The early 12th-century icon of Our Lady of Damascus (the Damascene), Valletta, Malta. It was brought from Rhodes to Malta by the Knights of St John in 1530, together with the icon of Our Lady Eleimonitria (the Merciful) and the icon of Our Lady of Philermos, as the knights held these icons of the Mother of God in great veneration. It is noteworthy to say that Jean Parisot de Valette, the Grand Master of the Order of St John, regularly prayed before the Damascene, particularly during the Great Siege of 1565.