Church of the Sicilian Icon of the Mother of God

The Church of the Sicilian Icon of the Mother of God is rightly considered the main sight of Divnogorie national park. It is at the very beginning of the tourist path of the Divnogorie natural museum-reserve.

Sicilian Mother of God Icon Church is cut in the rock located near the Bolshiye Divy, at the height of 85 meters above the beds of the rivers Don and Tikhaya Sosna. It is a two-floor cave temple cut in the chalk rock. On the ground floor is the church properly, and on the first floor are the small rooms formerly inhabited by monks. Considering that the church is cut in the rock, the temperature is in the range of 12-14 degrees both in summer and winter. The part of the chalk pillar above the entrance door has a facing.

Although the work of the Divnogorsky Assumption monastery was resumed, the church still belongs to the museum, and religious services are held there only twice a year, on February 5th and July 1st, in honor of the Sicilian Icon of the Mother of God. 

According to the legend, the first monks of the monastery, Xenophon and Ioasaph, came from Sicily. In the 14 century they brought there the icon of the Mother of God and founded the cave monastery. 

There are no records about these two monks, so it is considered that the monastery was founded in the 17 century by the monks from Little Russia. However, during the cholera epidemic of 1831, the above-mentioned Sicilian Icon of the Mother of God was «miraculously discovered» and helped to overcome the epidemic. After the event, which took place at this cave church, the fame of the Divnogorsky Assumption monastery spread all over Russia.

Sicilian Mother of God Icon Church is closed for public. One can visit the church only with a guided excursion. The original of the Sicilian Icon of the Mother of God is kept at the Assumption monastery.