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| Pochaiv Lavra | |
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Ukrainian:Свято-Успенська Почаївська Лавра | |
 General view of the Pochaiv Lavra | |
  Pochaiv Lavra  Pochaiv Lavra | |
| General information | |
| Location | Pochaiv,Kremenets Raion,Ternopil Oblast,Ukraine |
| Country |  Ukraine |
| Coordinates | 50°00′18″N25°30′24″E / 50.00500°N 25.50667°E /50.00500; 25.50667 |
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TheHoly Dormition Pochaiv Lavra[1] (Ukrainian:Свято-Успенська Почаївська Лавра,romanized: Sviato-Uspenska Pochaivska Lavra,Russian:Свято-Успенская Почаевская Лавра,Polish:Ławra Poczajowska), also sometimes known as thePochaiv Monastery, is a monastery andlavra inPochaiv,Kremenets Raion,Ternopil Oblast,Ukraine. The monastery tops a 60-metre hill in the town of Pochaiv, 18 km southwest ofKremenets and 70 km north ofTernopil.
The Pochaiv Lavra has been an important spiritual and ideological centre ofEastern Orthodoxy until 1720, then ofGreek Catholicism until 1831, after which it returned into the Russian Orthodox fold. In December 2023, after years of disputes,[2][3] a ruling by theSupreme Court of Ukraine deprived theUkrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) of its prior control of the monastery.[4]
A first record of the monastery in Pochaiv dates back to 1527, although a local tradition claims that it was established three centuries earlier, during theMongol invasion, by several runaway monks, either from theKyiv Monastery of the Caves or from theHoly Mount Athos. The legend has it that theTheotokosappeared to the monks in the shape of a column of fire, leaving herfootprint in the rock she stood upon.[5][6][7] 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 annualfair. Its standing was further augmented in 1597, when a noble lady, Anna Hoyska, presented to the monastery her extensive lands and a miracle-workingicon of the Theotokos. This image, traditionally known asOur Lady of Pochaiv, was given to Hojska by a passer-byBulgarian bishop, and helped to cure her brother from blindness.
In 1604, the monastic community was joined by Ivan Zalizo, a well-known champion ofEastern Orthodoxy in union with the then newly recognised Muscovite patriarchateRussian Orthodox Church who was a vocal critic of theUnion of Brest. Formerly associated with the printing house of PrinceOstrogski, Zalizo established a press in Pochaiv in 1630, which supplied all ofGalicia andVolhynia withRuthenians Orthodox theological literature. The press continued to function until 1924, when it was taken first to Czechoslovakia, then to Munich, and then, in 1946, to the Holy Trinity Monastery inJordanville, New York.
Zalizo received the monastic name of Job and was elected the monastery'shegumen. Job introduced strict discipline and other reforms of monastic life. During his time in office, the monastery had to fend off incessant attacks by Hoyska's heirs, notablyAndrzej Firlej, Castellan ofBelz, 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 Pochaiv died on 25 October 1651 and was glorified as a saint soon thereafter.
During theZbarazh War of 1675, the cloister was besieged by theTurkish Army, who reputedly fled upon seeing the apparition of theTheotokos accompanied with angels and St Job. According to tradition, 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 Ruthenian reformer of theRussian Orthodox Church, took monastic vows in Pochaiv; he subsequently visited the monastery with his sovereign,Peter the Great, in 1712.
After 1720, when the monastery was given toGreek CatholicBasilian monks. The process was reversed due to a seemingly miraculous occurrence. In 1759, a coach of CountMikołaj 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 Pochaiv and started to lavish gifts upon the cloister.
In 1773, Potocki (who was originally a Roman Catholic, and later became Greco-Catholic) petitioned thePope to recognize the Pochaiv icon as miraculous and St Job as a Catholic saint. Only the former petition was accepted. Upon Potocki's death in 1782, he was interred at the Assumption Cathedral whose construction he had subsidized.
In 1795 in result of theThird Partition of Poland,Volhynia became a part of theRussian 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 useLatin whilst the main language of communication wasPolish. Nevertheless, the firstRussophilic tendencies demonstrated themselves at that time.
Within thirty years of the division of Poland, the Orthodox Bishop of Volhynia, Stephan wrote to EmperorAlexander I seeking to have the Pochaiv Monastery turned over to the Russian Orthodox Church in 1823, but his request was initially overruled. However it was only nine years later, in 1831, after the Greek-Catholic support for theNovember Uprising, thatNicholas I of Russia ordered the cloister be given to the adherents of theRussian Orthodox Church. The monastery was reconsecrated as an Orthodox entity under the communion of the Moscovite Patriarchy on 10 October 1831, ending 110 years ofGreek-Catholic monastic life.
Two years later, in 1833, the Russian Church accorded the status oflavra upon the monastery, even though it had been a lavra during the time of the Basilians.[8] It also became the summer residence for the Russian Orthodox bishops of Volhynia. Towards the end of the 19th century, Pochaiv became a mecca of Orthodox pilgrims from across the Russian empire and theBalkans. Its politically symbolic image as a western forepost of imperial Orthodoxy (being only several kilometres from the Greek Catholics in Austrian-ruledGalicia) was widely used in propagatingPan-slavism.
During the first days ofWorld War I, thousands of GalicianUkrainians paid pilgrimage to the Lavra and some converted to Russian Orthodoxy, after the Russian imperial forces had swept over much of GaliciaBattle of Galicia - some of the Slav elements in the Austro-Hungarian armies surrendering to the Russians (cf.Russian occupation of Eastern Galicia, 1914–1915). In 1915 the Lavra, along with the whole of Volhynia, became a front-line between Austria and RussiaGreat Retreat (Russian). However the looting by the Austrians in 1915 was just the start of its long journey into the 20th century.
After the RussianOctober Revolution of 1917, another looting byBolsheviks, the short-livedUkrainian movements, and thePolish–Soviet War in 1920, western Volhynia was transferred to Poland under the terms of thePeace of Riga. In 1921 the Lavra found itself in a crisis state with little food and much physical damage caused by nearly a decade of unrest. The most worrying factor for the monks however, was the ecclesiastical link to which it should submit. Like most Russian Orthodox communities that found themselves outside theUSSR, and thus outside any possible ecclesiastical control from the persecutedRussian Orthodox Church, theEcumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople agreed to take over Moscow's role and the Lavra became part of thePolish 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. In 1929 after the Polish Republican decree on the protection of Ruthenians ceased the Roman Catholic Church immediately began to exploit this. The Lavra received more than a hundred accusations against it, demanding the Orthodox community to transfer the cloister. Despite numerous allegations, the Lavra survived them all and in the process once again became the most visible Orthodox centres in theSecond Polish Republic.
Pochaiv Lavra had an indirect influence on Orthodoxy in the West. Archimandrite Vitaly (Maximenko), the director of the monastery’s printshop, evacuated the monastery’s printshop following the Russian Revolution. He then fled toCzechoslovakia, where he started a new brotherhood and resumed publishing. This new St. Job of Pochaev Brotherhood moved from Czechoslovakia to Germany and eventually America, where it joined theHoly Trinity Monastery nearJordanville, New York, with now-Archbishop Vitaly becoming its abbot. Holy Trinity Monastery thus carried on the publishing legacy of St. Job of Pochaev.[9]
In 1939, under the terms ofMolotov–Ribbentrop Pact's Secret protocol,Western Volhynia was annexed into theUkrainian 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 theMoscow Patriarchy, during this time thousands of Orthodox pilgrims, from all over theUSSR, 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.
WhenNazi Germanyinvaded 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 theUkrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church was formed. The Germans supported that church and forcefully transferred some of the Orthodox property to it. However, the Pochaiv 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.[10]
During WWII the Soviet policy toward religion seemingly changed completely. After the reestablishment of patriarchy, the Russian Orthodox church (MP) took a strong pro-Soviet position against the Nazis and participated in the resistance on territories under Nazis. Whilst being a very visible centre of Orthodoxy prevented the Lavra from taking such an active role as it potentially could, nevertheless it did provide refuge to the local population from Nazi persecution. In August 1944 theRed Army liberated Volhynia and it is said[according to whom?] "this time the soldiers bowed to its mighty walls."[citation needed]
Following the war, the Lavra was situated on a territory which contained the largest concentration of Orthodox parishes in the USSR. Its position as a forepost of Orthodoxy in western Ukraine was even more reinforced in 1948 after the Soviet state-organised Synod of Lviv, which terminated theUnion of Brest and forcibly disbanded Greek Catholicism inEastern Galicia by converting them to Russian Orthodoxy. However the post-war permissive attitude towards religion in the Soviet Union promptly ended with the newThaw policy ofNikita 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 ofatheism was opened in one of the confiscated church buildings in 1959.The monastery buildings were confiscated by the Soviets, and from the 1960s until 2000 the monks were required to pay rent.[11] Yet despite this pressure the Lavra survived closure, and by the end of the 1970s was the main theological centre of Moscow Patriarchy's Ukrainian Exarchate in 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 aseminary in 1991. At the same time theUkrainian Greek Catholic Church, was revived, as was theUkrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church. The Lavra's community unanimously declined any sympathy to these newly restored communities, attributing their action partly to some of the more violent methods that were employed, aided by nationalist paramilitaries, against the parishes of the Russian Orthodox Church.[12]
In opposition a Cossack regiment was formed to safeguard Russian Orthodox parishes. Because the Lavra's rise from Soviet persecution coincided with these events, its politico-historical position as a forepost of Orthodoxy in Western Ukraine was once again unveiled. The Cossacks prevented seizure of Orthodox communities in Volhynia and in Ukraine by the Greek Catholic or Ukrainian Kyiv Patriarchate jurisdictions (the ambiguous position of Greek Catholic churches and property seized for the Russian Orthodoxy remained unsettled.[13]
In 2000, Presidential decrees returned the possession of the Lavra to the church, and the monks were no longer required to pay rent.[11]
In 2002, theTernopil Oblast Council established the Kremenets-Pochaiv State Historical-Architectural Preserve and declared the monastery to be part of it. However, in 2003, on the petition of the monks, theCabinet of Ministers of Ukraine took the historical buildings of the Lavra out of the Preserve and transferred them to theUkrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) and the monks, subject to a lease for 49 years, running until 1 January 2052.[11][14]
In July 2014, the Ternopil Oblast Council initiated an appeal toPrime MinisterArseniy Yatsenyuk to rescind the lease and to return the monastery buildings to the Preserve. In April 2015, the regional council voted to petition Yatsenyuk, andhis Cabinet to take the monastery out of the hands of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) and turn it into a museum.[11]
In November 2022, theSecurity Service of Ukraine (SBU),Ukrainian police, and theNational Guard of Ukraine raided the Lavra following the2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.[15][14] This was part ofmore searches conducted by Ukrainian law enforcement at premises of theUkrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate).[16]
In January 2023 TheUkrainian Greek Catholic Church stated it wanted to obtain the right to hold services in the Pochaiv Lavra.[17][14]
In February 2023 the Ternopil Oblast Council created a working group studying the legality of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) leasing the Lavra complex.[14] The following month theOrthodox Church of Ukraine asked to allocate premises of the Lavra to them "for monastic life, liturgy and other religious activities."[14]
On 12 May 2002, theUkrainian Orthodox Church canonized schema monkAmphilochius (Amfilohiy) of Pochaiv.Amphilochius of Pochaiv (in world Yakiv Holovatyuk 1894 - 1971) was born on 27 November 1894 in the village Mala Ilovytsya, inShumsk raion ofTernopil Oblast in westernUkraine. In 1925 he became a monk and joined the community of Pochaiv Lavra. In 1936, Amphilochius had been given the rank ofhieromonk (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 theKyiv Monastery of the Caves. The firstalumni from its seminary have by now gained bishop rank. The literature that is published and the icons on its walls can be found all over Ukraine, and outside in neighboring Russia and Belarus. Millions of Orthodox pilgrims visit the ancientcloister from all over the former USSR, the Balkans, and 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 architectGottfried Hoffmann. The exterior of the cathedral, with two lofty towers flanking the façade, is rigorously formulated in the style transitional betweenbaroque andneoclassicism. Several subsidiary structures, notably a winter chapel from 1862 and arefectory 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 Pochaiv - the footprint and the icon of the Theotokos.
To the southeast of the Assumption Cathedral stands the 65-metrebell 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 byAleksey Schusev. The cathedral's austere exterior is based on medieval Northern Russian architecture, while the porches feature Symbolist mosaics and paintings byNicholas 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 fromCountess Orlova, a silverreliquary 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.
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