The Church tradition ascribes the Feodorovskaya icon of the Mother of God from Kostroma to the Evangelist Luke.

The history of its discovery is filled with the most dramatic events. Originally it belonged to the Grand Duke Yaroslav Vsevolodovich, who was baptized with the name Theodore in honor of the ancient Roman Christian saint Theodore Stratelates. The Gorodets St. Theodore Monastery was built to host this icon. However, Gorodets was captured by the troops of Batu Khan in 1238. During the massacre the icon disappeared, and it was presumably stolen or destroyed by fire. However, a year later Alexander Nevsky’s younger brother Vasily of Kostroma went hunting and found the icon of the Virgin on the branches of a fir tree. The prince reached out to take the icon, but it rose up into the air. Struck by the obvious miracle, the prince informed the clergy, and after a large crowd of people had served a prayer before the icon of the Heavenly Protectress, it descended to earth. A monastery was built at the place where the icon was found. In the year 1239 the holy Prince Alexander Nevsky was blessed by it to marry Princess Bryachislava of Polotsk (baptized as Alexandra).