Zhyrovichy Monastery

One night around 1500 (storytellers and scholars disagree on the year), some herders noticed a wild pear tree radiating light, whose source in the branches turned out to be a jasper oval, about the size of a child's hand, carved with the image of a woman and child and the Slavonic inscription, «More honorable than the cherubim, And more glorious beyond compare than the seraphim, In virginity you bore God the Word; True Mother of God, we magnify you».

The portrait was recognizable as an Eleousa or Tenderness type of icon, with the child's cheek against his mother's, and the words as the refrain of the Magnificat in the Eastern liturgy.

Firstly, it is the center and the main temple of the monastery - the Holy Assumption Cathedral, which was built in 1613– 1650 years.

It is designed so that the entrance and to the altar lying wide staircase made to slowly climb the stairs, stopping at each step to pray.

The temples and churches of the monastery in Zhyrovichy are important architectural monuments of his time, valuable objects of historical and cultural heritage, and prominent landmarks.

A copy of the stone image was brought to Rome, where it is revered as the Madonna del Popolo in the Church of Sts.

Russian and Belarusian Orthodox Churches celebrate the feast of the Mother of God of Zhyrovichy on May 20 (May 7 in the Julian calendar).

The Saint Ascension monastery in Zhyrovichy existed even during Soviet times and in 1989 it became a clerical seminary – a highest religious educational institution, accepting entrants from all the countries of the former USSR.