size 4 x 3.8 inches
 
from St. Panteleimon Monastery, size of card 4 x 2.8 inches
 
About the History
Monk Gabriel who was distributing alms to needy monks near the Great Monastery Gate of St. Panteleimon Monastery took a picture of this process. When he developed the photo, he was shocked to see an image of the Mother of God who had humbly received a blessed loaf of bread.
Monastery archives testify that the Russian monks organized weekly distribution of alms to the needy in the late 19th and early 20th century. Big and small ships from Odessa and Taganrog, where there were metochia of St. Panteleimon Monastery, dispatched foodstuffs and other basic supplies to Mt. Athos every week. The supplies were used by three thousand monks of the monastery and four thousand Russian-speaking brethren who stayed in numerous sketes, cells, and kalivas on the Holy Mountain.
 
A multitude of poor mendicant monks and pious pilgrims would gather at the Great Gate of the monastery every week. It is estimated that 600–800 people received loaves of bread from the monks. However, idle and unruly drunkards also started to frequent the weekly distribution of bread. A letter from the Koinotita declaring that the tradition was becoming “useless and even harmful” was received in the monastery on August 14, 1903. The governing body of the Holy Mountain demanded that the administrative board of St. Panteleimon Monastery stop the bread distribution and find a more appropriate and less tempting way to help the poor. The letter read, in particular, that, “The almsgiving required by the Gospel is God-pleasing only when it is performed in a reasonable manner, i.e., to the needy people worth giving alms
to. By giving alms to the people who fake real need and don’t really deserve them—to those who count on it and live here for that reason—you inflict harm rather than do good.”
A week later, on August 21, 1903, the monks of the Russian monastery decided to observe their tradition and distribute the bread one last time before finally reading the letter aloud to the crowd. By that time, hundreds were standing in line to receive their usual loaves of bread. It was at that moment that Hieromonk Gabriel took a photo, which was later developed with an image of the Mother of God receiving her blessed loaf humbly together with others. Looking at the unusual photo, the monks recalled what they had been told by Monk Sebastian, who heard from the gatekeepers that “a hermit saw a woman during the distribution of bread.” Some ascetics, who had also seen the Blessed Virgin in the midst of poor monks and travelers, had also wanted to tell a gatekeeper about it but this time, no one saw the Theotokos.
The Theotokos has invariably supported those who dwell in her earthly domain. It was by the order of the Queen of Heaven that the monastery continued to cater to the needs of the poor brethren: the monastery provided meals to the poor after the monastery meals, and the cellarer gave them foodstuffs from the monastery storehouse.