An icon-symbol for the Russian Orthodox Church, the Lady of Kazan or Virgin Mary of Kazan, also known as the Black Virgin of Kazan, was found in the city of Kazan in Russia by a young girl, Matrona. The Kazan Lady Monastery was built on the spot where the icon was found and was kept there until 1904, when it was stolen. The loss was considered by the Church of Russia to be the source of much suffering for the country; even the October Revolution was attributed to it. There are more than sixty copies of a given icon. One of them, a copy from 1730, was moved to the Vatican in 1993 and became a prayer icon for Pope John Paul II. Today the icon is kept in the Church of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross in Kazan. In Greece, copies of the icon are exhibited at the Temple of the Holy Monastery of the Virgin Mary (Keratea), the chapel of the Russian Saint Xeni (Mandra, Attica) and the Church of the Dormition in Kallithea, Attica.
