All churches in Belarus today greeted the believers with a special bell ringing - the annunciation. The bells on the church in the small village of Rozhkovka in Belovezhskaya Pushcha can be heard several kilometers away. On the Feast of the Resurrection of Christ it is not as crowded as in the majestic city cathedrals. But the church attracts the believers with a special atmosphere - the wonder-working icon of the Mother of God of Rozhkovo.
It is in her honor that the local temple is illuminated. By sacral standards, the icon is a baby. It is only a little over 80 years old. But it was this image of the Mother of God in 1942 that saved the inhabitants of Rozhkovka from annihilation. People were already standing on the edge of the firing pit. In occupied Belarus it is an isolated case. It is called one of the five miracles of the Great Patriotic War.
The phenomenon of salvation
On the edge of the village of Rozhkovka there is a blue temple. The color of the walls of the sacred building symbolizes the Virgin Mary. In the church there is one of the relics of the Brest Region - the Rozhkovka icon of the Mother of God.
Across the road from the church fence is Belovezhskaya Pushcha. During the Great Patriotic War the village was a partisan village. Almost every house here baked bread and welcomed partisans. The situation was threatening for the Nazi administration. After all, the Germans already considered Belovezhskaya Pushcha to be the territory of the Third Reich. Among the protected forests Goering set up a residence for himself.
Even before the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, Goering came to Belovezhskaya Pushcha for hunting. After the occupation of Belarus, the Nazi leadership had special plans for the reserve. On Goering's initiative, an elite hunting farm for the top brass of the Third Reich was created in the relic forest. The local population was to be either relocated or exterminated. The first punitive action in Belovezhskaya Pushcha began already on June 25, 1941. In just a week more than 6 and a half thousand people were evicted, several hundred people were exterminated. Villages were burnt down.
Nikolai Panasyuk, a resident of the village of Rozhkivka, Kamenets district:
An airplane was flying, the Mother of God appeared to him. He went down and went to those Germans who were on guard. They were standing with machine guns, guarding. He asked them what was the matter. They told him that they had a connection with the partisans. He said: "I will fly to Bialowieza, if I don't come back in an hour, then you will shoot people. And people were already kneeling at the hole and praying. Shouting and crying, you know.
Olga Sayevich, a resident of the village of Rozhkivka, Kamyanets District.
The Mother of God appeared to him, pointing at the hole. He came and said: "Cancel it."
People were released to go home. After the miraculous rescue, the residents of Rozhkovka decided to build a church in the village.
