The Virgin of Kazan or Our Lady of Kazan ( Russian : Казанская Богоматерь ) is an icon venerated in the Russian Orthodox Church depicting the Blessed Virgin Mary as the patroness and protectress of the city of Kazan . There are several copies of the icon that are similarly venerated in the Catholic Church .

There are several copies and Orthodox churches dedicated to Our Lady of Kazan both in Russia and around the world. In Russia there are two large cathedrals dedicated to her name: the Kazan Cathedral in St. Petersburg and the Kazan Cathedral in Moscow . Her feast days are July 21 and November 4, which is also the Day of Russian National Unity.

The icon of Our Lady of Kazan, the Marian devotion most venerated by the Russian Orthodox, has its origins in the  16th century . The current icon, according to recent studies, is from  the 18th century . ¹ It is related to many wonders of the Russian nation. It was taken out of Russia in the second decade of the  20th century , thus escaping from the communists who turned the Cathedral of the Mother of God in Kazan into the museum of atheism.

After many years of being lost, the icon ended up in the United States and was auctioned off and bought by an Englishman. After his death, it was auctioned off and bought again in 1970 by the Blue Army, a Catholic Marian organization dedicated to promoting the messages and spirituality of Our Lady at Fatima. “At Fatima Our Lady asked us to pray for the conversion of Russia and promised that in the end her Immaculate Heart would triumph.” The Blue Army made public veneration of the Russian icon possible among Catholics and organized a large prayer campaign around the world following the requests of Fatima.

The icon of the Mother of God of Kazan arrived with the Blue Army at Fatima and a chapel was built for it just behind the shrine of Our Lady of Fatima with the intention of returning it to Russia when Russia was converted. In 1993, the icon was handed over to John Paul II , and was kept for more than 10 years in the papal apartments. The Pope had a burning desire to go to Russia and personally deliver it to the Russian Orthodox Patriarch of Moscow. Since his dream of going to Russia could not be fulfilled, the Pope decided to send the icon to “our brother Patriarch Alexy II and through him to the holy Russian Orthodox Church and to the entire Russian people.” On August 25, 2004, after a solemn act of farewell and veneration attended by 7,000 pilgrims, John Paul II handed over the icon of the Mother of God of Kazan to a Vatican delegation to take on August 28 to the Russian Patriarch. 2