The miraculous icon of the Most Holy Theotokos “Healer” will arrive in Alma-Ata

From May 17 to 21, with the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus', the city of Alma-Ata will be visited by the miraculous icon of the Mother of God “Healer”.

The decision to visit the borders of our country in a famous miraculous manner was made in response to the petition of the Head of the Orthodox Church of Kazakhstan, Metropolitan Alexander of Astana and Kazakhstan.

Bringing the great shrine, glorified by numerous healings, to the southern capital of the country is a gift to the Orthodox people of Kazakhstan on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the establishment of the Astana and Alma-Ata diocese.

Currently, the miraculous icon of the Most Holy Theotokos “Healer” resides in the Alekseevsky Stavropegial Convent in Moscow.

The first mention of the image of the Mother of God with this name occurs already in the 4th century. The icon that will visit Kazakhstan depicts the miracle of the Most Holy Theotokos healing a seriously ill man. The event that gave rise to the creation of the icon was described in his book “Irrigated Fleece” by St. Demetrius, Metropolitan of Rostov, in the 17th century. This is an ancient story about how the Queen of Heaven Herself appeared at the bedside of a sick man in terrible agony, and in response to his fervent prayers granted him complete recovery. The healed man, who was a clergyman and a well-known person in the city, immediately went to the temple and began to sing prayers, glorifying the Most Holy Theotokos, which amazed all the townspeople.

The icon depicting a miraculous healing began to be revered by the believing people. Those praying in front of this shrine received recovery from their mental and physical ailments, no matter how severe they were.

From chronicle sources it is known that from the second half of the 18th century, the image of the Mother of God “Healer” constantly resided in the Alekseevsky Monastery in Moscow, where people from all the cities and villages of the country flocked in large numbers, wishing to receive recovery or to ask the Mother of God for healing and well-being for their loved ones. Grateful pilgrims and parishioners decorated the shrine with silver and gilded chasuble, pearls and precious stones.

In the 19th century, the nuns made numerous lists from the icon kept in the Alekseevsky monastery, which were then distributed throughout all the churches of the country and were themselves glorified by miracles.

At the height of the persecution of Orthodoxy, the monastery was closed and destroyed by atheists. Many nuns of the Alekseevsky monastery were arrested and exiled to Kazakhstan. Believers miraculously managed to save the “Healer” icon from destruction. After the persecution for faith subsided a little, the shrine was placed in the Transfiguration Church in Moscow, and during the years of Khrushchev’s persecution, in 1964, it was transported, saving it from desecration, to the Church of the Resurrection of Christ in Sokolniki.

On July 16, 2023, the shrine was returned to the Alekseevsky monastery by His Holiness Patriarch Kirill on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the revival of the monastery.

Pilgrims testify that the image of the “Healer” exudes a fragrance, and at times a fragrant oily liquid—myrrh—flows from it. In the Alekseevsky Monastery, the nuns continue to record numerous cases of recovery that have occurred and continue to occur to this day through prayers before the miraculous image of the Queen of Heaven.

In the akathist (special prayer work) to the Most Holy Theotokos in front of Her “Healer” icon there are the following lines: “Rejoice, you who miraculously heal those stricken with various ailments; Rejoice, you who pour heavenly joy into our hearts in all sorrows and sorrows.”