The Rzhevsk or Okovetsk Icon of the Mother of God
Commemorated on July 11
On 26 May 1539, on the day of the
Descent of the Holy Spirit (Pentecost), in Tver diocese, in Vyryshensk town
situated amidst the virgin forest on the bank of the rivulet Vyryshna in the
Okovetsk district, not far from the city of Rzhev, at a crossroads for people
from four surrounding villages, the monk Stefan made a discovery: fastened to a
pine-tree was a large iron cross and on another tree – a not-large oldly
written icon, imaging the Mother of God with Child, and with Saint Nicholas of
Myra the Wonderworker. With the discovery of the holy cross and the icon there
shone an extraordinary light and healings occurred. Over the course of the
weeks from Spirit Day to the onset of the Peter Lent, 27 healings occurred.
The monk Stefan, and
right after him the Rzhevsk priest Grigorii Onisiphorov, journeyed to Moscow
with reports of the appearance of the holy icon and cross and the healing that
occurred. The then head of the Russian Church, the Moscow metropolitan Joasaph
(1539-1541), gave thanks to the Lord, and after verifying the miracles of that
place, gave blessing to erect there two churches: the one in glory of the
Bringing-forth of the Venerable Wood of the Cross of the Lord, and the other in
honour of the Hodegetria Mother of God, having with it a chapel in honour of
Sainted Nicholas the Wonderworker. At the consecration of the churches there
was dispatched a priest and deacon from Moscow, together with church utensils,
images, vestments, books and bells.
In January 1541 the
Rzhevsk icon was solemnly transferred to Moscow for the consecration of a
church in honour of the Rzhevsk Icon of the Mother of God. After the
consecration of the temple, the icon and cross were transferred to the Uspensk
(Dormition) cathedral, where they remained until 11 July. On this day the Rzhevsk
icon and cross were returned to the place of their miraculous appearance. The
metropolitan together with all the assembled clergy of the capital, and with
the young tsar' Ioann (Ivan) Vasil'evich, and all the people, accompanied the
icon from the Uspensk cathedral to the church of the Rzhevsk Icon of the Mother
of God, where there was left a copy of this venerable icon. In memory of this
celebration there was established the feastday of the Rzhevsk Icon of the
Mother of God on 11 July.
© 1996-2001 by translator Fr. S. Janos.
