What a church holiday today, April 16, 2024

On April 16, according to the new church calendar, Orthodox believers commemorate the holy martyrs Agapia, Irina and Khionia, and also celebrate the day of memory of the Ilyinsk-Chernigov icon of the Mother of God. In the national calendar – Irina Rassadnitsa. We talk about the traditions of the day, signs and prohibitions, and who is worshiped in the church on April 16 in the old style.

April 16, 2024 – today is a church holiday according to the new and old calendar

April 16 according to the new style (April 29 according to the old) is the day of remembrance of the holy martyrs Agapia, Irina and Chionia.

Agapia, Irina and Chionia were sisters and lived in the III-IV centuries near the city of Aquileia (Italy). The girls were orphaned early, but they led a pious Christian life and refused worshipers, as they wanted to devote themselves to God. Emperor Diocletian found out about this: he ordered the sisters to be brought to him and wanted to judge them. But he looked at the girls, saw how young and beautiful they were, and told them to go to Macedonia and choose grooms for themselves. The sisters refused to obey the will of the emperor and got married. Then they were handed over to the executioners and executed.

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The Ilyinsk-Chernigov Icon of the Mother of God, also known as the Chernihiv Icon of the Mother of God, was painted in 1658. Its author is the icon painter Grigory Dubensky (in monasticism – Gennady).

The shrine was kept in the Trinity Monastery of Chernihiv. According to legend, in 1662, the image of the Virgin began to cry – tears flowed for 8 days, from April 16 to April 24. Soon Chernihiv was attacked by the Krymsky Khan’s army, and the city was destroyed. At night, the enemies broke into the Trinity Monastery, took all the utensils and overturned the icons, but the image of the Mother of God remained untouched – some invisible force protected it. The wicked could not even get into the cave of Saint Antony Pechersky – the brothers were hiding in it, and at some point they even fled.

From the beginning of the 17th century, they began to record cases of miracles that occurred from the Ilyinskaya icon of Chernihiv: in the “Rune of the Watered” by Saint Dimitry of Rostov, 24 miracles were described in detail in which the inhabitants of Chernihiv and its surroundings were healed of all sorts of ailments. The list of miracles was constantly replenished and there was even one case of resurrection.

The miraculous icon was located in the Ilyinskaya church near the caves, then it was placed in the Dormition Cathedral of the Yeletsky Chernihiv Women’s Monastery. In the 19th century, the shrine was in the cathedral in the summer, and in the winter it was moved to the Church of the Nativity of Christ. At the beginning of the 20th century, in winter, the icon was in the Sretenskaya Church near the bishop’s chambers, and a replacement icon was left in the cathedral. There is an opinion that since 1924, after the closure of the Trinity-Ilya Monastery, the image was lost, but the lists of the miraculous shrine remained.

April 16 holiday in the old style – the day of memory of Reverend Nikita the Confessor, abbot of Mydykiyskyi.

What do the omens for April 16 say?

According to the weather on this day, they judge what the spring and harvest will be like:

• it turned out to be a fine day – the whole of May will be like that;
• windy and cool – it will be like this until summer;
• torrential rain on this day – it will be a hot summer;
• thunder rumbles – to the harvest of bread;
• a lot of plantain – so much and the harvest will be.

In the national calendar, April 16 is the holiday of Irina Rassadnitsa. Today it is customary to tidy up the garden, whiten the trees and, if the weather permits, plant seedlings.

What can be done on April 16

A variety of miracles happened at the miraculous Chernigov icon, but mainly healing from ailments – people recovered from blindness, leg pain, rheumatism, and chronic diseases. You can turn to the Mother of God with your own words, or you can use the words of a prayer.

According to folk customs, as already mentioned, on this day you can plant seedlings of vegetables – cabbage, tomatoes, cucumbers.

What not to do on April 16

Among the prohibitions that cannot be done today are cursing, quarreling, refusing help, insulting animals, envying and gossiping. Great Lent 2024 continues – those who are fasting are prohibited from fast food on this day, but hot food without oil is allowed.

Folk omens do not advise borrowing or lending on April 16 – neither money nor things.

April 16 – name day today

According to the church calendar, today’s birthdays are celebrated by Vasilisa, Irina, Galina, Nika, Leonid, Mikhail, Pavel and Timofey.

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