"Minsk" Icon

13/26 August

This icon is very ancient; according to tradition it was written by the Evangelist Luke. At the end of the 10th century it was translated, together with other Greek (style) holy icons, by the Equal-of-the-Apostles Great Prince Vladimir from the Greek city of Korsun (Khersones) to Kiev. In Kiev it was installed in the church dedicated to the Nativity of the Mother of God, which was called "The Tithe" Church, since the Grand Duke granted one tenth of all his holdings to support it. The Icon remained in Kiev for over 500 years, and was glorified by many miracles. Around the year 1500, during the civil war between the Volga and Crimean Tatars, Kiev was looted. The church of "The Tithe" was also ransacked and an insolent Tatar pried the rich riza from the miracle-working icon, discarding the icon itself into the Dnieper River. It seemed that the ancient holy icon had been lost, but after a certain time the icon revealed itself in the Svislochi River, opposite the ancient castle of the Minsk princes. It came to be noticed because a pillar of light emanated from it, and reached into the heavens. The icon was placed in the castle's Church of the Nativity of the Mother of God. This happened on August 13 by the old calendar. Since then it was decided to celebrate the Icon on that day.

In 1616 the icon fell into the hands of Uniates, who took it from the Orthodox church of the Nativity of the Mother of God to the Uniate Monastery of the Holy Spirit. In 1839, a bishop's Cathedra was inaugurated in Minsk, with the Uniate Holy Spirit Cathedral being the main holy place.

The icon remained almost until the 1930s in this Cathedral, which was barbarically blown up in 1936. Not long before the destruction of the church, the icon was placed in the Museum of Regional Ethnography.

In 1941, after the Red Army had retreated, a pious Orthodox resident of Minsk managed to get the miracle-working image from the German Occupation authorities. The artist and iconographer, G. Wier, restored the icon and gave it to the Cathedral of Sts. Peter and Paul on the Nemig (The Church of St. Catherine). After the closing of that church in 1945, the Icon of the Mother of God was moved to the Holy Spirit Cathedral in which it has been reverently kept to this day.

The Holy Icon of the Minsk Mother of God has lived through many evil times. People of many generations have venerated it. The Mother of God remembers all those who asked Her intercession in times of need and sorrow. The Lord saved Her miraculous icon "revealed on the waters of the Svislochi," for us sinners as well. Let us pray, dear brothers and sisters, to our Most Holy Lady Theotokos, that She strengthen us with Her prayerful intercession before the throne of the Most High.

icon from www.pravoslavie.ru