The Sicilian icon of the Mother of God helps in some ways. Sicilian or Divnogorsk icon of the Mother of God

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On February 18, the Divnogorsk (or Sicilian Icon) of the Mother of God is glorified. On this day, the appearance of this miraculous icon took place in 1092 on the island. Sicily. About the miraculous image of the Queen of Heaven, as well as how the icon came to Holy Rus' and about the spiritual connection of the Svyatogorsk monastery with this holy image - in the sermon of the Svyatogorsk governor.

Sermon by Bishop Arseny on the feast of the Divnogorsk Icon of the Mother of God. February 18, 2008

In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit!

Blessed is the Land of Slobozhanskaya, brothers and sisters! Because the Queen of Heaven Herself loved this region for the zeal of the people living here, for the purity of their preservation of Holy Orthodoxy, which reached the point of self-denial, confession in the Middle Ages, when people moved here to the steppes, which were then called “wild”, which were constantly subjected to raids of the Crimean and Nogai Tatar hordes. They fled here, to these then deserted places of the Middle Ages, from Trans-Dnieper Ukraine from Catholic and Uniate oppression, wanting to preserve the purity of the Orthodox faith.

And because they left their homes, and because they left their Fatherland, because for the sake of preserving the shrine of Orthodoxy, they retired to foreign lands for the sole purpose of preserving this purity of Orthodoxy, the Mother of God consoled our people. She revealed many miraculous icons in this region: these are the Svyatogorsk Icon of the Mother of God, and the Akhtyrsk Icon of the Mother of God, and the Kazan (Vysochinovskaya), Ozeryanskaya and many other revealed icons, among which there are locally revered ones. And there are also icons that are revered by all of Holy Russia, such as the Peschanskaya Icon of the Queen of Heaven. And among these miraculous icons, the Mother of God revealed in this region in ancient times an icon called after the locality of her second appearance - “Divnogorskaya”.

History of the Divnogorsk Icon of the Blessed Virgin Mary

The first name of this icon is the “Sicilian” icon of the Mother of God, and the first place of its appearance - in the 11th century, in 1092, occurred on the island of Sicily, which is why the icon itself was called “Sicilian”. The island of Sicily itself and the south of the Apennine Peninsula, where Italy is located, were inhabited by Orthodox Greeks in the early Middle Ages, so even this area was called New Greece. The iconoclastic heresy especially caused the influx of Orthodox Greeks here. The Greeks went to these limits, to the island of Sicily, to the south of Italy and settled there. They often carried their shrines with them - miraculous icons, which were desecrated by the iconoclasts.

And it was there that the icon of the Mother of God was revealed in 1092. But soon, after 1054, when the Western Church separated from the Ecumenical Orthodoxy, creating what is now called the Catholic, papal church, Orthodox Christians were persecuted. Temples were captured, shrines were taken away from the Orthodox, so two hieromonks - Xenophon and Joasaph, Greeks by origin, taking the Sicilian icon of the Mother of God, came to the borders of the then Orthodox state of Holy Kievan Rus. There is a legend that before they stopped in the Divnogorye area, on the banks of the Don River, they visited Kyiv. And from there, from the ascetics of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, they received the blessing to go further to the East.

The legend about the Divnogorsk Icon of the Mother of God says that when they were traveling, at the confluence of the Quiet Pine River into the Don River they stopped for the night, carrying with them a miraculous shrine - the icon of the Queen of Heaven. But when they woke up in the morning, they did not have the icon. In fear for the lost shrine, they began to look for it and saw that it stood on the mountain on one of the chalk pillars, which are in abundance on the mountains of Divnogorye, which is why the mountains themselves are called “Wonderful Mountains” - because of these pillars that stand like chalk guards placed by God at this holy place. They saw this icon on a pillar, and also saw a spring gush out from under the mountain where it stood on the pillar. They took this as a sign and settled in this place. Popular legend has preserved their names - hieromonks, in other editions of hieroschemamonks (they were in the schema) - Xenophon and Joasaph, who settled here and excavated the first caves. One of them, near which, according to legend, they were buried, was called “The Hermits”.

Subsequently, since this area was subject to the terrible Tatar — Mongol invasion, this place was deserted. But there is a legend that the icon of the Queen of Heaven was placed on a chalk pillar above the source by the will of God and stood all the time due to the desolation of the holy monastery. But the monastery no longer existed at the end of the 14th century, because Metropolitan Pimen, traveling to Constantinople, describes the area of ​​​​Divnogorye, and even sketches the Divnogorsk mountains on the front manuscript, where cut entrances to cave temples and an icon case for a miraculous icon are visible, but says nothing about active monastery.

But, nevertheless, the legend says that hermits lived in this place, replacing one another. After Xenophon and Joasaph there were the hermits Seraphim and Macarius, after them there was Bishop Paul with the novice Vasily, Archimandrite Nicholas, and under Archimandrite Nicholas the brethren from Trans-Dnieper Ukraine came to this place. Namely, the oppression of Catholics and Uniates forced thousands of Ukrainian families under the leadership of Colonel John Dzinkovsky, and two monasteries - Nikolaevsky men's and Paraskeva Pyatnitsa women's monasteries - to leave their homes and go with tears to look for a place of new settlement, so as not to accept Catholicism and Uniatism. They left the city of Ostrog in the Rivne region (the city of Ostrog still exists) and came to the boundaries of the present Voronezh region and founded the city of Ostrogozhsk, which stands to this day. And the monks of the Nikolsky Monastery (the female monastery settled in the city itself) settled near the Divnogorsk caves, where there was a shrine to the Divnogorsk miraculous icon of the Mother of God.

During Catherine's reign, this monastery was closed, like 2/3 of the monasteries in Slobozhanshchina. And our Svyatogorsk Hermitage was closed, and the Gorokhovat Hermitage, and many other monasteries in Slobozhanshchina were abolished and closed by state authorities under Catherine II. And there was a period of desolation. But the monastery was not completely abandoned, and, like Svyatogorsk, was used as a parish church in the neighboring settlement of Selyavnaya. And these brethren came and cleaned the caves on special days, taking care of order and cleanliness, because the brethren were transferred not far, ten kilometers away, to the Ascension Korotoyak Monastery. The monastery (Divnogorsk) existed as a parish, there was no monastery in it. Local residents began to bother about the opening of the monastery, who wrote a petition to the Holy Synod to be allowed to open this holy monastery. They even gave away their lands, their hay meadows, as if motivating them that the monastery would not be left without maintenance. But the Synod was slow to make a decision.

Miracles from the icon of the Mother of God during the cholera epidemic

And in the 1830s, cholera plague broke out for the first time in Tsarist Russia. Until this time, people in Rus' did not know what cholera was. They also had no idea how to fight this disease. And the disease killed people not just in dozens, but in hundreds. A terrible despondency fell upon the inhabitants. In the city of Ostrogozhsk, several dozen coffins were carried out per day. People were afraid to leave their houses and go outside. And only crying and screams were heard here and there, as if making it clear that another soul had gone to God, and the screaming and crying of relatives spoke of grief from the imminent and untimely loss of one or another servant of God.

This pestilence also broke out in Korotoyak. At that time there were five churches and the Ascension Monastery, in which there was a Divnogorsk brethren. And then the Mother of God appeared to one of the sick townspeople who was lying on her deathbed. She showed her icon in a vision and ordered this icon to be found and brought to the city. The woman rose from her sickbed in good health. Seeing her sudden healing and hearing from her lips the appearance of the Mother of God confirmed by her healing, people began to walk around the city in crowds following her, looking in all the churches for such an icon, which, as she said, she saw in a vision. But they couldn’t find such an icon.

And one novice, Andrei, who went to clean the caves of the Divnogorsk monastery, said: “I probably know which icon you are talking about. This is the one that stands in the chalk pillar above the source in Divnogorye.” And then all the residents of the city of Korotoyak walked ten kilometers to this holy place. It was necessary to walk from Korotoyak to Divnogorye along a meadow. And when they approached the mountains, to this chalk pillar, to the source, even on the other side of the Quiet Pine River, they suddenly saw that rays of light were coming from the pillar, from the niche where the icon stood. Inspired by this vision, the people perked up, but when they approached the pillar, they were perplexed as to how they could get the icon from the niche that was high on the pillar. After all, there were no stairs, and the pillar itself was steep and inaccessible. And so one of the young men, clinging to the ledges of the rock, tried to reach the niche in order to take the icon from it. The second miracle happened - the icon itself moved from the deep niche, on its own, without any human hands. And when he took her, he descended with her to the ground along the slightest ledges of the rock, without hands.

Bring the icon to Korotoyak. A prayer service was held in the city square. The people prayed to the Mother of God with tears, seeing in Her the only Hope and Intercessor. After the prayer service, they began to carry the icon through the streets of the city. And a miracle happened. On which street the icon was carried, there were no more cases of cholera on that street. And those sick with cholera did not die, but recovered. Since the icon was called “Sicilian”, the people, in the simplicity of their hearts, seeing such miracles of healing and, due to their simplicity and illiteracy, not knowing what “Sicilian” was, called the icon “Healed”.

Hearing about the miracle in Korotoyak, residents of the city of Ostrogozhsk, located a few kilometers from Korotoyak, began to ask for the icon to be brought to Ostrogozhsk. An eyewitness to this procession described that a crowd of thousands of people followed the icon, accompanying this shrine with faith, reverence, and a grateful feeling. A simple icon painted on a wooden board, without even a precious robe, but the Queen of Heaven Herself walked with it. She responded to the call of Her children, who with love and faith called on Her as a Mother for help in the trouble that had happened. An eyewitness said that when they began to approach the city of Ostrogozhsk, religious processions from all 15 Ostrogozh churches came out to meet them. The bells rang over the city. People, despite the fact that there was a cholera pestilence, were not afraid to gather in a crowd of thousands outside the city and two miles away, seeing only the approach of the Queen of Heaven in a miraculous image, they knelt down. And when the Korotoyak religious procession approached, the screaming made the hair rise on the head and a chill spread over the skin. Because even small children stretched out their hands to the miraculous icon and shouted: “Most Holy Theotokos, save us!”

Renewal of the Divnogorsk Monastery. Monastery in times of godlessness

The icon was brought to the city. A prayer service was held in the city square with a crowd of thousands of citizens. They began to carry the icon through the streets, and the same thing happened as in Korotoyak: the sick recovered, and there were no more new cases of the disease. In memory of this event, the Korotoyak and Ostrogozh residents established: in July they always take the miraculous icon of the Mother of God to their cities for special thanksgiving. And this miracle of the Mother of God served as the impetus for the opening of the Divnogorsk monastery.

The Divnogorsk monastery was opened and existed, like Svyatogorsk, until the 1920s. In 1922, and according to other sources, in 1924, during Soviet times, this monastery was closed, desecrated, the Divnogorsk brethren were partially shot in the monastery, and partially were taken to the railway bridge in a carriage. And each one was taken out of the carriage one by one, shot in the head and thrown into the Don River. I know an eyewitness to this terrible crime (a woman sang in the choir in the city of Liski, her daughter still sings). Just early in the morning she was reaping grass for a cow near the railway bridge and saw how a steam locomotive took out a carriage, and the Divnogorsk brethren were taken out of the carriage, shot in the temple and thrown into the Don. She heard their screams and said that no one asked for mercy, but only everyone shouted: “Lord, accept my spirit in Your hands! Lord, forgive them, they don’t know what they’re doing!” - and the like, like someone’s heart cried out to God at this tragic moment of martyrdom. And this woman, in order not to scream, bit her hand and, shocked by what she saw, did not even notice how she bit it so that the scars later remained on her hand after such a terrible vision and shock.

In pre-revolutionary times, the Queen of Heaven was especially revered, and the writer, Archimandrite Alexander Kremenetsky, writes about the Divnogorsk monastery and the religious procession in Ostrogozhsk: “I have been to both St. Petersburg and Moscow, but I have never seen such religious processions anywhere. More than 70 thousand people gathered for the religious procession. The stretcher with the icon of the Mother of God was carried by 50–60 people. When the stretcher was being carried, a certain old woman, laboring while carrying the miraculous icon, sat on the crossbar of the stretcher, and the people, like a wave, carried her further. And she, having rested, again participated in the procession of the cross - she worked for the sake of the Mother of God. The carts that followed the religious procession were stretched for several miles. Two military bands - the Korotoyaksky regiment and the Ostrogozhsky regiment - accompanied the miraculous icon of the Mother of God as the Queen in the parade. But since the monastery was closed during Soviet times, the miraculous icon itself, according to legend, was preserved by reverent pious residents in a secret, hidden place. I was still a boy and I remember they talked about it, that people kept it, hid it.

Folk veneration of the Divnogorsk miraculous image

But, nevertheless, the veneration of the icon of the Mother of God did not stop. And although the people abandoned God, the people became imbued with godlessness, but the Mother of God did not abandon the people. During the Great Patriotic War, a miracle happened. The miracle that the Divnogorsk Icon of the Mother of God showed, again showing its intercession to the Orthodox people. What was this miracle? During the occupation, notices were posted throughout Ostrogozhsk: “All young people must come to the market square. Failure to appear will result in execution." All the youth of Ostrogozhsk gathered in the market square. It turned out that they had decided to take everyone to Germany. We drove covered heated cars to the station, which was located a kilometer from the market square. Submachine gunners with shepherd dogs drove up to the square itself in cars to transport the youth. And the mothers and grandmothers who came with their children, seeing and hearing why the youth were herded to the square, were in despair. Screaming, crying all around.

And just imagine, these were young people, former Komsomol members, who may have closed churches and destroyed shrines... But what are their grandmothers and mothers doing? Next to the market square there was the Ostrogozhsky Transfiguration Church, which was never closed. In this temple there was a copy of the miraculous Divnogorsk Icon of the Mother of God. And so a crowd of these grandmothers and mothers rushed to the temple in the only hope of asking the Queen of Heaven for help. They took the icon and walked around the market square. Eyewitnesses said that they walked and were not afraid of anything, raising the icon above their heads, with tears and a cry they sang the troparion to the Mother of God: “Like an insurmountable wall and a source of miracles, having acquiredCha Thy servants, Mother of GodPeloquent, we depose the resisting militias. We also pray to You: peacepeopleYoursAndgrant to our souls great mercy» . The screams of machine gunners, the barking of shepherd dogs - they paid no attention to anything. Their hearts only cried out to the Mother of God for help. And where would one expect help, it would seem? But suddenly our aircraft swooped in and started bombing the station. Bombed all the trains. The Germans jumped into the cars with the shepherd dogs and drove away from the square, hiding somewhere in bomb shelters. And the young people stood in the square and went home. Not a single young man from Ostrogozhsk was taken to Germany. The Mother of God showed such intercession. Even though we often abandoned Her, She did not abandon us.

The Queen of Heaven performed a wondrous miracle during the entire period when the Divnogorsk monastery was closed. In the Divnogorsk monastery itself there was a sanatorium, and in the monastery, where there was a source and where the icon of the Queen of Heaven was shown on a pillar, there was an abandoned cave temple, without icons (the monastery itself is a cave). I remember in the 1970–1980s, grandmothers from all the surrounding villages and hamlets, remembering the glory of the Queen of Heaven, always came to this cave temple on the Most Pure Day, on Dormition Day. They gathered at the farm in the evening. And there was such a woman, Pasha - Paraskeva, a servant of God, she read the Psalter for the dead and, like a child, was devoted to the Queen of Heaven. She had a large icon with a written copy of the Divnogorsk Icon of the Mother of God on the board. This icon was taken to the spring, to the meadow, an akathist was read there in the evening, then they lifted the icon into the caves. In the caves they read akathists, sang psalms, lit a fire in front of the caves so that they could go out at night to warm themselves, because the August nights were cold, and in the morning they went by train to Liski, Ostrogozhsk for the Liturgy in the churches that were then operating in these cities.

And during these years, the Mother of God showed a special miracle: every year on Dormition Day, at night before the Dormition, there was a special appearance of blessed light in this church. There was no electricity in the temple, only candles. As a young man, I remember I went with my mother and with my villagers, and I also went at night on this Assumption Day. And at night, flashes began in the altar, such as a photo flash, only with such a slight crackling, like some kind of rustling, and not just by themselves. Everyone was already accustomed to this, that is, they did not look at it as some kind of special miracle. They knew that this happens on the Dormition of the Most Pure One. On this day, up to a thousand, up to two thousand people gathered. And the village of Divnogorye, which had only 40 courtyards, was jokingly called “Chinese Stop” on Assumption Day, because the train stood for a long time until so many people got off. And the Queen of Heaven showed the miracles of her intercession not only to the people who flocked there, but also guarded this holy place. Namely: in the 1980s, Ostrogozh schoolchildren came to celebrate their graduation party in Divnogorye. Let's go through the caves. Two of them, tipsy - graduation, such brave men - decided to cut the chalk pillar so that it would collapse. There is the chalk entrance itself, the entrance to the church and the bypass for the religious procession. When they began to chop with axes, a block fell out of the chalk pillar on which the icon of the Mother of God had once appeared, and one fell to his death, and the other was left crippled for life.

But the next year, a detachment of armed police was posted at the pillar and did not allow anyone near it. Moreover, somewhere in 1985 or 1986 a decision was made to blow up the pillar. The police arrived, brought straw, put dynamite under the entrance to the cave temple, lit the straw, and they themselves ran over the mountain and waited for it to explode. But there was no explosion, and the straw seemed to have burned through. They each took an armful of straw and went to this place again. As soon as they approached, there was an explosion. One policeman died, the second with a broken spine remained crippled for life. The pillar remained standing; only part of it collapsed.

People were not allowed into the cave temple for the Dormition of the Most Pure One that year. An armed police squad stood there, not letting anyone in. My grandmother went there and said that they prayed all night in the meadow near the spring. And they prayed so near the spring that this entire spring, braided with simple wattle, was doused with wax from the candles. And the water in the well was scooped up in such a way that people even took out the mud from the bottom and then settled it to drain the water.

Divnogorye in our time

To this day, the source of the Mother of God exists, this pillar stands, and this cave temple in which the icon of the Mother of God was revealed, and the Divnogorsk Monastery that is now in operation. What is most interesting is that when the first service, the first Liturgy was performed in the cave church, those flashes of fire that occurred at night before the Dormition began already during the Liturgy. The Liturgy was served by Archpriest Alexander Dolgushev from Kamenka, the then dean of Ostrogozh. During the Liturgy, these fiery flashes began, but after that they never happened again. That is, the Mother of God, throughout this godless period, seemed to console people, inspiring them with faith, with this sign in a holy place. And when the monastery was already open, people were drawn to regular church services, as if to a living source. And now, although it is small in number among the brethren, this holy monastery of Divnogorsk, but, nevertheless, it lives, is reborn, restored, the Divine Liturgy is served in it every day, a bloodless sacrifice is made. And this is a great thing before God.

Divnogorsk Icon and Holy Mountains

And today we, brothers and sisters, celebrate in honor of the miraculous Divnogorsk image of the Mother of God. I can talk about this for a long time, but believe me, this is my heart’s love for this miraculous image. My childhood passed under my grandmother’s stories about this miraculous icon. As a boy, I rode a bicycle to abandoned caves, to the abandoned Divnogorsk monastery. And why do we celebrate so especially solemnly in our monastery in honor of the Divnogorsk Icon of the Mother of God - the day before we serve an all-night vigil with an akathist, today after the Liturgy we will serve a prayer service for water - yes, because when the Svyatogorsk monastery opened, the Divnogorsk monastery was then still closed. And I took a blessing from Bishop Alypiy, who was then the ruling bishop: “Vladyka, the Divnogorsk monastery is closed, and the Mother of God is not properly glorified, as we would like, there is no service in Divnogorye, this icon is not venerated. Bless us to serve Her all-night vigil, prayer service, and chanting akathist in the Holy Mountains.” Bishop Alypiy blessed.

And how interesting it is, brothers and sisters, when we decided to celebrate the solemn feast of the Divnogorsk Icon of the Mother of God, the day before I went to Artyomovsk. They collected donations at the St. Nicholas Church for our monastery and said: come and take it. We arrived. There is an ancient wooden St. Nicholas Church, which is more than 200 years old. And while walking around the temple and looking at the icons, I suddenly saw the Divnogorsk Icon of the Mother of God, which stood on the back side of the pillar behind the left choir. I, of course, was very happy about this, because I have always loved and revered this icon. And he asked the priest: “Father, if possible, you give us this Divnogorsk icon to the monastery, and in return we will give you two or three other icons from the monastery.” The priest says: “Okay, I’ll talk to the twenty church members at the church parish council.”

And so, brothers and sisters, on the eve of the celebration of the Divnogorsk Icon of the Mother of God, no earlier, no later (today we serve the all-night vigil), Father Sergius calls in the morning and says: “We collected twenty, and twenty says that nothing is needed, we are donating this icon to the Holy Monastery." In the morning I ran to the car, we took this icon, brought it, and here it stands on the lectern, this image, and in the evening we already served the first all-night vigil in front of this image in the cave church of St. Anthony and Fedosievsky. And the icon of the Mother of God, having received Its glory in the cave monastery, precisely from the small cave temple in memory of those ancient cave dwellers Xenophon and Joasaph, who brought it from the island of Sicily, came to our Anthony-Theodosius caves and began its journey to the Holy monastery.

Of course, this icon, brothers and sisters, was so revered by the people that it was not in the monastery for 2/3 of the year; for 2/3 of the year it was carried in religious processions in the surrounding villages and hamlets. And only a third of the year she was, mostly during the winter, in the Divnogorsk monastery.

My grandmother told me how the icon was brought to the village. The icon was brought on August 26, on Tikhon of Zadonsk, and was escorted to the Assumption on Divnogorye. It was like Easter day. Day and night the bells rang in the bell tower of the village church. The people did not sleep day and night, the crowd escorting the icon through the village from hut to hut. They take her out of one yard, and the children are already greeting her, throwing flowers in front - Chernobrivtsy, carnations - in front of the Mother of God. They brought it into the hut, in the hut the table was covered with a festive tablecloth, then flowers were laid, a towel on top, an icon of the Mother of God was placed on this towel, a short prayer service was served, then the icon was escorted out of the hut, and the next courtyard greeted it. And so throughout the village. Grandmother said that when they would carry a miraculous icon through the village, not only sick people would get up, but also the sick cattle would all recover. Therefore, people called it not “Sicilian”, but “Iscelenska”.

Before this miraculous image, those women who committed the sin of infanticide in the womb or those whose small children died also repented. On the icon, cherubs surround the Queen of Heaven, and in these faces of cherubs, mothers who lost their children saw a reminder of their babies, of their pure souls, who were either killed by them through foolishness, or died in infancy. Therefore, women went on foot to the Divnogorsk monastery to repent before the Divnogorsk Icon of the Mother of God. It was believed that the icon was special and had the gift of resolving this sin of infanticide.

And in all sorts of infantile sorrows they resorted to the Queen of Heaven. I remember old people told me that near the chalk pillar there were two springs. From one they collected water for drinking, and above the other spring, about five meters from the first, the babies were bathed. And they said that it happened that a child would get sick, the mother would immediately make a vow to go with the baby to the Divnogorsk monastery (this was the case in our village before the revolution). And they said, sometimes you go, and the child has already recovered. But you still apply it to the icon, pour some water on it at the krinichka and return home healthy.

Lists of the miraculous image of Divnogorsk

Copies of the Divnogorsk Icon of the Mother of God are everywhere in Slobozhanshchina. She is especially revered in the Voronezh province, especially since in the 1860s there was another miracle from this icon. When the cholera plague broke out everywhere, the Voronezh bishop blessed day and night to serve prayers at the miraculous icon. And there was a miracle. Cholera was rampant in all provinces, but there was no cholera in the Voronezh province. Since then, copies of the icon have been made and, as revered, they have been in all cities. There are such copies in Alekseevka, Korotoyak, Liski, and Voronezh. A copy of this icon also stands in Donetsk, in the St. Nicholas Church on Larinka. And I remember when I was called there for priestly ordination, I went to the deacon’s censing of the Most Honest One and suddenly saw the Divnogorsk Icon of the Mother of God on the wall. I was very happy because I did not expect to see in Donetsk a shrine with which I had been associated since childhood.

And I would like to tell you, brothers and sisters, another case when the Mother of God showed consolation to one servant of God. She is present here in the temple, praying to the Queen of Heaven. We have already served the all-night vigil for the Divnogorsk Icon of the Mother of God in the Intercession Church. The next day - Liturgy with a prayer service for water. As usual, I went out to the sermon and talked about the area where the icon appeared. And after the service, a young woman came up to me and asked where I was from. I replied that I was from Liski. “And I’m from the Melakhino farm,” she said. And this farm is located not far from the Divnogorsk monastery. And so she told the story that she got married from this farm in the city of Zmiev. “And everything is fine: both the husband is good and the children are good, but there is some kind of melancholy. A city is a city, and everything seems to be fine, but as soon as I remember about my fields, open spaces, such melancholy attacks me - I cry and cry. I went home, and my mother said: “Daughter, you should go to church, pray, maybe you will feel better.” And so I came to Zmiev and decided to go to church. And one friend says: “I’m just going to the Svyatogorsk Monastery, do you want to go with me?” And so she comes to the Svyatogorsk monastery with this misfortune and longing for her homeland. And, standing in the temple, she sees the Divnogorsk Icon of the Mother of God, hears a story about that monastery, which is not far from her native farm. And she was so consoled that from then on she often began to visit the Svyatogorsk monastery. That is, the Mother of God, on the very day of Her celebration, consoled her here, seemingly far from her homeland. But she consoled me with a piece of her homeland, Her miraculous image of Divnogorsk. And many, brothers and sisters, such examples as the Mother of God has shown and continues to show to this day are a consolation to all who come to Her.

Preservation of the Divnogorsk icon during the Soviet years

In my village, where I come from, in the Church of the Holy Trinity there is also a copy - the image of the Mother of God of Divnogorsk. Simeon Chepurov, the headman of our village church, ordered this icon in Ostrogozhsk before the revolution and then carried the icon 40 kilometers from Ostrogozhsk to the village. On the way to the Divnogorsk monastery, he consecrated this icon at the miraculous image, and the size of the icon is approximately the same as our Svyatogorsk icon. And I carried such an icon for 40 kilometers myself. This icon stood in a rural church. When the temple was closed in 1931, they began to destroy it - the icons and iconostasis were chopped into firewood and the collective farm forge was heated. And when the horses and the iconostasis were being cut down, Agrippina Mazieva, the daughter of Protodeacon Alexy, who died in hard labor, seeing that the rioters had gone on a lunch break, jumped into the temple, took this Divnogorsk icon from the icon case, took it upon herself - and ran. They saw: “Stop, grandma, where?” She says: “Baby, I don’t have a table at home. I’ll make a table out of it.” “Well, if it’s on the table, take it.” And so she, wisely answering, saved the icon. This icon was in her house. But during the occupation period, my grandmother told me, when the Germans and Magyars entered, the first thing they did was look at the icons. And if the icons were old, they removed them and sent them in parcels home, to Germany and Hungary. Many icons were taken away then.

To hide the icon, people hollowed out a small cave behind the village, in a chalk mountain, placed it there and buried it. And she stood hidden in a cave for the entire occupation period, 8 months. Because of this, it swelled, and subsequently the gesso fell behind in several places. When the occupation ended, the icon was brought to the village. It was half destroyed - five families lived in one hut, and this icon stood in such a hut. Every Sunday they gathered to read an akathist before her. They put the children on their knees in rows in front of the icon and said: “Pray for your folders, so that they come from the front.” We read the akathist and prayed. Both the hut and the yard were full of people. When a church was opened in the city of Liski in 1946, people, on the eve of the famine of 1947, poor after the devastation, after the war, sewed a shrine on this icon from scraps, covered it and carried it on foot seven kilometers to the regional center and sang the troparion all the way: “Like an insurmountable wall and a source of miracles”... So Father Joseph, Father First, was even frightened: it was Stalin’s time, an unauthorized religious procession, in fact, happened.

The icon was placed in a church in the regional center, but a document was left stating that if a church was built in the Liski settlement, the icon should be returned. And in 2006, the Lord blessed so that a temple was built in the village and consecrated. We first sent this icon for restoration, secured it, restored the gilded background on it, and then carried it into the new church in a religious procession throughout the village. The shrine from the old temple, which was destroyed, was brought into the newly built temple as a gift to God, a penitential gift from all people who had wandered away from God in madness. And to this day this icon stands in the church in the village of Liski. Moreover, before this image, when it was in the city of Liski, in the Church of the Intercession, in front of this icon there was the healing of a five-year-old boy who could not walk. This is Vasily Voronov, he is already deceased, I was still reading the Psalter for him when he died, somewhere in the 1980s (because from the age of eight I walked around the village reading the Psalter for the dead). He didn't walk until he was five years old. Development is normal, the child talks, reasons, but does not walk. And then his mother, Baba Polya, took him in her arms, carried him on foot to the regional center, laid him on the floor under the icon of the Mother of God, and spent the entire service on her knees, as she said, and cried. The priest saw her tears, came up after the service, took this Vasya in his arms, carried him to the altar, carried him around the altar, carried him out to her, gave him in his arms and she, leaving, still in the bell tower, put him on the floor, fell to her knees, cried: “God’s Mother, help if you can." It was necessary to go to the ferry to cross the Don. She and fellow villagers who were in the temple and friends carried the boy to the ferry. We crossed the Don by ferry. Get off the ferry, take him in your arms, and he says: “Mommy, let me go, I’ll go myself.” He stood on his feet - just raised them high, high - and walked from the ferry itself, probably five kilometers, to the house itself. And he walked until his death.

Intercession of the Mother of God through prayers at Her Divnogorsk Icon

Many such cases, brothers and sisters, can be told and told, magnified and magnified by the Queen of Heaven. But remember that the reason for Her miraculous action in us, in our souls, in our society, in our Fatherland is our living faith in relation to Her. Not just formal, brothers and sisters: light a candle, kiss, just thinking about something of your own. And when with a living heart, when, approaching the miraculous image and looking at it with bodily eyes and spiritual eyes, we see the Mother of God Herself, Who clings to us, wanting to hear our prayers, then the Mother of God acts in us alive, with a living heart. She loves us with a living heart, not formally, but loves us so much that even many of Her icons cry. And they often cry tears of blood. This is Her suffering love for us, Motherly.

So let us, brothers and sisters, do at least something small today for the sake of the Queen of Heaven. Today is the day of Her holiday, today is the day of Her glory, which the Lord gave Her for her great humility and purity. And today we will try, brothers and sisters, to imitate at least in a small way the virtues of the Mother of God - humility, purity, prayerful mood, love for others.

May God grant that the Mother of God in Holy Rus' will always find a living response in our hearts. And the love with which you came to the temple today, to the foot of the image of the Mother of God, it will not go unnoticed by Her. The Mother of God sees your every sigh, every tear, even the one that barely appears in your eyes, and is ready to console, calm, wipe away and set you on the path of a holy life leading to Endless Eternity. And let us strive to strive for this Eternity, because the Mother of God Herself is waiting for us there. How comforting it is for us to hear about Her, how comforting it is to see Her miraculous image, Her image. Think what a joy it is for a believer to see the Mother of God Herself in the Heavenly Kingdom of Eternity, to see Her in the radiance of heavenly glory, the Most Honest Cherub and the Most Glorious without comparison Seraphim, whose name will always be glorified in our long-suffering Fatherland, bringing down upon it grace, mercy and protection Queen of Heaven. Amen.

Divnogorsk (Sicilian) Icon of the Mother of God- a miraculous image. The appearance of this miraculous icon occurred on February 5, 1092 in Sicily. Although this image of the Mother of God became famous within the Western Church, it was painted in the Greco-Byzantine, not Romanesque style. This circumstance is explained by the fact that in the 11th and 12th centuries in Sicily and Italy there were many Orthodox Christians who performed Greek worship. Many Greeks moved to the West afterward, from the raids and oppression of the Turks. Thus, along with their resettlement, the Byzantine style of icon painting was transferred to the Western colonies.
Tradition says that the Sicilian icon was brought to Russia from Sicily by the pious monastic elders Xenophon and Joasaph. It is believed that they were originally Orthodox Greeks and arrived here probably no earlier than the end of the 15th century. Xenophon and Joasaph founded the monastery in a picturesque place above the Don River, at the confluence of the Quiet Pine River. The area is named Divas and Divyi (wonderful) mountains from the amazingly shaped chalk pillars located along the mountains.

It is believed that Xenophon and Joasaph lived in a cave (where the Church of St. John the Baptist was later built) and that the first church in the chalk pillar was cut down by them, where they placed the icon of the Mother of God they brought with them from Sicily. Here they found their eternal resting place.
On the icon of the Sicilian (Divnogorsk) Mother of God, the Mother of God is depicted sitting on the clouds. In Her right hand is a blooming white lily, and with her left hand She supports the Infant God, who sits on Her knees. The Savior holds a flower (lily) in his left hand, and blesses with his right hand. Around the face of the Mother of God eight Angels are depicted, two of which, written below, are depicted kneeling and with raised hands. Above the head of the Mother of God is the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove.
The miraculous icon became especially famous in 1831, when cholera was raging. In Korotoyak, located 7-8 versts from the monastery, the Most Blessed Virgin appeared in a dream to one elderly resident, Ekaterina Kolomenskaya (as She is depicted on the Divnogorsk icon) and ordered to take Her icon and perform a prayer service in front of it. The miraculous icon was brought to Korotoyak, and after fervent public prayer before the holy icon, the cholera stopped. Through the intercession of the Mother of God, the city of Ostrogozhsk was also saved from cholera. The residents of Korotoyak and Ostrogozhsk also received salvation from cholera in 1847 and 1848 through the miraculous intercession of the Mother of God, which took place after a religious procession with the holy icon around these cities. Every year before the revolution, on July 1 (14), there was a religious procession with this icon to the city of Korotoyak, where it remained until August 14 (27). For the Dormition of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the patronal feast day of the Divnogorsk monastery, the image certainly returned to the monastery.
Shortly before the closure of the Holy Dormition Divnogorsk Monastery, which occurred in 1924, the Divnogorsk Icon was saved from destruction. One of the regular parishioners of the monastery, who served as a cab driver in Korotoyak, fearing desecration of the main shrine of the Divnogorsk monastery, transported the image to his home and hid it from the atheists in the firewood. The shrine was kept for many years in the village of Petropavlovka, Ostorogozhsky district.
In 1992, after the resumption of regular services at the site of the Divnogorsk monastery, the image of the Most Pure Virgin was returned to Divnogorye.
Now this miraculous image is located in the Holy Dormition Divnogorsk Monastery of the Voronezh Diocese, which is why it is called not only Sicilian, but also Divnogorsk. In the Voronezh diocese, this icon enjoys special veneration.
With the blessing of Metropolitan Sergius (Fomin) of Voronezh and Borisoglebsk, the annual religious procession with the Divnogorsk Icon of the Mother of God was revived in 2010, which takes place from July 1/14, the day of the celebration of the glorification of the Divnogorsk Icon, until August 1/14, the beginning of the Dormition Lent.

"Instead of the usual photographs, I suggest you go on a virtual tour. Look around the place, consider the smallest details all 360 degrees around, then move to the next room, and then to another, and so on.

The Church of the Sicilian Icon of the Mother of God is perhaps the most famous landmark of the Voronezh region, and among cave churches it is definitely the most popular. I took a few photos of her outside last winter. There are excursions there, there is electricity and it belongs not to the Russian Orthodox Church, but to the architectural and archaeological museum-reserve “Divnogorye”. However, on the days of memory of the Divnogorsk (Sicilian) Icon of the Mother of God (February 5 and July 14), services are still held in it. But that's not what this is about. No one will deny the historical and architectural value of this place, and therefore I invite everyone to come to the cat to learn a few historical details, technical nuances and, of course, examine this majestic structure.

The cave temple of the Sicilian Icon of the Mother of God is located at an altitude of about 30 meters above the stopping area of ​​the 143 km electric trains in the Liskinsky district of the Voronezh region. It has been known in literary and archival sources since 1831, the year of the discovery of the Sicilian Icon of the Mother of God above the entrance to the church (more on this below). This cave complex has two tiers. On the first there is a temple with an altar and a “procession of the cross” gallery, and on the second, separated by a flight of 27 steps, there are several utility rooms. The architectural feature of the cave is the stasidia, characteristic of ancient cave temples and dating back to the traditions and customs of the Athonite monks. These are large niches with a semicircular top, with which the walls are cut almost from the floor in a long gallery, the length of which is 95 meters. The modern architectural design of the caves developed by the mid-19th century, but there is a hypothesis that certain sections of the cave are much older. The shape and structure of the mentioned stasidiums suggests that, most likely, there was a large Orthodox monastery here in ancient times. In similar stasidia of other cave monasteries they found “ stacked human bones... only skulls were not found" According to the ancient custom of the Athonite monks, “ exactly three years after the death of the monk, his grave is opened; the bones are collected in a separate room, and the skulls are taken by the monks to their cells or folded separately" Be that as it may, there is no documentary evidence of this and the chronicle of the temple, as I already said, has only been kept since 1831.

02 . Drawing by E.L. Markov, end of the 19th century.

In 1856, the caves of the Great Divas were entrusted to the jurisdiction of the Divnogorsk monastery, which I will talk about next time. During Soviet times, its interiors were largely destroyed: the central façade was lost, there were rubble in the procession gallery, and the walls were covered with numerous inscriptions. The restoration of the temple began simultaneously with its museumification. Attracted by director M.I. Lylova, a group of speleotourists led by E.V. In June–August 1987, Golyanova took measurements of the Diva pillar and installed a support to support the rock mass, which was additionally secured with a metal cable. With the formation of the Divnogorye Museum-Reserve, first as a branch of the Voronezh Regional Museum of Local Lore, and since 1991 as an independent institution, planned work began to strengthen and restore the temple, which was carried out by mining engineers from Estonia (Institute of Mining named after A. A. Skochinsky). By the way, it was on the basis of the Divnogorye monuments that a special technique for the restoration of chalk cave churches was developed, since similar work had not been carried out on the territory of the country before. The restored church was consecrated in 1991 by Metropolitan Methodius of Voronezh and Lipetsk.

03 . Below is an approximate plan diagram of the cave (author V. Stepkin). I marked with red dots the places where I shot panoramas for the virtual tour. It would be possible to integrate the diagram directly into the tour, but since there was little time for filming (by the way, we were in a hurry to get to the Divnogorsk Monastery) and it was possible to film only the main, in my opinion, sections of the cave complex, I plan to someday return and complete the filming of the altar part , gallery, refectory and so on. That's when, once I expand the tour so that the viewer doesn't get lost, I implement a plan diagram showing the current viewing position.

Few architectural features. Six massive rectangular pylons and intermediate square supports of built-up arches divide the temple into five zones: the largest eastern part of the main nave; its middle least significant section; porch on the main axis; two side naves. The choirs fit into the rectangular space of the temple, cutting into the eastern pair of pylons. The altar resembles the altars of above-ground churches, combining a semicircular apse with rectangular volumes of the altar and deaconry on the sides. In this regard, they are oriented across the main axis of the temple. Also noteworthy is the strictly symmetrical pyramidal composition of five niches of different shapes and heights in the altar apse. In the past, the altar was traditionally separated from the temple by a two-tier iconostasis.

The second floor has three small rooms - a living room, sometimes considered a “kitchen” (the room has a chimney and a window), the so-called. a “refectory” and a rectangular chamber near the stairs. The second floor also has its own exit to the surface.

On the first tier, during restoration work, two small rooms were allocated for museum needs. Firstly, the northwestern section of the procession was blocked with solid doors. Now there is a seismological installation there. Secondly, in the entrance area a room was fenced off for installing an electrical distribution board. And for good reason. In 2011, an artistic remote-controlled lighting system was created in the cave temple by invited specialists professionally involved in lighting caves in Europe. It was not the first time for the employees of the international project Cave Lighting to work with difficult temperature and humidity conditions. They developed and in April-May 2011 implemented a project for artistic lighting of the entire chalk temple, including the facade. For internal lighting, a lighting scenario was even prescribed, according to which the temple is divided into 7 zones, the activation of which works not only autonomously, but also remotely. That is, the guide can make light accents using the control panel. At the same time, a script for the musical accompaniment of the excursion was developed. With the participation of the abbot of the Divnogorsk Monastery, Father Maxim (Lapygin), 5 soundtracks were selected from the repertoire of the choir of the Holy Dormition Svyatogorsk Lavra. For this purpose, Cave Lighting specialists also installed a waterproof acoustic system. The guide, using the control panel, can select one or another spiritual chant and adjust the sound volume.

That, in fact, is all I wanted to tell you about the history and structure of this cave complex before you take a virtual walk through it. However, I promised to briefly talk about the icon found on the Diva’s wall. So, the legend says that the Sicilian icon was brought to Russia from Sicily by the monk elders Xenophon and Joasaph. It is believed that they were originally Orthodox Greeks and arrived here probably no earlier than the end of the 15th century. It is believed that Xenophon and Joasaph lived in the cave (where the Church of St. John the Baptist was later built) and that the first church in the chalk pillar was cut down by them, where they placed the icon they brought with them from Sicily. They, as they already understood everything, founded the Divnogorsk Monastery. During the liquidation of the monastery in 1786, the icon disappeared and the local clergy “remembered” it only 45 years later, precisely in 1831, when a cholera epidemic began in the Voronezh region. According to legend, the icon appeared in a dream to Elder Catherine, a resident of the city. The Lady ordered to take her icon from the Divnogorsk Monastery and perform a prayer service with it. The icon was found just on a chalk pillar 3 km from the monastery. After the prayer service, the residents of Korotoyak walked around the entire city with the icon in procession, and after 2-3 days the epidemic stopped. So it goes. At the base of the Diva they found the entrance to the cave about which I have already told you so much. Several copies were made from the icon. One of which has survived to this day and is now the only exhibit of the temple. There is even a sealed display case with lighting for it. However, you will see for yourself... And don’t forget to open the tour in full screen (button at the bottom left)!

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The Divnogorsk Icon of the Mother of God, also called the Sicilian Icon, became famous during its stay in the Divnogorsk Monastery in the Voronezh province. As legends say, it ended up on Russian territory through the efforts of the elders Joasoph and Xenophon, who brought it from Sicily presumably in the 15th century. They also founded the Divnogorsk Monastery.

In Sicily, the discovery of the icon dates back to 1092. A feature of the iconographic image is considered to be its completely Orthodox writing style, despite the fact that it appeared in the territory where the Romanesque iconographic canon dominated.

Divnogorsk Icon of the Mother of God
(Photo from livejournal.com)

In the 1930s, the image was miraculously saved during the destruction of the monastery. Today the icon has been returned to the Divnogorsk Monastery (Voronezh region, Liskinsky district, village of Divnogorye) and is a particularly revered local icon, also widely known outside the region.

The miraculous potential of the image was revealed in full force in 1831 during the period of the spread of cholera. An image of the Mother of God from an icon appeared to an elderly resident of one of the villages located near the monastery and ordered her to perform a prayer service asking for protection from cholera. A mass prayer service by residents of surrounding villages forced the cholera to recede. Later, in 1847, the population also turned to the icon for help, fleeing cholera, and again received salvation.

The story of the miraculous healing from the Divnogorsk image of a peasant woman who had suffered from serious illnesses for more than 15 years has been preserved. In 1863, a woman almost in a dying state, exhausted by her ailments, had a dream in which she saw the Mother of God, who ordered her to go and pray for healing from illnesses in front of the Divnogorsk icon. Having woken up, the woman clearly remembered all the plots of the dream, but forgot the name of the image. Miraculously, later, in search of her family, she had the opportunity to get to the Divnogorsk Monastery. She immediately recognized the area in which she had already found herself in her dream. Complete healing came to the woman as soon as she found herself in front of the image: in particular, the attacks of fever passed, the unquenchable thirst that tormented the woman disappeared, her appetite appeared, and the work of her facial muscles was restored.

Divnogorsk Icon of the Mother of God in a silver frame
(Photo from the site troickiyhram.prihod.ru)

The Divnogorsk image of the Mother of God has repeatedly demonstrated its healing potential and helped believers get rid of various kinds of diseases. It is customary to turn to the icon with prayers when difficult-to-diagnose diseases appear, diseases with a complex course, when the efforts of doctors do not lead to an improvement in the condition. The Divnogorsk image is especially famous among believers for its help in the treatment of chronic diseases associated with metabolic disorders in the body, allergic reactions, asthmatic processes, and vision problems.

The Cave Church in Bolshaya Diva (Church of the Sicilian Icon of the Mother of God) is a unique Orthodox church of the Holy Dormition Divnogorsk Monastery in the Liskinsky district of the Voronezh region of Russia, hollowed out entirely inside a chalk mountain. The temple is one of the most popular attractions in the Voronezh region.

The history of the cave church of the Sicilian Icon of the Mother of God goes back centuries. According to legend, the construction of the church was started by the Greek monks Xenophon and Joasaph, but the exact date of construction cannot be given. The church became known only in 1831, when an icon of the miraculous Sicilian Icon of the Mother of God was found on the pillar in which it was carved. In 1856, the temple was transferred to the jurisdiction of the Divnogorsk Assumption Monastery. Once a year, on the Dormition of the Cross, the monastery brethren came here in procession to perform divine services. By the end of the 19th century, the entrance to the cave temple was solemnly decorated - with a cross above a high chalk pillar and an icon case in a Baroque frame, which has survived to this day. In the old drawing depicting this entrance, one can discern a gap, and in it there is an icon with a pair of images of saints. A later source mentions a wooden bell tower at the entrance to the caves. Having examined it at the end of the 19th century. traveler Markov notes that it was painted “icons right on the raw rock”.

Archbishop Dmitry (Sambikin) noted in documents from the mid-1880s: “The miraculous icon is called Divnogorsk after its place of residence, and Sicilian after its place of origin. According to legend, this icon was brought to Russia from Fr. Sicily. The first settlers of the Divnogorsk monastery were hieromonks Xenophon and Joasaph. Who they were by origin and where they labored is unknown.”.
Xenophon and Joasaph founded the monastery in a picturesque place above the Don River, at the confluence of the Quiet Pine River. The area is named Divas and Divyi Mountains from the amazingly shaped chalk pillars located along the mountains. Xenophon and Joasaph lived in a cave where the Church of St. John the Baptist was later built, and the first church in the chalk pillar was cut down by them, where they placed the icon of the Mother of God they brought with them from Sicily. Here they found their eternal resting place.

On the Sicilian icon, the Mother of God is depicted sitting on clouds. In Her right hand is a blooming white lily, and with Her left hand She supports the Divine Infant sitting on Her knees. The Savior holds a lily in his left hand and blesses with his right. Around the face of the Mother of God eight Angels are depicted, two of which, written below, are depicted kneeling and with their hands raised in grief. Above the head of the Mother of God is the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove.
Dmitry (Sambikin) continues: “The icon of the Sicilian Mother of God is written on a board, 1½ arshin in size, and 1 arshin in width, covered with silver gilding. robe. There is no information preserved where this holy icon was originally located. Since the middle of the 18th century, as the general legend says, it stood in a chalk pillar (two miles from the monastery), where the “wonderful pillars” are located. Here, in a chalk pillar, a small church was built, now abolished. (This church was probably dedicated to St. Nicholas). How many traditions have remembered both, during the existence of the former monastery and after its abolition (in 1788) to the place where St. icon, people constantly flocked; but since the beginning of this century, due to some incomprehensible cooling of the surrounding residents, the very existence of this icon has fallen into oblivion.”.

The special glorification of the miraculous icon began in 1831, when cholera was raging. In Korotoyak, located 7-8 versts from the monastery, the Most Blessed Virgin appeared in a dream to one elderly resident, Ekaterina Kolomenskaya, in the form as She is depicted on the Divnogorsk icon, and ordered to take the icon and perform a prayer service in front of it. The miraculous icon was brought to Korotoyak, and after fervent public prayer before the holy icon, the cholera stopped. Through the intercession of the Mother of God, the city of Ostrogozhsk was saved from cholera. The residents of Korotoyak and Ostrogozhsk received salvation from cholera in 1847 and 1848 through the miraculous intercession of the Mother of God, which took place after a religious procession with the holy icon around these cities.

On August 14, 1903, this temple was consecrated in honor of the Sicilian Icon of the Mother of God. The caves at Big Diva continued to operate until the 1930s. During the years of Soviet power, when the fight against religion was carried out everywhere, the monks were dispersed and the temple was looted. For many years, everything was in disrepair. Many left their autographs on the pliable walls of the chalk temple, which certainly disfigured its interior. The church survived the Great Patriotic War and occupation. Afterwards, the climbers chose the diva for training. This could not but have a negative impact on the state of the Cretaceous remnant.

An act of vandalism committed by young people in the 1980s. destroyed the central facade, therefore, by 1988 - the time of the creation of the museum-reserve - the condition of the temple was depressing.

With the organization of the Divnogorye Museum-Reserve as a branch of the Voronezh Regional Museum of Local Lore, restoration and strengthening work began, which was completed in the mid-1990s. On August 28, on the Dormition of the Mother of God, after many years, the temple was re-consecrated by Metropolitan Methodius of Voronezh and Lipetsk, and since then services have been held here on major church holidays.

Currently, the cave church of the Sicilian Icon of the Mother of God in the "Big Divas" is a monument of architectural heritage of federal significance (monument code 3610035006). By Decree of the Administration of the Voronezh Region dated August 14, 1995 N 850, it is an object of historical and cultural heritage of regional significance.

On July 14, 2009, Archimandrite Andrei (Tarasov), secretary of the Voronezh and Borisoglebsk diocese, consecrated the miraculous icon of the Mother of God, called the Sicilian. Until this day, this great shrine of the Voronezh land was under restoration.

The entrance to the cave is located at the base of a chalk outcrop located on the right high slope of the valley of the Tikhaya Sosna River, in close proximity to the northern outskirts of the Divnogorie farmstead.

Using a wooden staircase you can climb to the top of a 200-meter mountain, from where you can see a beautiful view of the surrounding steppe expanses and the valley of the Tikhaya Sosna River.

Since the church is located in the chalk layer inside the mountain, the temperature inside is quite stable throughout the year, and in the summer even in great heat the rooms are cool, and in the winter, when winds blow in the surrounding steppe and snowstorms come, it is relatively warm (the air temperature stays at 12 -15 degrees C).

Walking on the top of the mountain, you can hear the echo made by your feet when walking on a chalk mountain, inside of which there are voids (including the temple itself).

Also, if you look closely, the chalk deposits on the surface of the mountain are covered with small brown particles - chalk algae, which swell after rain and become green; a rare bird - the bustard - lives on the mountain and in its environs.