Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Slavske

TheChurch of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the village of Slavske, Skole district, is an architectural monument of local significance dating back to 1901, with a protection certificate No. 2922/1-m, according to the order of the Representative of the President of Ukraine in the Lviv region No. 374 of 15.04.1994. The church was designed by Vasyl Nahirnyi, and the interior was painted by Modest Sosenko and Julian Butsmaniuk with the assistance of the parish priest Yevstakhii Kachmarskyi.

Thevillage of Slavske is located in the valley of the Opir and Slavka rivers, which flow among the Beskydy and Horhany ranges, on the slopes of the Trostianka (1235 m above sea level), Ilza (1066 m), Pysana or Dovbushanka (1236 m), and Menchela (1014 m) mountains, which surround the village from all sides. To the north of the village rises Mount Klyva (1069 m). Most people know this place as a comfortable ski resort. However, there are many attractions here not only of a natural nature. Slavske will be remembered for a long time if you visit the local Christian church - the Church of the Assumption.

Vasyl Nahirny - one of the most respected and popular architects of the time in Galicia, who is deservedly considered the founder of the modern Galician school of sacred construction. He designed and mostly realized more than 200 churches in the villages of Galicia, including the Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Slavske. It belongs to the most common group of monuments, which are cruciform in plan with a single cupola above the middle cross, placed on a light drum. The church in Slavske has certain peculiarities: the drum grows out of an octagonal base, which is placed directly on the middle cross, the shape of the altar part is rectangular, and some nuances in the decorative decoration of the exterior are noticeable.

The parish priest of the time, E. Kachmarsky, was a man of progressive views, maintained close contact with Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky, and it is not surprising that he invited Modest Sosenko, already known at the time for his work on the polychrome of St. Michael's Church in the village of Pidberiztsi near Lviv, to decorate the church.

M. Sosenko began work on the decoration of the church in Slavske in 1909, with Julian Butsmaniuk, a student of the Krakow Academy of Arts at the time, as his assistant. "Now M. Sosenko will finish painting churches in Slavske. And indeed, whoever has a thing on his heart should spare the labor to see this work of a Russian artist who understood his life and who sees the beauty in the people and tries to give it to them in painting," wrote E. Kachmarsky.

I. Sventsitskyi, the first director of the National Museum in Lviv, also recalled the artist's work in Slavske: "M. Sosenko worked most easily on the iconostasis of the Basilian Church (in Lviv - author) and in Slavske.

The church happily survived the hardships of the First World War, as the famous Polish local historian Mieczysław Orłowicz mentioned when describing his trip to Skole: "The main feature of Slavsko is its stone church. This is one of the few stone churches in the county, obviously in the Byzantine style with a copula - but its significance lies not in its rather banal architecture, but in the frescoes covering the copula and the interior walls. They were painted several years ago by the Ukrainian painter Sosenko. Probably no village church can compare with the church in Slavske in terms of frescoes, and its paintings could be the decoration of many churches or churches in a large city. The new carved iconostasis in Drohobych, created by Sovinsky's workshop, is also quite beautiful. The icons of the same iconostasis are also painted by Sosenko. The church treasury also has several old books, including the Gospel of the Grave from 1632."

Today, the Church of the Assumption is one of the few monuments in Galicia where the architectural and decorative trends of the Galician school of church building of the early twentieth century were comprehensively manifested. Unfortunately, the interior of the church was seriously damaged. In 1944, as a result of the bombing of Slavske by Soviet troops, the dome was seriously damaged, among other things. After the war, the church stood for several years with the ceiling broken. Rain, snow, and wind adversely affected the state of preservation of the mural and iconostasis. As soon as the dome and ceiling were repaired, the need for their urgent restoration became urgent. And this can only be done by conducting an expert examination.

"Before the repair work began, we invited the priest to a session, and he clearly explained the situation: there were indeed Sosenko's paintings in the church, but during World War II the dome of the church was destroyed, then it was rebuilt in Soviet times and the paintings were already painted by other people. I'm not an expert to conduct an examination, so we took the father's word for it. He said that the icons on the iconostasis were painted by Sosenko. But who painted the walls and what was on them should be determined by an expert. If this is all Modest Sosenko's work, then we definitely need to preserve it so that we have an architectural monument in the community," says Volodymyr Beha, head of the Slavska ATC.

"The Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary is a source of spirituality for many generations of our community. Each of us has our own special memories associated with this church. Therefore, if it is a true architectural monument, it must be preserved. After all, it is a great historical value that attracts tourists from all over Ukraine year after year. Thus popularizing art and tourism in general. In addition, ancient sacred objects carry a great power, prayed for by many generations, and attract pilgrims from all over the world. Such places can heal, give strength and energy, and give peace and tranquility to every parishioner. Like, for example, Hrushevsky or Hoshivsky monasteries.

There is an interesting legend associatedwith the place where the stone church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary was built. Locals say that a cross from an old wooden church, which was located on a neighboring hill, fell here twice. The old wooden structure still has a bell tower, which can be visited by anyone.

On the initiative of the rector of the Assumption Church, Father Andriy Petrishich, a monument to the writer, public figure and priest Mykola Ustianovych, who lived in Slavske, is located near the church.