Dashkivtsi, Khmelnytskyi, Ukraine, October 19, 2017
Photo: uoj.org.ua The ancient wonderworking icon of the Mother of God “The Joy of All Who Sorrow” with coins was stolen during the night last night from the Church of the Dormition in the village of Dashkivtsi in the western Ukrainian province of Khmelnytskyi, reports the Information-Education Department of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
Unknown persons broke into the church and stole the miraculous icon, which had been given to the village by St. John of Kronstadt in 1901.
Dean of the Vinkovetsky deanery Archpriest Michael Barakhoba reported that police later arrived to the scene.
“It was a very dear icon for the locals. St. John of Kronstadt himself blessed it for the village. It is an ancient, wooden icon with real icons, and an inscription that it was Fr. John who blessed it in 1901. They didn’t take anything else from the church,” Fr. Michael stated.
The priest also spoke about the history of the icon: “There was a man named Nikolai Lanovoi living in our village, who had bad foot pain. One day he heard about a saint who helps people receive healing from God and went to Kronstadt. When he met with the righteous one, he gave the sick man the icon and said, ‘If you carry it to your village, you will find healing and you will even have many children.’ He spent about a year walking home, and when he reached Dashkivtsi, he was fully healed, got married, and had 8 children. The icon has miraculously survived until today. The villagers, risking their lives, hid it from Internal Affairs, and passed it from generation to generation. Healing has come to many people through this icon.”
The icon was returned to the church in 1991, reports the Union of Orthodox Journalists.
