Church of St. Augustine, Perechyn

The city of Perechyn was mentioned in historical documents, lists of possessions, and written works as early as 1266, 1349, and 1425. Initially it was a settlement, later a village, and in 1947 it became a district center, an urban-type settlement, and on March 4, 2004, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine granted Perechyn the status of a city. It is home to 7800 people. The height above sea level is 265 meters. The length of the town from north to south is 7-8 km. The distance from Uzhhorod is 21 km. In the 1839 Hungarian geographical dictionary Perechyn is mentioned as a village with 70 Roman Catholics, 759 Greek Catholics, and 76 Jews. And in 1903, 2 thousand people lived here.

The Roman Catholic Church of St. Augustine, which celebrated its glorious 100th anniversary in 2006, is located at the foot of a small mountain, or rather Gurka Hill.

In the 18th and 19th centuries, Perechyn became involved in market relations, which were facilitated by the surrounding forests and the emergence of the Velykyi Bereznyi Perechyn railroad. This also gave rise to the foundation of a chemical plant in Perechyn by the joint-stock company Bantlin (1893). Due to the development of industry and the emergence of the railroad, the population grew due to foreign specialists: Italians, Germans, Slovaks, and Hungarians, who were invited by Bantlin.

The number of Roman Catholics increased to about 680-700 people. The Perechyn Roman Catholic community was formed in 1902. They began to insist on the construction of a Roman Catholic church, because before that they had attended the Greek Catholic Church of St. Nicholas, built on Gurka Mountain.

In 1905, an Italian, Gayotto Francesco, bought a plot of land from the family of Zim Ferenc for the construction of a church, with Verdzhak as the headman. The factory allocated 10 thousand crowns for the construction of the church, and the rest of the money was raised by the faithful.

The foundation and walls were made of stone brought on carts from Sukhyi Potok and Teplaya Yamka by Italians Cominotto Santo and his sons, Menis Jacob, and Gayotto F. The carpentry (doors, windows, benches, altars) was made in the carpentry workshop of Oleksandr Goyer.

The church was built and consecrated on St. Augustine's Day in 1906. The church belongs to the eclecticism that emerged in bourgeois France in the late eighteenth and early twentieth centuries. Dimensions of the church: length 24 m, width 9 m, height 34 m.

There is a bell tower: 2 bells were immediately consecrated with the church, and a small bell was installed and consecrated two years later on the feast of St. Augustine. The church has a case and a secretariat, a beautiful organ. The body of the church organ was made in the middle of the nineteenth century, and the interior parts between 1920-1939. Since 1914 Perechyn has been a plebeian town. Metric records began to be kept in 1920. The first parish priest was Bartfoi Kalman. In 1934, he carried out interior repairs of the church.

Bartfoi was succeeded by Steffel György (born in 1910). The following priests were Lantsky, Shorosh, Larinets Adalbert, who also served in our church in the 30s and 40s.

In 1943-1945 the priest was Pribush. From 1945 to 1947, Fr. Joseph Jovzhychko (born in Kapushany) lived in an apartment with the Cominotto family of Arthur, and in 1946-1947 he prepared children for the first communion. In 1947, he left for Czechoslovakia and the church no longer had a permanent priest, and children were not allowed to attend church. Our priest was Bernard Buyolov. The spiritual situation improved a little bit when the spiritual father Horvat Augustin arrived from exile. He lived in an apartment in the family of Ignac Imrija, served the entire Turyanska valley, baptized children, secretly married, and performed funerals. During his tenure, the exterior of the church was renovated.

In 1979, under the direction of master Molnar Mykhailo, all repairs were done by the faithful: women Kominotto Agnes, Bublak Elisabeth, Kotska Klara, Hoyer Anna, Stifel Maria, made the cement mixture, and the men (Ignatz Ludwig, Hrenzer Vasyl, Nod Ludwig, Smolyar Ivan) worked in the morning and in the evening after work. The Perechyn church went through very difficult years when the faith was brutally persecuted, the church was closed, and priests were sent into exile to Siberia without fault. Few returned....

The church functioned constantly, and if there were no priests, the faithful prayed over the dead and buried them themselves, quietly held prayers in the church, and paid large taxes and various funds in a timely manner. All the attributes of the T-Remetiv church were kept in the Perechyn church for 45 years (members of the twenty were responsible: Bublak E., Ignatz L., Grenzer, Cominotto, Pidhorodska O., Kotska K., Fedor A.).

A black cloud came over the believers when the antichrists began to remove and break the crosses. But the parishioners immediately reacted well and the cross that stood near the road in the church was moved deeper into the churchyard and placed close to the church, turned away from the main road. The fate of the cross that stood in the yard in front of Vasyl Rayts's house was different. The faithful chose it and placed it in the old cemetery. It stands there to this day.

At that time, Fr. Augustine Horvat was taken away from the church, arguing that he was hiding former prisoners-priests of the Greek Catholic Church, secretly baptizing children, teaching and preparing children for the First Communion, etc. Two years later, Fr. Tovt was sent to work as a priest. After him, Fr. Petro Zharkovsky came to work. Under his tenure, according to the act, all the church attributes were returned to the Roman Catholic Church of St. George in Remeta, which had been stored for more than 50 years in the church of St. Augustine.

The first missionaries in Zakarpattia were priests from Slovakia. In 1993, according to the decision of the Apostolic Nuncio to Ukraine, Antonio Franco, the city of Perechyn became the center of missionary activity. Perechyn. The first missionary priests were spiritual fathers Fr. Jan Sniagnichan SM, followed by Fr. Stanislav Zontak SM, Fr. Ignac Matkulchyk. They bought an unfinished house from a resident of Perechyn, O. Matyovka, for a headlight.

After them, Fr. Franciszek Horniszek CM, Fr. Joseph Noga CM came to the parish. They finished the construction of the headlight. They organized tithing before Christmas, which has become a tradition of the church. We visited nine families who receive the faithful with the icon of the Holy Family for prayer. They were replaced by Fr. Milan Shashik, CM, and his assistants were young priests, natives of Zakarpattia - Fr. Summer camps were organized for children and adults in Syniak, pilgrimages to Rome, Hungary, and Mario Povc to Lviv to meet with Pope John Paul II.

A great feast was celebrated on St. Augustine's Day in 2000, when Fr. Milan invited pilgrims from Poland to visit us and they brought icons of the Divine Mercy and monstrance as gifts for the churches of the Roman Catholic and Greek Catholic parishes, and members of a brass band came from Slovakia.

Under the pastorate of Fr. Milan, a house was purchased from the Yugas family with great difficulty, and the foundation of the wall was laid and covered to create the Pastoral Center. The construction of the Caritas began, but was not finished.

We are grateful to God that for the first time in 2003, Vitaliy Novak was appointed a priest, followed by Yuriy Shpak, and now Yuriy Hal has gone to study at the theological seminary in Horodok. Fr. Milan was the initiator of the creation of the Way of the Cross on Gurka Hill. First, a cross was installed. On January 6, Pope John Paul II appointed him as a bishop for the Greek Catholic Church. After Bishop Milan, Fr. Anatoliy became the pastor of our church. He kept all the good beginnings of his predecessors. He builds a chapel to the Blessed Virgin in the church yard. He organizes pilgrimage trips. Fr. Anton Yedinak, CM, became the administrator of the parish. During this time, Fr. Adam Strochynsky from Poland, Fr. Mykola Dobra, a native of the village of Dovhe, Zakarpattia region (2010), and Fr. Stanislav Irysyk, who conducts retreats for couples and teaches young people how to pray, came to work as priests.

A lot of work has been done by the pastor, Fr. Anton; the Way of the Cross has been completed, the construction of the Pastoral Center has been completed, the churchyard has been landscaped, and the construction of a family-type home is underway. In the summer, the children rested in the wonderful sanatorium "Vodohrai" and the Pastoral Center. The children's leisure time is interesting, as well as outings to nature, sledding in winter, New Year and Christmas holidays, and caroling. The charitable organization AIS was created under the leadership of Fr Mykola Dobra SM and Sister Klara Kuchak. There is a choir of adults and children, led by Sister Klara, who takes her responsibilities seriously. A good and wonderful designer was Sister Angelica, who paid a lot of attention to decorating and preparing the church for major holidays, as well as daily services. We were sorry to hear that both Sister Clara and Sister Angelica were sent to work in Uzhhorod.

It is a good tradition for us that every year on December 31 we gather in the church with our pastor, Father Anton, and offer thanks and prayers to God for the past year and ask for God's grace in the new year not only for our faithful, but also for the people of Perechyn, our country, and the whole world. At midnight, the bells break the silence of the night, announcing to Perechyn that the New Year is coming into its own with God's help.