Port Arthur and the Theotokos

Between 1898 and 1903, Imperial Russia, with permission of the Qing Dynasty, built a railroad in Manchuria to connect the Trans-Siberian Railway with the ice-free harbor at Port Arthur at the southern tip of Manchuria's Liaodong Peninsula.

In February, 1904, Japan attacked the Russian fleet at Port Arthur.  The war between Japan and Russia that ensued was concluded by the Treaty of Portsmouth brokered by United States President Theodore Roosevelt at the behest of Japan in September 1905. As a result, Japan obtained control of Korea, most of the Russian-built railroad and related concessions. Although Japan had won significant battles, the Japanese were also overextended, and some historians believe that had the war continued Russia would have won.

Meanwhile, an unusual sequence of events was unfolding.  They began in Kiev:

"In December 1903 an aged sailor who was one of the last defenders of Sevastopol during the Crimean War came to the city of Kiev to pray before the holy relics of the Lavra of the Caves. 

"One night some strange noise woke the old man up and he saw the Theotokos with angels around her, among them the Archangel Michael and the Archangel Gabriel. The Theotokos was standing upon two discarded and broken swords on the shore of a bay, with her back turned to the water. She was holding a white aer with blue fringe, upon which was an Image of the Savior, 'Not-Made-By-Hands.' Angels in the clouds of blinding light were holding a crown above her head and the Lord of Sabaoth was sitting still higher on the throne of glory, encircled with the blinding radiance. 

"The old man was moved and experienced the uttermost awe, but the Theotokos comforted him and said, 'Russia will soon be involved in a very difficult war on the shores of a far sea; many a woe is awaiting her. Paint an icon showing my appearance as it is now and send the icon to Port Arthur. If the icon is in that city, Orthodoxy will triumph over paganism and Russian warriors will attain my help, my patronage, and their victory.' The blinding light filled his room and the vision disappeared."

Read more about the icon and its journey, including the role of the Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna (Princess Dagmar of Denmark), at The Hermitage of the Holy Cross here.