Metropolitan Alexander donated to the Iveron-Seraphim Monastery an exact copy, “measure to measure,” of the miraculous icon of the Mother of God “Healer.”

August 1, 2024. Alma-Ata. At the end of the Divine Liturgy in the St. Sophia Cathedral of the Iveron-Seraphim Monastery, which was led by Metropolitan Alexander of Astana and Kazakhstan, a meeting took place with a new shrine of the Kazakhstan Metropolitan District – an exact copy, “measure to measure,” of the miraculous icon of the Mother of God “Healer,” consecrated during the visit of the great shrine to Kazakhstan this year.

Amid the singing of the troparion “Like a bright Star,” the newly painted icon was carried out from the altar to the middle of the church, after which the service began.

At the end of the service, Protodeacon Roman Golovin read out the charter on the transfer of the icon to the monastery's St. Sophia Cathedral for reverent storage and prayerful veneration.

After this, Metropolitan Alexander congratulated those gathered on the significant event - the bringing to the southern capital of Kazakhstan of an exact copy of the icon of the miraculous image of the Mother of God "Healer".

The head of the Metropolitan District blessed the four cardinal points with the relic, calling for the intercession of the Queen of Heaven on the city of Alma-Ata and the entire land of Kazakhstan.

The icon was painted in response to numerous requests from believers with the blessing of Metropolitan Alexander of Astana and Kazakhstan by the famous artist-restorer, head of the icon-painting workshop "Sophia" - A.N. Shumikhin (city of Yaroslavl, Russia). The image was painted on an old board of the same age as the original.

The miraculous icon of the Holy Mother of God "The Healer" is kept in the Alekseevsky Stavropegic Convent in Moscow. The first mention of the image of the Mother of God with this name dates back to the 4th century. The icon, which will visit Kazakhstan, depicts the miracle of the healing of a seriously ill person by the Holy Mother of God. The event that prompted the creation of the icon was described in his book "The Watered Fleece" by Saint Demetrius, Metropolitan of Rostov, in the 17th century. This is an ancient story about how the Queen of Heaven Herself appeared to the bed of a sick man, seized by terrible torments, and in response to his fervent prayers granted him a complete recovery. The healed man, who was a priest, a well-known person in the city, immediately went to the temple and began to sing prayers, glorifying the Holy Mother of God, which amazed all the townspeople. The icon depicting the miraculous healing began to be revered by the faithful. Those praying before this shrine received healing from their mental and physical ailments, no matter how severe they were.
It is known from chronicle sources that from the second half of the 18th century, the image of the Mother of God "Healer" was constantly in the Alekseevsky Monastery in Moscow, where people from all the cities and villages of the country flocked in large numbers, wishing to receive healing or ask the Mother of God for healing and well-being for their loved ones. Grateful pilgrims and parishioners decorated the shrine with a silver and gilded robe, pearls and precious stones.
In the 19th century, nuns made numerous copies of the icon kept in the Alekseevsky Monastery, which were then distributed to 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 the atheists. Many nuns of the Alekseevsky monastery were arrested and exiled to Kazakhstan. Believers miraculously managed to save the icon "Healer" from destruction. After the persecution for the faith died down a little, the shrine was placed in the Transfiguration Church in Moscow, 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 monastery's revival.
Pilgrims testify that the image of the "Healer" exudes an aroma, 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 icon of the Queen of Heaven. In the Akathist (a special prayer work) to the Most Holy Theotokos before Her icon “The Healer” there are the following lines: “Rejoice, you who miraculously heal those afflicted with various ailments; rejoice, you who in all sorrows and griefs pour out heavenly joy into our hearts.”