The Albazin Icon of the Mother of God the Word Made Flesh is celebrated on this day. A distinctive feature of this icon of the “Sign” Oranta type is that it has a full-length image of the Infant Christ in a girdle. His right hand is pressed against his chest, his left hand is lowered down. On both sides of the figure of the Mother of God, there are two six-winged seraphim. This revered image became famous in the Amur region in the 17th century during the period of the Russian colonization of Dauria. The icon received its name from the Russian fort of Albazin, founded by the Cossacks in 1651 on the left bank of the Amur. In 1665, the icon was brought to Albazin from the Kirensk fort by the Priest Ermogen, founder of the Ustʹ-Kirensk Trinity Monastery (1663); in 1671, after Fr. Ermogen founded the monastery in the name of the All-Merciful Savior, the image was transferred there. In 1685, as a result of the siege of Albazin by the Manchus, the monastery was destroyed, and the Priest Ermogen, returning to Ustʹ-Kirensk Monastery, left the miraculous image in Sretensk. In 1860, the icon was transported to Blagoveshchensk and placed in the cathedral. In 1885, by decree of the Holy Synod, a diocesan feast was established in honor of the miraculous icon, celebrated on March 9. In 1895, the icon exhibited miracles during an epidemic; with the assistance of Bishop Gurii (Burtasovskii) of Kamchatka, a weekly reading of the akathist hymn before the icon was instituted, ending with a prayer for deliverance from “corrupting winds and deadly pestilence” Every year from 1902, after the second day of Pentecost, the icon made a long journey across the Russian Far East. From the cathedral to the Zeia crossing, it was solemnly escorted by collective processions from all churches, led by the bishop; then, on a special steamer, the icon would travel up the Amur to Nikolaevsk-on-Amur, down the Amur tributaries and to Sakhalin Island; after about two months, the icon would return to Blagoveshchensk. In 1924, the cathedral burned down, and the icon was transferred to the St. Elias Church. The Amur Regional Museum of Local History in Blagoveshchensk received it as its property by decision of the City Council on May 10, 1938. In 1991, the icon was returned to the Russian Orthodox Church and traveled in a procession to Holy Annunciation Cathedral (at present, a cathedral for the Albazin Icon is being built in Blagoveshchensk, the capital of the Amur region). On the initiative of Bishop Gavriil (Stebliuchenko), the tradition was resumed of holding religious processions with the icon across the Russian Far East to Nikolaevsk-on-Amur on the ship Miklouho-Maclay (January 1997; May 2000). In 2000, the miraculous image traveled to Sakhalin on a military plane; on May 1, the icon was sent in a special train carriage from Blagoveshchensk to Moscow, where from May 7 to May 13, it remained in the Monastery of the Presentation of the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God; on the way home, the icon visited Irkutsk and Chita. People ask the Mother of God in front of the icon for intercession and help from many ailments, during the release of mothers from their burdens, and during periods of military threat. Source: E.V.Burenkova, "Albazinskaia Slovo Plot' Byst' Ikona Bozhiei Materi," Pravoslavnaia Entsiklopedia. |
