Pochayiv Lavra
Encyclopedia
Holy Dormition Pochayiv Lavra has for centuries been the foremost spiritual and ideological centre of various Orthodox denominations in Western Ukraine
. The monastery tops a 60-metre hill in the town of Pochayiv, Ternopil Oblast
, 18 km southwest of Kremenets
and 50 km north of Ternopil
.
, by several runaway monks, either from the Kiev Monastery of the Caves or from the Holy Mountain
. The legend has it that the Theotokos
appeared to the monks
in the shape of a column of fire, leaving her footprint in the rock
she stood upon. This imprint came to be revered by the local population and brethren for the curative, medicinal properties of the water that issued from it.
In the 16th century, the abbey was prosperous enough to commission a stone cathedral and to host a busy annual fair
. Its standing was further augmented in 1597, when a noble lady, Anna Hojska, presented to the monastery her extensive lands and a miracle-working icon
of the Theotokos. This image, traditionally known as Our Lady of Pochayiv, had been given to Anna by a passer-by Bulgaria
n bishop, and helped to cure her brother from blindness.
. Formerly associated with the printing house of Prince Ostrogski
, Zalizo established a press in Pochayiv in 1730, which supplied all of Galicia and Volhynia
with theological literature. The press continued to function until 1924, when it was taken to the Holy Trinity Monastery in Jordanville, New York
.
Zalizo received the monastic name of Job and was elected the monastery's hegumen
. Job introduced strict discipline and other reforms of monastic life. During his time in office, the monastery had to fend off incessant attacks by Hojska's heirs, notably Andrzej Firlej, Castellan of Belz
, who sued the monks over his grandmother's bequest. In 1623, Firlej raided the monastery, taking the holy icon with him and keeping it until 1641, when a court decision finally returned the icon to the monks. Job of Pochayiv
died on October 25, 1651 and was glorified as a saint soon thereafter.
During the Zbarazh War
of 1675, the cloister was besieged by the Turkish Army
, who reputedly fled upon seeing the apparition of the Theotokos
accompanied with angels and St Job. Numerous Turkish Muslims that witnessed the event during the siege converted to Christianity afterward. One of the monastery chapels commemorates this event.
According to some sources, Feofan Prokopovich
, a Ukrainian-born reformer of the Russian Orthodox Church
, took monastic vows in Pochayiv; he subsequently visited the monastery with his sovereign, Peter the Great
, in 1712.
After 1720, when the monastery was taken over by the Greek Catholic
Basilian monk
s, its prosperity steadily dwindled. The process was reversed due to one singular occurrence. In 1759, a coach of Count Mikołaj Bazyli Potocki capsized near the monastery walls. In a fit of anger, Potocki fired at his driver three times, all without avail. Attributing this failure to the divine intercession, Potocki settled in Pochayiv and started to lavish gifts upon the cloister.
In 1773, Potocki (who was a Roman Catholic) petitioned the Pope
to recognize the Pochayiv icon as miraculous and St Job as a Catholic saint. Only the former petition was satisfied. Upon Potocki's death in 1782, he was interred at the Assumption Cathedral whose construction he had subsidized.
, Volhynia
became a part of the Russian Empire
. Although a reversion of Greek Catholics to Russian Orthodoxy began, the Russian Imperial authorities did not immediately push this to confiscate the property of those who chose not to do so. Moreover the typography and religious schools in the monastery continued to use Latin
whilst the main language of communication was Polish
. Nevertheless the first Russophilic
tendencies demonstrated themselves at that time. In 1823, the Orthodox Bishop of Volhynia, Stephan wrote to Emperor Alexander I
asking to return the Pochayiv Monastery to the Russian Orthodox Church but his request was overruled. It was only in 1831, after the Greek-Catholic support for the November Uprising
, that Nicholas I of Russia
ordered the cloister to be restituted to the Russian Orthodox Church
, which was reconsecrated as an Orthodox entity on the 10th of October of that year ending 110 years of Greek-Catholic
monastic life. During the takeover the Basilian monastics in residence there took the original icon of Pochaiv to their monastery in Warsaw, where it remains.
Two years later, in 1833, the monastery was accorded the status of lavra
and became the summer residence for the Orthodox bishops of Volhynia. Towards the end of the 19th century, Pochayiv became a mecca of Orthodox pilgrims from all the empire and the Balkans
. Its symbolic image of a western forepost of Orthodoxy (being only several kilometres from the Greek-Catholic, Austrian-ruled Galicia) was widely used in propagating Pan-slavism
.
That is exactly what happened during the first days of World War I
, when thousands of Galician Ukrainians
paid pilgrimage to the Lavra and some converted to Russian Orthodoxy. In 1915 the Lavra, along with the whole of Volhynia, became a front-line between Austria and Russia. However the looting by the Austrians in 1915 was just the start of its long journey into the 20th century.
After the Russian October Revolution
of 1917, another looting by Bolsheviks, and the short-lived Ukrainian
states, western Volhynia was transferred to Poland under the terms of the Peace of Riga
. In 1921 the Lavra found itself on a crisis state with little food and lots of physical damage caused by nearly a decade of unrest. The most worrying factor for the monks, however, was the ecclesiastical link to whom it should submit. Like most Russian Orthodox communities that found themselves outside the USSR, and thus outside any possible ecclesiastical control from the persecuted Russian Orthodox Church
, the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople
agreed to take over Moscow's role and the Lavra became part of the Polish Orthodox Church
in 1923.
Until the end of the 1920s the Lavra was a peaceful place and repaired many of its damaged buildings. It was the first complete monastery to have its own electricity. However in 1929 a new wave of persecutions, this time from Warsaw
, hit the Orthodox majority in Volhynia
. Despite numerous allegations, the Lavra survived them all and in process once again became the most visible Orthodox centre in the Second Polish Republic
.
's Secret protocol, Western Volhynia was annexed
into the Ukrainian SSR
. Part of the local population viewed it, at least initially, as a form of liberation from Polish rule. However the Soviet governments' anti-religious stance became the new source of oppression, although the Ukrainian form of this persecution was somewhat less rigid than in that of the Russian lands in the early 1920s. The Lavra self-transferred to the Moscow Patriarchy, during this time thousands of Orthodox pilgrims, from all over the USSR, at their own risk, took the chance to pay a visit to the cloister that they feared would share the fate that of all others in the USSR. It was not to be, although the Lavra was thoroughly searched, the monastic livestock, orphanage and other communal services which it provided to the local community were promptly confiscated, the sheer numbers of visitors prevented the Soviets taking immediate action against a place that once again had become a refuge for Orthodoxy.
When Nazi Germany
invaded the USSR
on 22 June 1941, the Germans did not close the Lavra, but they did confiscate all that the Soviets could not get their hands on. During this time the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church
was formed. The Germans supported the church and forcefully transferred some of the Orthodox property to it. However, the Pochayiv Lavra refused to follow, what it called, a schism. Instead, in 1941 it became the center of the "Autonomist" movement, which claimed jurisdictional subordination to Moscow while at the same time being free to act independently of Moscow so long as the Moscow Patriarch was under Soviet control. During the war the Soviet policy toward religion changed completely. Reestablishing the patriarchy, the Russian Orthodox church took a strong patriotic position against the invaders and in occupied territories participated in the resistance. Whilst being a very visible centre of Orthodoxy prevented the Lavra taking such an active role as it potentially could, nevertheless it did provide refuge to the local population from Nazi persecution. In August 1944 the Red Army
liberated Volhynia and this time the soldiers bowed to its mighty walls.
Following the war, the Lavra was situated on a territory which contained the largest concentration of Orthodox parishes in the USSR. Its position of a forepost of Orthodoxy in western Ukraine was even more reinforced in 1948 after the state-organised Synod of Lviv, which terminated the Union of Brest
and forcibly disbanded Greek Catholicism in Eastern Galicia by converting them to Orthodoxy. However the post-war permissive attitude towards religion in the Soviet Union promptly ended with the new Thaw
policy of Nikita Khrushchev
in the late 1950s. During this time the Lavra came under extensive pressure from the Soviet government, subjected to regular raids and searches as well as constant monitoring. A museum of atheism
was opened in one of the confiscated church buildings in 1959. Yet despite this pressure the Lavra survived closure, and by the end of the 1970s was the main theological centre of the Ukrainian Exarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church.
In the late 1980s after the Soviet Union relaxed its restrictions on religion, the former Museum of Atheism was closed and was first turned into a theological school, which in turn became a seminary
in 1991. However at the same time the Byzantine Church, in Union with the Holy See
of Rome
, now the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church
, was revived, as was the Ukrainian Autocephaleous Orthodox Church. The Lavra's community unanimously declined any sympathy to these re-appearing Churches, attributing partly their action to some of the more violent methods that they, aided by nationalist paramilitaries employed, against the parishes of Russian Orthodox Church. On the contrary a Cossack regiment was formed to safeguard surviving Russian Orthodox parishes. Because the Lavra's rerise from Soviet persecution coincided with these events, its historical position as a forepost of Orthodoxy in Western Ukraine was once again unveiled. Even though since 1992 the Ukrainian Orthodox Church - Kiev Patriarchy also tried to obtain the Lavra, none of the attempts were successful. Its Cossacks pprevented seizure of many other Orthodox communities in Volhynia and in Ukraine by the Greek Catholic or Ukrainian Kiev Patriarchate jurisdictions.
On the 12th of May 2002, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church
canonized schema monk Amphilochius (Amfilohiy) of Pochayiv. Amphilochius of Pochayiv (in world Yakiv Holovatyuk 1894 - 1971) was born on November 27, 1894 in the village Mala Ilovytsya, in Shumsk raion
of Ternopil oblast
in western Ukraine
. In 1925 he became a monk and joined the community of Pochayiv Lavra. In 1936, Amphilochius had been given the rank of hieromonk
(priest-monk). His healing gifts attracted the attention of many people. Archimandrite
of Lavra blessed the monk in this work and allowed him to settle in a little hut near the cemetery. In the summers, the pilgrimage to Amphilochius (then called father Joseph) was increasing, reaching 500 people daily. On the 11 / 12 May 2002, he was canonized by the Orthodox Church after the church commission researched his life. Just before Easter his relics were uncovered fully intact. Over 20.000 Orthodox pilgrims arrived to take part in the veneration of Saint Amphilochius. Many healings took place when people come to touch his relics.
Since independence the Lavra has made many efforts to become the second Orthodox centre in Ukraine, after the Kiev Monastery of the Caves. The first alumni from its seminary have by now gained bishop rank. The literature that is published and the icons drawn inside its walls can be found all over Ukraine, and outside in neighboring Russia and Belarus. Millions of Orthodox pilgrims visit the ancient cloister
from all over the former USSR, the Balkans, and the more distant Orthodox places.
The lavra is dominated by the Dormition Cathedral, conceived by Nicholas Potocki as the largest of Greek-Catholic churches and constructed between 1771 and 1783 to designs by the German architect Gottfried Hoffmann. The exterior of the cathedral, with two lofty towers flanking the façade, is rigorously formulated in the style transitional between baroque
and neoclassicism
. Several subsidiary structures, notably a winter chapel from 1862 and a refectory
from 1888, adjoin the main church.
After the Greek-Catholic clergy reverted to Orthodoxy, the rich and refined interior of the cathedral had to be completely renovated in order to conform to traditional Orthodox requirements. After a fire in 1874 the internal artworks were repainted by the academic Vasilyev and also participating was a sculptor Poliyevsky. The cathedral contains the tomb of Nicholas Potocki and two greatest shrines of Pochayiv - the footprint and the icon of the Theotokos.
To the southeast of the Assumption Cathedral stands the 65-metre bell tower
, one of the tallest in Ukraine, erected in four levels between 1861 and 1869. Its largest bell, cast in 1886, weighs 11,5 tonnes.
Nearby is the Trinity Cathedral, constructed between 1906 and 1912 to a revivalist design by Aleksey Schusev. The cathedral's austere exterior is based on medieval Northern Russian architecture, while the porches feature Symbolist mosaics and paintings by Nicholas Roerich
.
The cave churches of St Job and of Sts Anthony and Theodosius are situated for the most part beneath the ground. Their construction started in 1774 and was carried on in several stages, the last in 1860. The church of St Job contains a famous gift from Countess Orlov
a, a silver reliquary
with relics of that saint.
More recent constructions include two chapels, one to mark the 400th anniversary of the transfer of the beholied icon of Theotokos by Anna Hoiskaja, was completed in 1997. Another chapel, to honour the second millennia since the birth of Christ, was built in 2000.
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
. The monastery tops a 60-metre hill in the town of Pochayiv, Ternopil Oblast
Ternopil Oblast
Ternopil Oblast is an oblast' of Ukraine. Its administrative center is Ternopil, through which flows the Seret River, a tributary of the Dnister.-Geography:...
, 18 km southwest of Kremenets
Kremenets
Kremenets is a city in the Ternopil Oblast of western Ukraine. It is the administrative center of the Kremenets Raion , and rests 18 km north-east of the great Pochayiv Monastery...
and 50 km north of Ternopil
Ternopil
Ternopil , is a city in western Ukraine, located on the banks of the Seret River. Ternopil is one of the major cities of Western Ukraine and the historical region of Galicia...
.
Origins
A first record of the monastery in Pochayiv dates back to 1527, although a local tradition claims that it was established three centuries earlier, during the Mongol invasionMongol invasion of Rus
The Mongol invasion of Russia was resumed on 21 December 1237 marking the resumption of the Mongol invasion of Europe, during which the Mongols attacked the medieval powers of Poland, Kiev, Hungary, and miscellaneous tribes of less organized peoples...
, by several runaway monks, either from the Kiev Monastery of the Caves or from the Holy Mountain
Mount Athos
Mount Athos is a mountain and peninsula in Macedonia, Greece. A World Heritage Site, it is home to 20 Eastern Orthodox monasteries and forms a self-governed monastic state within the sovereignty of the Hellenic Republic. Spiritually, Mount Athos comes under the direct jurisdiction of the...
. The legend has it that the Theotokos
Theotokos
Theotokos is the Greek title of Mary, the mother of Jesus used especially in the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and Eastern Catholic Churches. Its literal English translations include God-bearer and the one who gives birth to God. Less literal translations include Mother of God...
appeared to the monks
Marian apparitions
A Marian apparition is an event in which the Blessed Virgin Mary is believed to have supernaturally appeared to one or more people. They are often given names based on the town in which they were reported, or on the sobriquet which was given to Mary on the occasion of the apparition...
in the shape of a column of fire, leaving her footprint in the rock
Sledovik
Sledovik is a most widespread type of sacred stones, venerated in Slavic and Uralic pagan practices...
she stood upon. This imprint came to be revered by the local population and brethren for the curative, medicinal properties of the water that issued from it.
In the 16th century, the abbey was prosperous enough to commission a stone cathedral and to host a busy annual fair
Fair
A fair or fayre is a gathering of people to display or trade produce or other goods, to parade or display animals and often to enjoy associated carnival or funfair entertainment. It is normally of the essence of a fair that it is temporary; some last only an afternoon while others may ten weeks. ...
. Its standing was further augmented in 1597, when a noble lady, Anna Hojska, presented to the monastery her extensive lands and a miracle-working icon
Icon
An icon is a religious work of art, most commonly a painting, from Eastern Christianity and in certain Eastern Catholic churches...
of the Theotokos. This image, traditionally known as Our Lady of Pochayiv, had been given to Anna by a passer-by Bulgaria
Bulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...
n bishop, and helped to cure her brother from blindness.
St Job of Pochayiv
In 1604, the monastic community was joined by Ivan Zalizo, a well-known champion of Eastern Orthodoxy and vocal critic of the Union of BrestUnion of Brest
Union of Brest or Union of Brześć refers to the 1595-1596 decision of the Church of Rus', the "Metropolia of Kiev-Halych and all Rus'", to break relations with the Patriarch of Constantinople and place themselves under the Pope of Rome. At the time, this church included most Ukrainians and...
. Formerly associated with the printing house of Prince Ostrogski
Ostrogski
Ostrogski was one of the greatest Ruthenian princely families of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.They were most likely of Rurikid stock and descended from Sviatopolk II of Kiev. Some scholars however claim their descent from Galicia-Volhynia line of Rurikid dynasty. Vasilko Romanovich Prince of...
, Zalizo established a press in Pochayiv in 1730, which supplied all of Galicia and Volhynia
Volhynia
Volhynia, Volynia, or Volyn is a historic region in western Ukraine located between the rivers Prypiat and Southern Bug River, to the north of Galicia and Podolia; the region is named for the former city of Volyn or Velyn, said to have been located on the Southern Bug River, whose name may come...
with theological literature. The press continued to function until 1924, when it was taken to the Holy Trinity Monastery in Jordanville, New York
Jordanville, New York
Jordanville is a hamlet in the town of Warren, Herkimer County, New York. Jordanville is in the northwest part of Warren, at the intersection of Routes 18 and 155. The community was settled before 1791.-Gelston Castle:...
.
Zalizo received the monastic name of Job and was elected the monastery's hegumen
Hegumen
Hegumen, hegumenos, igumen, or ihumen is the title for the head of a monastery of the Eastern Orthodox Church or Eastern Catholic Churches, similar to the one of abbot. The head of a convent of nuns is called hegumenia or ihumenia . The term means "the one who is in charge", "the leader" in...
. Job introduced strict discipline and other reforms of monastic life. During his time in office, the monastery had to fend off incessant attacks by Hojska's heirs, notably Andrzej Firlej, Castellan of Belz
Belz
Belz , a small city in the Lviv Oblast of Western Ukraine, near the border with Poland, is located between the Solokiya river and the Rzeczyca stream....
, who sued the monks over his grandmother's bequest. In 1623, Firlej raided the monastery, taking the holy icon with him and keeping it until 1641, when a court decision finally returned the icon to the monks. Job of Pochayiv
Saint Job of Pochayiv
Saint Job of Pochayiv was a Ukrainian Orthodox monk and Eastern Orthodox saint.-Childhood and early years:Job was born around 1551 near the city of Kolomyja, in the area known as Pokuttya in Ivano-Frankivska oblast of western part of Ukraine, when it was within the Polish kingdom.His pious...
died on October 25, 1651 and was glorified as a saint soon thereafter.
In union with Rome
Zbarazh
Zbarazh is a city in the Ternopil Oblast of western Ukraine. It is the administrative center of the Zbarazh Raion , and is located in the historic region of Galicia....
of 1675, the cloister was besieged by the Turkish Army
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
, who reputedly fled upon seeing the apparition of the Theotokos
Theotokos
Theotokos is the Greek title of Mary, the mother of Jesus used especially in the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and Eastern Catholic Churches. Its literal English translations include God-bearer and the one who gives birth to God. Less literal translations include Mother of God...
accompanied with angels and St Job. Numerous Turkish Muslims that witnessed the event during the siege converted to Christianity afterward. One of the monastery chapels commemorates this event.
According to some sources, Feofan Prokopovich
Feofan Prokopovich
thumb|Theophan ProkopovichFeofan/Theophan Prokopovich was an archbishop and statesman in the Russian Empire, of Ukrainian descent. He elaborated and implemented Peter the Great's reform of the Russian Orthodox Church...
, a Ukrainian-born reformer of the Russian Orthodox Church
Russian Orthodox Church
The Russian Orthodox Church or, alternatively, the Moscow Patriarchate The ROC is often said to be the largest of the Eastern Orthodox churches in the world; including all the autocephalous churches under its umbrella, its adherents number over 150 million worldwide—about half of the 300 million...
, took monastic vows in Pochayiv; he subsequently visited the monastery with his sovereign, Peter the Great
Peter I of Russia
Peter the Great, Peter I or Pyotr Alexeyevich Romanov Dates indicated by the letters "O.S." are Old Style. All other dates in this article are New Style. ruled the Tsardom of Russia and later the Russian Empire from until his death, jointly ruling before 1696 with his half-brother, Ivan V...
, in 1712.
After 1720, when the monastery was taken over by the Greek Catholic
Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church
The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church , Ukrainska Hreko-Katolytska Tserkva), is the largest Eastern Rite Catholic sui juris particular church in full communion with the Holy See, and is directly subject to the Pope...
Basilian monk
Basilian monk
Basilian monks are monks who follow the "Rule" of Saint Basil the Great, bishop of Caesarea. The chief importance of the monastic rules and institutes of St. Basil lies in the fact that to this day his reconstruction of the monastic life is the basis of most of the monasticism practiced in the...
s, its prosperity steadily dwindled. The process was reversed due to one singular occurrence. In 1759, a coach of Count Mikołaj Bazyli Potocki capsized near the monastery walls. In a fit of anger, Potocki fired at his driver three times, all without avail. Attributing this failure to the divine intercession, Potocki settled in Pochayiv and started to lavish gifts upon the cloister.
In 1773, Potocki (who was a Roman Catholic) petitioned the Pope
Pope Clement XIV
Pope Clement XIV , born Giovanni Vincenzo Antonio Ganganelli, was Pope from 1769 to 1774. At the time of his election, he was the only Franciscan friar in the College of Cardinals.-Early life:...
to recognize the Pochayiv icon as miraculous and St Job as a Catholic saint. Only the former petition was satisfied. Upon Potocki's death in 1782, he was interred at the Assumption Cathedral whose construction he had subsidized.
Between Poland and Russia
In 1795 in result of the Third Partition of PolandPartitions of Poland
The Partitions of Poland or Partitions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth took place in the second half of the 18th century and ended the existence of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, resulting in the elimination of sovereign Poland for 123 years...
, Volhynia
Volhynia
Volhynia, Volynia, or Volyn is a historic region in western Ukraine located between the rivers Prypiat and Southern Bug River, to the north of Galicia and Podolia; the region is named for the former city of Volyn or Velyn, said to have been located on the Southern Bug River, whose name may come...
became a part of the Russian Empire
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
. Although a reversion of Greek Catholics to Russian Orthodoxy began, the Russian Imperial authorities did not immediately push this to confiscate the property of those who chose not to do so. Moreover the typography and religious schools in the monastery continued to use Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
whilst the main language of communication was Polish
Polish language
Polish is a language of the Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages, used throughout Poland and by Polish minorities in other countries...
. Nevertheless the first Russophilic
Russophilia
Russophilia is the love of Russia and/or Russians. The term is used in two basic contexts: in international politics and in cultural context. "Russophilia" and "Russophilic" are the terms used to denote pro-Russian sentiments, usually in politics and literature...
tendencies demonstrated themselves at that time. In 1823, the Orthodox Bishop of Volhynia, Stephan wrote to Emperor Alexander I
Alexander I of Russia
Alexander I of Russia , served as Emperor of Russia from 23 March 1801 to 1 December 1825 and the first Russian King of Poland from 1815 to 1825. He was also the first Russian Grand Duke of Finland and Lithuania....
asking to return the Pochayiv Monastery to the Russian Orthodox Church but his request was overruled. It was only in 1831, after the Greek-Catholic support for the November Uprising
November Uprising
The November Uprising , Polish–Russian War 1830–31 also known as the Cadet Revolution, was an armed rebellion in the heartland of partitioned Poland against the Russian Empire. The uprising began on 29 November 1830 in Warsaw when the young Polish officers from the local Army of the Congress...
, that Nicholas I of Russia
Nicholas I of Russia
Nicholas I , was the Emperor of Russia from 1825 until 1855, known as one of the most reactionary of the Russian monarchs. On the eve of his death, the Russian Empire reached its historical zenith spanning over 20 million square kilometers...
ordered the cloister to be restituted to the Russian Orthodox Church
Russian Orthodox Church
The Russian Orthodox Church or, alternatively, the Moscow Patriarchate The ROC is often said to be the largest of the Eastern Orthodox churches in the world; including all the autocephalous churches under its umbrella, its adherents number over 150 million worldwide—about half of the 300 million...
, which was reconsecrated as an Orthodox entity on the 10th of October of that year ending 110 years of Greek-Catholic
Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church
The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church , Ukrainska Hreko-Katolytska Tserkva), is the largest Eastern Rite Catholic sui juris particular church in full communion with the Holy See, and is directly subject to the Pope...
monastic life. During the takeover the Basilian monastics in residence there took the original icon of Pochaiv to their monastery in Warsaw, where it remains.
Two years later, in 1833, the monastery was accorded the status of lavra
Lavra
In Orthodox Christianity and certain other Eastern Christian communities Lavra or Laura originally meant a cluster of cells or caves for hermits, with a church and sometimes a refectory at the center...
and became the summer residence for the Orthodox bishops of Volhynia. Towards the end of the 19th century, Pochayiv became a mecca of Orthodox pilgrims from all the empire and the Balkans
Balkans
The Balkans is a geopolitical and cultural region of southeastern Europe...
. Its symbolic image of a western forepost of Orthodoxy (being only several kilometres from the Greek-Catholic, Austrian-ruled Galicia) was widely used in propagating Pan-slavism
Pan-Slavism
Pan-Slavism was a movement in the mid-19th century aimed at unity of all the Slavic peoples. The main focus was in the Balkans where the South Slavs had been ruled for centuries by other empires, Byzantine Empire, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire, and Venice...
.
That is exactly what happened during the first days of World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, when thousands of Galician Ukrainians
Ukrainians
Ukrainians are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine, which is the sixth-largest nation in Europe. The Constitution of Ukraine applies the term 'Ukrainians' to all its citizens...
paid pilgrimage to the Lavra and some converted to Russian Orthodoxy. In 1915 the Lavra, along with the whole of Volhynia, became a front-line between Austria and Russia. However the looting by the Austrians in 1915 was just the start of its long journey into the 20th century.
After the Russian October Revolution
October Revolution
The October Revolution , also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution , Red October, the October Uprising or the Bolshevik Revolution, was a political revolution and a part of the Russian Revolution of 1917...
of 1917, another looting by Bolsheviks, and the short-lived Ukrainian
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
states, western Volhynia was transferred to Poland under the terms of the Peace of Riga
Peace of Riga
The Peace of Riga, also known as the Treaty of Riga; was signed in Riga on 18 March 1921, between Poland, Soviet Russia and Soviet Ukraine. The treaty ended the Polish-Soviet War....
. In 1921 the Lavra found itself on a crisis state with little food and lots of physical damage caused by nearly a decade of unrest. The most worrying factor for the monks, however, was the ecclesiastical link to whom it should submit. Like most Russian Orthodox communities that found themselves outside the USSR, and thus outside any possible ecclesiastical control from the persecuted Russian Orthodox Church
Russian Orthodox Church
The Russian Orthodox Church or, alternatively, the Moscow Patriarchate The ROC is often said to be the largest of the Eastern Orthodox churches in the world; including all the autocephalous churches under its umbrella, its adherents number over 150 million worldwide—about half of the 300 million...
, the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople
Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople
The Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople , part of the wider Orthodox Church, is one of the fourteen autocephalous churches within the communion of Orthodox Christianity...
agreed to take over Moscow's role and the Lavra became part of the Polish Orthodox Church
Polish Orthodox Church
The Polish Autocephalous Orthodox Church, commonly known as the Polish Orthodox Church, , is one of the autocephalous Eastern Orthodox Churches in full communion...
in 1923.
Until the end of the 1920s the Lavra was a peaceful place and repaired many of its damaged buildings. It was the first complete monastery to have its own electricity. However in 1929 a new wave of persecutions, this time from Warsaw
Warsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
, hit the Orthodox majority in Volhynia
Volhynia
Volhynia, Volynia, or Volyn is a historic region in western Ukraine located between the rivers Prypiat and Southern Bug River, to the north of Galicia and Podolia; the region is named for the former city of Volyn or Velyn, said to have been located on the Southern Bug River, whose name may come...
. Despite numerous allegations, the Lavra survived them all and in process once again became the most visible Orthodox centre in the Second Polish Republic
Second Polish Republic
The Second Polish Republic, Second Commonwealth of Poland or interwar Poland refers to Poland between the two world wars; a period in Polish history in which Poland was restored as an independent state. Officially known as the Republic of Poland or the Commonwealth of Poland , the Polish state was...
.
Recent history
In 1939, under the terms of Molotov-Ribbentrop PactMolotov-Ribbentrop Pact
The Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, named after the Soviet foreign minister Vyacheslav Molotov and the German foreign minister Joachim von Ribbentrop, was an agreement officially titled the Treaty of Non-Aggression between Germany and the Soviet Union and signed in Moscow in the late hours of 23 August 1939...
's Secret protocol, Western Volhynia was annexed
Soviet annexation of Western Ukraine, 1939–1940
On the basis of a secret clause of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union , the Soviet Union invaded Poland on September 17, 1939, capturing the eastern regions of Poland , with Galicia and Volhynia, facing little Polish opposition and occupying the principal city of...
into the Ukrainian SSR
Ukrainian SSR
The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic or in short, the Ukrainian SSR was a sovereign Soviet Socialist state and one of the fifteen constituent republics of the Soviet Union lasting from its inception in 1922 to the breakup in 1991...
. Part of the local population viewed it, at least initially, as a form of liberation from Polish rule. However the Soviet governments' anti-religious stance became the new source of oppression, although the Ukrainian form of this persecution was somewhat less rigid than in that of the Russian lands in the early 1920s. The Lavra self-transferred to the Moscow Patriarchy, during this time thousands of Orthodox pilgrims, from all over the USSR, at their own risk, took the chance to pay a visit to the cloister that they feared would share the fate that of all others in the USSR. It was not to be, although the Lavra was thoroughly searched, the monastic livestock, orphanage and other communal services which it provided to the local community were promptly confiscated, the sheer numbers of visitors prevented the Soviets taking immediate action against a place that once again had become a refuge for Orthodoxy.
When Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
invaded the USSR
Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa was the code name for Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II that began on 22 June 1941. Over 4.5 million troops of the Axis powers invaded the USSR along a front., the largest invasion in the history of warfare...
on 22 June 1941, the Germans did not close the Lavra, but they did confiscate all that the Soviets could not get their hands on. During this time the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church
Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church
The Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church is one of the three major Orthodox Churches in Ukraine. Close to ten percent of the Christian population claim to be members of the UAOC. The other Churches are the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Kiev Patriarchate and the Ukrainian Russophile Orthodox...
was formed. The Germans supported the church and forcefully transferred some of the Orthodox property to it. However, the Pochayiv Lavra refused to follow, what it called, a schism. Instead, in 1941 it became the center of the "Autonomist" movement, which claimed jurisdictional subordination to Moscow while at the same time being free to act independently of Moscow so long as the Moscow Patriarch was under Soviet control. During the war the Soviet policy toward religion changed completely. Reestablishing the patriarchy, the Russian Orthodox church took a strong patriotic position against the invaders and in occupied territories participated in the resistance. Whilst being a very visible centre of Orthodoxy prevented the Lavra taking such an active role as it potentially could, nevertheless it did provide refuge to the local population from Nazi persecution. In August 1944 the Red Army
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
liberated Volhynia and this time the soldiers bowed to its mighty walls.
Following the war, the Lavra was situated on a territory which contained the largest concentration of Orthodox parishes in the USSR. Its position of a forepost of Orthodoxy in western Ukraine was even more reinforced in 1948 after the state-organised Synod of Lviv, which terminated the Union of Brest
Union of Brest
Union of Brest or Union of Brześć refers to the 1595-1596 decision of the Church of Rus', the "Metropolia of Kiev-Halych and all Rus'", to break relations with the Patriarch of Constantinople and place themselves under the Pope of Rome. At the time, this church included most Ukrainians and...
and forcibly disbanded Greek Catholicism in Eastern Galicia by converting them to Orthodoxy. However the post-war permissive attitude towards religion in the Soviet Union promptly ended with the new Thaw
Khrushchev Thaw
The Khrushchev Thaw refers to the period from the mid 1950s to the early 1960s, when repression and censorship in the Soviet Union were partially reversed and millions of Soviet political prisoners were released from Gulag labor camps, due to Nikita Khrushchev's policies of de-Stalinization and...
policy of Nikita Khrushchev
Nikita Khrushchev
Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev led the Soviet Union during part of the Cold War. He served as First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964, and as Chairman of the Council of Ministers, or Premier, from 1958 to 1964...
in the late 1950s. During this time the Lavra came under extensive pressure from the Soviet government, subjected to regular raids and searches as well as constant monitoring. A museum of atheism
Atheism
Atheism is, in a broad sense, the rejection of belief in the existence of deities. In a narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there are no deities...
was opened in one of the confiscated church buildings in 1959. Yet despite this pressure the Lavra survived closure, and by the end of the 1970s was the main theological centre of the Ukrainian Exarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church.
In the late 1980s after the Soviet Union relaxed its restrictions on religion, the former Museum of Atheism was closed and was first turned into a theological school, which in turn became a seminary
Seminary
A seminary, theological college, or divinity school is an institution of secondary or post-secondary education for educating students in theology, generally to prepare them for ordination as clergy or for other ministry...
in 1991. However at the same time the Byzantine Church, in Union with the Holy See
Holy See
The Holy See is the episcopal jurisdiction of the Catholic Church in Rome, in which its Bishop is commonly known as the Pope. It is the preeminent episcopal see of the Catholic Church, forming the central government of the Church. As such, diplomatically, and in other spheres the Holy See acts and...
of Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
, now the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church
Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church
The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church , Ukrainska Hreko-Katolytska Tserkva), is the largest Eastern Rite Catholic sui juris particular church in full communion with the Holy See, and is directly subject to the Pope...
, was revived, as was the Ukrainian Autocephaleous Orthodox Church. The Lavra's community unanimously declined any sympathy to these re-appearing Churches, attributing partly their action to some of the more violent methods that they, aided by nationalist paramilitaries employed, against the parishes of Russian Orthodox Church. On the contrary a Cossack regiment was formed to safeguard surviving Russian Orthodox parishes. Because the Lavra's rerise from Soviet persecution coincided with these events, its historical position as a forepost of Orthodoxy in Western Ukraine was once again unveiled. Even though since 1992 the Ukrainian Orthodox Church - Kiev Patriarchy also tried to obtain the Lavra, none of the attempts were successful. Its Cossacks pprevented seizure of many other Orthodox communities in Volhynia and in Ukraine by the Greek Catholic or Ukrainian Kiev Patriarchate jurisdictions.
Saint Amphilochius of Pochayiv
Ukrainian Orthodox Church
Ukrainian Orthodox Church may refer to:*Ukrainian Orthodox Church , established in 1990*Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyivan Patriarchate, established in 1992*Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church, established in 1921...
canonized schema monk Amphilochius (Amfilohiy) of Pochayiv. Amphilochius of Pochayiv (in world Yakiv Holovatyuk 1894 - 1971) was born on November 27, 1894 in the village Mala Ilovytsya, in Shumsk raion
Shumsk Raion
Shumsk Raion is a raion in Ternopil Oblast in western Ukraine. Its administrative center is Shumsk. It has a population of 36 511.-External links:*...
of Ternopil oblast
Ternopil Oblast
Ternopil Oblast is an oblast' of Ukraine. Its administrative center is Ternopil, through which flows the Seret River, a tributary of the Dnister.-Geography:...
in western Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
. In 1925 he became a monk and joined the community of Pochayiv Lavra. In 1936, Amphilochius had been given the rank of hieromonk
Hieromonk
Hieromonk , also called a Priestmonk, is a monk who is also a priest in the Orthodox Church and Eastern Catholicism....
(priest-monk). His healing gifts attracted the attention of many people. Archimandrite
Archimandrite
The title Archimandrite , primarily used in the Eastern Orthodox and the Eastern Catholic churches, originally referred to a superior abbot whom a bishop appointed to supervise...
of Lavra blessed the monk in this work and allowed him to settle in a little hut near the cemetery. In the summers, the pilgrimage to Amphilochius (then called father Joseph) was increasing, reaching 500 people daily. On the 11 / 12 May 2002, he was canonized by the Orthodox Church after the church commission researched his life. Just before Easter his relics were uncovered fully intact. Over 20.000 Orthodox pilgrims arrived to take part in the veneration of Saint Amphilochius. Many healings took place when people come to touch his relics.
Since independence the Lavra has made many efforts to become the second Orthodox centre in Ukraine, after the Kiev Monastery of the Caves. The first alumni from its seminary have by now gained bishop rank. The literature that is published and the icons drawn inside its walls can be found all over Ukraine, and outside in neighboring Russia and Belarus. Millions of Orthodox pilgrims visit the ancient cloister
Cloister
A cloister is a rectangular open space surrounded by covered walks or open galleries, with open arcades on the inner side, running along the walls of buildings and forming a quadrangle or garth...
from all over the former USSR, the Balkans, and the more distant Orthodox places.
Attractions
The lavra is dominated by the Dormition Cathedral, conceived by Nicholas Potocki as the largest of Greek-Catholic churches and constructed between 1771 and 1783 to designs by the German architect Gottfried Hoffmann. The exterior of the cathedral, with two lofty towers flanking the façade, is rigorously formulated in the style transitional between baroque
Baroque architecture
Baroque architecture is a term used to describe the building style of the Baroque era, begun in late sixteenth century Italy, that took the Roman vocabulary of Renaissance architecture and used it in a new rhetorical and theatrical fashion, often to express the triumph of the Catholic Church and...
and neoclassicism
Neoclassical architecture
Neoclassical architecture was an architectural style produced by the neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century, manifested both in its details as a reaction against the Rococo style of naturalistic ornament, and in its architectural formulas as an outgrowth of some classicizing...
. Several subsidiary structures, notably a winter chapel from 1862 and a refectory
Refectory
A refectory is a dining room, especially in monasteries, boarding schools and academic institutions. One of the places the term is most often used today is in graduate seminaries...
from 1888, adjoin the main church.
After the Greek-Catholic clergy reverted to Orthodoxy, the rich and refined interior of the cathedral had to be completely renovated in order to conform to traditional Orthodox requirements. After a fire in 1874 the internal artworks were repainted by the academic Vasilyev and also participating was a sculptor Poliyevsky. The cathedral contains the tomb of Nicholas Potocki and two greatest shrines of Pochayiv - the footprint and the icon of the Theotokos.
To the southeast of the Assumption Cathedral stands the 65-metre bell tower
Bell tower
A bell tower is a tower which contains one or more bells, or which is designed to hold bells, even if it has none. In the European tradition, such a tower most commonly serves as part of a church and contains church bells. When attached to a city hall or other civic building, especially in...
, one of the tallest in Ukraine, erected in four levels between 1861 and 1869. Its largest bell, cast in 1886, weighs 11,5 tonnes.
Nearby is the Trinity Cathedral, constructed between 1906 and 1912 to a revivalist design by Aleksey Schusev. The cathedral's austere exterior is based on medieval Northern Russian architecture, while the porches feature Symbolist mosaics and paintings by Nicholas Roerich
Nicholas Roerich
Nicholas Roerich, also known as Nikolai Konstantinovich Rerikh , was a Russian mystic, painter, philosopher, scientist, writer, traveler, and public figure. A prolific artist, he created thousands of paintings and about 30 literary works...
.
The cave churches of St Job and of Sts Anthony and Theodosius are situated for the most part beneath the ground. Their construction started in 1774 and was carried on in several stages, the last in 1860. The church of St Job contains a famous gift from Countess Orlov
Orlov
Orlov is the name of a Russian noble family which produced several distinguished statesmen, diplomatists and soldiers. The family first gained distinction in the person of four Orlov brothers, of whom the senior was Catherine the Great's paramour, and the two junior were notable military...
a, a silver reliquary
Reliquary
A reliquary is a container for relics. These may be the physical remains of saints, such as bones, pieces of clothing, or some object associated with saints or other religious figures...
with relics of that saint.
More recent constructions include two chapels, one to mark the 400th anniversary of the transfer of the beholied icon of Theotokos by Anna Hoiskaja, was completed in 1997. Another chapel, to honour the second millennia since the birth of Christ, was built in 2000.