Chicago, July 1, 2026
Photo: domoca.org
The local hierarchs of the Orthodox Church in America and the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia came together on June 26 to celebrate the feast of the wonderworking Tikhvin Icon of the Mother of God at the OCA’s Holy Trinity Cathedral in Chicago.
The icon is celebrated as the patron of the OCA’s Diocese of the Midwest, as the original Tikhvin Icon spent 55 years at Holy Trinity Cathedral, shielded there from the Soviet government’s persecution of religion, before being sent back to its original home at the Tikhvin Monastery in Russia in 2004. A replica was gifted to the diocese by His Grace Bishop Mstislav of Tikhvin in November 2016.
The feast began Thursday evening, June 25, with the All-Night Vigil, served by His Eminence Archbishop Daniel and clergy of the Chicago Deanery. The Chicago Deanery Male Choir sang the responses, the diocese reports.
Photo: domoca.org
At Abp. Daniel’s invitation, His Grace Bishop Spyridon of Chicago and Mid-America from ROCOR presided over the Hierarchical Liturgy on Friday, June 26. They were joined by a number of clerics.
A prayer to the Mother of God was read at the conclusion of the Divine Liturgy. Abp. Daniel greeted Bp. Spyridon and thanked everyone who had come to observe the feast. A reception in the cathedral courtyard followed the service.
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According to ancient tradition, the Tikhvin Icon of the Mother of God is one of several painted by St. Luke the Evangelist. In the 5th century, the icon was taken from Jerusalem to Constantinople, where it was enshrined in the Church of Blachernae, which was built especially for this purpose.
In 1383, seventy years before the fall of Constantinople, fishermen on Lake Ladoga in the principality of Novgorod in northern Russia witnessed the icon miraculously hovering over the lake’s waters amidst a radiant light. Shortly thereafter, the icon appeared in several neighboring towns, including the village of Motchenitsy on the bank of the Tikhvinka River, before it finally appeared near the town of Tikhvin. A wooden church dedicated to the Dormition of the Mother of God was built on the site.
In 1560, by order of Tsar Ivan the Terrible, a men’s monastery was established near the church. Over the centuries, the icon’s fame spread far and wide, with copies of the original adorning countless churches throughout Russia and beyond.
During the World War II German occupation, the Nazis removed the icon from the Tikhvin Monastery, from whence it was taken to Pskov and subsequently to Riga, Latvia. When Riga was evacuated, His Grace, Bishop John [Garklavs] of Riga—later Archbishop of Chicago and Minneapolis—in whose care the icon was placed, took the icon to Bavaria, where it was venerated by Orthodox faithful who had been displaced because of the war.
While Soviet agents had spotted the icon, Bp. John was permitted to take it to the US in 1949, where it was venerated for many years at Chicago’s Holy Trinity Cathedral. After Abp. John’s repose in 1982, Archpriest Sergei Garklavs, his adopted son and Dean of Holy Trinity Cathedral, became the icon’s guardian. In July 2004, the icon was returned to Russia and once again enshrined in the Tikhvin Monastery.
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