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Pochaiv Lavra
The Holy Dormition Pochaiv Lavra, also sometimes known as the Pochaiv Monastery, is a monastery and lavra in Pochaiv, Kremenets Raion, Ternopil Oblast, Ukraine. The monastery tops a 60-metre hill in the town of Pochaiv, 18 km southwest of Kremenets and 70 km north of Ternopil.
The Pochaiv Lavra has been an important spiritual and ideological centre of Eastern Orthodoxy until 1720, then of Greek Catholicism until 1831, after which it returned into the Russian Orthodox fold. In December 2023, after years of disputes, a ruling by the Supreme Court of Ukraine gave the Orthodox Church of Ukraine the spiritual control of the monastery.
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 the Mongol invasion, by several runaway monks, either from the Kyiv Monastery of the Caves or from the Holy Mount Athos. 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 Pochaiv, was given to Hojska by a passer-by Bulgarian bishop, and helped to cure her brother from blindness.
In 1604, the monastic community was joined by Ivan Zalizo, a well-known champion of Eastern Orthodoxy in union with the then newly recognised Muscovite patriarchate Russian Orthodox Church who was a vocal critic of the Union of Brest. Formerly associated with the printing house of Prince Ostrogski, Zalizo established a press in Pochaiv in 1630, which supplied all of Galicia and Volhynia with Ruthenians 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 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 Hoyska'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 Pochaiv died on 25 October 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. 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 the Russian Orthodox Church, took monastic vows in Pochaiv; he subsequently visited the monastery with his sovereign, Peter the Great, in 1712.
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Pochaiv Lavra
The Holy Dormition Pochaiv Lavra, also sometimes known as the Pochaiv Monastery, is a monastery and lavra in Pochaiv, Kremenets Raion, Ternopil Oblast, Ukraine. The monastery tops a 60-metre hill in the town of Pochaiv, 18 km southwest of Kremenets and 70 km north of Ternopil.
The Pochaiv Lavra has been an important spiritual and ideological centre of Eastern Orthodoxy until 1720, then of Greek Catholicism until 1831, after which it returned into the Russian Orthodox fold. In December 2023, after years of disputes, a ruling by the Supreme Court of Ukraine gave the Orthodox Church of Ukraine the spiritual control of the monastery.
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 the Mongol invasion, by several runaway monks, either from the Kyiv Monastery of the Caves or from the Holy Mount Athos. 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 Pochaiv, was given to Hojska by a passer-by Bulgarian bishop, and helped to cure her brother from blindness.
In 1604, the monastic community was joined by Ivan Zalizo, a well-known champion of Eastern Orthodoxy in union with the then newly recognised Muscovite patriarchate Russian Orthodox Church who was a vocal critic of the Union of Brest. Formerly associated with the printing house of Prince Ostrogski, Zalizo established a press in Pochaiv in 1630, which supplied all of Galicia and Volhynia with Ruthenians 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 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 Hoyska'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 Pochaiv died on 25 October 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. 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 the Russian Orthodox Church, took monastic vows in Pochaiv; he subsequently visited the monastery with his sovereign, Peter the Great, in 1712.