Elijah Mother of God, Chernihiv, Chernihiv, Ukraine

In 1658, iconographer Gregory Dubensky painted an image of the Mother of God for the Monastery of St. Elijah and the Holy Trinity in northern Ukraine near the Russian border. From April 16-24, 1662, the icon shed tears, witnessed by most of the residents of Chernihiv. Not long afterwards, Tatars sacked the town. The monks of St. Elijah took refuge in a cave while the raiders broke into and looted the monastery. Like the monks, the weeping icon and her precious ornaments were untouched -- as if heaven had held the invaders back. Unfortunately, the monastery fared less well under the Russians. Catherine the Great closed it in 1786, and during the Soviet period the miracle-working icon disappeared. Restored in the 1970s, St. Elijah's Church is now a museum. The Orthodox Church honors the Elijah Mother of God on the day she first wept: April 16 Julian, April 29 in the modern calendar. (Picture of a 1700s copy of the Elijah Mother of God from ""Православная Икона России, Украины, Беларуси," Tretyakov State Gallery, www.tretyakovgallery.ru. Information from The Orthodox Church in America, www.oca.org; "Sacred Art Exhibition Catalog," Sacred Art Gallery, sacredartgallery.com; "St. Elijah church," Chernigiv Ancient, naiz3.ucoz.com/index/0-23; and other sources.)   

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