Our Lady of Pochaiv

Marian dedication of Pochaiv (Volhynia)

According to the tradition, la devoción a Our Lady of Pochaiv it dates back to the late 12th century, when the territory still belonged to the ancient Rus of Kiev. The most widespread legend is about 1198 a monk went up to Mount Pochaiv to pray; a fire column She appeared and, as she faded, the Virgin Mary appeared, also seen by shepherds. At the place of apparition the footprints of the Virgin on the rock, from which a spring sprung, whose water was laid as a source of healing. This origin, with concrete dates and details, belongs to the field of pious tradition, not to critical historiography.

Main data

Origin and history

According to the tradition, la devoción a Our Lady of Pochaiv it dates back to the late 12th century, when the territory still belonged to the ancient Rus of Kiev. The most widespread legend is about 1198 a monk went up to Mount Pochaiv to pray; a fire column She appeared and, as she faded, the Virgin Mary appeared, also seen by shepherds. At the place of apparition the footprints of the Virgin on the rock, from which a spring sprung, whose water was laid as a source of healing. This origin, with concrete dates and details, belongs to the field of pious tradition, not to critical historiography.

En la documented history, the presence of Pochaiv's Mother of God icon in the place has been attested since the 16th century. A noble widow, Anna (Hanna) Hoyska, owner of Pochaiv, received the icon in 1559 from a Greek metropolitan converted to Eastern Catholicism and later donated it to the monastery of Pochaiv, where it is venerated from 1597. The monastic chronicles collect numerous miracles linked to the icon, including the healing of the blindness of a relative of Hoyska (Philip), facts that belong to the field of devotional tradition, even though they are recorded in internal records of the monastery.

Another central episode of historical tradition is the defense of the monastery during the siege of 1675 by Turkish and Tatar forces. According to the chronicles, the monks and faithful were entrusted to the Mother of God of Pochaiv and the Virgin appeared on the monastery with a multitude of angels, extending her white mantle and diverting the arrows of the invaders, who ended up retreating confused. The fact of the Ottoman siege belongs to history; the visible intervention of the Virgin is in the context of the miraculous tradition.

The image and the sanctuary

The icon of Our Lady of Pochaiv is a icono oriental style late Byzantineof the iconographic type Eleusa (de la Ternura), in which the Virgin appears with the Child Jesus in arms in a gesture of closeness. It is painted according to the traditional technique on table (the sources mention cypress wood, reddish tone), with approximate dimensions of 29 x 23 cm. The Mother of God bears crownHe holds the Child, who blesses with one hand and with the other touches the veil of his Mother; Mary's face is described as "beautiful but sad." Around the icon a riza o precious metal coating that leaves faces visible mainly, as is the case with many venerated icons. The iconography also mentions figures of prophet Elijah and another saint next to the Virgin.

The icon is venerated in the Lavra (Laura) of the Sleeping of the Mother of God in Pochaiv, a great monastery located in Pochaiv, in the present oblast of Ternopil, west of Ukraine. This is one of the the main Orthodox shrines of Ukraine, known as Monastery of the Sleeping of the Theotokos of Pochaiv. The monastery is located on the top of a hill and constitutes a monumental set of churches, monastic buildings and pilgrimage areas, including the rock with the so-called "footprint" of the Virgin and the source associated with the apparition. In modern times the monastery has been under different jurisdictions (Greek-Catholic and Orthodox); it is now an important center of the Orthodox Church, with intense liturgical and monastic life. It is not recorded in the consulted sources that the temple has the title of minor basilica according to Latin terminology.

Sponsorship and coronation

Our Lady of Pochaiv is especially venerated as of the Pochaiv region and large areas of Western Ukraineand is one of the most venerated Marian icons by Orthodox Christians of Ukraine, Belarus, Russia and the Balkans. It is invoked as the help and protection of the Ukrainian people, especially in times of war and persecution. It is not known that it has been officially proclaimed national patron of Ukraine in the discipline of the Latin Church; its patronage is above all regional y popular, deeply rooted in Ukrainian tradition.

As for the coronation, sources point out that the Pochaiv icon was crowned by Pope Clement XIV. One of the devotional sources specifies the year 1773, after an investigation of the miracles attributed to the icon. This coronation is located in the context in which the monastery and icon were linked to the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church. However, the available sources do not provide exhaustive details of the Pontifical Decree or the name of the papal delegate. Consequently, and following the rule indicated, in the strictly canonical plane does not contain a documented canonical coronation in the usual terms of Latin discipline, even when local tradition speaks of coronation linked to Clement XIV.

Party and devotion

The main liturgical feast of the icon of the Mother of God of Pochaiv is celebrated the 23 July. This date is indicated in the Orthodox calendar according to both the Julian calendar (23 July O.S., which corresponds to 5 August N.S.) and the Gregorian calendar (23 July N.S.). Around this date there are massive pilgrimages to the monastery, with solemn processions of the icon and continued liturgical celebrations.

The icon and the sanctuary enjoy great popular devotion. It is considered one of the two most venerated Marian icons in Ukraine, next to that of the Mother of God of Zarvanytsia. Over the centuries, many have been attributed to the intercession of the Mother of God of Pocaiv. miracles and favorsthat the monastic chronicles came to list for hundreds. The flow of pilgrims includes faithful Orthodox and Greek-Catholicand even Latin rite Catholics, who come to pray before the icon and to drink or take the water from the source linked to the Virgin's "footprint." The devotion has also spread to the Ukrainian communities of the diaspora, which reproduce the icon in their churches and homes.

Link to the Rosary

In the sources consulted there is no specific historical link between Our Lady of Pochaiv's advocation and the Latin Rosary's prayer (origin of devotion, apparitions linked to the Rosary, own rosary copradies, etc.). The Pochaiv tradition is first and foremost part of the spirituality of the Eastern Rite Churcheswhere other forms of Marian prayer, such as litany, akathists and the veneration of icons, predominate.

However, from a broader Marian perspective, the figure of Mother of Dios of Pochaiv is deeply aligned with the spirit of the Rosary. The icon, of the type Eleusa, underlines the intimacy between Mary and Jesus, which the Rosary contemplates in the mysteries of Christ's life with his Mother. For the faithful of Latin rite, the prayer of the Rosary to the image of Pochaiv can be a way of joining the intercession of the honored Virgin in this advocation, meditating on the mysteries of Christ in spiritual communion with the Christians of the East.