Wonderworking Boyan Icon of the Mother of God

The Icon was painted in 1991 for the local row of the iconostasis in the church of the Nativity of the Mother of God, which is being renovated after 30 years of desolation (since 1961 it had served as a repository for fertilizer). The first miracle — the flow of tears — was manifested by the Icon during the Divine Service on December 18, 1993.

During the All-Night Vigil in honor of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker of Myra in Lycia, the faithful of the village of Boyan, Novoselytsya District, witnessed a miracle: the Icon of the Mother of God seemed to come to life, her eyes glistened and sparkled in the glow of the candles burning before the Icon and were filled with tears, like those of an ordinary person. Then tears flowed down the plane of the board, causing horror and tenderness among the pilgrims.

The news of the miracle quickly spread throughout the village of Boyan and beyond. From that time on, parishioners no longer simply stood before the image of the Sovereign Lady, but prayed on their knees, asking for God's help through this Icon.

Over time, people began to gather around the Icon, wishing to serve the Lord and to receive spiritual and bodily healing. Since that time, the tradition of walking to the Boyan Icon has been established. A sisterhood arose, which began to live according to the monastic Rule, which contributed to the formation of a women's Skete at the village church of the Nativity of the Mother of God under the spiritual care of the Holy Ascension Bayachensky Monastery.

Many miracles occurring from this Icon, including healings from cancer, were studied in detail and presented to the Synodal Commission. On October 4, 1994, at a session of the Holy Synod of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church chaired by Metropolitan Volodymyr of Kiev and All Ukraine, the Icon was recognized as wonderworking and received the name Boyan after the place where it manifested its miracles

On December 28, 1999, at the church of the Nativity of the Mother of God, by the decision of the Holy Synod of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, the Boyan women's Monastery was founded in the church.

On the territory of the Monastery there are: the church of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos, built in 1898; a three-story residential building with a house church of the Boyan Icon of the Mother of God, built in 1998, in which there is an oil copy of the miraculous Icon; a one-storey monastic building, built at the beginning of the XX century, and a bell tower. The Monastery has five hectares of land, a small farm and a yard for cattle is being built.

Now 98 sisters live in the convent: the Igoumeness — Superior of the convent, two nuns, 44 nuns and 27 novices. The sisters are engaged in charity work — they look after orphans in Svyato-Voznesenskoye Banche Monastery and needlework.

Since 1995, the day before the Icon's Feast, September 11/24, an annual Cross Procession has been held from Chernivtsi to the village of Boyan (about 17 km), traditionally led by the ruling bishop. By 2003, the Icon had been visited by more than 2 million people, pilgrims (including those from Jerusalem, Greece, Romania, Russia, Poland and Turkey). The Icon is often taken to various churches in Ukraine for veneration. An Akathist to the Icon was composed in 1995 in Romanian by Archpriest Adrian Acostakia and in 1997 in Church Slavonic by Archbishop Onouphrios (Berezovsky).

Divine Services in the Monastery are performed daily by the brethren of the Holy Ascension Banche Monastery in Romanian and Slavonic. Patronal feasts: The Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos on September 8; and the Boyan Icon of the Mother of God on September 12/25.