St. Tikhon’s Monastery announces St. Anna Celebration July 26

Saint Anna
Icon of Saint Anna during visit to Detroit’s Holy Trinity Church, November 2013

Saint Tikhon’s Monastery here warmly invites the faithful to its annual Saint Anna Day celebration on Sunday, July 26, 2015.

Throughout the celebration, the faithful may venerate the myrrh-streaming icon of Saint Anna and the Mother of God, which has been enshrined at the monastery since the fall of 2012.

The day will begin with the celebration of the Divine Liturgy at 9:30 a.m., followed by a pot luck dinner in the monastery dining hall.  At 2:00 p.m., a Moleben and the Akathistos Hymn in honor of Saint Anna with procession and anointing of the faithful will be celebrated. Everyone is invited to submit names for the Moleben to St. Anna. 

The icon, which had been enshrined at the Russian Orthodox Church of Our Lady, Joy of All Who Sorrow Church, Philadelphia, PA, began to stream myrrh on May 9, 2004.  Archimandrite Athanasy, the parish’s Rector, noticed visible liquid streams and droplets.  Accumulations of the liquid were observed on the cuff of Saint Anne’s left hand and on her left shoulder veil.  Droplets also were found elsewhere on the icon.  This fragrant, slightly oily liquid, is commonly referred to as “myrrh.”

Commissioned by Father Athanasy at the Russian Orthodox Convent on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem, the icon was completed in 1998 and blessed at the Holy Sepulcher in the city’s Church of the Resurrection.  According to the monastery web site, “assistance and healings are still wrought by the miraculous icon and she continues to work wonders for those who approach with faith.”