Zhirovichi, Grodno Province, Belarus, May 21, 2025
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A host of hierarchs of the Belarusian Orthodox Church celebrated the 555th anniversary of the miraculous finding of the Zhirovichi Icon of the Mother of God and the 500th anniversary of the foundation of the Zhirovichi Monastery this week.
Earlier, on Bright Saturday, April 26, the renovated Holy Dormition Cathedral was reconsecrated by His Eminence Metropolitan Benjamin of Minsk, primate of the Belarusian Orthodox Church.
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His Eminence also presided over the anniversary services, beginning with the All-Night Vigil on May 19. He was joined by two hierarchs from Russia and five hierarchs and a host of clergy from Belarus, reports the Belarusian Orthodox Church.
The Divine Liturgy the next morning was a truly glorious celebration, with 21 bishops from Belarus and Russia and a host of clergy concelebrating, under the headship of Met. Benjamin.
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Following the Liturgy, the hierarchs, clergy, and pilgrims held a procession with the wonderworking icon to the Holy Theophany Church, where a moleben with an akathist was served before the holy image.
In his sermon, Met. Benjamin recalled the history of the miraculous discovery of the image and various periods of the formation of the Zhirovichi Monastery. In conclusion, His Eminence noted:
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This year has been declared the Year of Beautification in our country. Our cities and villages are quite beautiful, but there’s still work to be done. I would like to draw attention and call upon everyone that, along with the decoration of our cities and villages, we should take care to beautify our dwelling place with what is pleasing to God: good, highly moral behavior, so that good, God-pleasing words come from our lips, so that our thoughts and feelings correspond to the high purpose of each person, and this would please the Mother of God. So that not only this place, this holy monastery would be called the domain of the Mother of God, but that our land would be such under the special patronage of the Queen of Heaven.
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The Zhirovichi Icon revealed itself in 1470 with a bright light shining through the branches of a pear tree.
The monastery itself was established 50 years later, and construction of the Holy Dormition Cathedral began in 1629. It was subsequently rebuilt and reconstructed several times. It acquired its modern appearance in the second half of the 1800s.
It was at the Zhirovichi Monastery in 1839 that the Lithuanian Uniates signed the act of reunification with holy Orthodoxy, under the much-venerated Metropolitan Joseph (Semashko) of Vilnius and Lithuania. The monastery thus became the first spiritual center in Belarus for the restoration of Orthodox worship.
Read more about the appearance of the Zhirovochi Icon and the foundation of the monastery here.
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