Kherson, Kherson Province, December 19, 2023
Photo: pravoslavie.ks.ua A wonderworking icon of the Most Holy Theotokos in the Holy Dormition Cathedral in Kherson was damaged by shelling last week.
On the night of December 13-14, three churches of the Kherson Diocese were damaged during a Russian strike on the city, the diocese reports.
The main dome of the Dormition Cathedral was damaged by a direct hit and a piece of debris hit the wonderworking Blessed Heaven Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos. The holy image was pierced just above the halo of the Christ Child.
The altar, windows, and ceilings were also damaged in other Kherson churches.
In early July, vandals set fire to a holy spring in northwestern Ukraine, almost completely destroying the wonderworking Budyatichi Icon of the Mother of God kept at the spring. Later that month, the wonderworking Kasperov Icon of the Mother of God survived the severe damage to the Holy Transfiguration Cathedral in Odessa.
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Photo: pravoslavie.ks.ua The Blessed Heaven Icon is the Kherson cathedral’s main sacred treasure. Before the revolution, the cathedral had a large 50-icon iconostasis. The wonderworking image was the only one to survive to our day.
After the revolution, the icon was put in a museum in Kherson, but on the 200th anniversary of the Dormition Cathedral in 1998, it was returned to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
Some time after the icon’s return, it was miraculously renewed, which the faithful associate with the return of the Dormition Catheral to the UOC and the beginning of restoration work.
In April 2010, the UOC Synod established a feast for the icon on Bright Monday.
The icon has been known to grant healing from various diseases and infirmities (including cancer and infertility), grant family well-being, the safe birth of children, the return of missing person, assistance in studies and work, and many other everyday issues.
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