15 APRIL - OUR LADY OF KIEFF (RUSSIA)

 Kieff on the banks of the River was the first resting place of this image of Mary. The Apostle St. Andrew had once stopped on his way from Constantinople to Rome.

     Waking in the morning to the sights of the heights of Kieff, he was moved to prophecy: “See those hills? On those hills shall shine hereafter the grace of God.” The prince sent 

     to Kherson for a picture of Our Lady which was painted by Constantine. The Prince endowed the monastery in Petchersk to house the famous picture and here it remained until the 

     15th century. In 1467 Ivan III, Grand Duke of Moscow built the Church of the Assumption in the Kremlin as a memorial of his marriage. As a crowning jewel of his new Church, 

     he asked for the famous picture of Kieff. This aged city was both grieved and frightened at the demand. The people rose in protest; they did not want to lose their dearest treasure. 

     Then the Blessed Virgin appeared in sleep to the prince and told him to give up the picture because she would personally see that it was replaced. He gave it to the agents 

     of the Duke of Moscow on the following morning and returned to his Church to find that another picture exactly like it had mysteriously appeared in the place of the one he 

     had returned.




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