Commemoration of the Miraculous Appearance of the Mother of God at Pochaev

Commemoration of the Miraculous Appearance of the Mother of God at Pochaev, which saved the Monastery from the assault of the Tatars and Turks

Commemorated on July 23

The celebration in honor of the Pochaev Icon of the Mother of God on July 23 was established in memory of the deliverance of the Dormition Lavra Monastery from a siege by the Turks on July 20-23, 1675.

In the summer of 1675 during the Zbarazhsk War against the Turks, in the reign of Polish King Jan Sobesski, regiments composed of Tatars under the command of Khan Nurredin fell upon the Pochaev Monastery and surrounded it on three sides. The weak monastery walls and its stone buildings did not offer a defense against the siege. The abbot, Joseph Dobromirsky, urged the monks and lay people to pray to the Most Holy Theotokos and St. Job of Pochaev.

The monks and the lay people prayed fervently, prostrating themselves before the wonderworking icon of the Mother of God and the reliquary with the relics of St. Job. At sunrise on the morning of July 23, as the Tatars were planning an assault on the monastery, the abbot directed that an Akathist to the Theotokos be sung. At the opening words, “O Queen of the Heavenly Hosts,” the Most Holy Theotokos suddenly appeared over the church, in “an unfurled gleaming-white omophorion,” with angels holding unsheathed swords. St. Job stood beside the Mother of God, bowing to Her and beseeching Her to defend the monastery.

The Tatars began to shoot arrows at the Most Holy Theotokos and St. Job, but the arrows fell backwards and wounded those who shot them. In panic and without looking, the enemy trampled and killed each other. The defenders of the monastery pursued them and took many prisoners. Afterwards, some of the prisoners accepted the Christian Faith and remained at the monastery.

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