Theotokos of the Inexhaustible Cup

A miraculous event in 1878 gave this icon of the Mother of God its name, the “Inexhaustible Cup”. In the province of Yefremovsky, a retired soldier named Stephen was enslaved to the passion of drunkenness. This unfortunate man had the same dream three times, in which a monk would encourage him to find and pray before an icon of the Theotokos called the “Inexhaustible Cup” in the city of Serpukhov at a monastery dedicated to the Mother of God. After significant hardship, he reached the Vladychny Convent, and he realized that on the back of the icon depicting the Mother of God with Christ in the Holy Chalice, there was an epigraph which read “The Inexhaustible Cup”. After his visit to Serpukhov, Stephen’s desire to continue his drinking habit completely disappeared. From that time, this icon has been considered the patron and helper of those with dependencies on alcohol and harmful substances more generally.