Are vouchsafed healing and receive the knowledge of the true faith,
And they repel the attacks of the Russian* horde.
Therefore entreat remission of sins
For us who fall down before you.
Enlighten our hearts to thoughts of piety,
And raise a prayer to your Son to save our souls.
(Troparion of the Pochaev Icon – Tone 5)
Pochaev mountain is in modern-day Ukraine, and it is there in the 14th century, that an appearance of the Mother of God with her Saviour was granted to two monks and a nearby shepherd. After the vision, a single footprint remained in the mountainside, from which a spring emerged. The previously uninhabited mountain became the site of a monastery dedicated to the miracle. Over 200 years later, the monastery was visited by the a Greek Bishop, Neophit, who left behind as a gift, an Icon of the Theotokos from Constantinople. This is the Icon which came to bear the monastery’s name: the Pochaev Icon of the Mother of God.
*Original prayer uses 'Muslim' - please pardon my edit. I'm broken hearted and devastated this invasion has brought terror, death and suffering to Ukraine. Of course, it may well be the fuse igniting a full-blown WWIII.
