On May 20, 2025, the Patriarchal Exarch of All Belarus, Metropolitan Veniamin of Minsk and Zaslavl, led celebrations at the Assumption Zhirovichi Metropolitan Monastery on the occasion of the 555th anniversary of the appearance of the icon of the Mother of God, called "Zhirovichskaya."
The day before, on May 19, the Patriarchal Exarch celebrated a festive all-night vigil in the Dormition Cathedral of the monastery.
On the day of the feast, the Primate of the Belarusian Orthodox Church celebrated the Divine Liturgy at the Assumption Cathedral.
At the end of the Liturgy, the bishops, clergy and pilgrims made a procession with the miraculous image to the Church of the Phenomenon, where a prayer service was held with the akathist of the Mother of God in front of Her Zhirovichi miraculous icon.
At the end of the service, Metropolitan Isidore read out a Patriarchal greeting to the participants of the celebrations dedicated to the 555th anniversary of the acquisition of the Zhirovichi Icon of the Mother of God.
The welcome address of the President of the Republic of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko was read out by Konstantin Burak, Assistant to the President, Inspector for the Grodno region.
The Patriarchal exarch congratulated the participants of the celebrations on the memorable date and addressed them with an archpastoral address. Vladyka reminded the audience of the story of the miraculous finding of the image and spoke about the various periods of the Zhirovichi monastery's formation. In conclusion, Metropolitan Veniamin noted: "This year has been declared the Year of Beautification in our country. Our cities and towns are quite beautiful, but there is still something to work on. I would like to draw attention to and urge everyone, so that, along with beautifying our cities and villages, we take care to beautify our place of residence with what is pleasing to God: kind, moral behavior, so that kind, God-pleasing words come out of our mouths, so that thoughts and feelings correspond to the high purpose of each person and this pleases the Mother of God. So that not only this place, this holy monastery may be called the inheritance of the Mother of God, but that our land may be such under the special protection of the Queen of Heaven."
The archpastors and clergy then proceeded to the burial place of the first Patriarchal exarch of All Belarus, Metropolitan Filaret (Vakhromeev), where they celebrated a requiem mass and laid flowers.
The service was broadcast live on the official YouTube channel of the Belarusian Orthodox Church and on the Soyuz TV channel.