Albazin icon of the Mother of God "The Word was made Flesh"

 

This icon was particularly revered in the Cossack village of Albazin in the Amur Territory. The icon was brought there from the Kirensk Stockade by Hieromonk Ermogen in 1666. In 1868, Bishop Veniamin of Kam­ chatka brought the holy image to the town of Blagoveshchensk on the Amur River. Later on, Bishop Gury instituted an annual feast in honor of the Icon of the Mother of God "The Word Was Made Flesh" to be celebrted on March 9 throughout the Kamchatka Diocese, which in­ cluded the Amur Territory. The icon, which depicts the carrying of the Infant, helps expectant mothers. One woman had an omen that she would give premature birth to a child and so she thought she would die. Her husband, however, hoping for a happy outcome, prayed to the Heavenly Queen. She heeded his prayers and during the reading of the Akathistos the woman was delivered of a child. This icon is sometimes also called the Icon of the Mother of God "The Sign." Feast day: March 9/22,