YELETSK CHERNIGOV ICON

5/18 February

 The Yeletskaya Miraculous Icon of the Most-holy Theotokos was in Chernigov, in the men’s Monastery of the Dormition in Yeletsk. In 1060, St. Anthony of the Caves was driven from Kiev by Great Prince Izyaslav.  He removed to the Chernigov area, and in a remote place dug out a cave in which to remain in seclusion.   At that time, he found an icon of the Mother of God, standing in a fir tree.  At the place it appeared, he founded a monastery dedicated to the Dormition of the Mother of God. Both the Icon that appeared and the monastery are called “Yeletsky” [from the Russian for fir tree: “yel’”]. The Icon was lost in the early 17th Century, during the destruction of the monastery by the forces of Polish King Sigismund III, but in 1676 a surviving copy that had been made from the original was donated to the monastery as a replacement.

icon from www.days.ru