Vladivostok. With the blessing of Archbishop Benjamin of Vladivostok and Coastlands, the miracle working Albazin Icon of the Theotokos, "the Word was made Flesh", will be in the Vladivostok Diocese on September 4-5.
The great shrine of the Amur region and the Far East will be brought to the capital of the Primorsky [coastland] Territory by Archbishop Gabriel of Blagoveshchensk and Tyndinsk and the diocesan clergy.
A solemn meeting will take place on Sept. 4 at the Vladivostok railway station at 8 a.m. The Icon will be in the church car of the "Ocean" train from Khabarovsk. Then the shrine will be taken to Protection Cathedral, where the Divine Liturgy and Vespers will be served on the same day.
The next day, Sunday, Sept. 5, after the Divine Liturgy, at 11.30, a great procession will leave from the Protection Temple and proceed down Ocean Avenue to the Central Square. The procession will be led by two great shrines of the Far East — the Port Arthur [Vladivostok] and the Albazin Icons of the Theotokos. At 12:00 a moleben will be served on the Square before these miracle-working Icons.
Information: For centuries Russia enjoyed a special merciful intercession and protection of the Queen of Heaven. Throughout the years of perils and upheavals She manifested Her abundant assistance to the people Russian people. One of the greatest sources of spiritual help are the holy miracle-working icons of the Theotokos.
For the Amur region and the entire the Far East such a great shrine is the Albazin miracle working icon of the Theotokos, "The Word was made Flesh". It normally stays in the Annunciation Cathedral of the City of Blagoveshchensk, which is the administrative and spiritual center of the Amur region. The size of the icon 73 x 67 cm
The history of the miraculous icon is inextricably linked to the development of the vast Russian territory of the Far East region. Unfortunately, the events connected with the sacred icon's original manifestation have been lost. But we can certainly confirm that the Albazin Icon of the Theotokos had been venerated since ancient times. It was considered to be miracle-working long before it was transferred to the Amur region of Siberia.
The Icon's name derives from the twenty years it stayed in the famous Albazin fortress, which was founded in 1650 by the famous Russian explorer Ataman Yerofei Khabarov in the site of the Daurian Prince's town of Albazin.
Additional information about the Icon appears on the website of the Blagoveshchensk Diocese: http://www.zlatkupol.ru/eparchy/sacred/24