marian anniversaries     june

June 21

Yaroslavl Icon of the Mother of God, Yaroslavl, Russia

When Vselvod, Prince of Yaroslavl, died fighting Batu Khan's invaders in 1238, his son Basil assumed the throne. Basil reached an agreement with the Horde that allowed him to start rebuilding his devastated principality, including many churches. After Basil's death in 1249, his brother Constantine ruled. In 1257, Constantine died leading a revolt against the Mongols. The brothers were buried in Yaroslavl's Church of the Ascension. In 1501, that church was largely destroyed by a fire that burned much of the city. Going through the ruins, church officials found the bodies of the two princes, incorrupt after some 250 years. They were canonized as Orthodox saints. To honor them, Grand Prince Ivan III of Russia ordered construction of Yaroslavl's Dormition Cathedral, in which their domestic icons were hung above their remains. One of these was the image that became known as the Yaroslavl Mother of God, whose feast day is June 8 / 21, the date of the finding of Sts. Basil and Constantine's relics in 1501. Under Stalin, in 1937, the Dormition Cathedral was dynamited. The original icon was lost. In 2010, an early-1500s copy was installed in the rebuilt cathedral. 

Sources include:

Also celebrated this date: