The Mother of God "Softener of Evil Hearts"

This icon depicts the Mother of God with seven swords piercing her heart, three on one side, three on the other and one from below. It recalls the prophecy of the righteous Elder Simeon when the forty-day-old Christ was brought to the Temple: "a sword shall pierce through your own soul also, that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed." The seven swords signify the fullness of the sorrow she bore at the Cross, and also our own sins, which wound her still. The closely related "Seven Arrows" icon, with the swords arranged three and four, is honored on 13 August. Orthodox Christians turn to the Softener of Evil Hearts when hearts — their own or others' — have grown hard: in family quarrels, in enmity at work, and whenever they need the grace to forgive. Her troparion asks, "Soften our evil hearts, O Theotokos."

The 'Softener of Evil Hearts' (feast on the Sunday of All Saints) and the 'Seven Arrows' / Semistrelnaya (13 Aug Julian = 26 Aug) are distinct icon types that are often conflated; prayers and intentions are the same. Both are Russian devotions. Catholics venerate a similar image as Our Lady of Seven Sorrows (15 Sep), linked in the West to the Seven Sorrows rather than to softening enemies.