Vadas József (szerk.): Ars Decorativa 13. (Budapest, 1993)
RÚZSA György: 17. századi magyar könyv egy fejezete a Vlagyimiri Istenanya Ikonról
Cathedral was turned into a "Russian Pantheon", so the famous, miraculous icon gained further significance by being kept there. In 1566, Metropolitan Afanasij had major repairs done on the icon. Although we have no special data about it from the following century, we know that by that time its fame had reached Central Europe. The icon attracted the attention of Pál Esteras, i.e. Pál Esterházy (1635-1712), Duke of Galánta. He was the son of Palatine Miklós Esterházy, and was acknowledged as a famous strategist equal to Miklós Zrinyi and Montecuccoli. In 1686 he gathered an enormous army for the recapture of Buda. He wrote several books on the glory of Virgin Mary 7 . In his 1696 book entitled Mennyei Korona (Heavenly Crown) he gave an introduction "to all pictures about the miraculous, Blessed Virgin that were to found in the world". He does not give any pictures except for the cover plate but his descriptions seem to be fairly exact. He says on pages 379 and 380: (rough translation) "The Picture of the Volodomeriana miraculous Blessed Virgin in Moscow, Russian land. The Russians are rather peculiar in their respect for pictures of saints, since they adore and respect written (i.e. painted - Gy.R.) pictures but the same with carved pictures is considered a sin, for they think that carved pictures were prohibited in the Ten Commandments, whereas written ones were not. As the Holy Book says: Don't make any carved pictures for yourself to admire. This is how simple-minded or should I say fools these Muscovites are. But to get back to the miracle, in nine hundred and ninety-three the Tatars attacted Russia and the Cossacks turned to the picture of the Blessed Virgin of Volodomeria, which had already been known for many glorious miracles, for help. But delegates came from the Ruling Prince of the Russians to take the picture of the Blessed to Moscow where it would be respected by the whole Nobility, and as the Prince required so it was done, together with the people of the Town he had the picture of the Blessed Virgin carried into Town in a Procession and the whole Town greeted it in great piety and respected it, and the deep devotion was so kind in front of the Blessed Virgin that it could deter the angry warfare of the Tatars and the great grace from the Blessed Virgin came to help; God Bless the Virgin for this." The name "Volodomeriana" refers to the town of Vladimir, or rather, to the icon named after the town. On the other hand, the icon had for long been in Moscow by the seventeenth century, since, as we have already said, according to one of the books of the Troitsc-Sergicva Monastery it had been kept there since 1480. Pál Esterházy surely wrote about the icon of The Blessed Virgin of Vladimir, for he is familiar with the legend. His statements are supported by the history of the icon: he mentions that it was taken from Vladimir to Moscow, in 1395, when Vasilii Dmitrievitsh, "The Prince of the Russians" had it brought to Moscow and the icon could save the city from the "angry warfare of the Tatars". Marking 993 instead of 1395 must be a mistake; probably referring to some legendary date or to a special tradition. Among the sources used by Pál Esterházy, the works (or work) of Wilhelm Gumppenberg - such as his Atlas Marianus published in 1657 and then again in 1672, where he had introduced 1200 Mary pictures - had a central and fundamental role. The author had also taken over the approach of Gumppenberg's book, who describes the icon being taken to Moscow as well as the great attack of the Tatars lead by "Themirassack" 8 , that is, by Tamerlan.
