Viliya, Ukraine, June 5, 2020
Photo: pravlife.org
On December 6, the Holy Synod of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church established the feast of the wonderworking Viliya Icon of the Mother of God “of the Sign,” establishing its feast day as the Thursday before Pentecost, when the icon first appeared 130 years ago.
Yesterday, the Thursday before Pentecost, the glorification of the icon was liturgically celebrated for the first time.
The celebration was held with the blessing of His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry of Kiev and All Ukraine in the Church of the Great Martyr Paraskeva in the village of Viliya in the Rivne Province, where the icon has been preserved since its miraculous appearance, reports the Rivne Diocese of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
Photo: pravlife.org
The festive Divine Liturgy was celebrated by His Eminence Metropolitan Sergei of Ternopil and Kremenets, His Grace Bishop Pimen of Dubno, and invited clergy. The service was also attended by His Eminence Metropolitan Bartholomew of Rivne and Ostrog.
During the Liturgy, special petitions and prayers were offered for the Church and for peace in Ukraine, and for the end of the coronavirus pandemic and the doctors working in the difficult conditions of the pandemic.
At the end of the service, Met. Sergei read out the decision of the Holy Synod from December 6 glorifying the wonderworking Viliya Icon. Bp. Pimen then read the history of the icon’s appearance.
The icon first appeared on May 25/June 6, 1889 in the house of Nikolai Ostapchuk in the village of Viliya. Before its appearance, Ostapchuk’s daughter-in-law Domna had three dreams in which a voice ordered her to wash the house in preparation for the arrival of guests. The woman complied. On the Thursday before Pentecost, Domna saw a radiance and found a small icon that came out of the ground in the prayer corner. It was a small, ancient copper icon of the “Sign” type of icons of the Mother of God.
Miraculous healings and extraordinary events became to occur literally in the first days after its appearance. Dozens of believers witnessed the blessed help of the miraculous help, and by decision of the Volyn Spiritual Consistory on March 26/April 7, 1891, the icon was solemnly transferred to the local Church of St. Paraskeva.
Photo: pravlife.org
The locals today also preserve many stories of miraculous healings worked by the Mother of God. Svetlana Shovkun, an employee of the Viliya Museum spoke about her co-worker who witnessed the miraculous healing of her sister at the icon:
Maria Tkach was only nine years old when her older sister Vera fell ill with edema. Doctors shrugged, and the family was forced to take the daughter home. The patient was carried out because she couldn’t walk; her body was swollen with fluid. Then the sick girl had a dream in which her gray-bearded grandfather advised her to visit the chapel with the “Sign” icon. In the morning, the family took the sick girl to the icon with much trouble. There they prayed and cried, and the next day everyone was amazed—the water flowed out and Vera lived a long time to old age after the miraculous healing.
The rector of the church, Archpriest Alexander Zhuk also recalls a story from WW2: “There is a record of the miraculous salvation of the inhabitants of Viliya in wartime, when the Nazis wanted to burn people and drove them to the temple, and locked them in. According to recollections, people prayed with inspiration at the ‘Sign’ icon and a miracle happened! It is not known why, but the Germans did not set fire to the Church and left the village.”
