Wonderworking Sitka Icon of the Mother of God to begin two-month pilgrimage to “Lower 48” on September 7, 2005

The Wonderworking Sitka Icon of the Mother of God

SYOSSET, NY [OCA Communications] — For the first time in history, the
wonderworking Sitka Icon of the Mother of God will be taken on pilgrimage to over 60 Orthodox Christian parishes across the US from September 7 through November 7, 2005.

Plans for the pilgrimage were presented to members of the Holy Synod of Bishops of the Orthodox Church in America by His Grace, Bishop Nikolai of Sitka, Anchorage, and Alaska at their fall 2004 session. His Beatitude, Metropolitan Herman and the hierarchs enthusiastically endorsed the pilgrimage plans.

Special services will be celebrated in every parish along the pilgrimage’s “coast-to-coast” route. Bishop Nikolai will join the OCA’s diocesan bishops for services in the icon’s presence in a number of locations.

The icon, a 19th-century variation of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God, is adorned with a magnificent gold and silver risa, or metal covering. The icon was commissioned for Sitka’s Archangel Michael Cathedral by Saint Innocent Veniaminov in the early 1800s and has been enshrined in the cathedral since its arrival some 150 years ago. The icon is attributed to the hand of Vladimir Borovikovsky, a leading artist of the time and one of Russia’s most revered painters. Miraculously, the icon survived a fire that destroyed the original cathedral in 1966. Over the years, many healings and
miracles have been credited through the intercession of the Holy Virgin in response to prayers offered by countless faithful before the icon.

As a prelude to the pilgrimage to the “lower 48 states,” the Sitka Icon of the Mother of God was taken to numerous parishes and communities across the Diocese of Alaska in the summer of 2005.

Click here for the complete schedule of the icon’s pilgrimage visits and services. The schedule will also appear in the August-September 2005 issue of “The Orthodox Church” newspaper.

Click here to learn about the history of the Sitka Icon.