Icono de Verkhrata

Marian devotion

Where is he?

The Verkhrata icon - also called in some sources Werchrata or Verkhrate icon - comes from the ancient community of Verkhrata, in the historical region of Galicia, and is now venerated in the Basilian monastery of San Nicolás de Krekhiv, in the oblast of Lopolis, Ukraine. The coordinate of this file corresponds to the cartographed building of the present monastery, identified by Wikidata as Q1193751. It does not appear as the exact point of the ancient church of Verkhrata or as the place of each episode transmitted by tradition.

Documented history

The Basilian Order of St. Josafat places the arrival of the icon to the monastery of Verkhrata in 1682. The institutional source relates the transfer to Father Isaac Sokalsky and retains the memory that the image came from Zamość. The name of the advocation thus maintains the name of the place of origin, even if the image has followed another monastic itinerary. The historical encyclopedia of Ukraine identifies Verkhrata as a settlement of the Rava-Ruska area and documents the suppression of the monastery and the transfer of the icon to Krekhiv.

In 1688 was the episode that gave the icon its fame as a miraculous image. According to the Basilian account, during the feast of the Deposition of the Manto of the Virgin, a luminous column was seen at night on the monastery. The neighbors went to the church and found a light on before the image; then they observed tears that tradition describes as bloodthirsty on the represented face. The source places the duration of the phenomenon in about four weeks. This paragraph transmits the institutional testimony and does not make it an independent observation or a medical test.

The same source states that the witnesses made an oath and that Bishop Joseph Shumliansky of Lopolis went to the place, heard the testimonies and proclaimed the icon miraculous. What is recorded, therefore, is the existence of a historical episcopal recognition of the image according to the Basilian source. The sources consulted do not contain a decree of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith that declares a Marian apparition approved in Verkhrata.

When the Basilian monastery of Verkhrata was abolished in 1808, the icon was solemnly transferred to the monastery of Krekhiv. During the Soviet period, after the closure of the Krekhiv monastery, the image was taken to the church of Santa Paraskeva in Leópolis. The Greek-Catholic Ukrainian Church then remained outside public law, and the custody of the image was linked to communities and places that kept the memory of the cult.

With the departure of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church from hiding, the icon returned to Krekhiv on May 19, 1991. This return explains why the current map is located in Krekhiv and not in Verkhrata: the first is the contemporary place of veneration documented by the Basilian Order and by the monastery itself.

Tradition

The tradition of Verkhrata recalls the column of fire, the tears and the help that the faithful attributed to the intercession of the Virgin. The history of the icon is also a tradition of custody: one community received it, another moved it after the monastic suppression, families and parishes protected it during the persecution and finally returned to a restored monastery. These plans - institutional history, devotional memory and extraordinary account - remain differentiated.

The veneration of the icon is not worship of wood or painting. Christians honor Mary and ask her to intercede before God; worship corresponds only to God and every Marian prayer must lead to Jesus Christ.

Legend

The luminous column, tears and extraordinary favors are part of the religious account transmitted by the Basilian Order. The historical episcopal proclamation of the icon as a miraculous document a ecclesial reception of the image, but it does not allow the affirmation that every healing or detail of the story is demonstrated with contemporary criteria. Nor is the phenomenon presented here as an approved apparition, because this approval is not found in the sources consulted.

Ecclesial State

It consists of a Greek-Catholic cult of Basilian tradition and a historical episcopal recognition of the icon as miraculous, according to the institutional source of the Order of St. Josafat. There is no pronunciation of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of Faith on an apparition linked to the icon. This is why the fact sheet describes an icon of public veneration and a documented devotional history, without attributing to the Church a state of approval of an apparition that does not appear in the cross-cutting sources.

Anecdotes and stories

The itinerary of the image sums up much of the religious history of Western Ukraine: Verkhrata in the 17th century, Krekhiv after the suppression of 1808, the church of Santa Paraskeva of Lopolis during the Soviet closure and the return of 1991. The difference between Verkhrata and Krekhiv is important for the map: the name retains the historical origin, while the point points to the monastery where the icon is currently located.

Prayer

Holy Mary, Mother of Jesus, accompanies those who venerate your image of Verkhrata in Krekhiv. He intercedes before God for the communities that have suffered persecution, for those who guard faith in difficult times and for all who seek comfort with a sincere heart. Teach us to live in the truth and always follow your Son. Amen.

Sources

• Orden Basiliana de San Josafat: Miraculous Icons, Verkhratsk Icon of the Mother of God.
• Monasterio de Krekhiv: historia del icono de Verkhrata (Ukrainian).
• Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine: Verkhrata.
• Wikidata Q1193751: Monastery of St. Nicholas of Krekhiv.