SAXONBURG — A 715-year-old Orthodox Christian icon is touring Western Pennsylvania churches.

The Kursk Root Icon is believed by some in that church to have wrought miracles of healing. The image of the Virgin Mary was reportedly found by a hunter in the Kursk region of Russia in 1295. Believers have venerated the icon because a spring allegedly began to flow from the ground after the hunter picked up the image.

Orthodox Christians believe icons convey the word of God through images.

A Pittsburgh newspaper reported the icon was on display Thursday at Nativity of the Theotokos Monastery in Saxonburg before being displayed in Canonsburg, California, Belle Vernon, Indiana, McKeesport, Edinboro and Erie through Sunday.

The schedule is at www.eadiocese.org.