Days of celebration: January 25
Once, a heretical priest, with unclear goals, deliberately pretended to be Orthodox and joined the community in the Hilandar monastery on Mount Athos. He stayed there for a while, keeping malicious plans in his heart, hiding them from people. His appearance seemed pious, he strictly observed the monastery’s rules, appeared at divine services and seemed to pray, and therefore, to many who saw him, he, this heretical clergyman, seemed not just a Christian, but also a pious person, worthy of the high title of Christian spiritual mentor. The human species, however, cannot penetrate into the depths of the human heart and stop only at its outer shell. What is hidden behind this shell? What secret intentions are hidden behind this visible mask? What is the purpose of this person? Is his outer life consistent with his inner desires? These questions remain out of human access. However, this heretical priest seems to have lost his sense of proportion: he forgot that although he was able to hide his evil intentions from people, he could not hide them from the Omniscient God, Who knows all the secrets of human hearts, and nothing can hide from Him. Before his secret plans could be realized, the Blessed Virgin, Mother of the Omniscient God, looked down on him from the height of Her abode and in Her righteous anger quickly delivered the world of this wolf in sheep’s clothing: when he was carrying an icon of the Virgin during the procession, he unexpectedly fell into the sea during the water consecration and drowned. Since then, this miraculous icon has always been worn during processions and water consecrations, and since it is worn by priests, the Serbs gave it this simple name “Popskaya”. Here is one explanation for the origin of such a unique name for this icon of the Mother of God. However, there is another explanation for the origin of the name of this icon “Popskaya”. This miraculous image is considered the patroness of singers, and therefore the pose of the Virgin and Child on the icon is presented as usually the head of the choir gives a sign to sing. Since the art of musical singing and music science in general was called pop art in ancient times, the icon was given the name “Popskaya”. The icon” Popskaya ” of the Mother of God is located in the cathedral church of the monastery, on the left side of the pulpit iconostasis. After each service in front of this miraculous icon of the Heavenly Lady, each serving priest says the dismissal, saying: “Through the prayers of our holy fathers, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us!”
