According to the historical, local history and church literature, according to archival data and according to information recorded by expeditions of the ethno-historical center "Yavar" in 2000-2014. quite extensive information has been collected about the places of the appearances of the Mother of God, Jesus Christ, some saints (more than fifty) and miraculous icons, mainly with images of the Mother of God (about a hundred).
Information about such phenomena has been found since the 11th – 12th centuries. A lot of information relating to the 19th - early 20th centuries is contained in publications on statistical descriptions of Orthodox dioceses and Catholic dioceses, as well as in church periodicals.
All stories are popular subjects of popular Christian traditions. Phenomena usually occur in remote, remote places (in a forest, at a spring, on a stone, on a mountain), are accompanied by radiance and are associated with miracles. The first to encounter them are mythologized personalities - shepherds (especially shepherd children), blind elders, hunters, foresters, girls, women, monks, peasants, etc.
The Grushka tract (village Bushmichi, Kamenets district, Brest region). According to legend, the girl saw the Mother of God under a pear tree.
Starting from the conditional declaration of the Mother of God, a saint or an icon, a place of worship was formed, but the evolution of each of them was different. In some cases, the extinction of the cult was observed, and then its repeated revivals. Often, mass pilgrimages of Christians of different confessions began to such places, and there were also people of different faiths (the Kruptsy estate near Minsk, the village of Dudichi, Pukhovichi district, Zhirovichi, Slonim district, village Sukhopol, Pruzhany district, etc.). In many areas, on certain holidays, a procession of the cross went from the parish church to the place of the apparition.
Such information is of interest not only for the history of religion, but also for psychology, geophysics, landscape geography, and the study of folk culture.
Map number 1. Places of the apparitions of the Mother of God(Virgin Mary, Saint Panna, Uterus Bosskoy, etc.). On the stone: 1. Beaver village, Lida district, Grodno region; 2. Brody village, Pruzhansky district, Brest region; 3. village Velikiy Polsvizh, Lepel district, Vitebsk region; 4. v. Gudovichi / Verkhles, Chervensky district, Minsk region; 5. Derevnaya village, Logoisk district, Minsk region; 6. Dobry Bor village, Baranovichi district, Brest region; 7. v. Dyatlovichi, Volkovyssk district, Grodno region; 8. v. Zaozerye, Oktyabrskiy district, Gomel region; 9. v. Zosimovichi, Pruzhansky district, Brest region; 10. v. Kivachino, Pruzhansky district, Brest region; 11. village Klinovaya, Sharkovshchinsky district, Vitebsk region; 12. village Kolonitsa, Miory district, Vitebsk region; 13. village Komaysk, Dokshitskiy district, Vitebsk region; 14. village Konyukhi, Berestovitskiy district, Brest region; 15. village Kotovichi, Voronovsky district, Grodno region; 16. D. Krasnaya Sloboda (Vyzna), Soligorsk district,Minsk region; 17. v. Lipsk, Dokshitsky district, Vitebsk region; 18. v. Lukoml, Chashnitsky district, Vitebsk region; 19. v. Meiry, Lida district, Grodno region; 20. village Ozeretsk, Sennensky district, Vitebsk region; 21. Ostrovno village, Beshenkovichi district, Vitebsk region; 22. Pruzhany, Brest region; 23. village of Senezhitsy (chi), Novogrudok district, Grodno region; 24. D. Shilovo, Pruzhansky district, Brest region; 25. Shishki village, Myadel district, Minsk region At the spring: 26. Gorno / Izbishche village, Logoisk district, Minsk region. On the mountain: 27. Evlichi village, Slutsk district, Minsk region; 28. Oktyabr village (Starchitsy), Soligorsk district, Minsk region; 29. Perevoz / Kharitonovka village, Kopyl district, Minsk region; 30. village Shchitkovichi, Starodorozhsky district Minsk region Near the tree: 31. Bushmichi village, Kamenetsky district, Brest region; 32. village Derevnaya, Slonim district, Grodno regionVitebsk region; 18. v. Lukoml, Chashnitsky district, Vitebsk region; 19. village of Meiry, Lida district, Grodno region; 20. v. Ozeretsk, Sennensky district, Vitebsk region; 21. Ostrovno village, Beshenkovichi district, Vitebsk region; 22. Pruzhany, Brest region; 23. village Senezhitsy (chi), Novogrudok district, Grodno region; 24. D. Shilovo, Pruzhansky district, Brest region; 25. Shishki village, Myadel district, Minsk region At the spring: 26. Gorno / Izbishche village, Logoisk district, Minsk region. On the mountain: 27. Evlichi village, Slutsk district, Minsk region; 28. Oktyabr village (Starchitsy), Soligorsk district, Minsk region; 29. Perevoz / Kharitonovka village, Kopylsky district, Minsk region; 30. village Shchitkovichi, Starodorozhsky district Minsk region Near the tree: 31. Bushmichi village, Kamenetsky district, Brest region; 32. village Derevnaya, Slonim district, Grodno regionVitebsk region; 18. v. Lukoml, Chashnitsky district, Vitebsk region; 19. v. Meiry, Lida district, Grodno region; 20. v. Ozeretsk, Sennensky district, Vitebsk region; 21. Ostrovno village, Beshenkovichi district, Vitebsk region; 22. Pruzhany, Brest region; 23. village of Senezhitsy (chi), Novogrudok district, Grodno region; 24. Shilovo village, Pruzhansky district, Brest region; 25. Shishki village, Myadel district, Minsk region At the spring: 26. Gorno / Izbishche village, Logoisk district, Minsk region. On the mountain: 27. Evlichi village, Slutsk district, Minsk region; 28. Oktyabr village (Starchitsy), Soligorsk district, Minsk region; 29. Perevoz / Kharitonovka village, Kopylsky district, Minsk region; 30. village Shchitkovichi, Starodorozhsky district. Minsk region By the tree: 31. Bushmichi village, Kamenets district, Brest region; 32. village Derevnaya, Slonim district, Grodno regionLida district, Grodno region; 20. village Ozeretsk, Sennensky district, Vitebsk region; 21. Ostrovno village, Beshenkovichi district, Vitebsk region; 22. Pruzhany, Brest region; 23. village Senezhitsy (chi), Novogrudok district, Grodno region; 24. D. Shilovo, Pruzhansky district, Brest region; 25. Shishki village, Myadel district, Minsk region At the spring: 26. Gorno / Izbishche village, Logoisk district, Minsk region. On the mountain: 27. Evlichi village, Slutsk district, Minsk region; 28. Oktyabr village (Starchitsy), Soligorsk district, Minsk region; 29. Perevoz / Kharitonovka village, Kopylsky district, Minsk region; 30. village Shchitkovichi, Starodorozhsky district. Minsk region By the tree: 31. Bushmichi village, Kamenets district, Brest region; 32. village Derevnaya, Slonim district, Grodno regionLida district, Grodno region; 20. v. Ozeretsk, Sennensky district, Vitebsk region; 21. Ostrovno village, Beshenkovichi district, Vitebsk region; 22. Pruzhany, Brest region; 23. village Senezhitsy (chi), Novogrudok district, Grodno region; 24. Shilovo village, Pruzhansky district, Brest region; 25. Shishki village, Myadel district, Minsk region At the spring: 26. Gorno / Izbishche village, Logoisk district, Minsk region. On the mountain: 27. Evlichi village, Slutsk district, Minsk region; 28. Oktyabr village (Starchitsy), Soligorsk district, Minsk region; 29. Perevoz / Kharitonovka village, Kopylsky district, Minsk region; 30. village Shchitkovichi, Starodorozhsky district. Minsk region By the tree: 31. Bushmichi village, Kamenets district, Brest region; 32. village Derevnaya, Slonim district, Grodno region23. village Senezhitsy (chi), Novogrudok district, Grodno region; 24. D. Shilovo, Pruzhansky district, Brest region; 25. Shishki village, Myadel district, Minsk region At the spring: 26. Gorno / Izbishche village, Logoisk district, Minsk region. On the mountain: 27. Evlichi village, Slutsk district, Minsk region; 28. Oktyabr village (Starchitsy), Soligorsk district, Minsk region; 29. Perevoz / Kharitonovka village, Kopylsky district, Minsk region; 30. village Shchitkovichi, Starodorozhsky district Minsk region Near the tree: 31. Bushmichi village, Kamenetsky district, Brest region; 32. village Derevnaya, Slonim district, Grodno region23. village Senezhitsy (chi), Novogrudok district, Grodno region; 24. D. Shilovo, Pruzhansky district, Brest region; 25. Shishki village, Myadel district, Minsk region At the spring: 26. Gorno / Izbishche village, Logoisk district, Minsk region. On the mountain: 27. Evlichi village, Slutsk district, Minsk region; 28. Oktyabr village (Starchitsy), Soligorsk district, Minsk region; 29. Perevoz / Kharitonovka village, Kopylsky district, Minsk region; 30. village Shchitkovichi, Starodorozhsky district Minsk region Near the tree: 31. Bushmichi village, Kamenetsky district, Brest region; 32. village Derevnaya, Slonim district, Grodno regionvillage Perevoz / Kharitonovka, Kopylsky district, Minsk region; 30. village Shchitkovichi, Starodorozhsky district Minsk region Near the tree: 31. Bushmichi village, Kamenetsky district, Brest region; 32. village Derevnaya, Slonim district, Grodno regionvillage Perevoz / Kharitonovka, Kopylsky district, Minsk region; 30. village Shchitkovichi, Starodorozhsky district Minsk region Near the tree: 31. Bushmichi village, Kamenetsky district, Brest region; 32. village Derevnaya, Slonim district, Grodno region
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There are more than a hundred legends about the apparition of the Mother of God. Particularly prominent are the stories that the Mother of God descends from heaven, walks on earth, and often her footprints remain on the stone. Hence, boulders with grooves similar to footprints were called “trace stones”. They are popularly called the Footprint of the Mother of God, the Foot of the Mother of God, the Footprint of the Virgin Mary, the Footprint of the Holy Panna, etc. Trail stones are found both on elevated and low-lying places. Often there is a Holy Spring or Holy Tree nearby.
According to legends, rainwater from footprints on a stone is considered curative, especially for eye diseases, headaches, and fever. Flowers, ribbons, money, beads and other gifts are still worn to some of the investigator stones (Stavy of the Kamenetsky district, Brody of the Pruzhansky district in the Brest region, Gostbischi of the Uzdensky district, Sorogi of the Slutsk district in the Minsk region, Grooms of Berestovitsky, Beavers of Lida district in Grodno region). The incidents of the appearance of the Mother of God are also told today, as, for example, in the village of Lesniki, Lida district.
A footprint of the Mother of God on a stone near the village of Bobry (Lida district, Grodno region).
There are cases when church and secular authorities fought with investigators as with pagan objects. Near the village of Zaozerye (now the Oktyabrsky District of the Gomel Region) in the middle of the 19th century, according to the newspaper "Minsk Gubernskie Vedomosti" (1868), the police broke a stone with a footprint, but the peasants laid it out of pieces and began to use it still more popular. Then the church erected a chapel over the stone.
Stone tracer with a footprint of the Mother of God in the village of Stavy / Ogorodniki (Kamenets district, Brest region).
In 1887, the newspaper Litovskie Eparchialnye Vedomosti (No. 44) wrote that Nastasia Vakulo, a peasant woman from the village of Raubetski, Sukhopolskaya Volost, Pruzhany Uyezd, was herding geese and on a bog on a stone she saw traces of human legs and one longitudinal line. Returning home, she began to tell that she had noticed the traces of the Virgin. They began to carry donations to the stone, and Vakulo took everything for herself.
Soon she put up a booth (chapel) and a bench. In the booth she hung three icons bought from the headman of the Sukhopolskaya Orthodox Church. The police opened a criminal case against a peasant woman. The booth was broken, and the stone was buried.
At the beginning of the twentieth century, ethnographer A. Serzhputovsky recorded the legends about the appearance of the Mother of God in Sluchchina. In the village of Evlichi, she appeared to a girl of 8-9 years old and said that a cross should be put up in this place. The girl told all the villagers and soon died. People built a church and began to go there on the first new moon Sundays.
Near the town of Vyzna (now the village of Krasnaya Sloboda, Soligorsk District), it was as if the Mother of God appeared near a stone to one, and then to another woman and asked that this place be forgiven, i.e. worship place. They also began to go here on the first new moon Sundays and a chapel was erected.
In the tract Borisova Roshcha (Barysa Gai) near the village of Shchitkovichi (Starodorozhsky district of the Minsk region), the Mother of God appeared to one woman [32]. Back in the 1920s, on the first new-moon Sundays, an Orthodox priest came here and prayers were held. Now there are many crosses at this place and people gather here on Radovnitsa to commemorate their ancestors, although there has never been a cemetery here.
On two well-known occasions, the Mother of God appeared near a pear. In the village of Derevnaya, Slonim district, shepherds were the first to see her. They told the landowner about it and he built a church. Tradition says that the Mother of God moved to the pear from the village of Kolpinitsy from near Slutsk, and then she went to the Oshmyany district. In Bushmichi, Kamenets district, the Mother of God appeared before a seven-year-old girl and through her she asked people to pray to God. A chapel was built next to the pear. In our time, a temple has been erected on this site and crosses are constantly erected.
There are frequent apparitions of the Virgin near the source. For example, near the village of Zosimovichi, Pruzhansky district, she seemed to have appeared near a spring and a stone. The chapel even had a record of her alleged appearance in 1822. The apparitions of the Mother of God also took place on the road. Near the village of Shirvin, near the town of Berestovitsy in the Grodno region, according to legend, a woman went to the healer, and, going up to the forest, she saw two women in the radiance in front of her. They ordered her to come to this place three times a day and pray.
In the villages of Gudovichi and Verkhles, Chervensky district, in the Minsk region, the legend of the three Mother of God is recorded. Between the villages on Svyatoi Gora (Maryina Gora) there is an investigator stone (Magdalenka's Foot) about which it is said that there were three Mothers of God. One turned to Dudichi, the other to Novosyolki, and the third, before going to Lyady, rested on a stone and left a trail. The stone is worshiped in our time. During the twentieth century, a large cemetery was formed around.
According to many legends, the Mother of God appeared to the blind. She pointed out the spring to them, they washed their eyes and became sighted (Izbishche / Dvinosa, Logoisk district, Gorki in Pinsk region, etc.). In the village of Komaysk, Dokshitsky district, the Mother of God appeared on a stone in front of a blind elder. She ordered him to go to the owner of those lands and tell him to build a church on the site of her appearance. The elder did so, and his sight returned. In this village, the Elias Church, built in the 18th century, has survived, where in the altar part under the floor there is a trace-stone and gifts are placed through the door.
It is not by chance that blind people appear in legends. They are considered intermediaries with the other world. Blindness is associated with darkness, and vision with light. Also, the blind are assessed as God's people.
Often in legends, the Mother of God is declared to people occupying a privileged position in society (prince, pan, landowner, magnate, etc.). For example, at the village of Starchitsa in Sluchchina (now the village of Oktyabr, Soligorsk district), she appeared on the mountain to a noble person Lev Shopole. He founded a monastery here. This place is revered now, and there is a tall wooden cross.
Wooden cross in the village of Oktyabr, Soligorsk district, Minsk region. not far from the place where the Mother of God appeared to Leo Shole.
There are legends associated not with the appearance of the Mother of God herself, but with her secret voice, or with the vision of her in a dream by the sick. In such cases, she also indicates a spring and the patient is cured: Pastovichi (Starodorozhsky district), Volsk tract (near Kirovsk, Mogilev region), Rakov (Volozhinsky district). In the former Lida district near the village of Sobakintsy (now the village of Pervomayskaya in the Shchuchinsky district), according to legend, the Mother of God appeared to the priest in a dream vision and asked to renew her icon. The legends about the appearance of the Mother of God in a dream are not accidental. According to mythological views, sleep is a channel of communication with the other world.
In addition to the apparitions of the Mother of God, there are references to the apparitions of Jesus Christ and the saints. In Mikolki, Uzdensky district, it was believed that the image of Christ was seen in the crown of an oak tree. In Kutsevshchina and Grozovo, the Kopyl region, they talked about the footprints of St. Nicholas on the stones. In Lukoml of the Chashnitsa region, a certain Parthenius appeared to St. Nikolai asked to build the church. Archangel Michael appeared to a local resident at a spring in Shatsk, Pukhovichi district.
Map number 2. Places of the appearance of Christ and the saints. On the stone: 1. Aktulovichi village, Kopyl district, Minsk region; 2. v. Barovtsy, Vileyskiy district, Minsk region; 3. v. Volkovshchina, Miorsky district, Vitebsk region; 4. v. Gostbischi, Uzdensky district, Minsk region; 5. v. Zalesye, Petrikovskiy district, Gomel region; 6. v. Katka, Glussky district, Mogilev region; 7. v. Kleshevo, Slutsk district, Minsk region; 8. v. Korzuny, Kopylsky district, Minsk region; 9. v. Kosteshi, Luban district, Minsk region; 10. v. Kudinovichi, Kopyl district, Minsk region; 11. v. Litvichi, Logoisk district, Minsk region; 12. village Sorogi, Slutsk district, Minsk region; 13. village Utrilovo, Sennensky district, Vitebsk region; 14. village Shalukhi, Molodechno district, Minsk region; 15. v. Yakubyantsy, Braslavsky district, Vitebsk region. On a tree: 16. Mikolki village, Uzdensky district, Minsk region. (on oak); 17. village Shklyantsy, Dokshitsky district, Vitebsk region (on a pine tree). Places of apparitions of saints: 18. Grozovo, Kopylsky district, Minsk region (St. Nicholas on the stone); 19. v. Kutsevshchina, Kopyl district, Minsk region. (St. Nicholas on the stone); 20. Borovaya village, Chashnitsky district, Vitebsk region (some kind of apostle on a stone).
The cult of miraculous icons, especially the icons of the Mother of God, has long been characteristic of the territory of Belarus.
The icon has established itself from the very inception of Christianity as an image intended for worship. She accompanied people from birth to death. The cult of icons began to spread from Byzantium from the 11th-12th centuries, and in the Middle Ages, when epidemics raged, it became widespread as an anti-mortem remedy among the Orthodox, Catholics and Uniates. The cult flourished during the era of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. In European culture, this phenomenon is considered original and autonomous, especially for the territory of Belarus. Researchers see the reasons for it in the contact between the Latin West and the Orthodox East.
Icons, as well as the Mother of God herself and the saints, according to legend, appeared in radiance on a tree, a spring, a mountain, a stone. Often in a tree near a spring. In the annals and in various kinds of historical documents, even specific dates of such phenomena are called: Kupyatichi (Pinsk district) - 1180, Pustynki (near Mstislavl) - 1386, Zhirovichi (Slonim district) - 1470, Gorodno (in the Pinsk region) - 1473, Minsk and Novy Sverzhen (Stolbtsovsky district) - 1500, Kruptsy (near Minsk) - 1612, Starchitsy / October (Soligorsk district) - 1670, Chernyakovo (Berezovsky district) - 1725, Zosimovichi (Pruzhansky district) - 1822. Only centuries are named according to some icons: Rakov (Volozhinsky district) - 15th century, Khalyavschina (near Minsk) - the second half XVI century, Tupichevo (near Mstislavl) and in Suknevichi (Smorgon district) - the beginning of the XVII century, Rakovichi (Shchuchin district) - XVIII century.
A miraculous source at the site of the appearance of the icon in Rakovichi (Shchuchinsky district, Grodno region).
The most widespread legends are about the appearance of icons on wood. In mythology, the tree is identified with the middle light (earth) and is a symbol of the unification of all spheres of space. The famous Zhirovichi icon (Slonim district) appeared on a pear in the forest, owned by the pagan Zhir. She emitted an unusual radiance and the shepherds were the first to see her. They gave the icon to the nobleman Soltan, but she "fled" again to the same tree.
Then Soltan on horseback rode up to the pear, dismounted from the horse and fell into deep thought that lasted several hours. Then he made a promise to build a temple and soon did so. At the temple, the nobleman maintained 12 priests at his own expense. After some time, the temple burned down, but the icon appeared on the stone for the second time and in 1730 it was crowned. The Zhirovichi icon enjoys great veneration in our time among the Orthodox and Catholics.
According to legend, icons also appeared on pears in Rakovichi, Shchuchinsky district, Suknevichi (Smorgon district), Vaskovka (Mozyr district). About the Vaskovskaya icon, the legend says that the peasant Ivan Didko lost his oxen, looked for them for a long time and went to the island - there, in an extraordinary glow on a pear, he saw an icon, and his oxen grazed nearby. A church was later built on this place and an icon was placed in it.
Many icons appeared on the linden tree and it was in an extraordinary radiance. On the site of the Pustynsky monastery near Mstislavl, the icon appeared to the blind prince Lugveniy, the son of Olgerd. Later, a chapel was erected there, and then the Assumption-Pustynskaya monastery. In Gorbatsevichi near Bobrui
A chapel in the village of Lyubcha (Novogrudok district, Grodno region) at the place where, according to legend, an icon appeared on a linden tree.
Often the icons appeared on the pine. In Gavezna (now Novopoltsy) of the Stolbtsy district, the peasants were the first to see the icon when they went to work and therefore were late. The housekeeper punished them and became blind for it. To atone for his sin, he built a church on the site of the appearance of the icon. About the icon in Chernyakovo, Berezovsky district, the story is similar to the legend about the icon in Vaskovka in the Mozyr region where the phenomenon took place on a pear.
In Chernyakovo, the peasant was also looking for oxen, he saw an icon in the shine on a pine tree, and his oxen grazed nearby. A pine trunk is now kept in the Chernyakovsk Church, on which, according to legend, an icon appeared. In Shklov, children found an icon in a pine hollow. In the Zalesye of the Smorgon District, a local resident was the first to see the icon on a pine tree after he noticed a falcon flying in and out of the tree.
In Borovka in the Lepel region, the priests found the icon suspended among three pines. In Budcha of the Gantsevichy district of the Brest region, the icon appeared in Izbiysky pine forest at the end of the 18th century. on a pine tree (according to some sources, on an aspen) and a church was built there. On a pine tree, icons also appeared in Nivki, Logoisk district, Starinki, Vileika district, Krupeyki, Loevsky district, Gomel region.
Modern icon on wood, Lesino village, Tolochinsky district, Vitebsk region.
There is evidence of the appearance of the icon on a birch (Gavenkovo, Verkhnedvinsky district, Nosilovo, Molodechensky district); on an oak tree (Gniezno / Kostevichi, Volkovyssky District, Gornaya Mozyr District, Ozyory Grodno District, Upirevichi Borisov District). Most often these are icons of the Mother of God, but there are others.
So, in the village of Svyadskoye (now Komsomolsk) of Rechitsa district, an icon of Elijah the Prophet appeared on an oak tree, and an icon of the holy martyrs Boris and Gleb appeared on an oak tree in Neklyudovo, Tolochinsky district.
Many legends call the forest the place of the appearance of the icon, without specifying a specific tree (Barkolabovo, Bykhovsky district, Korytnoye, Osipovichsky district, Boruny, Oshmyansky district, etc.). For example, in Barkolabovo, the shepherds were the first to see the icon on a tree near a spring. A chapel was first built on this site, and then the Holy Ascension Monastery.
In the village of Sukhopol, Pruzhany District, they said that a Cossack (horse soldier) left the icon on a tree in the forest and local residents found it, but could not remove it. Then a couple of oxen were harnessed to the cart and only in this way was the icon transported to the church. The church then burned down. After some time, the old shepherd saw in a dream that the icon had not burned down, but was preserved in the ground. He went to the priest and asked him to indicate exactly where the shrine was located before the fire in the church. At this place they began to dig and found an icon. In Kupyatichi, Pinsk district, the icon appeared to the girl Anna.
Map number 3. Icons displayed on wood (mainly icons of the Mother of God) … 1. v. Barkolabovo, Bykhovsky district, Mogilev region (forest); 2. v. Borovka, Lepel district, Vitebsk region. (forest); 3. v. Budcha, Gantsevichi district, Brest region (aspen / pine); 4. v. Vaskovka, Mozyr district, Gomel region. (pear); 5. v. Gavenkovo, Verkhnedvinsky district, Vitebsk region. (Birch tree); 6. v. Gniezno / Kostevichi, Volkovyssk district, Grodno region. (oak); 7. v. Gorbatsevichi, Bobruisk district, Mogilev region (Linden); 8. village Gornaya, Mozyr district, Gomel region. (oak); 9. Dudichi village, Pukhovichi district, Minsk region (Linden); 10. v. Zhirovitsy (chi), Slonim district, Grodno region (pear); 11. v. Zalesye, Smorgon district, Grodno region. (Pine); 12. Village Komsomolsk (Svyadskoe), Rechitsa district, Gomel region (oak); 13. v. Konkovichi, Petrikovsky district, Gomel region (Linden); 14. v. Korytnoe, Osipovichi district, Mogilev region. (forest); 15. d. Krupeyki,Loevsky district, Gomel region (Pine); 16. Luzhki village, Sharkovshchinsky district, Vitebsk region (Linden); 17. G. p. Lyubcha, Novogrudok district, Grodno region (Linden); 18. v. Neklyudovo, Tolochinsky district, Vitebsk region. (oak); 19. v. Nivki, Logoisk district, Minsk region (Pine); 20. Novopoltsy village (Gavezna), Stolbtsovsky district, Minsk region (Pine); 21. Nosilovo village, Molodechno district, Minsk region (Birch tree); 22. village Ozyory, Grodno district, Grodno region (oak); 23. v. Osingorodok, Postavy district, Vitebsk region. (aspen); 24. village Pustynki, Mstislavsky district, Mogilev region. (Linden); 25. village Rakov, Volozhin district, Minsk region (forest); 26. village Rakovichi, Shchuchinsky district, Grodno region (pear); 27. v. Starinka, Vileika district, Minsk region. (Pine); 28. Suknevichi village, Smorgon district, Grodno region (pear); 29. Sukhopol village, Pruzhansky district, Brest region. (forest); 30 d. Upirevichi, Borisov district, Minsk region (oak); 31. village Chernyakovo, Berezovsky district, Brest region (Pine); 32. Shklov. Mogilev region (Pine).
According to some legends, the icon appeared at the very source, or in a well, for example, in the village of Lemnitsa (Tolochinsky district), Gornaya Verovoisha (Orsha district), Opanaskovichi (Ushachsky district), Zborsk (Osipovichsky district), Zherobychi / Sloboda (Shumilinsky district), Panara (Smorgonsky district), Sverzhen (Rogachevsky district), Kruptsy near Minsk (now Vesnyanka microdistrict), etc. For example, in the Lashevichi of the Svisloch region of the Grodno region there was a legend that a girl took water from a well in the morning and took out an icon of the Mother of God with the baby with her. She told her fellow villagers about this. There was an old man in the village and he managed to transfer the icon to the old Uniate church, which was located between the well and the cemetery.
In Leshnya, Molodechno district, old residents saw an icon of the Mother of God in the spring. A wooden well was built there and a cross was erected nearby. In the 1950s, by order of the authorities, a bulldozer operator filled up the well at night, but the source made its way elsewhere. Now this place is equipped and it is mainly worshiped by Catholics on the feast of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus.
The appearance of icons on the mountain of legend is celebrated in Belynichi (Belynichsky district), Yurovichi (Kalinkovichi district), Velyatichi (Borisov district), Maryina Gorka (Pukhovichsky district) and other places. So, in Maryina Gorka, the icon appeared to Isidor, a resident of the village of Lyadtsy, during a serious illness. He built a chapel on this site, and then people built a church.
In the village of Podlesye (Lyakhovichi district, Brest region), according to legend, the icon appeared on a stone, which is now kept in the church.
In the literature, there is information about the appearance of the icon on the river, in the ground. This is not only legends, but also a possible reality, since usually the icons were not destroyed, not burned, but they were let down the river or buried in the ground. In Rakovichi, Shchuchinsky district, one of the legends speaks of the appearance of the icon on a pear, and according to another version, it sailed along the river.
The legend tells about the Minsk miraculous icon of the Mother of God that in 1500 it sailed along the Dnieper, then the Berezina and climbed up the Svisloch to the castle. She was taken out of the river and placed in the castle church. The icon also floated along the Ditva river and landed on the shore where the village of Myto, Lida district, is located. When she was swimming, one shepherd hit her with a whip, and from this two bloody spots remained on her face.
There are stories that the icon sailed against the current along the Servech river in the Dokshitsy region of the Vitebsk region and stopped in the village of Sitsy. In Suprasl (now in Poland), the icon appeared on the waters of the river. Supra bracelet to two monks, etc.
In Smilovichi, Chervensky district, the icon of the Mother of God appeared on the road. In the small town of Pesochnoe on the Neman (Kopyl district), the icon was found in the ground. According to legend, there was once a church and two Orthodox churches. Catholics in their church placed an icon taken in the vicinity of Slutsk in an Orthodox monastery. Then the church burned down. Fifty years passed and this piece of land was given to a local resident. He began to build a threshing floor and found an icon. She was placed in an Orthodox church.
Map No. 4. The Revealed Icons of the Mother of God … At the spring: 1. village Gornaya Verovoisha, Orsha district, Vitebsk region; 2. v. Zborsk, Osipovichi district, Mogilev region; 3. v. Kruptsy (microdistrict Vesnyanka), Minsk; 4. v. Lashevichi, Svisloch district, Grodno region; 5. v. Lemnitsa, Tolochinsky district, Vitebsk region; 6. v. Leshnya, Molodechno district, Minsk region; 7. village Panara, Smorgon district, Grodno region; 8. village Sverzhen, Rogachevsky district, Gomel region; 9. village Selets, Buda-Koshelevsky district, Gomel region; 10. village Sirotino (former farm Zherebychi), Shumilinsky district, Vitebsk region; 11. v. Chernevichi, Glubokoye district, Vitebsk region. On the mountain: 12. v. Lyubonichi, Kirovsky district, Mogilev region; 13. v. Lyady, Smolevichi district, Minsk region; 14. G. p. Maryina Gorka, Pukhovichi district, Minsk region; 15. village Yurovichi, Kalinkovichi district, Gomel region On the stone: 16. Borisov (district). Minsk region; 17. v. Podlesye,Lyakhovichi district, Brest region
Thus, the legends about the appearance of the Mother of God, Jesus Christ, saints and miraculous icons are a reflection of the role of vision in the knowledge of the world, a new order of the cosmos and the establishment of the dominance of the Christian worldview. As a rule, the places of occurrence are objects of sacred geography - certain trees, stones, springs, hills.
This often correlates with the most ancient natural sites, where worship of the moon took place associated with the cult of the female deity, which gradually transformed into the Christian cult of the Mother of God. The mythologized characters are the first to encounter the phenomena: shepherds, foresters, hunters, children, elders, girls, women, monks, peasants, etc.
The evolution of each of these places is different: either the extinction of worship, then its repeated revivals. Often they were included in the sphere of church worship, and sometimes they were not recognized by the church at all. At a later time, some phenomena can be associated with the methods of the church to substantiate the place of construction of a chapel, temple, monastery.
Photo by the author. The diagrams were compiled by Viktor Gaiduchik based on the author's sketches.
About the author: Duchits Lyudmila Viktorovna, Ph. D. D., archaeologist
The report was read on January 25, 2015 at the Ufokom conference "Mysterious Belarus" (Minsk)
