Chernobyl the Savior

The history of Chernobyl the Savior icon.

One of the main attractions of St. Elijah Church is the icon “Chernobyl the Savior”, painted in 2003 by Vladislav Goretsky and consecrated near the walls of the Assumption Church in the Kyiv- Pechersk Lavra.

It is unique because it is the only one in Orthodoxy that depicts people next to the faces of saints. At the top of the image are the figures of the Virgin Mary, Jesus Christ, and the Archangel Michael. Below, in the center, is the Chernobyl pine. On the left are the souls of the dead Chernobyl victims, on the right are the liquidators of the accident: a fireman in a respirator, an NPP worker, a pilot, a nurse. On the horizon, behind the sarcophagus, the glow of the sunrise burns, the Wormwood star flies in the sky. In the background is scorched earth; in the foreground, it is green, reviving. According to believers, the icon has a miraculous power. Many people come to worship before it. Every year, at the request of believers, the icon is sent for a religious procession around Ukraine. The abbot of St. Elijah Church is Archpriest Mykola Yakushin, a native resident of Chernobyl.

This article was published in the book Interesting Chernobyl.
You could download this book in PDF file for free here.

© Sky Horse Publishing House (Kyiv) / Nahs Haus, 2019
Copying and publication of this article is possible only with the written permission of the publishing house.
Official website of the Awesome Heritage series: awesomeheritage.com

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