In the Troyitsky (Holy Trinity) Church of the Ionivsky Monastery which was founded 140 years ago in a Kyiv suburb (now the monastery finds itself surrounded by the Central Botanical Garden) one can see a wonderful icon of the Mother of God (Ukrainian tradition prefers this to all other appellations of the Virgin Mary) with Child. This icon stands out among all other icons of the church by its evident very old age. A closer scrutiny reveals many features that suggest its local provenance (the faces and the little angels, for instance, are typically Ukrainian in appearance). Scholarly art historians are of the opinion that this icon may be the only surviving piece from the iconostasis of the Uspensky (Assumption) Cathedral of the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra Monastery. The Pechersk Lavra is one of the oldest and most revered monasteries in the Slavic lands, and the Uspensky Church, built a thousand years ago, has been compared to the “Heavenly Abode.” Its life — a church is a living thing not just a well-arranged pile of bricks — has been glorious and tragic, resembling in this respect the life of many other Ukrainian churches. Many a saintly person and pious monk worshipped in this church; many a desecrator walked into it with an evil intent. Even when it stood in ruins, it never ceased to be revered.

The Kyiv Pechersk Pateryk (a collection of hagiographic and historical stories connected with the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra, dating from 11th–13th centuries) contains a detailed story of the founding and erection of the Uspensky Church “of heavenly beauty.”

At the time when the city of Kyiv, the populous capital of Rus-Ukraine, was ruled by Yaroslav the Wise, there turned up at the ruler’s court a Viking named Simoon who had fled his native Scandinavia after a brawl with his relatives. He did not come empty-handed though — he managed to bring with him about 20 pounds of gold, hidden in a belt, and a gold coronet. The gold was part of the family treasure accumulated by Simoon’s father, a Scandinavian prince. The Viking did not reveal to Yaroslav, or to his son, Izyaslav, who became his successor on Kyiv’s throne that he was in possession of considerable riches, but nevertheless he was received well at the Grand Duke’s court (Vikings had played an outstanding role in the early history of Kyivan Rus-Ukraine). Simoon did not remain idle — he took part in a campaign against the Polovtsy, a nomadic tribe that made frequent incursions into the Rus-Ukrainian territory. The march against the Polovtsy ended in a fiasco, and Simoon who was badly wounded in a battle, was saved by what he thought was nothing short of a miracle. When the Viking returned to Kyiv, he sought out Father Antony, the saintly founder of the Kyiv Pechersk Monastery, and told him that he had been saved by the intercession of the Virgin Mary to whom he had prayed fervently. Simoon also revealed to the Reverend Antony that during his trip from Scandinavia to Kyiv, he heard a heavenly voice that told him to contribute the gold he had with him to a church that was to be built in a distant land in honour of the Virgin. Then Simoon announced that now, after his miraculous escape from death, he was prepared to donate the gold to the construction of the church. Simoon informed Antony that he had been even instructed to advise the future builders that the church should be of a particular size — so many lengths of his belt in height, so many lengths in width and so many in length. Antony accepted the donation and promised that Simoon after his death would be buried in the church that was to be a true marvel of architecture.

Soon, Antony and Feodosy, the younger co-founder of the monastery, were paid another visit, this time by four Greek architects who had come all the way from Byzantium to build a church dedicated to the Virgin Mary. They explained that once the four of them had been summoned by the angels to one and the same church in Constantinople, and when they had come there, the Virgin Mary, “The Queen of Heaven” (in the words of the Pateryk) appeared before them. The Virgin told them to go to Kyiv, the capital of Rus-Ukraine, where they should build a church “of unearthly beauty.” Also, they were to take with them the holy relics of several Greek saint martyrs whose names were revealed to them as well, and have these relics buried in the foundation of the church they were to build. The Virgin suggested that the church should be of a particular size, which, as it turned out coincided with the measurements given to Antony by the Viking. And lastly, the Virgin told the architects to take with them the icon that She gave them, saying that this icon would “represent” her in the new church.

Antony and Feodosy were now convinced that the construction of the church was indeed inspired by Heaven and gave the go-ahead to the architects to start the construction. When the architects asked where exactly the foundation should be laid, the Reverend Fathers answered that they would ask for guidance from God, and “after three days of praying we shall find out.” Antony’s prayer was answered by an angel who announced to the monk that his prayer had been heard by God. “Then, could we have the exact place,” Antony asked humbly, “indicated to us in the following manner: may the ground in the monastery be wet with dew tomorrow morning, and may the place where the church is to stand remain dry?” The next morning such a dry patch was discovered in the monastery the ground of which everywhere else was covered with heavy dew. Antony, being a cautious man, wanted the confirmation and prayed to God to once again indicate the place but now in a somewhat different manner: “May all the ground around it be dry in the morning, and the place itself be wet with dew!” When the next morning the spot was wet with dew as requested, no more confirmation was needed and Antony called all the monks to witness the tracing of the church’s ground plan with Simoon’s belt serving as “a measuring tape.” The moment it was done, a bolt of fire struck the ground burning all the thistle around and creating a hole which was to be used for laying the foundation of the church.

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