Pochaev, Ternopil Province, Ukraine, August 6, 2025
Photo: uoc-news.church
Dozens of hierarchs and clergy and thousands of Orthodox faithful gathered at the Holy Dormition-Pochaev Lavra yesterday to celebrate the feast day of the wonderworking Pochaev Icon of the Mother of God and commemorate the 350th anniversary of the miraculous deliverance of the monastery from a Turkish-Tatar invasion in 1675.
The solemn celebrations were led by His Eminence Metropolitan Sergei of Ternopil and Kremenets, who served alongside 23 other hierarchs of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church. The Divine Liturgy took place in the Transfiguration Cathedral, where the miraculous icon had been ceremonially transferred from the Dormition Cathedral the previous day according to tradition, reports the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
Pilgrims traveled from across Ukraine to venerate the sacred image, with many arriving on foot in large processions from Volyn and Kremenets. The faithful filled both the Transfiguration and Dormition cathedrals, where two Divine Liturgies were celebrated on the feast day.
Photo: uoc-news.church
During the services, prayers were offered for peace in Ukraine, for the country’s armed forces, and for all those suffering from the ongoing conflict. The wonderworking icon was placed in the center of the Transfiguration Cathedral, surrounded by bouquets of roses.
The celebrations began on August 4 with an All-Night Vigil and the singing of the Akathist hymn before the miraculous icon. Throughout the night, continuous moleben and akathists were served as streams of pilgrims came to pray before the icon.
Following the second Liturgy on August 5, the icon was carried in a grand procession back to its permanent home in the Dormition Cathedral, where a festive moleben concluded the celebrations. His Eminence Metropolitan Vladimir of Pochaev, the monastery’s abbot, congratulated the gathered hierarchs, clergy, and faithful on the feast day.
The miraculous intervention being commemorated occurred during the summer of 1675, when Tatar regiments under Khan Nurredin surrounded the monastery on three sides during the Zbarazhsk War with the Turks. As the enemy prepared their final assault on July 23, Abbot Joseph Dobromirsky ordered the singing of an Akathist to the Mother of God.
According to Orthodox tradition, as the hymn began with the words “Queen of the Heavenly Hosts,” the Most Holy Mother of God herself appeared above the church in a gleaming white omophorion, accompanied by angels with drawn swords and St. Job of Pochaev. When the Tatars shot arrows at the Heavenly vision, the arrows turned back upon the attackers, causing panic and confusion that led to their retreat and the monastery’s deliverance.
The Pochaev Icon of the Mother of God remains one of the most venerated Orthodox icons in Ukraine, drawing thousands of pilgrims annually to the historic monastery that has served as a center of Orthodox spirituality for centuries.
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