A pile of the Most Holy Theotokos. Pochaev - House of the Most Holy Theotokos

One of the most ancient shrines of the Pochaev Monastery is Foot of the Most Holy Theotokos- the source of many miracles and healings. The first historical information about this shrine dates back to 1240.

Princely Kiev defeated and ruined by the Tatar-Mongol troops. The Russian land is ablaze under the oppression of the enemy. In search of new places for monastic exploits, Kiev monks come to the Volyn lands and settle at the foot of the mountain. Having settled in the caves, they spend time in intense solitary prayer, asking the Most Holy Theotokos for her intercession and heavenly protection, trusting in the grace of the Holy Mount Athos and the Kiev Hills on Mount Pochaev.

One night, the Most Holy Theotokos testified to the monks of the Pochaev caves hearing their prayer requests, appearing in a pillar of fire. This great miracle was witnessed by the shepherds grazing flocks of sheep, and the monks praying on the top of the mountain.

Like the Burning Bush at Sinai, the Most Holy Theotokos was engulfed in flames. In her hands was a scepter, and on her head was a crown. The Mother of God left the imprint of her right foot on the stone. This phenomenon lasted for a moment, but the Foot of the Most Holy Theotokos remained on the mountain forever. In this place, a holy spring was hammered, from which to this day all who flow to this shrine receive healing from diseases and strengthening in faith.

This miracle was perceived and interpreted as evidence of the approach of new trials and troubles, from which Volhynia and Russia will suffer, as it were, grief in flames, but through the prayers and intercession of the Mother of God they will survive and be reborn.

More than 400 years from the date of the miraculous appearance of the Mother of God on Pochaev Mountain, the Foot was under the open sky. In 1649, the Trinity Cathedral was built on this site. However, after 150 years it was dismantled. A majestic stone Cathedral of the Assumption was erected in its place. During the construction process, the builders had to turn the Cathedral to the north and break the tradition of building an Orthodox church with an altar to the east. The reason for this was the need to place the Foot of the Mother of God under the cathedral vaults.

From the moment it appeared on Pochaevskaya Mountain, the Celbonous Foot has been a source of miracles. Many of them were recorded in the Chronicle and have survived to this day, but many, especially the most ancient ones, remained unknown to the world.

The oldest recorded healings took place in 1664. Then the servant of the landowner Khoinatskaya was seriously ill, he almost lost his sight. However, through the prayers of the Abbot of the Pochaev Monastery, having anointed his eyes with water from the Foot of the Most Holy Theotokos, the patient was healed.

Also known is the case of the miraculous healing of the priest Grigory Beletsky in 1763. He suffered from a chest abscess, which disappeared shortly after the anointing of him with Holy Water. However, the disease returned in a more complex form: he developed a new abscess, an internal one. Halfway to the monastery, he felt better and was able to enter the temple on his own. The patient drank water from the Foot, and at home he washed his whole body with it. The pains diminished, the swelling subsided, and soon he was completely healed of the disease.

In 1780, not far from Pochaev, a three-year-old baby was dying. After fervent prayer to the Most Holy Theotokos, his mother had a dream in a vision of an elder who said to her: “Why are you crying and shouting? The medicine is in your house. ” The woman gave her son to drink the Holy Water from the Foot and fell asleep again. In a dream, the same old man appeared to her, who announced to her about the healing of his son. When she woke up, she saw the boy sitting on the bed. The disease receded, the child was miraculously healed.

Over the years, many illnesses and sorrows have been overcome through the prayers of the Most Holy Theotokos at her Celbon Foot. In gratitude for the help and hearing of the prayers, an akathist was compiled, which for more than a century has been served every week on Sundays by the brethren of the Pochaev Monastery at the Foot of the Most Holy Theotokos.

Today you can drink Holy water from the Foot in the Dormition Cathedral of the Pochaev Lavra. The shrine is covered with a special bronze gilded ark at the right column of the cathedral, which is crowned with a large icon case and a bas-relief image of the Appearance of the Mother of God. Consecrated by a miracle, Pochaev Mountain is today a place of heroic deeds of monks and a place of pilgrimage for many pilgrims who come under the invisible grace of the Queen of Heaven herself.

Pochaev Mountain, on which the Lavra is located, is the place of the special coming of the Blessed Virgin. Her invisible presence is embodied in several shrines, one of which, the oldest in Pochaev, is the Celbon-bearing Foot of the Mother of God.

The attention of those entering the Assumption Cathedral is drawn to a small gilded ark at the right column. Placed behind a low fence, it is like an ancient altar, as if serving for the continuously performed sacrament - the grace-filled presence of the Mother of God.

The ark is located under a large icon case with a bas-relief image of the miraculous appearance of the Most Holy Theotokos in a pillar of fire that took place here in time immemorial. It happened in 1240, at the beginning of Batu's invasion of Russia, when capital Kiev fell and was already ravaged, and with it many other cities and villages. Tradition has brought to us that many, and among others - two unknown monks of the Pochaev caves, then offered tearful prayers to the Mother of God, asking for Her heavenly intercession.
And then one night, leaving the cave after the prayer stand, the monks, and with them the shepherds from the neighboring village, saw the Most Holy Theotokos on the mountain, engulfed in flames like the Burning Bush, which burned, but did not burn out during the revelation of God to Moses on Mount Sinai (must say that for Christians the image of the Burning Bush has always served as a sign of the Mother of God). The head of the Most Pure One was crowned with a crown, in her hand She held a scepter. Astonished, the witnesses of the miraculous phenomenon looked, and the Mother of God, meanwhile, slowly rose from the earth to heaven, leaving a trace of Her right Foot on the rock. Only for a moment She stood on the stone, and this trace, imprinted on the firmament as in soft wax, remained forever.
People who saw this, the name of one of whom, Ivan the Bosy, preserved the tradition, understood that the miraculous phenomenon that they happened to see means the approach of new troubles to Russia, but at the same time the intercession of the Mother of God, through whose prayers Russia will be revived. They immediately thanked the Lord and praised the Virgin herself. Since then, the footprint of Her Foot began to fill with water, like the footprint of the Foot of our Lord Jesus Christ, left by Him on the Mount of Olives during His Ascension. At the foot of the rock on which the miraculous apparition of the Mother of God took place, the monks built a small temple consecrated in the name of the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos ... The very same rock with the trail of the Celbon-bearing Foot remained in the open air for another four hundred years, until in 1649 the Trinity Church erected on this place received the source with the Stop. A century and a half later, the Trinity Church was dismantled, and the Assumption Cathedral was built in its place.
It is interesting that, due to the need to enclose a source with a Celbone Foot in the temple under construction and in accordance with the conditions of the area, the builders had to break the tradition somewhat and instead of the east, turn the Assumption Cathedral rather to the north.
From its very appearance on Mount Pochaev and to this day, the Foot of the Mother of God has been the source of many miracles. There is a legend that in 1607 the Tatars (by that time the Horde had already collapsed into many small principalities, which, according to old memory, periodically sent their troops to Russia) approached the walls of the monastery, met an old monk who was going to the monastery, and cut off his head. The murdered monk took his head in his hands, carried it to the miraculous icon of the Most Holy Theotokos, and only then died. There was another legend, according to which in 1674 one of the Pochaev monks, languishing in Turkish captivity, prayed so fervently to the Most Holy Theotokos that on the day of Her Assumption he was transferred to his native monastery in shackles.
Undoubtedly, there were a lot of miracles, but most of them (especially the most ancient ones) remained unknown to the world. Descriptions made by direct witnesses have survived only from relatively recent times, already distant from the most miraculous phenomenon. The oldest recorded healings took place in 1664. Then the landowner Khoinatskaya's servant David, nicknamed Gaiduk, was seriously ill. From many pains his eyes crawled out of their sockets, and he almost lost his sight. Khoinatskaya asked the then abbot of the monastery to pray for the sick one in front of the Pochaev icon of the Most Holy Theotokos and send water from the Foot. After the eyes of the servant were anointed with this water, the disease receded.
Even those who did not seek special healing from the Celbound Foot sometimes received it. A sick girl named Zagurskaya, already dying, asked the priest who confessed her to give her holy water. The priest had with him water from the footprint of the Foot, which he offered to the girl. After drinking it, she was immediately healed. After her recovery, wishing to thank the Blessed Virgin, Zagurskaya went to Pochaev, where she had never been before. It happened in 1770.
The Mother of God healed more than one disease and more than one grief. The water that fills the Celbiferous Foot does not dry out. However, the Ark has already covered the Foot from the eyes, and only its image can be seen on the silk plate that lies on that ark. But still, holy water is collected drop by drop and distributed to the pilgrims.

Video Stop

"... the day was like day, clear, only suddenly the wind flew in - I looked at the mountain, and above it, a wonderful light spills over the whole sky. My sheep huddled together, the birds fell silent, and it was as if I was drawn there. The light beckons - I go, I go to him, and he becomes brighter and brighter and suddenly I see the Mother of God herself in this heavenly light. I fell on my knees, pulling my hands to her and praying and crying. and in the sky it seemed to melt. I look at the stone, and a trace remained on it and the spring water came through

So told Ivan Barefoot - a shepherd from Volyn. The Mother of God stood on a solid stone for only one moment, and her trace remained forever. At the foot of that rock, the monks built a temple, but the rock itself and the trail of heaven remained under the open sky for another 400 years. Later a church was built there, and now there is a magnificent Assumption Cathedral in its place. It captures the spirit when you see this beauty. In memory of the miracle of gold deeds. the master created a large bronze icon case with a bas-relief of the Pochaev Mother of God.
The very existence of the Pochaev Lavra is already a miracle - never in its entire long history did the conqueror step on Pochaev Mountain.

Protection of the Virgin

Miracles never dried up in Pochaev. When the Basilians were in the Lavra, people still flocked to the Celbon-bearing Foot and the miraculous Pochaev icon. And in the Soviet period, even a new saint was found, through whose prayers the Lord grants healing to the sick. The invisible presence of the Mother of God over the Pochaev Lavra becomes obvious if we recall the main milestones of the monastic history. One of the visible miracles happened in 1675, when the monastery was saved from being plundered by the enemy. Then Pochaev was besieged by the Turks, and the brethren of the monastery, together with the surrounding inhabitants who had taken refuge in it, prayed outside the walls of the monastery, built not long before under the Monk Job, in front of the miraculous Pochaev icon of the Most Holy Theotokos. And the Most Pure One appeared above the besieged monastery in radiance, accompanied by the Monk Job and many angels. Even the Turks saw them, were amazed and began to shoot at them, but the arrows returned back, beating the messengers. Shocked gentiles were forced to lift the siege. Since then, this event has been revered in the Lavra along with the appearance of the Mother of God in a pillar of fire and the acquisition of the miraculous image of Pochaev. It is to him that the chapel in the Church of Commendation is dedicated. Of course, a "military" miracle that affects many people is much more noticeable than what happens to one person. But the testimonies of miracles that occurred through the prayers of the Most Pure in front of Her Pochaevskaya image or at the Celbon-bearing Foot have been recorded in the monastery since the middle of the 17th century. Healings before the Pochaev icon did not stop even under the Uniates; it was no coincidence that Pototsky achieved the coronation of the icon.
Apparently, under the Basilians, the veneration of St. Job also continued, despite the fact that he was an opponent of the union, who did much to keep the Lavra in Orthodoxy as long as possible. In any case, in 1777 Pototsky even submitted to the Vatican a petition for the canonization of the Monk Job of Pochaev and donated the amount required for the conduct of this case. In Rome, the process that had begun was prevented by the work of the Orthodox saint in the struggle against Greek Catholicism - no one questioned the miraculous creation through his prayers.
More than one page will be occupied by descriptions of miracles that took place at only three main shrines - the Celbon Foot, the Pochaev Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos and the relics of St. Job, Abbot of Pochaev. And the XX century presented a new Pochaev saint, the Monk Amphilochius, and now people are still alive who happened to be healed through his prayers during his lifetime. The Lavra collects these testimonies to publish them as a separate book. Among them is, for example, the story of one archpriest who was diagnosed with throat cancer in the 1960s. He could no longer sing or even speak. Six months after visiting the monk, with whom they served the blessing of water together, Father Joseph appeared to him in a dream and removed something dark from his throat. The doctor, who followed the development of the disease, could not believe for a long time that the priest had done without the operation - there were visible traces of tumor removal in his throat.
It was different in the 20th century. Local residents still remember the sad story of the local party leader. When in 1959 the Svyato-Dukhovsky skete, assigned to the Lavra, was closed, the secretary of the Pochaevsky district committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Ichansky, distinguished himself. He tore off the icons, threw them on the floor and trampled underfoot. When the stunned people asked the madman if he was afraid of God, he replied that if God exists, then let him take the most precious thing from him. Returning home, the party chief found out that at the very moment when he sneered at the icons, in the chemical laboratory of the Lviv Automobile Plant in the hands of his daughter, who was just starting her career and life after graduation, a flask of acid exploded. The girl died from burns. Ichansky was so mired in disbelief that admonition did not benefit him, and later he committed suicide.
About the attempts to close the Lavra, which followed soon after the ruin of the skete, there is a rumor that over the Trinity Cathedral there was a manifestation of either the Mother of God herself, or the Monk Job. And in the closed skete for all three decades, until it was reopened, eyewitnesses sometimes heard angelic singing at night.

Πάπυρος – holy springs (Greek)

The image of water in the Holy Scriptures symbolized those given by God mercy, prosperity and well-being.

At the site of a miraculous phenomenon Mother of God holy springs and springs appeared on earth supernaturally.

With sincere prayer, the water of the holy springs helps to heal the suffering and sick.

In the Kingisepp district (formerly Yamburg district) there is an old village Boilers, where we arrived - pilgrims from Church of the Holy Prophet Elijah led by Priest Vitaly Kuznetsov.

In the vicinity of this village there were rich deposits of "bog ore" (brown iron ore) and most of the local residents, starting from the 15th century, were engaged in iron ore and tar distillation. At the same time, Kotly became the center of the Kotelsky volost. Since 1730 there was a manor in Kotly Albrekhtov, which was rebuilt several times. The era of the Albrecht family began when Kotly and some of the neighboring villages were granted to Major General Ludwig von Albrecht (known in the army as Ivan Ivanovich) Anna Ioannovna for her assistance in accession to the throne.

According to the 1500 census in the Vodskaya pyatina of the Novgorod principality ("vod" is the people of the Finno-Ugric group), the Nikolo-Toldozhsky churchyard is mentioned and it is said: "The village of Kotel is rich, with the newly built Nikolskaya church funded by local peasants and owners of the Albrechts' estate." The one-domed stone church with a bell tower was built in the Russian-Byzantine style. Upon completion of construction, the temple was consecrated Father John Kronstadt.

In 1937 the temple was closed. From 1941 to 1942, a concentration camp was organized by the Germans on the territory of the village of Kotly, and Soviet prisoners of war were kept in the premises of the temple and nearby buildings.

In the fall of 1942, during the German occupation, the temple was given to the believers, but due to the absence of a priest, a nun who arrived with prisoners of war performed the lay service. From 1945 to 1959, various priests performed services, the last of them - O. Grigory Potemkin, did a lot to restore the temple. In December 1959, the temple was closed, and from 1960 to 1991 it housed a village club. In May 1991, the Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker was given to the faithful and restored.

Met us in the temple Priest Nikolai Vakhrushev. Father Nicholas told about the relics in the church and invited our priest Fr. Vitaly. In the temple there is a reliquary with a particle of the relics of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker.

Nearby - in the village Pillovo situated holy spring "Pochaevsky".

According to legend, the source was mentioned in 1700 and in 1742.

Above the source itself is a wooden chapel in the name of the Pochaev Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos. Near the source lies a stone with three footprints of the Mother of God imprinted in it. From the holy spring in the chapel, water is diverted into the baptismal font, in which our pilgrims bathed. The water temperature in the font in summer is about + 4 + 6 C. In winter +2 +3 C.

According to legend, more than 300 years ago, in the village of Pillovo there lived one pious and God-fearing woman Anastasia with two children. When, due to illness, mother could no longer get out of bed, the children began to go to church alone. And on one of the festive summer days, they met a wanderer who gave the children a bottle of holy water from the foot of the Most Holy Theotokos, located on Pochaev Mountain in Little Russia. Giving water, the wanderer promised that their mother would definitely recover through the prayers of the Most Holy Theotokos, taking this healing water. Having reached a small river that flows not far from their native village, they argued over which of them would bring water home. And suddenly, the vial slipped out of their hands and shattered. The children were afraid that their mother would not be able to heal, and cried bitterly. Suddenly the waters of the rivulet lit up with an unearthly light. In a shining pillar of fire, the Most Holy Virgin herself appeared to them, standing on a boulder. She told the children that through their prayers the Lord would give healing to their mother and at the place where the water was poured, he would fill a spring with healing water. And this water will be enough not only for their mother to get rid of their ailments, but also for many generations of people. And as a sign of the miraculous appearance of the Mother of God, the trace of her foot will remain on the stone. And from the place where the children had poured the water given by the wanderer, a spring gushed out. After the priest of the church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker gave the ailing Anastasia the Holy Mysteries of Christ, and she drank the water from the spring, she felt better. Soon she herself was able to come to the source, and, having bathed in it several times, was completely healed. When the villagers found out about this, they built a chapel dedicated to the Most Holy Theotokos at the source. Near the chapel, downstream of the healing stream, a baptismal font was made so that everyone who was sick could bathe in it.

In the village Zarochie The Slantsevsky District of the Leningrad Region is the Dolozhsky (Mikhailovsky) Pogost.

At the churchyard is being restored Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary , in which the miraculous icon was once kept, revealed in Dolozhsky caves. Inside this rebuilding temple, tables were set for us to eat. After the meal, our group was photographed against the background of the Church of the Assumption of the Mother of God. A bright summer sun peeped out from behind the clouds, which made us happy, since the trip began in the rain and the first part of the way he walked continuously. Then we went to the Dolozhskaya cave.

A few kilometers from the village of Zaruchie on long river there are ruins Holy Dormition Skete at the site of the appearance of the Virgin. The skete was built over the Dolozhskaya cave (crypt) in which a healing holy spring gushes, forming a small underground lake. Near the skete, in the river bed, there is a stone with the footprint of the Mother of God. According to legend, in the first half of the 18th century, a hermit lived in the cave, who died there. Unfortunately, the name of the hermit, and the time of his death are forgotten, the traces of the grave have disappeared.

In the middle of the 18th century, the miraculous appearance of the Queen of Heaven took place in Dolozhsk. According to an old legend, at the place where the Mother of God passed, a grotto was formed and two springs made their way. Above one in the past there was a baptismal font cut from wood, and a temple was erected above the other at the beginning of the 20th century. This temple was destroyed during the war. A memorial cross was erected on the site of the altar of the temple. Crossing the Dolgaya River, the Mother of God stepped on a stone, which made her footprint imprinted on it. In memory of this event, in 1761, a church was consecrated in honor of the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos. Mother of God.

Not far from the Dolozhskaya cave, a new church is being built in the name of St. right. John of Kronstadt. Father Adrian (Agile) met us there and told the story of the construction of this temple. O ... Vitaly Kuznetsov and Deacon Evgeny Fomin served in it a prayer to St. John of Kronstadt.

Then our path continued to the source in the village Turovo .

History of origin St. Pechersk source in Turovo begins at the turn of the 16th - 17th centuries. In the summer, a shepherd girl was saved from the encroachments of a peasant by the apparition of the Most Holy Theotokos. A holy spring was discovered at this place. Soon, a miraculous icon of the Dormition of the Mother of God with the faces of the Savior, John the Baptist and the Apostles was found in the cave. At the place where the icon was found in the town of Malaya Pechorka, a wooden chapel was erected in honor of the icon of the Pechersk Mother of God. In 1789, the icon was transferred from the chapel to Luga, to the new cathedral of the holy Great Martyr Catherine, where the icon was adorned with a gilded silver robe ...

The estate of the first wife of the famous photographer S.M. Prokudin-Gorsky, who for the first time took photographs of Russia at the beginning of the 20th century in color. His collection of photographs is in the Library of Congress.

Every year, on the first Friday of St. Peter's Lent, a procession of the cross with a prayer service for water is performed at the source.

Full historical and interesting information during the entire pilgrimage journey about the places of the appearance of the Mother of God in the Leningrad region was told to us by Father Vitaly. Much of what we heard about the history of our region was a revelation for most of us.

Thanks to all the participants and organizers of this pilgrimage trip.

In the footsteps of the Mother of God. Holy springs and the appearance of the Mother of God.

Parishioners of the church of St. Prophet Elijah:Vera Kulikova, Tatiana Rudakova

At the Footsteps of the Virgin 17.06.2016 16:45

Russian people have always felt that Russia is the lot of the Mother of God, the House of the Most Holy Theotokos. Her miraculous icons invisibly guard the borders of our Motherland. For many centuries, the spiritual danger to Orthodoxy came primarily from the West, which carried to our Fatherland a worldview that was alien and destructive for an Orthodox person. Along the western borders of Russia, such strongholds of the spirit as Pochaevsky, Zhirovitsky, Pskov-Pechersky monasteries, keeping within their walls the miraculous icons of the Queen of Heaven, arose. We can say that the Mother of God went around the entire western borderland, as evidenced by the imprints of Her most pure feet left to us, the most famous of which is the footprint in Pochaev. But the fact that on the north-western border of Russia is a number of revered Stopochki, few people know. The pilgrims from our parish headed by Archpriest Vladimir Sergienko went to these shrines, having made a two-day trip along the Prichud and Gdovshchina.

On the morning of May 16, we left sunny Petersburg towards Yamburg (since 1922 - Kingisepp). The trip, organized by the Sretenie pilgrimage service, was accompanied by a wonderful Orthodox guide, Irina Vasilievna Lebedinskaya. The first stop on our way was a spring near the village of Pillovo (the turn to the spring is located a few kilometers before Yamburg).

Tour guide Irina Vasilievna Lebedinskaya

The first pile. Spring near the village of Pillovo
According to legend, the ancient holy source was opened more than three hundred years ago to two children, five and six years old, at the will of the Most Holy Theotokos during. These babies received from the wanderer a bottle of healing water from Pochaev to heal their mother, who suffered from loss of sight and was bedridden with a serious illness of the legs. Not far from the village, they broke this bubble. The children began to pray in fear, and the Most Holy Theotokos appeared to them.

View of the chapel at the source in Pillovo

Blessing them, she said that at the place where the vessel had broken, she would clog the source of healing water, which would be enough not only for their mother, but also for many generations of people. Near the source, as a mute witness of the Power of God and the Glory of the Mother of God, there is a stone on which the trace of the right foot of the Most Holy Lady is preserved to this day.

Local residents built a wooden chapel with a bath. Since seriously ill patients were brought to the chapel on carts, a horse-drawn descent led to it. Then, around 1742, the chapel was rebuilt from local limestone. Apparently, from the same time, an annual religious procession was established to the source from the village of Kotly through Pumolitsy, Rappolovo, Pillovo.

Despite the fact that the weather has deteriorated noticeably and the spring rain froze over, most of the group bathed in the holy, icy waters of the spring in a specially equipped bath. Those who decided on such a feat did not regret it at all - they felt the cleansing grace from water and the power that the Lord grants through prayer in this amazing holy place. We took water from the spring and went on. Our path lay in Zaruchye.

Second pile. Zarochie and Dolozhskaya cave

On the way, the guide told us the history of this amazing land - northern Switzerland, as travelers once called it. Zaruchye (Slantsevsky district) is an old village on Dolgoye Lake, where the Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Dolozhskaya cave are located. In the pre-war period, the parish in these places numbered six thousand people, only one village of Zaruchye consisted of more than a hundred houses. And processions of the cross gathered up to fifteen thousand people. The school graduated students with a complete secondary education.

Near the Assumption Church in Zaruchye

In the Church of the Dormition of the Mother of God, the appearance of which speaks a lot and eloquently about the just experienced XX century, we were met by Abbot Adrian. Together with Father Vladimir, he served a prayer service. Here, in a small parish courtyard, our pilgrims were fed a delicious lunch.

Hegumen Adrian and Archpriest Vladimir

Now our path led to the Dolozhskaya Cave itself. It is included in the list of the holy caves of Russia and is the main shrine of these places - the Mother of God appeared here several times. On the forest road, the Blessed Virgin met two shepherds on the feast of the Assumption. Since then, religious processions have been performed along this forest path.

Cross at the Dolozhskaya cave

“In 1955, the temple above the cave was blown up to get bricks for the pigsty. But it has not yet been built; a pile of bricks lay nearby for a long time. And the cave, in which the holy spring is located, still shows people its miracles. Pilgrims said that after visiting the cave, the child went through oncology, and the lame man felt much better - he entered the cave with one and left with another, ”they tell about this place.

Unfortunately, only the foundation remained from the temple, designed by the famous architect Nikonov. Behind it is the Cave itself with a holy source. A clear river with spring water also flows here. In the river, on a large round stone, the Mother of God's Foot was miraculously imprinted.

Third pile. The village of Trutnevo.

Having visited Gdov at the temple of the Sovereign Icon of the Mother of God, completely destroyed and restored today, we went further along the shore of Lake Peipsi along the planned route.

At the Church of the Reigning Icon of the Mother of God in Gdov

We had to go through the village of Trutnevo to another Stop. To get to the stream, which contains the stone with the footprint of the Mother of God and the Child, you need to go down into the ravine along a steep metal staircase. The stream is surrounded by red sandstone of amazing beauty.

The history of the shrine is as follows. In the eighteenth century, a landowner decided to build a mill here, but despite repeated attempts to undertake construction, everything erected was destroyed. The peasants who witnessed the destruction noticed that a woman in a white robe was walking along the river valley and was leading a baby by the hand, also in white clothes. After going down the riverbed to the bend of the river, the woman and the child entered the wall of the gorge. After that, those present noticed footprints on one of the stones lying in the water. One footprint is large, like from the shoes of an adult, and several small, infant ones, from bare feet, and one of them is so clear that even toes are visible.

Wanting to receive good advice, the landowner turned to the old residents, and they told him that, obviously, in a vision the Most Holy Theotokos herself had visited them with the baby Jesus and that it was impossible to build on this place, because the place was holy.

The landowner decided to obey and chose a new place for the dam, 200 meters upstream. There the dam was built without any trouble, and the original place began to be revered as the place of the appearance of the Mother of God.

Sandstone

The events described took place on the sixth Friday after Easter, and from then until the 1950s, a huge number of people and clergy flocked to the place of the phenomenon every sixth Friday.

After the revolution, the authorities tried to remove this stone in various ways - turn it over, roll it back, etc. However, nothing came of it, and people who tried to get rid of it got sick.

At Stoochka in Trutnevo

Miracles of healing from a stone with a holy footprint of the Mother of God are known, and every sixth Friday after Easter, a procession of the cross is again performed in honor of the Mother of God. Now, next to this place, a wooden church has been erected in honor of the icon of the Mother of God "Healer".

Fourth pile. Spaso-Eleazarovsky Monastery.

By the evening of the same day, we finally reached the Spaso-Eleazarovsky Monastery, known for the spirit-bearing fathers who labored in it and for the fact that it was here that Elder Philotheus formulated a golden thought that is so relevant today: “Moscow is the third Rome, and the fourth not to be. " In the monastery we were greeted with great hospitality by our parishioner, the icon painter Angelina, who is currently undergoing her obedience in this ancient monastery. A meal and an overnight stay were prepared for us.

Spaso-Eliazarovsky monastery

In the morning we attended a monastery service. It began at half past six with the Akathist of the Mother of God, which was read by Abbess Euphrosinia herself.

Breakfast at the monastery

After the views of the broken Pskov villages, the monastery gives the impression of an earthly paradise. Everything is clean, neat, labor is applied everywhere, order and splendor in everything. You understand that if faith and piety were revived in all Pskov villages, everywhere it would be as good and comfortable as in this monastery.

At the grave of our parishioner, Schema-nun Klavdia (Petrunenkova), Archpriest Vladimir performed a requiem. He told the pilgrims that he was an outstanding person who had done a lot for the Church in a difficult, godless time and had kept a strong faith.

At the grave of Schema Nun Claudia, our parishioner

We proceeded to another Foot, kept in a chapel by the lake, not far from the monastery. This stone was brought from the Great Onions, from the house of Eldress Catherine, who was visited by the Most Holy Theotokos herself in illness. The imprint of the foot on the stone is very clearly visible, we venerated it with reverence.

Elder Nicholas
Being near the Pskov lake, we could not help but visit the place of life and rest of the ascetic of piety of the 20th century, Archpriest Nikolai Guryanov. Some visited him during his lifetime and forever remembered the simplicity and magnificent image of the old man. We sailed on a small fishing boat to the Talab Islands, it was windy, but our helmsman skillfully guided the boat to an island with a temple and a towering bell tower.

Temple on the island of Zalit

We prayed at the elder's grave, went into his cramped cell, where all of Russia gathered, venerated the icons ... Unfortunately, in this holy place, literature of dubious content still spreads, glorifying the elder in the rank of bishop, whom he never received, and other slander ...

At the grave of Elder Nikolai Guryanov

Return trip
The way back was long. We had time to watch films about Elder Paisius and shared our impressions of the places in which the Lord graced us to visit on these post-Easter days in May. Blooming gardens along the roads were to us as a reminder that once upon a time there were large villages in these places, people were born and grew up here, including outstanding people of Russia ... A marvelous land, whose holy churches were built by the best Russian architects, is now almost abandoned by people , but not abandoned by the Mother of God, he is still under Her Protection, keeps the traces of Her Most Pure Feet. Holy Mother of God, save Russia!

Based on materials from the Vozdvizhenie newspaper # 4 (126).

Pochaev Mountain, on which the Lavra is located, is the place of the special coming of the Blessed Virgin. Her invisible presence is embodied in several shrines, one of which, the oldest in Pochaev, is the Celbon-bearing Foot of the Mother of God.

The attention of those entering the Assumption Cathedral is drawn to a small gilded ark at the right column. Placed behind a low fence, it is like an ancient altar, as if serving for the continuously performed sacrament - the grace-filled presence of the Mother of God.

The ark is located under a large icon case with a bas-relief image of the miraculous appearance of the Most Holy Theotokos in a pillar of fire that took place here in time immemorial. It happened in 1240, at the beginning of Batu's invasion of Russia, when capital Kiev fell and was already ravaged, and with it many other cities and villages. Tradition has brought to us that many, and among others - two unknown monks of the Pochaev caves, then offered tearful prayers to the Mother of God, asking for Her heavenly intercession.
And then one night, leaving the cave after the prayer stand, the monks, and with them the shepherds from the neighboring village, saw the Most Holy Theotokos on the mountain, engulfed in flames like the Burning Bush, which burned, but did not burn out during the revelation of God to Moses on Mount Sinai (must say that for Christians the image of the Burning Bush has always served as a sign of the Mother of God). The head of the Most Pure One was crowned with a crown, in her hand She held a scepter. Astonished, the witnesses of the miraculous phenomenon looked, and the Mother of God, meanwhile, slowly rose from the earth to heaven, leaving a trace of Her right Foot on the rock. Only for a moment She stood on the stone, and this trace, imprinted on the firmament as in soft wax, remained forever.
People who saw this, the name of one of whom, Ivan the Bosy, preserved the tradition, understood that the miraculous phenomenon that they happened to see means the approach of new troubles to Russia, but at the same time the intercession of the Mother of God, through whose prayers Russia will be revived. They immediately thanked the Lord and praised the Virgin herself. Since then, the footprint of Her Foot began to fill with water, like the footprint of the Foot of our Lord Jesus Christ, left by Him on the Mount of Olives during His Ascension. At the foot of the rock on which the miraculous apparition of the Mother of God took place, the monks built a small temple consecrated in the name of the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos ... The very same rock with the trail of the Celbon-bearing Foot remained in the open air for another four hundred years, until in 1649 the Trinity Church erected on this place received the source with the Stop. A century and a half later, the Trinity Church was dismantled, and the Assumption Cathedral was built in its place.
It is interesting that, due to the need to enclose a source with a Celbone Foot in the temple under construction and in accordance with the conditions of the area, the builders had to break the tradition somewhat and instead of the east, turn the Assumption Cathedral rather to the north.
From its very appearance on Mount Pochaev and to this day, the Foot of the Mother of God has been the source of many miracles. There is a legend that in 1607 the Tatars (by that time the Horde had already collapsed into many small principalities, which, according to old memory, periodically sent their troops to Russia) approached the walls of the monastery, met an old monk who was going to the monastery, and cut off his head. The murdered monk took his head in his hands, carried it to the miraculous icon of the Most Holy Theotokos, and only then died. There was another legend, according to which in 1674 one of the Pochaev monks, languishing in Turkish captivity, prayed so fervently to the Most Holy Theotokos that on the day of Her Assumption he was transferred to his native monastery in shackles.
Undoubtedly, there were a lot of miracles, but most of them (especially the most ancient ones) remained unknown to the world. Descriptions made by direct witnesses have survived only from relatively recent times, already distant from the most miraculous phenomenon. The oldest recorded healings took place in 1664. Then the landowner Khoinatskaya's servant David, nicknamed Gaiduk, was seriously ill. From many pains his eyes crawled out of their sockets, and he almost lost his sight. Khoinatskaya asked the then abbot of the monastery to pray for the sick one in front of the Pochaev icon of the Most Holy Theotokos and send water from the Foot. After the eyes of the servant were anointed with this water, the disease receded.
Even those who did not seek special healing from the Celbound Foot sometimes received it. A sick girl named Zagurskaya, already dying, asked the priest who confessed her to give her holy water. The priest had with him water from the footprint of the Foot, which he offered to the girl. After drinking it, she was immediately healed. After her recovery, wishing to thank the Blessed Virgin, Zagurskaya went to Pochaev, where she had never been before. It happened in 1770.
The Mother of God healed more than one disease and more than one grief. The water that fills the Celbiferous Foot does not dry out. However, the Ark has already covered the Foot from the eyes, and only its image can be seen on the silk plate that lies on that ark. But still, holy water is collected drop by drop and distributed to the pilgrims.

Video Stop

"... the day was like day, clear, only suddenly the wind flew in - I looked at the mountain, and above it, a wonderful light spills over the whole sky. My sheep huddled together, the birds fell silent, and it was as if I was drawn there. The light beckons - I go, I go to him, and he becomes brighter and brighter and suddenly I see the Mother of God herself in this heavenly light. I fell on my knees, pulling my hands to her and praying and crying. and in the sky it seemed to melt. I look at the stone, and a trace remained on it and the spring water came through

So told Ivan Barefoot - a shepherd from Volyn. The Mother of God stood on a solid stone for only one moment, and her trace remained forever. At the foot of that rock, the monks built a temple, but the rock itself and the trail of heaven remained under the open sky for another 400 years. Later a church was built there, and now there is a magnificent Assumption Cathedral in its place. It captures the spirit when you see this beauty. In memory of the miracle of gold deeds. the master created a large bronze icon case with a bas-relief of the Pochaev Mother of God.
The very existence of the Pochaev Lavra is already a miracle - never in its entire long history did the conqueror step on Pochaev Mountain.

Protection of the Virgin

Miracles never dried up in Pochaev. When the Basilians were in the Lavra, people still flocked to the Celbon-bearing Foot and the miraculous Pochaev icon. And in the Soviet period, even a new saint was found, through whose prayers the Lord grants healing to the sick. The invisible presence of the Mother of God over the Pochaev Lavra becomes obvious if we recall the main milestones of the monastic history. One of the visible miracles happened in 1675, when the monastery was saved from being plundered by the enemy. Then Pochaev was besieged by the Turks, and the brethren of the monastery, together with the surrounding inhabitants who had taken refuge in it, prayed outside the walls of the monastery, built not long before under the Monk Job, in front of the miraculous Pochaev icon of the Most Holy Theotokos. And the Most Pure One appeared above the besieged monastery in radiance, accompanied by the Monk Job and many angels. Even the Turks saw them, were amazed and began to shoot at them, but the arrows returned back, beating the messengers. Shocked gentiles were forced to lift the siege. Since then, this event has been revered in the Lavra along with the appearance of the Mother of God in a pillar of fire and the acquisition of the miraculous image of Pochaev. It is to him that the chapel in the Church of Commendation is dedicated. Of course, a "military" miracle that affects many people is much more noticeable than what happens to one person. But the testimonies of miracles that occurred through the prayers of the Most Pure in front of Her Pochaevskaya image or at the Celbon-bearing Foot have been recorded in the monastery since the middle of the 17th century. Healings before the Pochaev icon did not stop even under the Uniates; it was no coincidence that Pototsky achieved the coronation of the icon.
Apparently, under the Basilians, the veneration of St. Job also continued, despite the fact that he was an opponent of the union, who did much to keep the Lavra in Orthodoxy as long as possible. In any case, in 1777 Pototsky even submitted to the Vatican a petition for the canonization of the Monk Job of Pochaev and donated the amount required for the conduct of this case. In Rome, the process that had begun was prevented by the work of the Orthodox saint in the struggle against Greek Catholicism - no one questioned the miraculous creation through his prayers.
More than one page will be occupied by descriptions of miracles that took place at only three main shrines - the Celbon Foot, the Pochaev Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos and the relics of St. Job, Abbot of Pochaev. And the XX century presented a new Pochaev saint, the Monk Amphilochius, and now people are still alive who happened to be healed through his prayers during his lifetime. The Lavra collects these testimonies to publish them as a separate book. Among them is, for example, the story of one archpriest who was diagnosed with throat cancer in the 1960s. He could no longer sing or even speak. Six months after visiting the monk, with whom they served the blessing of water together, Father Joseph appeared to him in a dream and removed something dark from his throat. The doctor, who followed the development of the disease, could not believe for a long time that the priest had done without the operation - there were visible traces of tumor removal in his throat.
It was different in the 20th century. Local residents still remember the sad story of the local party leader. When in 1959 the Svyato-Dukhovsky skete, assigned to the Lavra, was closed, the secretary of the Pochaevsky district committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Ichansky, distinguished himself. He tore off the icons, threw them on the floor and trampled underfoot. When the stunned people asked the madman if he was afraid of God, he replied that if God exists, then let him take the most precious thing from him. Returning home, the party chief found out that at the very moment when he sneered at the icons, in the chemical laboratory of the Lviv Automobile Plant in the hands of his daughter, who was just starting her career and life after graduation, a flask of acid exploded. The girl died from burns. Ichansky was so mired in disbelief that admonition did not benefit him, and later he committed suicide.
About the attempts to close the Lavra, which followed soon after the ruin of the skete, there is a rumor that over the Trinity Cathedral there was a manifestation of either the Mother of God herself, or the Monk Job. And in the closed skete for all three decades, until it was reopened, eyewitnesses sometimes heard angelic singing at night.