The Icon of the Mother of God “Ozeryanskaya”

Not far from Kharkov, in the Transfiguration Monastery of Kuryazhanka, there is a miraculous image of the Mother of God called “Ozeryanskaya”. According to the story, the icon appeared in the end of the 16^th century near Ozeryany village. This is how the sacred image got its name. Later there was organized a monastery, which was named as “Ozeryansky” as well.

People say, there was a peasant who was cutting grass. Accidentally, he cut the image of the Mother of God in two, which was laying in the grass. He understood that what he did was dangerous for him and other people, although his fault was not deliberate at all. He took the halves of the icon, placed them in the icon corner at his home and lit up a candle in front of it. The next morning the man found the icon unharmed. Only a thin scar on the image was left as a reminder that the icon was cut into two.

In 1794 the icon was moved to the monastery of Kuryazhanka. When the monastery was closed, it was kept in the Cathedral of the Intercession of the Mother of God in Kharkov for 8 years . In the beginning of the 19^th century, after the reconstruction of the monastery in Kuryazhanka, the miraculous image was brought back by request of the brethren.

The faithful people from the whole city of Kharkov and its neighboring settlements came there to venerate the miraculous icon. Many of the afflicted people were cured after they had prayed wholeheartedly in front of the icon. Each year on September 30 (since 1843) the procession carried the miraculous icon of the Mother of God to Kharkov. The icon was kept there during the whole winter, and on April 22 the procession would take it back to the monastery in the same manner.

The Mother of God “Ozeryanskaya” is decorated with red and gold and was painted on canvas using an ancient Russian painting technique.

Unfortunately, during the years of religious opression in the 20th century the “Ozeryanskaya” icon, which is considered as the patron icon of Kharkov and the whole Sloboda region of Ukraine, was lost. Today only a copy of the miraculous image remains. What is more, the clergy claims that the copy has the same miraculous power as the original icon had.