St. John of Kronstadt

If you ever doubt whether any particular icon of the Mother of God before which you pray has been sanctified or not, know that our Lady, the Prototype of this image, was already sanctified ages ago, even in the bosom of her parents, Joachim and Anna, afterwards at her birth, and in the temple of Jerusalem, and finally by the indescribable Incarnation of God the Word through her. She is ever-holy and eternally, immovably, unchangeably most holy; she is in ever place, and present in every icon of hers; by the delineation of her face and name alone, and of the face and name of the Saviour, the material object is already sanctified.