On the night of October 19, in the village of Dashkivtsi, Vinkovetsky district of Khmelnytsk region, an ancient icon of the Mother of God “The Joy of All Sorrowful” was stolen from the Holy Dormition Church. This is reported by the Information and Educational Department of the UOC-MP (MP).
The unknown persons entered the church building and stole the wonderworking image, which in 1901 was given to the village as a gift by St John of Kronstadt.
Dean of Vinkovetskyy Deanery of the UOC-MP (MP), Archpriest Mykhailo Varahoba, said that the police arrived to the crime scene.
“This was a very expensive icon for Dashkivtsy residents. It was blessed by St John of Kronstadt The image is wooden and ancient, it has an inscription that it was St John who blessed it in 1901. In addition to this shrine, nothing more was taken from the temple,” said the dean.
The priest also told the history of this icon: "In our village lived a man named Nikolai Lanovyy, who had a hard pain in his legs. One day he heard that the saint helps people to receive God's healing and went to Kronstadt. When he met with the righteous man, the latter gave the sick person an icon and said: “If you bring it to your village - you will receive healing and you will have many children.” He walked home almost a year, and when he got to Dashkivtsi, he completely recovered, married and had 8 children.
Miraculously, this icon has survived until our times. Peasants, at the risk of life, hid it from the NKVD officers, passed it from generation to generation. Numerous people were healed by it.