Feast Day at Lesna Convent, France

On 4 and 5 October of this year, Lesna Convent celebrated the 310th anniversary of the appearance of the Lesna Icon of the Mother of God (14 September 1693). This icon, the main holy icon of the Convent, accompanies the Lesna nuns and has always helped them in their roaming history.

Despite the rain and cold, the feast day attracted a multitude of Orthodox Christians from various parts of Europe, both clergymen and pilgrims. Over 200 people participated in the feast day services in Lesna church, then joined the festal luncheon. Sunday service was performed by Archbishop Seraphim, though Bishop Ambroise of Geneva and Western Europe could not attend due to illness.

Lesna Icon draws pilgrims not only by its remarkable history, but because it continues to perform miracles. Many worshipers come from all over with the specific purpose of eliciting aid from the Mother of God in their difficult lives. Such a miracle occurred even during this holiday.

A young family from Australia came to France in hopes of finding a decent life. Their hopes were not answered. They spent their last money to travel to Provemon to ask help from the Lesna Mother of God Icon. Help came immediately: some people whom they had never seen before unexpectedly offered them work.

The feast day once again showed that the hospitable Lesna Convent became a place of gathering and unity for Orthodox Christians of various generations of the Russian emigration. It was a joy to see the procession of the cross include old emigres alongside those who came just recently from Russia, children as well as the elderly.

Novice Tatiana (Spector)