belarus, good morning, belarus. dear brothers and sisters, today we celebrate the memory of the minsk icon of the mother of god, this revered miraculous icon is located in the holy spirit cathedral of the city of minsk, miraculously found.

often, to strengthen our faith, we need visible manifestations of the invisible world and the action of god's power. therefore, god gives us visible shrines. by god's grace, some of these shrines produce obvious miracles. healing from illnesses, resolving difficult life situations, quick granting asked for, or even just consolation. peace, such shrines are called miraculous by believers and they resort to them with special zeal. it is very important to note that according to orthodox teaching, we worship and turn our prayers not to the icon itself, but to the holy mother of god depicted on it, who, being the mother of the incarnate son of god, has great boldness before god, intercedes before him for... believers from

the earliest centuries of the church's existence have recognized the power of this intercession, so today at every service and in every prayer the rule of a christian includes an appeal to the mother of god, and the church tradition has hundreds of different icons depicting the holy virgin. the life of a christian is filled with difficulties, trials, situations, it would seem that there is no way out, but we are not alone, on our spiritual path to god, we have a quick helper, whose intercession has been felt by all generations of christians without exception. the mother of god today extends her amaphor over those who need her help. there are many icons of the mother of god, but the mother of god is one, we turn to her in fervent prayer, standing and in front of the icon at home and

in front of the miraculous minsk icon and other images. it is necessary to remember that what we ask for should contribute to our pious life according to the commandments of christ. in spiritual literature there is a well-known case when people turned to the mother of god with sinful requests, but received in response not help, but reproof from her. therefore. turning to the miraculous minsk icon with a prayer to the most holy theotokos, believers try to arrange their lives according to the commandments god's. there are many very ancient, famous miraculous icons of the holy mother of god, located in different corners of the earth, to which thousands of pilgrims rush with faith and hope. but right in the center of our city in the cathedral is located. a shrine, through which the lord

also abundantly pours out his mercies. therefore, if someone thinks that in order to strengthen their faith , they need to make some kind of giving of the path. procession to the eyes of the ancient shrine, then they should remember that the ancient miraculous shrine of minsk, the icon of the mother of god, is located quite close to him, and god always waits for every person to turn to him, but this does not mean that - one should not undertake long journeys to worship some famous ancient shrines, not at all, but when there is an opportunity, unchurched people often consider the life of a christian to be something very difficult and extremely responsible, therefore they postpone their spiritual growth in every possible way, citing a lot of things to do, fatigue or something else. they are partly right,

but it can be said that they consider only one component of the life of a christian, they look at it from one angle, does not take into account what life gives. the path to christ really requires a lot of constant work, great responsibility, but spiritual growth does not occur, because suddenly, like any house, it is not built in one moment, from just planted plants, they do not wait for that hour of fruits that should ... grow in their time, this concerns the spiritual life of a person, despite its many difficulties, responsibility, gradual, to the best of their ability, mastering virtues, joining church traditions, acquiring the skills of prayer, fasting,

allows a person to organically, without strain , open another facet of his life, the path to christ, which we entered at the moment of acceptance. the holy sacrament of baptism, but on which many remained standing at the beginning, no matter what happened in our life earlier, the lord always awaits our appeal to him, and is ready to accept each person with neighborly love. the lord opens the abyss of his mercy for each person at his baptism, and waits. but we people are sometimes slow in approaching christ, or we ponder or we are distracted by something fleeting, vain, temporary. in the orthodox tradition , the icon occupies a special place, this place

is determined by the fact that the icon is not only a decoration of the temple and an object of veneration, it has a doctrinal meaning. since ancient times , the icon has been called a pictorial gospel, a sermon without words, theology in colors. the icon is a visible reminder of the invisible spiritual world, the omnipresent presence of god. we, people, being corporeal beings, need tangible signs of god's grace. the lord gives us such visible signs in the form of holy icons, relics of saints. the life-giving cross of the lord, life-giving springs, relics, and so on. looking at the visible holy image, with our physical eyes, we ascend to the heavenly world, often through these icons god gives people his help, people

receive healing. dear brothers and sisters, the feast of the miraculous minsk icon. reminds us of its effective intercession for the human race for each of us. and this intercession is not some kind of speculative and figurative, but real and tangible in the life of every sincere believer man. may the merciful lord, through the prayers of his most pure mother, strengthen us, helping us to assimilate the gospel truth, guiding us on the path of salvation. let us also pay attention to the fact that the icon of the mother of god of minsk is a symbol of the city of minsk, it is imprinted on the coat of arms of our city, in fact, thereby all citizens and guests of

our capital are called to turn to the mother of god for help and blessing in their lives, in their labors, concerns,