Zarvanytsia

Zarvanytsia () is a small village in the Eparchy of Ternopil-Zboriv. It has just over 300 citizens and is located in Ternopil Raion of Ternopil Oblast in western Ukraine, about SW from Terebovlia, N of Buchach and SE of Pidhaitsi, within an oxbow loop of the Strypa River. Zarvanytsia belongs to Zolotnyky rural hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine. The village is known for its icon of the Mother of God, reputed to work miracles, and is a popular site of pilgrimage, attracting Ukrainians both from the country as well as the diaspora scattered around the world.

==History== The history of the village and the icon dates back to the 13th century. In 1240, a monk fled the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, which was devastated by a Mongol invasion, and stopped in a secluded valley to drink water from a spring and pray to the Blessed Virgin. Having done so, and exhausted by the long travel, he fell asleep and saw the Mother of God. After awakening completely rejuvenated, he found the icon and decided to stay there and build a chapel by the spring to house the icon. News of the miraculous icon spread among the local population and reached the gravely sick duke of Terebovlia Vasylko (brother of the only Ukrainian king Danylo of Halych). The duke ordered the icon to be brought to him but when the monk refused, he himself traveled to Zarvanytsia and prayed in front of the icon and was cured. Out of gratitude, he founded a church and monastery there.