www.byzcath.org Forums Mysteries: The Life of Worship Icons & Iconography About "Our lady of Hoshiv" Icon

hi, I'm new here and I'm Brazilian. so I hope I'm not posting this in the wrong place. And i hope you understanding my por english. :)

Could you tell me what's going on in this celebration? and why the Icon gets this metal part?

http://osbm.in.ua/images/2014/07/tabory/IMG_0071.JPG
http://osbm.in.ua/images/2014/07/tabory/IMG_0074.JPG

http://osbm.in.ua/index.php/novyny/aktualne/82-hoshiv/240-5-serpnia-oholosheno-dnem-vshanuvannia-chudotvornoi-hoshivskoi-ikony-bozhoi-materi

Hello Igor!

How do you come to have a Slavic Christian name? The feast of St Igor is, as you know, February 18 - my friend is Ihor and we always celebrate his Namesday then!

The icon of Hoshiv is a miraculous copy of the icon of Our Lady of Czestochowa of Poland.

It was associated with a number of communications with the Mother of God some years ago.

What you see happening in these pictures is the official glorification of the icon as a miraculous one with the announcement of its liturgical feast-day, August 5th.

It is like a "canonization" of a saint - the icon is now honoured officially by the Church.

The placing of the metal coverings on the icon is a way to honour it as miraculous, a coronation if you will.

Alex

I do not know why my mother chose that name ... but it is a shame that the veneration of this saint is not recognized by the Roman Catholic Church, of which I am part.

Thanks for the explanations!!

This ceremony has a specific name?

Yes, the icon of Our Lady of Hoshiv is a copy of the icon of Our Lady of Czestochowa, the main difference being that the Hoshiv icon does not have the scars on the cheek.

Brief history of the icon of Our Lady of Hoshiv. [osbm.info]

Video of the coronation of the icon on August 28, 2009. [youtube.com]

Dear Igor,

Actually, St Ihor/Igor IS recognized by the Roman Church for veneration in the EC Churches.

He is put on a par with Sts Boris and Hlib who are also in the Roman Calendar under the names of "Romanus and David."

Alex

Dear Griego Amigo,

Well, my copy of the icon does indeed show the scars on the cheek of the Theotokos!

There is a whole series of such miraculous copies of the Icon of Czestochowa which was originally venerated in Kyiv and then in Belz near the Polish border.

Count Opolskie took the icon (originally gifted by a Greek princess as a marriage token to her Kyivan ruler husband) to Czestochowa.

Wherever the Icon stayed overnight during those travels on horseback, there miraculous events took place and a church or monastery was built on the spot together with a copy of the icon (e.g. the miraculous icon of Turkovits which is also a copy of the Kyiv-Belz Icon - later named after Czestochowa).

Prince Theodore Ostrozhky was fighting the Poles in the 15th century when he later joined a peace mission at Czestochowa.

When he saw the icon there, he was indignant (he felt it was stolen from its proper shrine) and he went to take it down to take back to Ukraine with him.

He was arrested by the RC authorities and put on trial for blasphemy.

At his trial, he said he intended no blasphemy but that he want to correct a wrong by taking that "Ruthenian Icon" back with him.

He was acquitted but then he went to Kyiv and received the tonsure at the Kyivan Caves Lavra where he died a saint and is now numbered among the Holy Fathers there.

This icon is a true Black Madonna and is widely venerated throughout Orthodox Ukraine and also in my nemesis, Russia.



Alex

Is your copy like this [img0.etsystatic.com]?

OK, now I see...I stand corrected. There are scars but they are located more on the neck than they are on the cheek of the Czestochowa icon.


I just had the privilege of spending two nights by myself in prayer before the pilgrim icon of Our Lady of Czestochowa [hli.org] that is travelling currently through the USA. It was amazing!

You are very lucky and blessed to have had that experience!

My ancestors, the Jablonowskie family, built one of the six side chapels to Our Lady of Czestochowa at her shrine in Poland - my wife's ancestors built another one of the six, the icon is our house shrine that unites us.

May Our Lady intercede for you always!

Alex

According to this post [eeparchy.com] on the Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of Edmonton website, the original miraculous icon of the Mother of God of Hoshiv is at Saints Peter and Paul Basilian Monastery in Mundare, Alberta, Canada.

Hello!
As an iconographer from Poland, I've been following your discussion about the Hoshiv and Czestochowa icons with great interest.
​I recently finished a traditional hand-painted copy of Our Lady of Czestochowa, focusing on the specific details we discussed here, like the scars and the deep skin tones. If you are interested in seeing how a modern version looks using traditional egg tempera and gold leaf, you can see my work here:

​https://iconoria.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/our-lady-of-czestochowa-icon-workshop.webp

​I would love to hear your thoughts on the iconographic details!

Christ is Born!!

Iconoria,

Welcome to the forum. We hope your time with us is spiritually enriching.

Bob
Moderator

Thank you for the warm welcome, Bob! It is a blessing to be part of this forum. I look forward to learning from your community and sharing more about the traditional techniques of Polish iconography.