Kursk Root Icon & Spring Church
The most famous temples in the Kursk region are the Znamensky Monastery in Kursk and Korennaya Hermitage 30km from Kursk. At those times when Kursk and its region were ruined by the Tatars’ hordes it seemed that everything declined and would newer recover, the 8th of September of 1295, in 27 versts (old Russian measure of distance) from Kursk, in roots of a tree, on the river Tuskar bank there was found the icon of Znameniya Bogomateri found. When the icon was taken from the ground there a source of clean water appeared immediately.
The news of the icon came to the Rylsk prince - Vasily Shemiaka (15th century) that ordered to bring it to Rylsk. Crowds of people were watching the arrival of the icon, but the prince refused to meet the icon at the very last moment. In answer to his action the icon blinded him. Having repented of his action, V. Shemiaka prayed for mercy and recovered… To thank the icon for his recovering, the prince built a temple for the holly icon. The temple was named The Birth of the Holy Theotokos.
However, the icon disappeared, in a strange way, from the temple built in its honor and appeared in the place it had been found. Each time the icon was taken to Rylsk it returned to the place it had been found. Therefore, in Korennaya Pustyn, there was a chapel built in which the icon was. In 1615, after the Polish defeat in Kursk, in honor of that event and to execute the promise there was a community of monks built. It included 2 wooden churches: The Birth of the Holy Theotokos and holly Mikhaila Malena. In 1618, the icon got a name "THE SIGN" and was taken to the newly built temple – Znamensky. In 1631, a strike of lightning caused the devastating fire that destroyed the temple. In 1634, the renewed temple was completely robbed by the Polish. In 1649, the tsar Aleksey Mikhailovich ordered to build a stone church named Znameniya Kurskoy Bogomateri, and the temple got a new name – Znamensky. In 1815, the walls of the Znamenskaya Church were broken because of the foundation weakness, and a year later there was founded a new cathedral that was finished to build in 1826.
In the 18th century, Korennaya Pustyn was rebuilt of stone. From 1618, it was occasionally, and from 1726 to 1765, it was systematically that the Kursk Root Icon was taken from Znamensky temple to Korennaya Pustyn for a week. There were the continuous disagreements between Znamensky temple and Korennaya Pustyn, whose property the icon had to be. Korennaya community of monks was under the Znamensky temple ruling, but the solution was not found. In 1767, Synod banned bringing of icon any longer. In 1792, the Sacred procession was renewed in answer of merchants’ requests.
The Sacred procession promoted the Korennaya Fair development. In the order of Synod dated by the 15th of January of 1806, it was said that in agreement with the imperator Alexander the 1st the Kursk Root Icon "THE SIGN" had to be in Korennaya Hermitage temple from the 9th week after the Easter to the 12th of September. This time Kursk eparchy makes sacred processions regularly.
They took their part in the Crimean War in 1689 and the Patriotic War in 1812. In 1919, the icon appeared in Serbia, where it was until 1944, then it appeared in Munich, and in 50s it got to the USA. Now, it is in one of the temples of Russian Orthodox Foreign Church in New York. In 1989, Russian Orthodox Foreign Church handed over a copy of the holly icon as a gift to Korennaya Pustyn Hermitage.
In march of 1989 a church in the village of Svoboda, near Kursk, has been returned to the Russian Orthodox Church. Its return is very significant since it is situated 800 [yards] away from a spring which has been venerated by Orthodox believers since 1295... In the 1920's the Kursk Korennaya Monastery of the Sign [was]...abolished. In the, 1960s the spring was buried in concrete, but continued to seep through the concrete. The former Korennaya Hermitage buildings were occupied by a technical school, whose authorities tried but failed to restrict access to the spring.
