Icon of the Mother of God "Ilyin-Chernigov"

Commemorated on April 16

The Ilyin-Chernigov Icon of the Mother of God was written in 658 by Gregory Dubensky (“Gennadius” in monasticism). Tears flowed from the icon for eight days from April 16 through 24, 1662

That same year, Tatars descended upon the town of Chernigov and devastated it. At midnight they burst into the Trinity monastery, went into the church, overturned all the icons, and grabbed all the utensils, but the wonderworking icon and its ornaments remained untouched.

An invisible power held back the heathens from the holy icon. Earlier, the Queen of Heaven had not permitted the invaders to enter the cave of St. Anthony of the Caves, where the brethren of the monastery had hidden. The Tatars ultimately fled, as though terrified by a vision.

The miracle of the Mother of God and Her Chernigov Icon was described by St. Demetrius of Rostov in his book, “The Moistened Fleece.” Later, St. John of Tobolsk also wrote about the Chernigov Icon.

A wonderworking copy of the Chernigov Icon of the Mother of God, in the Gethsemane skete of the Trinity-Sergiev Lavra, was glorified on September 1, 1869.

By permission of the Orthodox Church in America (www.oca.org)