According to the tradition as published by the Keras Kardiotissas Monastery, the icon was painted by Saint Lazarus Zographos and was known as the Panagia Kardiotissa (Παναγίας Καρδιώτισσας), due to the depiction of the Mother of God holding the Christ Child to her heart. Historian Stergios Spanakis had argued that the miraculous icon was the reason for the founding of the monastery. Cristoforo Buondelmonti, an Italian Franciscan priest and traveler who visited Crete in 1415, wrote of the icon being miraculous: "Βαδίζαµε ανάµεσα σε πυκνοδασωµένα πετρώδη βουνά µέχρι που φθάσαµε στην εκκλησία της Καρδιώτισσας, που πολλές φορές είχε φανερωθή στους πιστούς µε θαύµατα." The icon was stolen from the monastery in 1498.