Kupyatitsa Icon of the Mother of God

The Kupyátitsa (or Kupyátich) Icon of the Mother of God appeared in the year 1180 near the village of Kupyátitsa near the former Pinsk district of the Minsk region. Igoumen Hilarion Denisovich of the Kupyátitsa Monastery wrote a book "A Description of the Miracles of the Kupyátitsa Icon of the Mother of God," and the monk Athanasios Kal'nophoysky also participated in its publication (Kiev, 1638), supplementing it with his own interpretations.

In his book "Teraturgima, or Miracles which occurred in both Caves of the Monastery" (Kiev, 1638), the monk Athanasios Kal'nophoyska of the Kiev Caves Lavra says that the Icon was found in the forest on a tree by a peasant girl named Anna, who was herding cattle. The Icon, in the shape of a Cross, shone with an unusual light between the trees. Anna took the Icon home and hid it in a chest. That evening, Anna wanted to show her father Basil the Cross she had found, but she was unable to find it.

When she returned to search the original site the next day, she saw once again a glow between the trees. Thinking that there was another Cross in the tree on which the Cross had been revealed, she brought it home. The next day it was back in its original place in the forest. Struck by these events, the villagers built a church dedicated to the Most Holy Theotokos, on the site of the Icon's appearance, and the Icon was placed in that temple. Since that time, by the grace of God, the Icon has been glorified with various miracles.

In 1240, during a raid, the Tatars ravaged and burnt the village and the Kupyátitsa church, but the wonderworking Icon was preserved intact in the ashes. The holy Icon was found a second time at the end of the XV century at the site of the burnt church by a pilgrim named Joachim, who was returning to his homeland from Jerusalem through the marshy woodlands. Not daring to take the Icon with him, he reported his discovery to the villagers, who transferred the cruciform Icon to the village church. By God’s will, Joachim remained at the church as the sacristan.

In 1629, the Kupyátitsa Entrance of the Theotokos - Transfiguration Monastery was built beside the church, within its walls the future Holy Monastic Martyrs Igoumen Athanasios of Brest († September 5, 1648) and Makarios of Kanev, Igoumen of Pinsk († September 7, 1678) labored in asceticism.

At the beginning of the XVII century, the Kupyátitsa Monastery was built next to the church. Roman Catholics seized both buildings at the end of the century. Later on, Uniate monks were living there. When the Orthodox monks abandoned the Monastery in 1655, they were led by Archimandrite Lazarus Baranovich. They took the Kupyátitsa Icon of the Mother of God with them, and transferred it to Kiev's Holy Wisdom cathedral.1

People flocked to the Kupyátitsa Icon of the Mother of God with reverence. It was venerated not only by the Orthodox Ukrainians, but also by the faithful of Belarus who had not forgotten about the holy Icon. In the middle of the XIX century, parishioners of the Kupyátitsa church appealed to the Holy Governing Synod with a petition for its return from Kiev's Holy Wisdom Cathedral. Their petition was denied, however. The refusal was based on the fact that the Icon "did not belong to the parish church, which was built in 1822, but rather to the Monastery, which no longer existed; and it was transferred to Kiev's Holy Wisdom Cathedral, not by the ancestors of the petitioners, but by the Orthodox monks of the former Monastery 200 years ago."

There is evidence that the wonderworking Icon remained in the Holy Wisdom Cathedral until the end of the 1920s, but its later fate is unknown.

An exact copy of the wonderworking Icon was painted in the XVII century, which is now located in the church of Saint Nicholas in the village of Kupyátitsa, Pinsk district, Brest region. Every year, pilgrims from all over Belarus flock to venerate the Holy Kupyátitsa Icon of the Mother of God.

The Kupyátitsa Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos is a small copper cross. On one side of the Cross, the Mother of God is depicted in relief holding the Pre-eternal Child with her left hand; on the other side is Christ Crucified.


1 This church was not named for a Saint named Sophia, but like Hagia Sophia in Constantinople, it was dedicated to Christ, the power and wisdom of God (1 Corinthians 1:24).