Zarvanytsia
Encyclopedia
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 the west of 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...
, about 20 km (12 mi) SW from Terebovlia
Terebovlia
Terebovlia is a small city in the Ternopil Oblast of western Ukraine, and the administrative center of the Terebovlya Raion . In modern medieval English history texts it is usually written Terebovl....
, 22 km (14 mi) N of Buchach
Buchach
Buchach is a small city located on the Strypa River in the Ternopil Oblast of western Ukraine...
and 18 km (11 mi) SE of Pidhaitsi
Pidhaitsi
Pidhaitsi is a small city in the Ternopil Oblast of western Ukraine. It is the administrative center of the Pidhaitsi Raion , and is located at around . Pidhaitsi is situated ca. 15.5 mi south of Berezhany, 43.5 mi from Ternopil and ca. 62 mi south-east of Lviv. In 1939...
, within an oxbow loop of the Strypa River at around 49°13′N 25°22′E. The village is known for its 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 Mother of God and is a popular site of pilgrimage
Pilgrimage
A pilgrimage is a journey or search of great moral or spiritual significance. Typically, it is a journey to a shrine or other location of importance to a person's beliefs and faith...
, attracting Ukrainians both from the country as well as the diaspora scattered around the world.
The history of the village and the icon dates back to the 13th century. In 1240, a monk fled the Ukrainian capital of Kiev
Kiev
Kiev or Kyiv is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population as of the 2001 census was 2,611,300. However, higher numbers have been cited in the press....
, which was devastated by a Mongol invasion, and stopped in a secluded valley to drink water from a spring and pray to the Blessed Virgin. Having done so, and exhausted by the long travel, he fell asleep and saw the Mother of God. After awakening completely rejuvenated, he found the icon and decided to stay there and build a chapel by the spring to house the icon. News of the miraculous icon spread among the local population and reached the gravely sick duke of Terebovlia Vasylko (brother of the first and only Ukrainian king Danylo of Halych). The duke ordered the icon to be brought to him but when the monk refused, he himself traveled to Zarvanytsia and prayed in front of the icon and was cured. Out of gratitude, he founded a church and monastery there.
The first written mention of the settlement dates to 1458. Ruins of fortifications from around that time can still be found in the village. During the years 1662–1688, the village was plundered by Turks
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...
and the church was burned down but the icon was saved and placed in a newly built church. In 1740 another icon, of the Crucified Christ, was also placed in Zarvaytisa, and two years later crowned by Metropolitan Athanasius Sheptytsky.
In 1754 the fourth church, this time out of stone, was built to replace a wooden one which was destroyed in a fire. The site of the wooden church is marked by a stone cross. This church, dedicated to the Holy Trinity still stands today.
In 1867, Pope Pius IX granted Zarvanytsia the status of a sanctuary and the icon of the Mother of God was crowned, thanks to the efforts of local priest Fr Porfiriy Mandyczewsky.
In 1916, during 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...
, the village and the monastery were badly damaged, but they were rebuilt six years later with the help of Metropolitan Andrew Sheptytsky who personally visited Zarvanytsia. Joseph Slipyj, the future leader of the Ukrainian Church, also frequently visited the shrine.
The greatest cataclysm came upon Zarvanytsia with the advent of Soviet rule. The monastery was burned to the ground along with its church, the parochial church of the Holy Trinity was closed and turned into a warehouse, the miraculous spring surrounded with barbed wire and turned into a dump. During major holy days, the entire village was blocked by the militia
Militsiya
Militsiya or militia is used as an official name of the civilian police in several former communist states, despite its original military connotation...
. In 1946, the entire 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 officially banned by the Communists and made subject to the Moscow Patriarchate. Despite this, the Catacomb Church continued to function here, with the icons safely hidden and Divine Liturgy
Divine Liturgy
Divine Liturgy is the common term for the Eucharistic service of the Byzantine tradition of Christian liturgy. As such, it is used in the Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Catholic Churches. Armenian Christians, both of the Armenian Apostolic Church and of the Armenian Catholic Church, use the same term...
celebrated in private houses or the surrounding forests and even a secret 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...
opened in 1975. With the imminent collapse of the Soviet Union on 17 July 1988, over 10,000 faithful gathered in Zarvanytsia to commemorate the millennium of Christianity in Ukraine, celebrated by Bishop Pavlo Vasylyk. On 23 November 1989, the Divine Liturgy could for the first time in half a century be celebrated in the church of the Holy Trinity. In 1991, the year Ukraine regained independence, the church was repaired and the chapel at the spring was rebuilt, as was the monastery of the Studite Monks with its church of the Nativity of the Mother of God.
In 1991, the shrine was visited by Myroslav Ivan Lubachivsky, the head of the Ukrainian Church and in 1993 by archbishop Volodymyr Sterniuk
Volodymyr Sterniuk
Volodymyr Sterniuk was a Ukrainian Greek Catholic archbishop and the acting head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church in Ukraine from 1972-91....
, locum tenens of the Church in Ukraine in the years 1972–1991. In April 1995, mass celebrations were held commending the Ukrainian nation to the protection of the Mother of God, renewing the vows of Yaroslav the Wise made in 1037, and in 1996 celebrating the 400th anniversary of the restoration of communion with the Catholic Church in 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...
. In July 1997, the beginning of the Ukrainian preparations for the Great Jubilee
Great Jubilee
The Great Jubilee in 2000 was a major event in the Roman Catholic Church, held from December 24, 1999 to January 6, 2001. Like other previous Jubilee years, it was a celebration of the mercy of God and forgiveness of sins...
was officially announced here and in 1999, Ukrainian martyrs of the 20th century were commemorated. In 2000, Cardinal Lubomyr Husar celebrated the first Mass in the newly built sobor of the Mother of God of Zarvanytsia. During the pilgrimage of the Holy Father John Paul II to Ukraine in 2001, he prayed by the icon of the Mother of God of Zarvanytsia in the church of St. Nicholas the Miracle Worker on Askoldova Mohyla in Kiev
Kiev
Kiev or Kyiv is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population as of the 2001 census was 2,611,300. However, higher numbers have been cited in the press....
. In 2002 the Patriarchal Council of the Ukrainian Church was concluded in Zarvanytsia gathering Church delegates from around the world. In 2003, an ecumenical pilgrimage by the Orthodox Brotherhood of St. Andrew the First-Called Apostle was held. In August 2004, Zarvanytsia hosted an international pilgrimage of reconciliation between Poles and Ukrainians, led by Cardinal Husar and the Primate of Poland, Cardinal Joseph Glemp, together with fifteen bishops from both nations.
The new church, largest in the Podolia
Podolia
The region of Podolia is an historical region in the west-central and south-west portions of present-day Ukraine, corresponding to Khmelnytskyi Oblast and Vinnytsia Oblast. Northern Transnistria, in Moldova, is also a part of Podolia...
and visible far outside the village and well inscribed into the landscape, has a single nave Byzantine
Byzantine architecture
Byzantine architecture is the architecture of the Byzantine Empire. The empire gradually emerged as a distinct artistic and cultural entity from what is today referred to as the Roman Empire after AD 330, when the Roman Emperor Constantine moved the capital of the Roman Empire east from Rome to...
cross-dome plan with five cupolas representing Christ and the four Evangelists. Along with the gates, the church of Annunciation
Annunciation
The Annunciation, also referred to as the Annunciation to the Blessed Virgin Mary or Annunciation of the Lord, is the Christian celebration of the announcement by the angel Gabriel to Virgin Mary, that she would conceive and become the mother of Jesus the Son of God. Gabriel told Mary to name her...
, bell tower and chapels it has been built largely by donations from the Ukrainian diaspora
Ukrainian diaspora
The Ukrainian diaspora is the global community of ethnic Ukrainians, especially those who maintain some kind of connection, even if ephemeral, to the land of their ancestors and maintain their feeling of Ukrainian national identity within their own local community.-1608 To 1880:After the loss...
as the country's economic situation is still ravaged by extreme poverty.
Along with the Holy Dormition Lavra in Univ and the monastery of the Basilian Fathers in Krekhiv
Krekhiv
Krekhiv is a village in the Lviv Oblast of Ukraine, located within the densely forested Roztochia Upland about 10km west of Zhovkva and 50km north of Lviv at around...
, Zarvanytsia is one of the most important pilgrimage sites in Ukraine. It is the destination of an annual youth pilgrimage and numerous eparchial pilgrimages from the farthest corners of Ukraine and Ukrainian parishes abroad and even some Latin rite faithful from neighboring countries such as Poland and Slovakia.