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Icon of the Mother of God of Kupyatitch

Commemorated on November 15

The Kupyatitch Icon of the Mother of God appeared in the year 1180 near the village of Kupyatich near Minsk, Russia. It was found in the forest on a tree by the peasant girl Anna, a cattle herder. The image, in the form of a cross, shone with an unusual light.

On the spot of the miraculous appearance of the icon, peasants built a church in the name of the Most Holy Theotokos, and placed the icon within it. After some years, Tatars burned the church. The icon was found a second time after many years by a traveler named Joachim. Peasants transferred the cruciform-icon to the village church, and Joachim remained at the church as church attendant, by God’s will.

In the early 17th century, the Kupyatitch Monastery was built next to the church, which the Roman Catholics seized at the end of the century. After the monastery was abandoned, Orthodox monks came and took the holy icon of the Kupyatitch Mother of God. They transferred the wonderworking icon to the Sophia Cathedral in Kiev.

The Kupyatitch Icon is a small copper cross. On one side of the cross, the Mother of God is depicted with the Pre-eternal Infant, and on the other side, the Crucifixion.

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