www.byzcath.org Forums News & Events Church News GC Bishops at St. Nicholas Monastery, Mukachevo

I've been doing some research on the icon of OL of Mukachevo which was enshrined at the monastery before it was confiscated by the communists and handed over to the Orthodox.
The original icon was kept hidden and is now enshrined at the Basilian monastery in Maly Berezny.

Mukachevo Monastery of St. Nicholas
Mukachevo Monastery of St. Nicholas � one of the oldest monasteries and certainly the most important religious and cultural center in Subcarpathian Rus� located on a small hill (Chernecha hora/Monk�s Hill) along the Latorytsia River just outside the village of Rosvygovo, today a suburb of Mukachevo. The monastery�s founding date is unknown, although local legend speaks of its beginnings in the early eleventh century. The oldest surviving documentary evidence about its existence dates from the fourteenth century. During the late fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries the monastery was supported by Prince Fedor *Koriatovych and his wife Domenika/Walha. However, an official document by which Koriatovych ostensibly granted landed properties to the monastery was subsequently proven by the Russian scholar Aleksei L. *Petrov to be a later forgery. From earliest times until 1766, the monastery was the episcopal seat of the *Eparchy of Mukachevo, since its archimandrites (superiors) were simultaneously bishops. The monks copied books, built a significant library, and maintained contacts with Orthodox centers in the Balkans and eastern Europe. The monastery also had its own chronicle and was the site of a school.

Like the rest of Subcarpathian Rus�, the Mukachevo Monastery faced difficult times after the fall of the Hungarian Kingdom in the mid-sixteenth century and the subsequent struggle for control of the country among the Austrian Habsburgs, princes of Transylvania, and the Ottoman Empire. In the course of the protracted Habsburg-Transylvanian wars the monastery�s wooden buildings were burned (1537) and then rebuilt (1538-1550) with the help of the Habsburg Emperor Ferdinand I (r. 1526-1564). It was not until the following centuries that the wooden structures were gradually replaced by stone structures, beginning with a rotunda church (1661) by the architect Stefan Piamens, and followed by the Baroque-style complex (1766-1772) by Demeter Racz/Dymytrii Rats�, whose design was used for the construction of a new church (1798-1804). The monastery was largely destroyed by a fire in 1862, but rebuilt within three years. In the mid-seventeenth century the monastery accepted the *Unia/Church Union, after which it became a leading Uniate/Greek Catholic *Basilian cultural center in the service of Rusyn religious and secular life.

The Mukachevo Monastery survived the reign of Emperor Joseph II (r. 1780-1790), a time when numerous monasteries were closed throughout the Austrian Empire. The Basilian monks were able to convince the authorities that they performed cultural and enlightenment work for the region as a whole; for instance, the *Mukachevo Theological School functioned on its premises (1757-1776), and several of the monastery�s *hegumens/superiors were among the leading Subcarpathian cultural activists of the nineteenth century (Ioanykii *Bazylovych, Anatolii *Kralyts�kyi).

In the twentieth century the Mukachevo Monastery was restructured after reforms introduced by Basilian (mostly Ukrainophile) monks from Galicia. When, after World War II, the new Soviet regime set out to abolish the Greek Catholic Church, the monastery became Orthodox (1946) and was transformed into a convent for Orthodox nuns from monasteries in other parts of Subcarpathian Rus� and the Soviet Union that were closed by the Communist government. At present there are about seventy Orthodox nuns at the Mukachevo Monastery.

Bibliography: Arkhimandrit Vasilii (Pronin), �K istorii Mukachevskogo monastyria,� Pravoslavnaia mysl�, Nos. 2, 3, 4 (Prague, 1958)�in Ukrainian translation: Chernecha hora (Uzhhorod, 1991); Mukachevskii Sviato-Nikolaevskii pravoslavnyi monastyr�: kratkii istoricheskii ocherk (Uzhhorod, 1998); Dmytro Pop, Istoriia Mukachivs�koho monastyria (Mukachevo, 1999).

Ivan Pop

Entry courtesy of Encyclopedia of Rusyn History and Culture.
http://www.uoftbookstore.com/online/merchant.ihtml?pid=137163&step=4

I am sorry but I do not understand what it is you are saying here.
The Basilians hid the icon of the Theotokos of Mukachevo.

There was a lengthy discussion about this previously where I believe you claimed that the communists took this icon to Moscow, which was not true.

However, the web site clearly stated the icon was hidden.

So why are you bringing it up again?

What evidence do you have that an icon was taken by the communists?

It was the copy that was taken to Moscow. The original was hidden and later enshrined at Maly Berezny.

There are books that mention the icon being taken to Moscow.
You can also read about it in Father Christopher Zugger's book, The Forgotten.

Unfortunately, this book is in the realm of popular piety without any consultation of reputable primary sources.
The author refers to another book written in the same vein. There is no evidence at all that a copy was made and taken by the communists to Moscow. Nor is there any evidence that the communists for example placed what they thought was an ancient icon in a museum.

For example, the famous Vladimirskya Theotokos used to be in the Tretyakov Gallery.

I really hope I haven't added to the confusion. Let's just be glad that this icon existed, that people were blessed by it and that it was hidden until the fall of communism. I think that is enough to be grateful for and to praise God.

The Basilians made a copy of the icon and replaced the original that was enshrined in the monastery church before the communists arrived. It was the copy that was taken to Moscow. The original was hidden and later enshrined at Maly Berezny.

There are books that mention the icon being taken to Moscow.
You can also read about it in Father Christopher Zugger's book, The Forgotten.


I was told the following article from the religious newspaper "Promin Lyubovi" states that a copy was made and taken to Moscow, while the original was hidden:
http://www.promin-lubovi.narod.ru/public/4/pub4st6.htm

Anyway, the reason why I mentioned the icon in the first place was because of the importance of the monastery to Greek Catholics. It was a place of pilgrimage to venerate the icon until it was forcibly taken away from them by the communists. The fact that it has not been returned I am sure is a sore spot for many Greek Catholics.

Unfortunately, this book is in the realm of popular piety without any consultation of reputable primary sources.

Miller,

Have you consulted book reviews by academic journals?

Your statement lacks support in light of the book being reviewed by several academic journals which have given it very positive reviews.

They don't consider it to be a book of "popular piety".

God bless,

griego