Almost 10,000 pilgrims are expected at the coronation of the icon of the Mother of God of Braslav

August 20, Vitebsk / Diana Kurilo - BELTA /. Almost 10,000 pilgrims are expected in Braslav on August 21-22 for the celebrations on the occasion of the Pope's crown being placed on the icon of the Mother of God of Braslav, Father Adam, rector of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church, told BELTA correspondent. Guests will come from Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Russia, Ukraine, Italy, Great Britain, and the USA. Believers are already hurrying to this celebration from different parts of Belarus. About 200 pilgrims from Postavy and Miory districts of the region are walking. The image of the Mother of God of Braslav will be the first crowned icon in the Vitebsk region. Prayer vigils on the occasion of placing the Papal crown on the revered icon, also known as the Mother of God, Mistress of the Lakes, will be held under the motto "Prayer Meeting of Cultures of the Queen of the Lakes." In addition to the traditional church events for such a significant event, festivals of Latvian, Lithuanian, and Polish cultures are planned. The solemn Holy Mass with the coronation, scheduled for August 22, will be led by Cardinal Joachim Meisner, Metropolitan of Cologne. "And it will take place on a ship, as the Mother of God of Braslav is the Queen of the Lakes," added Father Adam. True, this ship is land-based - it is a temporary altar in the shape of a ship, built in the courtyard of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church. It was erected specifically so that as many believers as possible could witness this solemn and significant ceremony for all Catholics, the interlocutor emphasized. The icon of the Mother of God of Braslav is located in the altar of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church and is only revealed during divine services. Its history dates back to the Basilian male monastery founded in the 15th century on an island of Lake Nespish, and it is considered the main Christian shrine of these places. The coronation of the icon is a recognition of the miraculous power of the image by the Vatican, and the chronicles of the Roman Catholic Church of 1774 testify to such properties of the Braslav icon. The crowning of images of the Mother of God in the Catholic Church is associated with theological assertions that the Virgin Mary is the Queen of Heaven. Private cases of crowning miraculous icons and sculptures of the Mother of God were recorded as early as the 8th century. Since the 17th century, this custom has become an exclusive papal privilege. The first image crowned with a papal crown was the image of the Mother of God in the sacristy of St. Peter's Basilica in Rome in 1631. In Belarus, six images of the Mother of God have been crowned with papal crowns: the Mother of God of Berestye in 1996, the Mother of God of Budslau in 1998, the icon of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Minsk in 2005, the Mother of God of the Congregation in 2005, the image of the Mother of God of Gudağay was crowned in 2007, and the Trakel icon of the Mother of God received confirmation of its miraculous power in 2009. -0-