Based on the history of the origin and on that of the research on the cycle of legends about the Tikhvin icon of the Mother of God, the paper considers the strategies of constructing and modifying narrative space in the context of the practices affirming the authority of a text and the impossibility of any modifications in it. The author shows the dynamics of developing the narrative space, which originated in the 17th century within the mainstream religious practice at the junction of the late Middle Ages and the Modern Age. Further this space continued functioning within the framework of marginalized religious and cultural practices, then, in the 20th century, within the mainstream scientific practice, and finally, in the early 21st century, it re-turned to the mainstream religious practice.