In Issue No. 42 of the journal *Russian Pilgrim* from 1888, we find the following interesting information and an equally interesting illustration.
Twenty-six versts from Kharkiv, in a remote area, lies the village of Ozeryanka with its parish church, which is still known among the people as the Ozeryanka Hermitage. About a hundred years ago, a monastery did indeed exist here, founded in 1711 and dissolved in 1787. It is from this monastery that the Ozeryanka Miraculous Icon of the Mother of God, now located in Kharkiv, derives its name; it attracts crowds of pilgrims from all regions of southern Russia who come to worship it. The exact time of this great relic’s appearance is unknown; one can only reasonably assume that it appeared in the vicinity of Ozeryany around 1720, at a time when all of Sloboda Ukraine was being ravaged by a terrible plague. The circumstances under which the Queen of Heaven deigned to reveal Her image were as follows.
Once, one of the villagers of Ozeryanka was mowing the grass when, after swinging his scythe, he heard what sounded like a human moan coming from the grass. Amazed, the mower lowered his scythe and saw beneath it half of an image of the Mother of God painted on canvas; the other half of the icon remained in the grass, and a lit candle glowed before it. Even more astonished, the mower abandoned his work, picked up both halves of the holy icon, carried them back to his hut, and prayed before them for a long time. The next day, having risen early in the morning, the villager wanted to pray before the icon he had found, but could not find it on the altar. After a long search, he happened upon the spot where he had been mowing the day before and saw the holy icon there, standing on the ground and completely intact. At its foot flowed a spring of living water that had miraculously gushed forth from the ground…
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