In the year 1500, during the capture of Kiev by Khan Mengli-Gyr, a certain Tatar stripped the cover and adornments from the icon, and threw it into the Dniepr River. After a while it was found floating in the River Svislocha, near Minsk.
Surrounded by an extraordinary light, the icon was brought to shore and taken to the church of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos, in the holdings of the Minsk appanage princes. This occurred on August 13, 1500.
The Minsk Icon was brought to the Uniate Monastery of the Holy Spirit in 1616, and returned to the Orthodox in 1839. The church of the Holy Spirit Monastery became an Orthodox cathedral, which was dedicated to Sts Peter and Paul. Every Friday, an Akathist was served before the holy icon, and many miracles have been recorded.
The Minsk Icon, of the Hodigitria type, is more than four and a half feet tall, and three feet wide.
