Svyatogorsk, Donetsk Province, Ukraine, July 31, 2025
Photo: svlavra.church.ua
The Holy Dormition-Svyatogorsk Lavra celebrated the feast day of its most precious relic on July 30, 2025, as the monastic community and faithful gathered to honor the wonderworking Svyatogorsk Icon of the Mother of God.
The Icon has gained renown for its healing properties, particularly for those suffering from serious illnesses including cancer. The icon is also sought by couples struggling with infertility, with many crediting their prayers before the image with helping them conceive children.
The two-day celebration began on July 29 with festive services in the Dormition Cathedral. At noon, the 9th Hour was read followed by Small Vespers, as the flower-adorned miraculous image was ceremonially placed in the center of the cathedral facing the Royal Doors, the Lavra reports.
During the evening service, an Akathist to the Mother of God was chanted before the Svyatogorsk Icon, followed by the festive All-Night Vigil beginning at 4:00 PM.
Photo: svlavra.church.ua
The main celebration continued on July 30 with services beginning at 6:00 AM, including morning prayers, Midnight Office, and a moleben for the blessing of water. After the 3rd and 6th Hours, His Eminence Archbishop Paisy of Konstantinovka, vicar of the Kiev Metropolis, was received at the western doors of the Dormition Cathedral, followed by the Divine Liturgy.
The Archbishop was assisted by the monastery’s brotherhood and visiting clergy in sacred orders. Holy Communion was served from five chalices.
After the conclusion of the Liturgy, the traditional procession took place. The wonderworking Svyatogorsk Icon was carried with prayer and song throughout the monastery grounds before returning to the Dormition Cathedral. During the procession route, a memorial service was held at the graves of brotherhood members killed during shelling on June 1, 2022.
The day’s festivities concluded with the traditional Panagia rite and a festive meal shared by the entire monastic community and their guests.
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Photo: svlavra.church.ua
Before the closing of the monastery after the communist revolution, there were two wonderworking icons of the Mother of God, differing only in that in the ancient icon, the Christ Child held a scroll in his hand, and in the newer icon—a scepter.
The ancient icon has not survived to this day.
The second icon, a copy of the first, was painted by an Athonite elder who visited the Lavra in 1844 and felt that the monastery before the same spirit as the Athonite monasteries. He painted the icon out of gratitude.
After the icon became renowned, the brothers would prayerfully carry it throughout the surrounding villages, until the years of the bloody revolution. On October 5, 1918, the Bolsheviks attacked the house where the icon was staying while on procession and killed the monks present and the owners of the house. Five corpses lay at the foot of the icon, which stood in a pool of blood.
In 1922, the godless authorities seized the original Svyatogorsk Icon, whose location became unknown after the closing of the monastery. The wonderworking copy was preserved by pious laypeople during the years of soviet persecution, though the faces of Christ and the Mother of God show traces of blasphemous Bolshevik attacks.
The icon was solemnly returned in procession to the Lavra on October 4, 1992, and placed in the Holy Dormition Cathedral. Since then, the Mother of God has worked a wealth of miracles through her holy icon.
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