LOGOISK, 7 January (BelTA) – As he visited the temple of Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker in Logoisk, Minsk Oblast on 7 January, Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko received the Logoisk icon Our Lady of the Sign as a gift. The history of this ancient icon is truly unique and goes back one thousand years already, BelTA has learned.
The archpriest Vladimir, who is in charge of the temple of Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker, presented the gift to the head of state on behalf of parishioners. “I’d like this icon to be a guarantor of prayerful vicinity of Our Lady to you, to your service both in this anniversary year of 2025 and for many good years to come,” the priest said.
In ancient times the town of Logoisk was a frontier town of the Polotsk land. The Logoisk icon Our Lady of the Sign has been known in Belarusian lands since ancient times. It is confirmed by the fact that the Polotsk prince Boris Vseslavovich (1054-1128), the founder of the city of Borisov and a blood brother of the father of the saint Euphrosyne of Polotsk, depicted the icon Our Lady of the Sign on his pendent seals and money seals.
The image of the icon was lost in the 1930s but a copy of the icon was recreated on canvas by Logoisk residents during the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945 thanks to photos of the icon. With blessings of Metropolitan, Patriarchal Exarch of All Belarus Filaret the Belarusian icon painter Pavel Zharov made a new Logoisk icon Our Lady of the Sign in 2000.
In turn, Aleksandr Lukashenko gifted a Smolensk icon of Our Lady, which has been known in Russia since ancient times. It is a copy of the icon Our Lady of Blachernae, which was made by the holy evangelist and apostle Luke according to legend.
“To Father Vladimir and you. If things get complicated, approach this icon,” the president said as he presented the icon.
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