Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos 'Inexhaustible Chalice'

On May 18, according to the calendar of the Orthodox Church, the celebration of the miraculous icon of the Mother of God 'Inexhaustible Chalice' takes place. The appeal to the Queen of Heaven in front of this image helped many people get rid of harmful passions: drunkenness, drug addiction, gambling addiction, tobacco smoking.

By the standards of church history, the acquisition of the Inexhaustible Chalice icon happened relatively recently - about one and a half centuries ago. There is a considerable number of documented evidences of miraculous help received by people through prayers in front of her or lists made from her. They are associated with liberation from alcohol and drug addiction - as well as from other passions that destroy human life and family.

In 1878, a retired soldier lived in the Tula province of the Russian Empire. During his military service, he participated in many wars, for which he was repeatedly awarded military awards. However, he did not enjoy respect among his fellow villagers because of his fierce addiction to drunkenness. He drank everything that was in his house and turned into a beggar; to top it all off, both legs were taken away from him - however, he was not going to quit drunkenness.

Everything changed after the former soldier saw in the dream of a noble old man who commanded him to go to the city of Serpukhov near Moscow and serve a prayer service in the Vladychny monastery before the icon of the Mother of God 'The Inexhaustible Chalice.' Waking up, the man thought: how am I going to go there, not even having money to pay for the fare ?! However, the elder again appeared to the retired soldier - and then for the third time, demanding to make a pilgrimage to the holy monastery. And he finally made up his mind.

At first he walked along the road on all fours. In one of the villages he met an old woman who rubbed his legs with a drug she had taken from her. The soldier soon discovered that he was able to walk, even if leaning on a stick. In a few weeks, the man reached the monastery indicated to him in a dream by the elder - a nunnery in honor of the Entry into the Temple of the Most Holy Theotokos, better known as the Vladychny.

However, the nuns who lived there, as it turned out, had not heard anything about the Inexhaustible Chalice icon. But the soldier continued to insist - and the nuns decided, just in case, to carefully review all the icons of the Most Holy Theotokos that were in the monastery. Unexpectedly in the passage connecting the church and the sacristy, the sisters discovered an icon, on the reverse side of which there was an inscription: 'Inexhaustible Chalice.' The retired soldier was also waiting for a discovery: on the icon of the Monk Varlaam of Serpukhov that was in the monastery, he recognized the elder who had visited him three times in a dream!

The found icon of the Blessed Virgin was brought into the monastery church and a prayer service was performed in front of it. The closest to the holy image was a retired soldier who earnestly prayed to the Lord God and the Queen of Heaven, now and then overshadowing himself with the sign of the cross.

After the end of the prayer service, the man set off on his way back - also on foot, feeling enough strength to overcome the long journey. Upon reaching his native village, he found that he did not feel the slightest desire to drink vodka or wine. So he returned home completely healed, about which he hastened to tell his fellow villagers.

The news of the miraculous healing of the bitter drunkard quickly spread throughout the vast Russian Empire. From different parts of it, from large cities and the smallest villages, thousands of pilgrims reached Serpukhov, who wanted to abandon drunkenness and other harmful passions - for example, drug addiction, which at that time quickly spread among the possessing classes. After serving a prayer service at the miraculous icon, which was now all the time in the monastery's church, many of the afflicted received healing. There were frequent cases of healing among those for whom relatives and friends came to pray in Serpukhov. The pilgrimage to the Vladychny monastery continued until 1919, when the godless government closed the holy monastery. For some time after that, the icon was in the Serpukhov Cathedral of St. Nicholas Bely on Kaluzhskaya Street. Then the traces of the miraculous image are lost: the icon, prayer before which corrected the lives of many suffering, disappeared as mysteriously as it was found.

But there are still lists of the revered icon 'Inexhaustible Chalice'. They were preserved among the people and were carefully passed on even in the Soviet era. It is difficult to count how many people who suffered from drunkenness and other addictions, prayer in front of them became salvation. And in the mid-90s, in two monasteries of Serpukhov - Vysotsky for men and the revived Vladychny - as accurate as possible, new lists were made - while maintaining the style and proportions characteristic of the lost original. In 1997, with the blessing of the blessed In memory of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Alexy II, a church-wide celebration of the miraculous icon of the Most Holy Theotokos 'Inexhaustible Chalice' was established, which is performed annually on May 18. Nowadays, as in the past, many believers go to Serpukhov, to the Vysotsky monastery, to ask for themselves or for their neighbors for healing from harmful addictions. And many by faith - or by their loved ones - receive such healing.