The icon of the Mother of God, called "The Sign", depicts the Most Holy Theotokos sitting and prayerfully raising Her hands; on her chest, against the background of a round shield (or sphere), the blessed Divine Infant Savior Emmanuel. This image of the Mother of God is one of the very first of Her icon paintings. In the tomb of Saint Agnia in Rome, there is an image of the Mother of God with her arms outstretched in prayer and with a Baby sitting on Her lap. 
This image dates back to the 4th century. In addition, the ancient Byzantine image of the Mother of God "Nicopeia", VI century, is known, where the Most Holy Theotokos is depicted sitting on a throne and holding an oval shield with the image of the Savior Emmanuel in front of her with both hands. Icons of the Mother of God, known as the "Sign", appeared in Russia in the XI - XII centuries, and began to be called so after the miraculous omen from the Novgorod icon, which happened in 1170.
That year, the combined forces of the Russian appanage princes, led by the son of Prince Andrei Bogolyubsky of Suzdal, approached the walls of Veliky Novgorod. The Novgorodians could only rely on God's help. They prayed for days and nights, begging the Lord not to leave them. On the third night, Archbishop John of Novgorod heard a wonderful voice commanding him to take the image of the Blessed Virgin Mary from the Church of the Transfiguration of the Savior on Ilyina Street and take it to the city wall. When the icon was being moved, the enemies launched a cloud of arrows into the procession, and one of them pierced the icon-painted face of the Virgin. Tears flowed from Her eyes, and the icon turned its face towards the city. After such a Divine sign, the enemies were suddenly attacked by an inexplicable horror, they began to beat each other, and the Novgorodians, encouraged by the Lord, fearlessly rushed into battle and won.
In memory of the miraculous intercession of the Queen of Heaven, Archbishop John established a feast day in honor of the Sign of the Mother of God, which the entire Russian Church still celebrates. Athos Hieromonk Pakhomy Logothetes, who was present at the celebration of the icon in Russia, wrote two canons for this holiday. In addition to the Mother of God and the Eternal Child, some Novgorod icons of the Sign depict the miraculous events of 1170. 186 years after the appearance of the sign, the miraculous icon was located in the same Church of the Transfiguration of the Savior on Ilyina Street. In 1356, the Church of the Sign of the Blessed Virgin Mary was built for her in Novgorod, which became the cathedral of the Znamensky Monastery.
Numerous lists of the icon of the Sign are known throughout Russia. Many of them shone with miracles in local temples and were named after the place where the miracles occurred. Such lists of icons of the Sign include the icons of Dionysievo-Glushitskaya, Abalatskaya, Kurskaya, Serafimo-Ponetaevskaya and others.