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Artykuł jest poświęcony cudownej ikonie Matki Bożej Nowodworskiej, która w XVII w. i w pierwszej połowie XVIII w. znajdowała się w prawosławnym monasterze w Nowym Dworze koło Pińska (Białoruś, obwód brzeski). Analizie poddano ikonografię ikony na podstawie dwóch rycin autorstwa Jana Szczyrskiego. Na jednej z nich obok wizerunku Marii z Dzieciątkiem widoczny jest napis w języku cerkiewnosłowiańskim, a na drugiej – łacińskim. Przytoczono opis cudownej ikony i zawieszek wotywnych zawarty w wizytacji cerkwi z roku 1719, jak również związane z nią legendy. Omówiono kwestię czasu wywiezienia ikony z Nowego Dworu.

In the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, as well as later in those lands belonging to the Russian Empire, miraculous images had supra-confessional cult. One of them was a miraculous image of Our Lord of Chamiary-Bukhavichy, which cult dates back to the second half of the 18th century, when the image was in a private possession. After a dream vision, the image was placed into an Uniate church in Chamiary, when it was quickly acknowledged to be wonder-working. Once at night the image was stolen from the church and later appeared in the Dominican cloister in Bukhavichy. The investigation showed that it was taken from the church by initial owner. After the partition of the Russian Empire, when the Uniate church in Bukhavichy was turned to Orthodoxy, the Orthodox priest claimed the image to have Orthodox origin and had been stolen by the Dominicans. The image, however, remained in Catholic possession and was brought to Kobryn catholic church when the Dominican cloister was closed and turned to an Orthodox church. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the liquidation of the Union in 1839 and the transfer of Catholic churches to the Orthodox Church after the rebellions of 1830-1831 and 1863-1864 in the territories of the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth which were incorporated into the Russian Empire, a great deal of sacred art pieces of western-Christian art became property of the Orthodox Church. As per directions of the Church authorities, the images of Jesus Christ, Our Lady and the Saints of the Undivided Church could remain in Orthodox churches, while those of Catholic and Greek-Catholic Saints were to be given back to Catholics. The images that were left in Orthodox churches were to be changed to meet the Orthodox rules. That usually meant addition of an inscription or repainting of the image partially or fully. The situation was different in relation to miraculous images. After being transferred to the Orthodox churches they remained unchanged, even in the cases when their iconography was unacceptable for the Orthodox Church or when they represented Catholic Saints, such as Ignatius Loyola or Anthony of Padua. This was related to the effect miraculous images had on local communities. The cult of miraculous images was above-confessional; believers of different Christian confessions went on pilgrimages to them. Leaving these images as is they were aimed at converting Catholics to Orthodoxy to strengthen the position of the Russian Empire on the land of the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. To justify the functioning of western-Christian images in the Orthodox Church, both new legends were developed stating the images had Orthodox origins and were taken by Catholics, and attempts of theological rationale were made. These activities were successful: the images that survived through the disasters of the 20th century are still in the cult of the Orthodox Church along with the legends of their Orthodox origin developed in the 19th century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]