Visit of Kursk-Root Icon of the Mother of God. A service of Prayer and intercession, remembering especially those for whom we have been asked to pray. 18:00 to 19:00 approximately. Please use the Park and ride scheme as parking is very tight. There are many road schemes in Oxford so this is a very good option and allow a bit of extra time to do so. The park and ride details may not be the latest info, so please double check. The 700 bus from Water Eaton Park and Ride/Oxford Parkway station comes within a ten minute walk of the church. The number 13 bus, as I understand it, goes from Oxford Station past Ferry Road where the Church is. If you are driving, The Park and Ride is excellent, you get 16 hours parking for £2.00/ may have changed now go into town using the bus service from Park & Ride which is very frequent and you can get the number 13 bus from the town centre to Ferry Road. On-street parking around the church is free after 5pm. Best park and rides are Oxford Parkway, then bus 700 and change to X3 or 15 minute walk, or Thornhill then bus 400 and 15 minute walk or X20 change to X3 The miraculous Kursk Korennaya Icon of the Mother of God, called “The Sign,” was revealed to the faithful in 1295 in Russia, at the sacred site where the Kursk Korennaya Hermitage now stands. The monastery’s name commemorates the holy appearance of the Mother of God to hunters near the root of a tree. By the will of Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich, the miraculous icon was transferred to Moscow in 1597. In 1615, at the earnest request of the people of Kursk, Tsar Mikhail Fyodorovich commanded that the icon be returned to its native city, to be enshrined in the cathedral. In the same year, a Church of the Nativity of the Mother of God was erected upon the very site of the sacred apparition, and the monastery now known as the Kursk Korennaya Hermitage was founded. During the Patriotic War of 1812, a copy of the Kursk Korennaya Icon was sent to Prince Kutuzov with the army. Before this holy icon, St. Seraphim of Sarov prayed fervently and received the grace of healing. After the Revolution of 1917, it was decreed to remove the icon from Kursk. Under the protection of the White Army, the holy icon endured a long and arduous journey through Rostov, Yekaterinodar, and Novorossiysk. The icon was taken abroad to safeguard it from the revolutionary authorities who had come to power in Russia, during a time when many churches were destroyed, sacred objects desecrated, and clergy persecuted. On March 1, 1920, the Russian holy icon departed by steamship for Constantinople, and from there journeyed to Greece and Serbia. Later that year, at the request of General Wrangel, it was brought to Crimea, before leaving Russia once again with the last units of the retreating White Army. In early November 1920, the icon arrived once more in Serbia, where it remained until 1944. When Soviet forces approached Belgrade, the Kursk Korennaya Icon was reverently transferred to Munich. Since 1957, the icon has been enshrined in the principal church dedicated to it of the Archiereus Synod in New York, where it continues to draw the faithful to prayer, intercession, and veneration, bearing witness to the enduring mercy and maternal protection of the Mother of God. Address; 34 Ferry Road Oxford England OX3 0EU