The Power of Miracle Icons

On our recent bus tour of Central Europe, we stopped at the Jasna Gora Monastery in Czestochowa, Poland to see the miracle icon, the Black Madonna. We arrived during a special mass with a dozen clergy and a packed cathedral. I had never heard of this miracle icon, and discovered a couple of stories that keep the faithful coming to view the painting and pray for comfort, cures, and salvation.

Legends and Stories

It appears that the shrine that had housed the painting was destroyed by a fire, but the icon survived. Flames and smoke had darkened the Holy Mother’s face but it did not burn.

The Black Madonna is considered to be a miracle icon because it helped the monks fight off a Swedish attack in the winter of 1655.  The monks hid the painting and replaced it with a copy. Apparently, seventy monks along with 180 volunteers held off a Swedish army of 4,000 for 40 days. The monks attributed their success to their venerated icon.

There’s also a legend that underlines the power of this icon to affect man’s behaviour. The two scars on the Black Madonna’s right cheek apparently happened when the Hussites stormed the monastery in 1430 and stole the icon. But when they attempted to leave in their wagon, their horses wouldn’t budge. Angry, they threw the painting down and one of the thieves struck the image with his sword two times. When he tried to strike it again, he fell to the ground and died.

As to the origin of the miracle icon, there are conflicting stories. One says the painting was discovered in Jerusalem in 326 by Constantine the Great’s mother, who brought it back to Constantinople for her son. But art historians claim it was produced around the sixth or ninth century.

I was surprised to read that Ukrainians also revere this miracle icon and mention the Black Madonna in some of their folk songs, originating in the 16th and 17th centuries.

Earth Mother?

Dr. Oleszkiewicx-Peralba, a scholar and professor who studied feminine divinities believes the Black Madonna “represents the original mother of Earth’s children.” She further states that this depiction of the Virgin Mary also stands for the “ancient cultural memory of the African origins of humanity.”

Another Miracle Icon

I was particularly interested in seeing the Black Madonna because my great grandmother, Fedoshya Korneluk, (mother of Lukia Mazurets, featured in my family saga series) had gone on yearly pilgrimages to Holy Dormition Pochayiv Lavra monastery in Pochayiv, Kremenets Raion, Ternopil Oblast, Ukraine to pray to the miracle icon, Theotokos of Pochayiv.

My baba Lukia also took my mother there when she was a child because she suffered with pain in her ears.

“Once inside, they stood in a long line with the other faithful to see the footprint of the Virgin Mary, which had been left when a vision came to a monk in the fourteenth century. He had ascended Mount Pochaiv to pray when suddenly he witnessed a column of fire burning in the forest. Standing on a rock, surrounded by flames, was the Mother of God. When she finally vanished, she left her footprint embedded in the rock. Because of this miracle, the monks had built a monastery on the site.”

from Sunflowers Under Fire

The miracle icon, Theotokos of Pochayiv , was donated to the monastery by a wealthy widow in the 16th c. because she believed the painting had cured her brother’s blindness.

The Power of Faith

Our tour guide told us that Poland is 90% Catholic and its citizens pack the churches every Sunday. I was raised in the Ukrainian Greek Orthodox faith, one my baba relied on to get through the turbulent times of the Great War, her life in a refugee camp, the typhus epidemic, the Bolshevik Revolution, her family losses, and the civil wars that followed. I marvel at her strength to get through these times, a strength that she had because of her faith.

Beside our bed, hangs an icon of the Virgin Mary, my baba rescued from a fire set by a Bolshevik. It’s an icon brought back from Pochaiv and one my mother blessed Robert and me with at the time of our marriage. Though I no longer attend church, I believe in a higher power, a mystery, and the power of faith. The icon I have is not a miracle icon, but it serves as a remembrance of the family sacrifices that were made so that those who came after would have a better life.

Faith as a Gift

As I prepare to launch my latest novel, Paper Roses on Stony Mountain, I reflect on how significant faith has been in my baba’s life. Like a rudder, it helped her navigate the rough waters of her life.

How do you view faith? Is it something you can even comment on? They say, don’t talk about religion or politics. And yet, faith has guided world leaders; it’s helped so many deal with the tragedies in their lives.

Comments are always appreciated.