This is a Marian icon of the Chernigov (Черниговская/Chernigovskaya) type:
There are actually two old “Chernigov” type icons classified as “miracle working” in Russian Orthodoxy. The second originated as a copy on canvas of the first, and when looking at various examples of subsequently painted icons of the two , one cannot really tell the difference from appearance alone.
Here is the title inscription of the example above:
It reads:
ЧЕРНИГОВСКИЯ ПРЕСВЯТЫЯ БОГОРОДИЦЫ
CHERNIGOVSKIYA PRESVYATUIYA BOGORODITSUI
“[The] Chernigov Most Holy Birth-giver of God.”
You will recall that the –iya ending of the first word is Church Slavic, but common practice is to use the Russian –aya ending for such titles in discussion and in writing, so we refer to this type as the Chernigovskaya — “Of Chernigov.”
Now when the icon has only the “Chernigov” title — like the one shown above — it generally represents examples painted after the original icon, which is more specifically known as the “Chernigov-Ilinskaya” (Chernigov-Elijah) type. Examples representing the second icon — which was originally a copy of the first, but gained a reputation for miracle-working on its own — are technically known as the Черниговская Гефсиманская/Chernigovskaya-Gefsimanskaya (Chernigov-Gethsemane) — but confusingly, they may have only the same title as the first, so copies of these two related icons are constantly confused.
What that means is that unless a given icon of the Chernigov type is distinguished by the secondary title, one cannot tell from appearance alone whether one is looking at a rendering of the Chernigovskaya-Ilinskaya (Черниговская Ильинская), or of the Chernigov Gethsemane icon. This example of the Chernigov-Ilinskaya is clearly identified as such by the title below:
Here is a closer view of the title inscription:
It reads:
“Representation of the wonderworking icon of the Mother of God “Ilinskaya-Chernigovskaya, which is to be found in the Pecherskaya Church of the Holy Archistratigos Michael.”
However a copy of the Chernigov-Gethsemane icon may only be identified as “Chernigov,” without the secondary title. When one is uncertain, it is generally preferable to just go with the “Chernigov” title, and to assume it is based on the Chernigovskaya-Ilinskaya icon.
Here is the Chernigovskaya-Gefsimanskaya icon in the Gethsemane Skete:
Notice the obvious evidences of reworking, particularly visible in the title inscription:
And notice also the numerous votive rings, necklaces, etc. attached to the icon out of veneration and to show thanks for supposed answered prayers.
As for the origin stories of these two icons, the “Chernigovskaya-Ilinskaya” is said to have been painted by the monk Grigory Konstantinovich Dubenskiy in 1658. Five years later — in 1662 — word spread among the people that the icon was shedding tears. No one was quite sure just what this supposed omen signified, though various interpretations were offered. In any case, it made the icon famous. This was followed by the usual addition of more “miracles” to its story, which is typical for icons classified as “wonderworking” in Russian Orthodoxy. Some were even described in The Dew-wet Fleece (Руно орошенное/Runo oroshennoe), written by Dimitriy Rostovskiy. The icon was kept at the Trinity-Il’insky Monastery near Chernigov, thus the secondary title.
The second “Chernigov” icon — the Chernigovskaya-Gefsimanskaya — was, as earlier mentioned, a copy of the first. It was painted on canvas sometime around the middle of the 18th century. It was eventually given to a girl named Alexandra Grigorieva Filippova, by a priest in Moscow named Ioann Alekseev, who had received it from a monk of the Trinity-Sergiyev Monastery. Alexandra, who kept it for many years, had the painting touched up — “renewed.” In 1842 the icon was given to the Gethsemane Skete (thus its secondary title), and was kept in the Church of the Archistratigos Michael. It’s first miracle of healing suppposedly happened on September 1, 1869, with the cure of a bedridden woman.
ICONS AND THEIR INTERPRETATION 