Kursk-Root Icon of the Mother of God to visit Jersey City, NJ on Saturday, January 2
With the blessing of His Beatitude, Metropolitan Jonah, Primate of the Orthodox Church in America, and His Eminence, Metropolitan Hilarion, First Hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, the Kursk-Root Icon of the Mother of God will visit Saints Peter and Paul Church here on Saturday, January 2, 2010.
Accompanied by the Archpriest Serge Lukianov and ROCOR staff members, the icon will arrive at the church, located at 109 Grand Street, at 9:00 a.m., at which time it will be brought into the church in procession.
Metropolitan Jonah, who also serves as Locum Tenens of the Diocese of New York and New Jersey, will preside at the 9:30 a.m. Divine Liturgy. He will be assisted by the Archpriest Joseph Lickwar, rector of Saints Peter and Paul Church and diocesan chancellor, and clergy from throughout the region.
During the Divine Liturgy, Metropolitan Jonah will ordain Deacon Igor Yakunin to the holy priesthood.
A dinner and media presentation detailing the Kursk-Root Icon’s fall 2009 visit to Russia will follow the Divine Liturgy.
For additional information, please contact Father Joseph at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or 201-434-1986.
A brief history of the icon.
The Kursk-Root Icon of the Mother of God was discovered on September 8, 1259, by a hunter outside the town of Kursk, Russia. He found the icon lying face down by the root of a tree. Lifting it up, he discovered that the icon was similar to the Novgorod “Znamenie” Icon. Simultaneously, as the hunter lifted up the holy icon from the earth, a spring of pure water gushed forth. Deciding not to leave the icon in the forest, the hunter placed it in a small, ancient chapel.
The icon was transferred to the city of Ryl’a and placed in a new church erected in honor of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos. But the icon soon disappeared and returned to the place in which it first appeared. The people of Ryl’a made several attempts to return the icon to their city, but it repeatedly returned to its former place. Everyone then realized that the Theotokos preferred the place of the icon’s appearance.
The special help granted by the Mother of God through this icon is associated with many important events in Russian history. Several copies of the icon were made, which also were glorified.