The Chirsk, or Pskov, Icon 

16/29 July

Originally this Icon was in a church in the village of Chirsk, in the Diocese of Pskov. In 1420, with an epidemic raging in Pskov, tears began to flow from both eyes of the Chirsk Icon of the Mother of God. Learning of this sign, Prince Fyodor Alexandrovitch of Pskov sent clergy to bring the Miraculous Image to Pskov. At the meeting of the Icon, there was a procession of the Cross, attended by a multitude of people, including the prince. Everyone piously offered up prayers. The people of Pskov carried the Icon into the city and placed it in the Cathedral Church of the Holy Trinity. July 16th was instituted as the Icon’s Feast Day, in commemoration both of the epidemic’s cessation, and of the many miracles which were shown forth through the Icon. After its transfer to Pskov, the Chirsk Icon came to be known as the Pskov Icon. In 1470, the Church of the Sign was erected at the Staro-Znamenskiy [Ancient Sign] Women’s Monastery, in commemoration of the Icon’s translation to Pskov.