’s plans.

“How many times have I prayed to the Mother of God of Kazan,” said John Paul II on Wednesday of the icon which has hung over his desk in the papal apartments for the past 10 years, “asking her to protect and guide the Russian people and to precipitate the moment in which all the disciples of her Son, recognizing themselves as brothers, will know how to reconstruct in fullness their compromised unity.”

Cardinal Walter Kasper who heads the Vatican delegation in Moscow to present the icon, believes that the icon is “a symbol of the new Europe and its formation, of which Russia is a part.”

Cardinal Kasper, the president of the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity, made that comment during a Mass in St. Peter’s basilica, prior to his departure for Moscow. Our Lady of Kazan, he said, is “the protector of Europe and its Christian roots.” After its long stay in Western Europe and particularly at the Vatican, he added, the icon has become “a point of reference” for Orthodox and Catholic believers.

“After two world wars, and the phenomena of secularisation, Europe needs to be founded again in the faith,” the German cardinal said. The return of the icon back to Russia, he said, will be “a symbol of union between West and East, the symbol of union of faith.”

The image of Our Lady of Kazan, painted on wood, dates back to the 13th century. It became a focal point for Russian national sentiments in 1612, when the icon was brought to Moscow, as the Russian people prayed for deliverance from Polish occupation. When the Polish army finally left Moscow on October 22, 1612, that date (November 4 on the Gregorian calendar) became known as the feast of Our Lady of Kazan.

Many experts believe that the original icon has been lost, and the veneration of Our Lady of Kazan has become associated with an early copy, made in the 17th century. In any case, early in the 18th century the icon known as that of Our Lady of Kazan was transferred from Moscow to St. Petersburg, where Tsar Peter the Great made his new capital. There it was housed in a church constructed on the model of St. Peter’s basilica.

During the Russian Revolution, that church in St. Petersburg was pillaged; it was eventually transformed by the Communist regime into a “museum of atheism.” The icon, along with many other religious objects, disappeared; it was apparently sold several times, eventually coming into the possession of Russian Orthodox owners in the United States.

The icon of Our Lady of Kazan was bought in the 1970s by Catholics, who brought it on a pilgrimage to the shrine of Our Lady of Fatima. The image was then installed in a small Byzantine church in the Portuguese town. Pope John Paul discovered it there when he visited Portugal in 1991, and asked to have the famous icon transferred to the Vatican and installed in the papal apartment.

 

Revered Marian icon returns to Russia

Fatima group plays key role in ecumenical gesture
By CINDY WOODEN
Catholic News Service
Vatican City

30th August 2004

The dream of a papal trip has been set aside, replaced by fervent prayers for better relations between Catholics and Russian Orthodox.

The icon had travelled around the United States in the mid-1970s with members of the Blue Army venerating it as they prayed the rosary for the conversion of communist Russia, as Our Lady of Fatima had requested.

Peter Anderson, a member of the Seattle archdiocesan ecumenical commission, remembers reading about the icon in Soul, the Blue Army magazine.

But the icon really began to occupy Anderson’s time after a 1989 visit to what was then Leningrad - now St. Petersburg - as part of the Leningrad-Seattle Sister Churches program. An Orthodox deacon explained to him how important the icon was for Russian Christians.

When Metropolitan Alexy of Leningrad, the future Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow, visited Seattle in 1989, he had dinner with Father Frederick Miller, then-executive director of the Blue Army.

Miller, who now is the spiritual director of seminarians at Rome’s North American College, said the dinner at Seattle’s Space Needle “was strange.”

The metropolitan and two priests arrived at the popular restaurant at the top of the Space Needle and “sang grace at the top of their lungs. It was quite impressive. Everyone in the restaurant was silent, forks dropped,” Miller said Aug. 23.

Miller said Alexy was interested in knowing the specific history of the Blue Army’s icon - even then there were doubts that it was the 16th-century original - and in finding out about the Blue Army.

But Alexy was wary and nothing was determined at the meeting, the priest said.

By then, the Blue Army had transferred the icon to the Byzantine chapel of the organization’s hotel, the Domus Pacis, in Fatima, Portugal.

Anderson was still keen to do something, so he wrote about the icon and its importance to then-Archbishop Edward Cassidy, the new president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity.

Although religious freedom was growing in the Soviet Union in 1989, the Cathedral of the Mother of God of Kazan in Leningrad was still a government-run “museum of atheism,” Anderson said.

The Leningrad-Seattle Sister Churches program hoped that if the icon were given to then-Metropolitan Alexy - especially if Pope John Paul gave it to him - it would pressure the government to restore the cathedral to its original use as a place of Orthodox worship, Anderson said.

In 1993 with Miller as director of the Blue Army and then-Archbishop Theodore McCarrick of Newark, N.J., as apostolic visitor of the organization, Pope John Paul asked for the icon.

Miller said, “I felt the most important thing I did in my five years as director was to get the icon to the Holy See.”

The icon’s trip home to Russia, he said, “says something very positive about the Blue Army, despite some of its shortcomings. The organization promoted prayers for Russia and an awareness of the need for full Christian unity for most of the 20th century.”

While there was a lot of Cold War rhetoric and even hints of “McCarthyism” - seeing a communist plot behind everything wrong in the world - “the Blue Army promoted a real attentiveness to the Fatima message in the United States,” he said.

Neither Miller nor John Hauf, an editor at Soul from 1988 to 2000, could recall exactly how much the Blue Army had paid for the icon, although both said they thought it was less than US$50,000. The owner apparently drastically reduced her asking price after Russian Orthodox in the United States withdrew their bid for the icon.

Pope John Paul named McCarrick, now cardinal-archbishop of Washington, to be part of his delegation to take the icon to Moscow and return it Aug. 28.

The fact that the pope was not making the trip, the cardinal said, “is a sadness for me because I know he wanted to do this himself for no other reason than to honour the Church and people of Russia and their faith and trust in the mother of God.”

Although “circumstance will not make that possible,” the cardinal said, “the pope felt that it was time that it be returned to Russia.”

While Anderson, too, is disappointed that Pope John Paul is not carrying the icon to Russia, “I think the important thing is that it is happening, and I pray that it is a time of grace.”

“This is better than just keeping the icon, and the holy father is making this a major event,” he said. “What happens this week can touch a lot of Russian hearts.”

 

Anna’s words

Now that the Ikon has been handed back to its rightful place … I do hope that one day I will be invited to go to Russia and to see this wonderful treasure again … I will take with me the Crystal Skull as when we lived in Farley Castle and at Shaldon House they were always together.

Anna (Sammy) passed away 11th April 2007 not realising her dream but the notions are always present to make such a dream come true.

Tags: Cardinal Walter Kasper | Mitchell-Hedges | Patriarch Alexy | Russian Orthodox Church | Vatican | Virgin of Kazan

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

$500 000 Russian Icon comes to the Fair (New York Journal American. Jan. 9, 1964, by James L Kilgallen)

One of the most historic and magnificent of all the world’s icons - the Russian “Our Lady of Kazan” will be enshrined in a Chapel at the 1964-1965 New York World’s Fair.This was disclosed yesterday by John I. Hennessy, consultant to the most Rev. John Shahovskoy Archbishop of San Francisco and the Western United States of the Russian Orthodox Greek Catholic Church of America

The trip was made to raised funds for the purchase of the privately owned Icon and restore it to the Church so that it will not fall into the hands of the communists.

 

Once Enshrined in Kremlin

Tile Icon which was protected by armed guards on the 18.581 mile trip is estimated to be worth at least $500,000. It is basically a painting on wood weighing 10 pounds and dazzling with jewels.

Painted around 1400 AD, the image enshrined in the Kremlin in Moscow from 1630 until after the Bolshevik revolution of 1917, After the revolution in it fell into private, hands and was sold to raise funds to help, the revolution. It finally found its way to England

Its surface sparkles with 663 diamonds many of them, such as those in the Virgin’ s crown in total some 80 carats ; 153 oriental rubies of about 53 carats, 32 huge emeralds about 220 carats 6 large sapphires of about 30 carats; 150 baroque and other pearls.

Icon was taken to many churches

Mr. Henley said that on the tour the Icon was taken to Russian and Greek Orthodox churches for services and also Chapels of other denominations.

Cities, visited included Portland, Seattle, Vancouver, Winnipeg, St. Paul, Minneapolis, Detroit, Philadelphia, Washington, New York City, Buffalo, Albany (NY), New Haven Montreal, Ottawa and Boston.

In New York the Icon was shown at the Protection of the Holy Virgin Cathedral and at Christ the Saviour Russian Orthodox Church.

Special assemblies were held at Maywood College in Scranton, Pa., At Notre Dame College and St Mary’s Seminary in Baltimore, in parochial schools in Lykens Pa. and Newark NJ and at a meeting of the Central Board of the World Council of Churches in upstate Rochester.

The miraculous Icon is s now in a San Francisco vault for safe keeping by the Russian Orthodox Greek Catholic Church. This church was separated from the Bolshevik-Dominated Moscow Patriarchate in 1924.

An “Our Lady of Kazan” shrine is to built in San Francisco, birthplace of the United Nations.

Archbishop Shahovskoy in Francisco has been quoted as saying in that “Our Lady of Kazan” is more than a symbol of greater hope and peace - it is a return to Godliness and a unifying force for all Christendom and risen of good will everywhere,”

Fair’s shrine replica of Russian chapel

The Icon is now owned by Miss Anna Mitchell-Hedges of England. One of the dying wishes of her late stepfather F.A. Mitchell-Hedges from whom she inherited the Icon, was that it be restored to the church in such a manner that it could not come under the influence of the Bolsheviks, either directly or indirectly.

The Icon will be enshrined in a replica of the Fort Ross Russian Catholic Chapel at the New York’s World’s Fair. The Chapel is now under construction, Mr. Hennessy said.

The Icon is expected to remain in America as a great art treasure.

Russian Orthodox Pavilion at the World Trade Fair

The Russian Orthodox Pavilion will feature the Miraculous Ikon of Our Lady of Kazan which will be enshrined in a full scale replica of the Fort Ross (Russ) Russian Orthodox Chapel. Our Lady of Kazan is the Patroness of Russia.

The Holy Ikon was enshrined in Moscow from 1630 until after the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 when It was sold into private hands. It dates from 1300 approx. The jewel encrusted rizza (1,109 gems), which covers all but the faces of the Virgin Mother and Child dates from 1630 approx.

Funds are being raised to restore the Holy Ikon to the Russian Orthodox Greek Catholic Church of America, sponsors of the exhibit. The Church in America separated from the Moscow Patriarchate in 1924 because of the domination of the Patriarchate by the Communists. A Shrine of Our Lady of Kazan is to be built in San Francisco for permanent enshrinement of the Miraculous Ikon.

Other icons and religious objects will complete the Chapel exhibit which has an adjoining kiosk where color reproductions of the Miraculous Ikon and other religious articles will be available
The original Fort Ross Chapel, built in 1828 and located 100 miles north of San Francisco, is an historical monument of the State of California.
A cross section of a thousand year old redwood log showing important dates in history marked or the annular rings and other educational material round out the landscaped exhibit.

The exhibit will be open daily during regular Fair hours. No reservations are required. Admission is free.

For further information:

Our Lady of Kazan Shrine

2040 Anza Street
San Francisco 18, Calif.

Tel. Bayview 1-5870

After April 1,1964
Russian Orthodox Pavillion
New York World’s Fair
Flushing 52, N.Y.
Tel.AR 1-8223

John I Hennessy
2/17/1964

Tags: Mitchell-Hedges | New York | Russian Orthodox Church | Virgin of Kazan | World Trade Fair

Correspondence between FA Mitchell Hedges and Synod of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church

President of the Synod of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia

312 WEST 77th STREET • NEW YORK 24, N. Y.
Tel. Susquehanna 7-0077

January the 6th, 1954

RE. No ….46/53/ 1650

Mr. F.A. Mitchell Hedges, Esq. Farley Castle Farley Hill nr. Reading Berkshire, Great Britain.

Sir:

Thank you very much for all the information that you have so kindly extended to me in your letter of the 30th December.

That information and especially the photograph give us the posbility to do some research in order to identify the Icon. The present gems with which the Icon is decorated bear witness of it being highly venerated. We are now looking for exact descriptions of the Icon that was stolen from the Convent in Kazan in 1904. Some scientist will be working on this matter for us in the best American library

This work would be easier to a large extent if you could kindly give us some more information especially in regard to the exact dimensions of the Icon in your possession. We would also be glad to know is it enclosed in a metal case or is it covered only on the front? Could you or some experts identify the nature of the wood on which the Icon is painted and do you know in which year the Icon was acquired by Sir Lindsay Parkinson in Poland?

As I told you in my last letter,we would heve to collect the money to acquire the Icon from you. But we cannot begin the drive before we get full information and before we are fully convinced that the Icon being genuine. After some preliminary work to that end we will discuss your proposal in detail. I will not fail to write to you as soon as possible.

At present I wish to tell you how very much we appreciate your desire that the Icon should not be acquired by any Government it is quite possible that the communist government wished to get hold of the icon with a purpose which has nothing in common with religious aims

very truly yours

Metropolitan Anastassy

Reply from Mitchell-Hedges

13/1/54

The Metropolitan Anastassy
President of the Russian Orthodox Church
312 West 77th Street
New York 24
New York USA

Your Grace,

I must thank you for your letter of the 6th January just received, in regard to the Icon, The Black Virgin of Kazan.

The painting of the Virgin and child is cased on the front only, as you can see from the photograph, with what I am told is gold. The dimensions are approximately 12½ in length by 10¾ in breath.

I do not know at what period it was acquired by Sir Lindsey Parkinson, who I believe is now deceased. I have investigated the authenticity of the Icon in many quarters and I think one may take it that there is no question of it being the original Icon which was stolen in 1904. I can hardly conceive that the religious ceremony conducted in the presence of the Archduchess Zenia at Hampton court Palace by the very Reverend Archimandrite Nicodemus and Father George Sheremeteff would have taken place if they had not gone into the matter and were quite convinced it was genuine Icon.

I am told that the jewels alone are worth more than an amount of £25.000 but of course it would be absolute sacrilege of the worst description to have it broken up.

In the meantime I am being very worried from quarters which you know, to part with the Icon and I entirely agree with you when you say that it is quite possible that the communists are desirous of acquiring the Icon for other that religious aims. As I wrote you my own personal belief is that their chief desire would be to exhibit and quite probably collect a fixed fee from all who came to ask the Blessing of the Black Virgin.

I do hope your inquires will be successfully concluded very shortly. If I knew definite that you were going to acquire it I could then truthfully say that the icon was definitely going back to where it rightfully belongs and that was the importunities of others and will be an end to my worry from that direction

very sincerely yours

F A Mitchell Hedges

Reply from the Synod

President of the Synod of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia

312 WEST 77th STREET • NEW YORK 24, N. Y.
Tel. Susquehanna 7-0077

February the 2nd, 1954.

REF. No.. 46/53/160 ……

Mr. F.A. Mitchell Hedges, Esq. Farley Castle Farley Hill. nr. Reading Berkshire
Great Britain.

Sir:

Your letter of 13th January, for which I must thank you very much, was received in due time, but I has not able to answer it at once because I was just waiting for some more information in connection with the investigation we are conducting.

I think I can now say for certain that the Icon in your possession is not the one that was stolen in Kazan in 1904. It appears that the stolen Icon was considerably smaller (10.1/2″ in length by 8.3/4″in breadth. The valuable case in which it was stolen was originally made at the time of John the Terrible (16th century) with the crown and some of the gems of later date, whereas the metal work and gem setting on your Icon is of the 18th century and the painting according to specialists is of the 17th century.

We therefore conclude that your Icon may be one of the also wonderworking copies of the original Icon of Kazan and namely that it may probably be the Icon which was stolen from the Moscow Cathedral of the Virgin of Kazan in autumn 1917. This Icon was also very much venerated in Russia and was covered with a richly decorated plate.

In general we had several wonderworking Icons, copies of the Icon of Kazan, of which the Icons of Moscow and St. Petersburg were venerated nearly as much as their prototype of Kazan.

It is much more probable that Sir Lindsay Parkinson could obtain the Icon of Moscow than the one of Kazan.

The burglar Chaikine who stole the Icon of Kazan stated in Court during his trial that it was destroyed. Some of the jewels as well as particles of burned velvet with which the back of the Icon was covered were actually found in his house. The conclusion of the Court was that the Icon was probably destroyed but the fact that no ashes or particles of wood on which it was painted could be found was regarded by many as a proof that only the valuable plate was destroyed Icon itself being sold to some sectarians and possibly smuggled away from Russia.

We therefore carefully checked the version that was given to you and found expression in your letter of the 30th December, 1953. Now we are checking the possibility of your Icon being the Icon of Moscow which for our Church scarcely means less than the original Icon of Kazan.

One of the important points for the identification of the Icon would be to find out how does the Icon look from the back. Could you kindly inform me, is the back of the Icon covered with some cloth or is the wood open there, the material plate covering only the front of the Icon ?

I would very much appreciate your kind answer to this question.

Very truly yours

Metropolitan Anastassy

PS. I hope you will agree with the necessity of research in the matter of the Icon and will have patience with us while look for data for its exact identification.

Reply from Mitchell-Hedges

Private and Confidential

10th February 1954

The Metropolitan Anastassy
President of the Russian Orthodox Church
312 West 77th Street
New York 24
New York USA

Your Grace,

I must thank you for your letter of the 2nd February just received and am indeed greatly interested in the research you are working with in regard to The Icon.

By an extraordinary chance I have obtained a book “Russian Art” by Cyril G.E.Bunt and on page 145 there is an illustration reproduction of the Icon I have here. Apparently, as you surmised, it was greatly venerated and it would appear to be the actual Icon, The virgin of Kazan which was stolen from the Moscow Cathedral of the Virgin of Kazan in the autumn of 1917.

As you have concluded the metal plate which is definitely either gold or silver gilt, covers the front of the Icon only of the one I have but the back appears to have traces of cloth but, as I said, in the book “Russian Art” by Cyril G.E Bunt there is the exact illustration reproduction which cannot be mistaken. Of course, the jewels which it is emblazed are magnificent.

As I told you I am not actuated by commercial profit in this matter but am truly desirous it should be returned once again to where it rightfully belongs.

As an instance of this I have been telephoned from London and asked if I would sell it to the Bolshevik Government which are anxious to obtain it at any price considerably exceeding that which I have suggested to you, but I am, I can assure you extremely loathed to listen to any suggestions from this quarter as I am sure you will understand.

And so I shall be awaiting your further letter and I can definitely tell you that I shall not part with the Icon until I hear from you

Very sincerely yours

MH

Reply from the synod

President of the Synod of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia

312 WEST 77th STREET • NEW YORK 24, N. Y.
Tel. Susquehanna 7-0077

February the 18th,1954

REF. no 46/53/296 ……

Mr. F.A. Mitchell Hedges, Esq. Parley Castle Parley Hill nr Reading, BERKSHIRE, GREAT BRITAIN.

Sir:

Thank you very mach for your letter of the 10th February and the information it contains.

The book by Cyril G.E. Bunt was known to us before, but the picture he published does not solve our question. Although it may be of big importance.

Actually there were many replicas of the Icon of Kazan in Russia. Many of them were wonderworking and several were known to be richly decorated. Unfortunately Cyril Bunt gives no indication in his book which would serve to exactly identify the Icon of which he has published the picture. One can only say for certain that it is a picture of the same Icon which is now in your possession and that the picture was made at a time when the Icon was not damaged as it now looks on the photograph you so kindly sent me.

However strange it may seem to you, we still were not able to find any book with a photograph of the Moscow Icon which could be compared with yours or even with a really clear and detailed description of it. I hope that one of our specialists in iconography will be able to contact Mr. Bunt and get some helpful explanation from him as to the origin of the picture in this book.

It would be quite impossible for us to raise the necessary funds to purchase the Icon before we could tell our people that the Icon has been unquestionably identified. We therefore have to continue our investigations.

As I wrote before. I very much appreciate the desire you expressed that the Icon should be returned to our church. I therefore hope that you will understand how important it is for us to identify the Icon exactly before we make any further steeps. I also think that our investigations should not be void of interest for you as the present owner of the Icon as well. We will continue to be in touch with you and will inform you of any new dates which we will be able to find out.

Very sincerely yours

Metropolitan Anastassy

There is no further correspondence after this on file

Tags: Mitchell-Hedges | Russian Orthodox Church | Virgin of Kazan