Anecdotes about the Virgin Mary

The miracle of the lake in the steppe of Kazakhstan

Oziornoje (Kazakhstan) (1941)

Oziornoje, which means "of the lake" in Russian, is a small village in the vast steppe of northern Kazakhstan. It originated as a settlement for deportees, many of them Polish Catholics torn from their homes by the Stalinist deportations of 1935 and 1936. Today, Kazakhstan's national Marian shrine, dedicated to Our Lady Queen of Peace, stands there, a landmark for all of Central Asia.

The story told by the local Church, and repeated by both the Archbishop of Almaty, Monsignor José Luis Mumbiela, and the rector of the sanctuary, is deeply moving. During the harsh winter of 1940-1941, with temperatures plummeting to forty or fifty degrees below zero and extreme famine gripping the country, the deportees prayed to the Virgin Mary, pleading for deliverance from death. Around March 25, 1941, the day the Church celebrates the Annunciation, the weather suddenly changed: temperatures rose, the snow melted, and a lake formed beside the village.

A great number of fish appeared in that lake, providing sustenance not only for the inhabitants of Oziornoje but also for people from neighboring villages. The lake still exists today, and the faithful venerate it as a lasting sign of the Virgin's protection of the deportees. There is even a painting that keeps alive the memory of that aid.

It is important to make a careful distinction. The deportations, the famine of those years, the existence of the lake, and the unanimous oral account of the community are all solidly attested, especially by Church sources. The interpretation of the event as a miracle belongs to faith and pious tradition, widely accepted by the people, but there is no formal decree of recognition from the Holy See nor any civil documentation of the phenomenon. It is known, however, that in 1995 Kazakhstan and Central Asia were consecrated to Mary Queen of Peace, and that Saint John Paul II, when visiting the country in 2001 and unable to reach the village, wished to make a "spiritual pilgrimage" to the shrine and prayed silently, joining in prayer.

The exact wording of that 1941 prayer is unknown: sources say they prayed for the intercession of the Virgin Mary. That the Rosary was recited is highly likely, given Poland's deep-rooted Catholic tradition, but it is not explicitly documented. Today, the site is a center of intense Marian devotion, where the Rosary is a regular part of the pilgrims' prayers, especially those of the young people who come in August.