The Mother of God has always been one of the most revered saints in Russia. She is considered the patroness of Russia, so there are many icons that capture her image. One of them is The Inexhaustible Cup.
Nobody knows which icon painter created the icon known as the Inexhaustible Chalice and when it happened, but the icon is known not so long ago - since 1878.
This image belongs to the iconographic type of Orant: the Mother of God is depicted with her hands raised in prayer, and the baby Jesus stands in front of her in a bowl, stretching out his hands in a blessing gesture.
Finding the icon
In 1910, Elizabeth, a nun of the Vvedensky Vladychny Monastery, which is located in the city of Serpukhov (Moscow region), spoke about the acquisition of the miraculous image in 1878. The name of the icon is associated not only with the bowl depicted on it, but also with the history of its acquisition.
There lived in the Tula province a certain peasant - a bitter drunkard. He drank the pension, which he received as a retired Nikolayev soldier, and everything that he had. In old age, he reached extreme poverty, and due to constant drunkenness, his legs were taken away. And then an old man appeared to him in a dream, who ordered him to go to the Vvedensky Vladychny Monastery and serve there a prayer service before the icon of the Mother of God "The Inexhaustible Chalice." The peasant was in no hurry to carry out the order - after all, he could not walk, and there was no money, but the elder appeared to him twice more, repeating the order more and more menacingly. In the end, this unfortunate man, crawling somehow, went to Serpukhov.
It was not easy to get to the monastery, but nevertheless he succeeded, but no one knew about the icon with that name. Nevertheless, they took the peasant's words seriously, examined all the icons that were in the monastery, and on the back of one of them, which hung on the aisle from the cathedral to the sacristy, they found the inscription "Inexhaustible Chalice."
A prayer service was served in front of the icon. The peasant not only recovered from paralysis of the legs, but also stopped drinking. Instead of an inexhaustible cup of sin and drunkenness, this man was given the "Inexhaustible Cup" of God's Grace.
Loss of the icon
After its acquisition, the icon was kept in the Vvedensky Vladychny Monastery, but in 1919 it was closed. The icon was transferred to the Cathedral of St. Nicholas Bely, located on Kaluzhskaya Street. But 10 years later, they closed it too, and burned all the icons. It is not known whether the Inexhaustible Chalice icon was burned or whether someone managed to save it.
In 1992 and 1996. on the basis of old photographs, two lists of the icon were written. The first is located in the Serpukhov Vysotsky Monastery, and the second - in the restored Vvdensky Vladychny Convent. Both images are considered miraculous.
Before the icon "Inexhaustible Chalice" they pray for healing not only from diseases, but also from alcoholism and drug addiction.
