In Skopje, on Friday, on the eve of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, an icon of Holy Mother of God - "Troeruchitsa" from the Hilandar monastery of Svetogorje.

The solemn reception of the icon will be at 17:00 in front of the "Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary" temple. Then a festive evening service will follow, after which a litany with the icon will be performed throughout the center of Skopje, informs the Office of the Skopje Diocese of the MOC.

On Saturday, September 21, a holy hierarch's Liturgy will be celebrated, which will be presided over by His Beatitude the Archbishop of Ohrid and Macedonia. Stefan, in the presence of bishops and priests of the Macedonian Orthodox Church-Ohrid Archdiocese and guests.

The Icon of the Holy Mother of God "Troeruchica" is a famous miraculous icon in the Serbian Orthodox Hilandar Monastery on Mount Athos, Greece. On it, the Mother of God is represented with the young Jesus in the position of the hojetria and is covered with a robe. On the back of the icon is the painting of Saint Nicholas.

It is the most important icon of the Serbian Orthodox Church.

According to tradition, he owned the icon John of Damascus at the beginning of the 8th century. Damascene became a monk at the Mar Sabas monastery outside Jerusalem and gave the icon to the monastic community there. Later, the icon was presented to Saint Sava when he visited the monastery.

Sava brought the icon to the Hilandar monastery where he lived. It remained there until 1347 when he took it Emperor Stefan Dusan during his visit to Hilandar he brought her with him to Serbia.

At the end of the 14th century, for an unknown reason and in an unknown way, the icon moved from the court of King Dušan to the property of the Studenica monastery. This monastery, like other areas of Serbia, at the beginning of the 15th century became the target of attacks by the Turkish invaders.

When the monks heard that the Turks were heading towards the monastery, they quickly made sure to save the most valuable treasures they had. They hung the icon on a donkey and let it go where the will of the Mother of God led it.

And indeed, the donkey traveled a long way and came to the Holy Mountain. At the command of the Virgin, it stopped not far from Hilandar. When they realized what was happening, the monks rushed and removed the icon from the donkey's back, which immediately fell dead. In the place where the donkey stopped with the icon, a place of worship, a proskinitar, was built in memory of that event.

Every year, in memory of the arrival of the icon in Hilandar, a liturgy with the icon of Troeruchica is held from the monastery to that place. At the beginning of the 15th century, the monks placed it on the highest place in the altar of the Cathedral Church of the Hilandar Monastery.

During the handing over of the icon, some other miraculous events related to this icon were also noted.

Towards the end of the 15th century, the monastery found itself in a difficult situation regarding the election of an abbot. The many monks of that time belonged to different nationalities – Serbs, Greeks, Bulgarians and Russians, and they all proposed their own representative as abbot. Since they could not agree among themselves, the Holy Mother of God herself solved the problem. During an evening service, the voice of the Mother of God was clearly heard from the icon that she was the abbess of the monastery. The monks heard the voice, but did not attach any special importance to it.

When they came to the abbot's church, they saw an icon. They thought that the priest had mistakenly taken the icon outside and put it back in the altar. However, the next day they found her on the abbess throne. They thought that the priest did it, so they locked the door of the church themselves and made sure that no one remained hidden in the church. In the morning, they unlocked the door to celebrate, but the icon of the Mother of God was again in the same place, and then they were finally convinced that it was her will.

At that time, a virtuous hermit came to the monastery. He told them that the Holy Mother of God had appeared to him and said that from now on she herself would become the abbess of the monastery and that the brothers should reconcile.

Let them not choose more abbots and let them not move the icon from its abbot's place. The monks obeyed the will of the Most Holy Mother of God. Since then, no one has moved her from her place. From then until today, every elected abbot takes the second place, on the side, next to the icon. The priests and, in general, all the monks of the monastery bow before her as abbess of the monastery before starting their service and obedience.

Thus, the icon of the Holy Virgin Trinity became the protective icon of the Hilandar monastery. All the monks who are under her abbess accept her as their mother, protector in various difficult situations that the monastic life brings.

Numerous miracles happened in front of the icon of the Holy Mother of God in Hilanda. To protect and beautify the icon, a gold chain embedded with five thousand precious stones, as well as other valuables presented by pious devotees, is placed on the icon.

Her holiday is celebrated every year on July 25. In the all-night liturgical service, the honor and miracles of the Most Holy Mother of God are celebrated.