His Eminence performed the Divine Liturgy on the day of the festival in honor of the Don Icon of the Mother of Godtranslated

On September 1, the day of the festival in honor of the Don Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos, His Eminence Archbishop Savva of Tiraspol and Dubossary celebrated the Divine Liturgy in the Cathedral of the Nativity of Christ. Concelebrating with the Most Reverend Vladyka was the military priest of the Black Sea Cossack Army, Archpriest Theodore Krivulya, the district priest of the Bendery Cossack District, Archpriest Alexander Mikhailenko, as well as the cathedral clergy. At the end of the service, glorification was performed before the image of the Dormition of the Blessed Virgin Mary and a copy of the Don Icon of the Mother of God, especially revered as one of the shrines associated with the history of the Russian Cossacks. At the end of the prayers, the Ruling Bishop addressed the flock with a word of archpastoral edification, reminding them of the need to resort in prayer to the intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos, who invariably shows Her maternal love and help to all who flow to Her with faith.

The Don Icon of the Mother of God is associated with one of the most important events in Russian history - the victory of the Russian army on the Kulikovo Field. According to church tradition, on the day of the Battle of Kulikovo the image was among the Russian army, and after the victory it was handed over to the Don Cossacks...