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Narration in Russian, but worth watching for the visuals
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Believers held a procession through the main streets of the capital in honour of the icon of the Mother of God “of Lugansk”. At 08.00, at All Saints parish (near the bus station at the trolleybus depot) held Divine Liturgy, and at 15.00 a procession began from the Icon of the Mother of God “of Tenderness” parish to All Saints part. At the end of the procession this evening, the clergy will serve the Akathist to the Most Holy Godbearer and Mother of God. From 12 to 14 June, with the blessing of His Eminence Mitrofan Yurchuk, Metropolitan of Lugansk and Alchevsk, believers held celebrations to honour the icon of the Most Holy Mother of God “of Lugansk”.
In Lugansk, the Church celebrates the appearance of the Mother of God in June for three days… as she commanded Elder-Deacon Filipp of Lugansk (here and here) (Filipp Yeliseyevich Gorbenko, born 22 November 1858). Hagiography has it that the Mother of God appeared three times in different years to Elder Filipp, showing him a route of a procession across the city. Elder Filipp had the icon of the Mother of God “of Lugansk” painted, and it was in his cell until his death, but people often photographed and copied it during his lifetime. After his death on 22 November 1956, people thought that the icon was lost forever. However, in 2009, by happy circumstance, a local TV crew found it in Aleksandrovsk, where Elder Filipp served as a deacon in his last years. As it turned out, the icon didn’t disappear as all sources claimed; it just was in a hidden place all the time, waiting for the right time. This icon is closely associated with the prophecies of Elder Filipp, who promised that it’d play a crucial role in the life of the city and become a landmark in its history.
14 June 2015
LITs Lugansk Information Centre
Voices from Russia 
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