Stanovo village, the western Ukraine, January 22, 2016
An icon of the Mother of God of the Life-Giving Spring has began shedding myrrh in the Stanovo village of the Mukachevo district of the Zakarpatia (Transcarpathia) region of the western Ukraine. Drops of a fragrant oily fluid first appeared on the icon on December 19, 2015, the feast-day of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, reports Mukacheve.church.ua.
The icon of the Most Holy Virgin is currently in the courtyard of the Church of Sts. Peter and Paul of the Stanovo village in a special icon case.
The streaming myrrh was first noticed by a parishioner who came up to venerate the icon before a service. According to Pravlife.org, the woman reported the miracle to the church rector, Archpriest Vasily Popovich.
“I discovered many big drops of oil with yellowish hue on the icon. The icon was emitting an authentic, unnaturally sweet-smelling odor. At once people started coming to the icon with joy, reverence and words of gratitude to the Lord for this miracle,” the archpriest related.
On the same day after the Divine Liturgy a prayer service with an Akathist to the Mother of God was performed before Her icon. And these prayer services have been performed daily at the parish since then.
The icon of the Mother of God of the Life-Giving Spring was blessed on Bright Friday; that is, Easter Week, 2014. The author of the icon is Viktoria Puga, graduate of an icon-painting school at the St. Petersburg Theological Academy. The icon is painted according to the traditions of the Byzantine iconography.
