In Russia icons representing the Mother of God are greatly venerated among the people: there are thousands of icons, venerated in the various areas, linked to miracles and apparitions, and today in almost all homes people have once again taken the habit of hanging sacred images on their walls. The Icon of the Madonna of Vladimir, also known as the Madonna of Tenderness, in which the Child is represented while he embraces His Mother and gently touches the Virgin’s face with His own, is particularly venerated. This icon is greatly loved also because it has accompanied the history of the Russian people from its origins until modern times (it was a gift from the Byzantine emperors to the Princes of Kiev).

In the course of history a number of different canons formed, meaning figurative styles (the Madonna holding the Child in her arms, or holding Him straight up on one arm she indicates Him as the "way, the truth and life", or she is depicted frontally, with the Child Jesus within a medallion on her breast).

I would add that, in the large variety of styles, eras, and traditions, Marian iconography in the East and particularly in Russia is centered on a fundamental concept of great profoundness and theological truth: each Marian icon expresses first of all the idea of the Incarnation, the Virgin assumes the meaning of the Church, who shows Christ, present in her womb, to the world, and also becomes the symbol of each man, called upon to say his fiat following in Mary’s footsteps, to the Child she holds in her arms. This also explains the pain-filled expression that the Mother of God often shows in the icons: Her Son reveals to her His passion and death, and she accepts to experience this death together with Him so as to then participate in His Resurrection.