Donetsk, October 2, 2025
Photo: eparhiadonetsk.ru
September 30, 2025, marks a historic day for Orthodox Donbass. On the feast day of the Holy Martyrs Faith, Hope, Love, and their mother Sophia, the main sacred treasure of the Holy Iveron Convent returned to its home after 11 years away.
The Iveron icon of the Mother of God, known locally as the Donetsk Portaitissa, was painted in 1999 by a monk of the Russian St. Panteleimon Monastery on Mt. Athos at the request of ever-memorable Schema-Archimandrite Zosima (Sokur). After its completion, it made a ceremonial journey through many churches of Donbass before being installed in a newly built church that same year.
Before the events of 2014, the icon was housed in the Iveron Convent, where pilgrims from many cities came to venerate it. The monastery is located near Donetsk airport, which became the site of fierce fighting. During the military operations, the flourishing monastery was heavily damaged by shelling.
Photo: eparhiadonetsk.ru
The nuns protected the icon, but in September 2014, after the monastery sustained severe damage, it was transferred to the St. Nicholas Cathedral in Donetsk. The sisters were also evacuated.
The icon’s return was preceded by a grand procession through the Donetsk and Gorlovka dioceses from late June through late September. Thousands of faithful had the opportunity to venerate the miraculous icon, reports Donbass Orthodoxy.
On September 30, the Iveron Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos returned ceremoniously to its home monastery.
From early morning, hierarchs, clergy, abbesses of monasteries, pilgrims, and parishioners gathered at the Holy Iveron Monastery to witness the historic event. Believers covered the path from the monastery gates to the church entrance with a living carpet of flowers and branches.
Photo: eparhiadonetsk.ru
His Eminence Metropolitan Vladimir of Donetsk and Mariupol and his vicars celebrated a service of thanksgiving for the return of the sacred treasure. Priests carried the venerated icon into the monastery grounds while hymns to the Most Holy Theotokos were sung. A procession led by the hierarchs circled the main church of the monastery, after which the icon was placed in the center for veneration.
Met. Vladimir then celebrated the Divine Liturgy with all the assembled clergy. In the packed church, special prayers were offered for Holy Rus’, for peace in the land, and for the speedy release from captivity of His Eminence Metropolitan Arseny of Svyatogorsk.
Following the service, Met. Vladimir addressed the faithful, noting that the icon was originally written on Mt. Athos and brought solemnly to the Donetsk land.
Photo: eparhiadonetsk.ru
“Initially this date was not planned, but the Lord so ordained that exactly 11 years later the icon returns to its former place,” the hierarch said. He recalled the years filled with shelling, destruction, desecration of shrines, and enormous human losses.
“Nevertheless, the Orthodox people of Donbass are alive, faith is alive, shrines are being restored,” he stated. He expressed hope that the icon will attract pilgrims from all corners of Holy Rus’ and bring God’s blessing for the restoration of the monastery church and monastic life.
“May the protection of the Queen of Heaven extend over all of us, so that having overcome this sorrowful time, we may reach peaceful times and return again to constructive labor and peaceful life,” the Metropolitan concluded.
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